Diet of empire

The Diète of Empire (in German Reichstag ) was an institution of the Saint Germanic Roman Empire charged to take care on the general affairs and to find a solution with the disagreements which could rise between the confederated States.

History

At the time of the Holy Germanic Roman Empire (which existed officially until in 1806), the Diet was never a Parliament in the contemporary direction; it was rather the assembly of the various chiefs whom the Empire counted. More precisely, it was the convention of the Reichsstände (states of the Empire) which, according to the feudal Loi, had more the high level of authority, except the emperor himself. The decisions of this assembly bore the name of recès. Sometimes a long time the diet did not have a fixed seat being held sometimes with Nuremberg with Augsburg or Ratisbon.

The role and the precise functions changed during the centuries, like the Empire itself, as the States obtained more and more to be able at the expense it imperial capacity. At the beginning, the Reichstag did not meet in regular time and the meeting room changed each time. It started as a convention of the dukes of the old Germanic tribes which formed the frank Royaume and which met when important decisions were to be taken. Its principle is probably based on the old Germanic law which wants that each chief held his authority of his lieutenants. For example, already under Charlemagne, the Diet of Aachen in 802 - 803 declared officially the laws of the Saxons and other tribes. In 1158, the Diet of Roncaglia ratified four laws (ever written formally) which modified the Constitution significantly Empire, thus marking the beginning of the continuous decline of the central capacity in favor of the local dukes. In 1356, the Bulle of gold ( Goldene Bubble ) cemented the concept of Landesherrschaft , the government largely independent of the dukes on their respective territories.

However, until the end of the 15th century the Diet did not have the fixed statute of institution. The dukes gathered rather irregularly at the court of the king; these assemblies were usually called Hoftage (of German Hof , “court”). It only in 1489 that started the Reichstag as such, was not divided formally into various collegia , which was initially the Kurfürsten (prince-voters) and the other dukes. Later certain cities were recognized reichsunmittelbar (immediate), i.e. it returning account formally only with the emperor himself. These cities thus constituted a third college. The three colleges were thus that of the seven prince-voters, that of the other ecclesiastical and laic princes immediate (counts, prelates, lords) and that of the immediate cities. All the sovereign territories were thus represented. A decision of the Diet was essential for the great decisions, but a member of the Diet of the Empire was not held to conform to a law which he had not voted. The Diet met, according to the circumstances is at an ordinary sitting (then each State has only one vote and the decisions are made in the majority absolute) that is to say at a general sitting (the number of the voices of the various States is then fixed according to the political importance of each one of them).

There were several attempts “to reform” the Empire to prevent his slow disintegration starting from the Diet of 1495, but they had only little effect. On the other hand this process was brought in its term by the Paix of Westphalia in 1648, which forced the emperor to accept all the decisions taken by the Diet, depriving it by there of its some remaining capacities. As of this date and until 1806 the Empire was nothing any more but one whole of largely independent States.

One of the most known Diets is probably that of Worms in 1495, where a imperial Réforme was concluded. It prohibited the private wars and thus held the legitimate use of violence to the emperor. The private conflicts were managed by a room of imperial justice to Frankfurt. But this attempt at reform was quickly paralyzed and thus does not succeed. Another Diet of Worms, that of 1521, saw Martin Luther banished (see Édit of Worms ). One also knows the Diètes of Nuremberg.

It is only after the application of the Immerwährender Reichstag (“permanent Reichstag”) in 1663 that the Diet was convened at a fixed place: the town of Ratisbon.

In 1803, the Diet, following the victories of Napoléon I {{er}} adopted a resolution which redistributed the territories of the Empire. Almost all the ecclesiastical principalities and the majority of the free cities disappeared then. After the fall of the Empire the August 6th 1806 and the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Diet of Empire disappeared and yielded the place to the Diet of the Confederation, which met in Frankfurt.

Operation of the Diet

The voice of the princes is higher than that of the counts, who vote only by bench and not per capita like the princes. Thus the Principality of Salm influences as much the businesses of the Empire as the thirty-six voices as give the thirty-six counties or seigniories of the Bench of the counts de Westphalie.

One should not however confuse the Diets of Empire with the diets of Circle which are different institutions, to vocation definitely more administrative.

Seats of the Diet

Files

After the formation in 1871 of the German empire, the historical commission of the Bavarian academy of sciences started to preserve the imperial recordings ( Reichsakten ) and those of the imperial diet ( Reichstagsakten ). In 1893 the commission published the first volume. Nowadays, the years 1524 to 1527 and the years from 1544 are filed. A volume treating of the assembly of 1532 with Ratisbon for the peace treaties with the Protestants with Schweinfurt and Nuremberg by Doctor Rosemarie Aulinger of Vienna was published in 1992.

The enormous quantity of recordings in many files and libraries in Germany, Austria, Swiss, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, England and Poland must be treated.

A list on the Internet entitled Das Reich um 1500, Dynastien - Fürstentümer - Residenzen, Höfe und Residenzen im spätmittelalterlichen Reich , “the empire around the year 1500, dynasties - duchies - residences, court ducal and residences in the empire in the semi one and Early middle ages” identifies thousands of localities. That gives an idea of the importance of the task consisting to find and analyze official recordings dispersed because of coexistence of so many different governments, having each one their own place of residence and seat of government.

See too

Diet (political)
Reichstag (institution)
the Bundestag
imperial Circle
Last recès imperial

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