Music was considerably improved; the system of Guido Aretinus was no where understood better, or cultivated with greater ardour, than in Germany. Some improvement was made in poetry, but it chiefly appeared in the songs of the common people. A monk of Togernsee, in Bavaria, composed a collection of poems under the title of Bucolics; they resemble those of Virgil only in their title. Lambert, of Aschaffenburgh, published a history of his own times, inferior to none which have reached us from the middle ages. [Sidenote: 1024-1138] Dialectic, however, still continued the favourite study; and the art of disputation was never carried so far: the interest which the public took in these disputes was surprising. When it was announced that two celebrated dialecticians were to hold a public dispute, persons flocked from all parts to witness the conflict; they listened with avidity, and with all the feelings of partisans. This appears ridiculous; but, in the present times, is there no _fancy_ which deserves equal ridicule? IV. 1 _The State of Germany, from the beginning of the Suabian Dynasty, till the Accession of the Emperor Charles V._ 1138-1519. The principal events in the reigns of the latter princes of the Franconian, and of all the princes of the Suabian line, were produced or influenced by the contests between the popes and emperors, respecting investitures, or the right of nominating to vacant bishoprics;--by the pretensions of the popes to hold their antient territories independent of the emperors;--or by the new acquisitions of the popes in Italy. 1264-1272. These contests reduced the empire to a state of anarchy, which produced what is generally called, by the German writers, the Great Interregnum. While it continued, six princes successively claimed to be emperors of Germany. 1272-1438. The interregnum was determined by the election of Rodolph, count of Hapsburgh. From him, till the ultimate accession of the house of Austria, in the person of Albert the Second, the empire was held by several princes of different noble families. 1438-1519. Albert was succeeded by Frederick III.; Frederick, by Maximilian I.; and Maximilian, by Charles V. To the period between the extinction of the Suabian dynasty and the accession of the emperor Albert, may be assigned the rise of the Italian republics, particularly Venice, Genoa and Florence; the elevations of the princes of Savoy and Milan, and the revolutions of Naples, and the Two Sicilies. [Sidenote: IV. 1. The State of Germany, from the beginning of the Suabian Dynasty till the Accession of the Emperor Charles V.]