,
were subjugated during the tenth century and their market-place, by the
name of Brennabor, became the centre of and gave its name to the new
province of Brandenburg.

During the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
a succession of noble families exercised the functions of imperial
governor in this frontier state. Finally in the fifteenth century,
the House of Hohenzollern made its appear-ance, and as Electors of
Brandenburg, commenced to change a sandy and forlorn frontier territory
into one of the most efficient empires of the modern world.

These Hohenzollerns, who have just been removed from the historical
stage by the combined forces of Europe and America, came originally
from southern Germany. They were of very humble origin. In the twelfth
century a certain Frederick of Hohenzollern had made a lucky marriage
and had been appointed keeper of the castle of Nuremberg. His
descendants had used every chance and every opportunity to improve their
power and after several centuries of watchful grabbing, they had been
appointed to the dignity of Elector, the name given to those sovereign
princes who were supposed to elect the Emperors of the old German
Empire. During the Reformation, they had taken the side of the
Protestants and the early seventeenth century found them among the most
powerful of the north German princes.

During the Thirty Years War, both Protestants and Catholics had
plundered Brandenburg and Prussia with equal zeal. But under Frederick
William, the Great Elector, the damage was quickly repaired and by a
wise and careful use of all the economic and intellectual forces of the
country, a state was founded in which there was practically no waste.

Modern Prussia, a state in which the individual and his wishes and
aspirations have been entirely absorbed by the interests of the
community as a whole this Prussia dates back to the father of Frederick
the Great. Frederick William I was a hard working, parsimonious Prussian
sergeant, with a great love for bar-room stories and strong Dutch
tobacco, an intense dislike of all frills and feathers, (especially if
they were of French origin,) and possessed of but one idea. That idea
was Duty. Severe with himself, he tolerated no weakness in his subjects,
whether they be generals or common soldiers. The relation between
himself and his son Frederick was never cordial, to say the least. The
boorish manners of the father offended the finer spirit