English to German Science History

Geschichtsbuch/Biografie; Kontext: Even this brief sketch suggests why observers since the 1600s have called the Holy Roman Empire a "political monstrosity." How significant was an Emperor who dealt with his subjects through diplomacy or through Imperial law that was nearly powerless, because of extensive local privileges and growing princely power? Yet the Empire, along with foreign powers, the Leagues and the local communes, did remain a critical part of political identity in Germany and in Graubünden. Showing how this complex political fabric applied to Jenatsch therefore reveals how things actually worked. Technically, Jenatsch was an Imperial subject through his subjection to the Bishop of Chur, who was lord over the Upper Engadine where Jenatsch's family originated. The Bishop's subjects were mostly free people, rather than serfs, so Jenatsch owed neither the token payment (typically, a chicken at Easter) that signified personal unfreedom nor the death duties that serfs paid their lords. His status as Imperial and episcopal subject was in reality far less important than his citizenship in his home commune and in his league, the Chadé. " Ich hab den Satz folgendermassen übersetzt, wie der Hase läuft klingt jedoch etwas gar informell, oder? "Ein Blick darauf, inwiefern dieses komplexe politische Gewebe in Bezug auf Jenatsch von Bedeutung war, zeigt somit auf, wie der Hase damals lief."