Germany

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

The name Germany did not refer to a state, or even have a clear meaning, in the time span encompassed by Quicksilver, the mid seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries. Instead it was a myriad of fiefdoms ruled by nobles or high clergymen, who had titles ranging from count to archbishop, each of whom autocratically ruled their fiefdom and collected revenues and taxes from the inhabitants. The only commonality between them was the German language, albeit with a range of dialects which could make the spoken language unintelligible to German speakers from different parts of the German-speaking areas.

It was not until the nineteenth century that these separate fiefdoms united into the Deutsches Reich (German Empire) as a result of spreading popular demand by intellectuals and the middle classes. The king of Prussia became the nominal head of this empire and was named the Emperor (Kaiser) of Germany, although his powers were limited by a parliament and by the leaders of other large German states, notably Bavaria.