Swabian Imperial Counts College

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The Count von Heiligenberg from the Fürstenberg family took the place of honor on the Count's bench

The Swabian Reichsgrafenkollegium , also known as the Swabian Reichsgrafenbank , was the corporate association of the Swabian imperial counts and lords to protect their interests at the Reichstag , especially in the Reichsfürstenrat and in the Swabian Reichskreis .

development

This was preceded by various older amalgamations in the Swabian region, such as the Knight Society with Sankt Jörgenschild from 1407 or the Swabian Federation from 1488.

At the end of the 15th century, an association of counts was established to represent the interests of the inferior high nobility in matters relating to the Holy Roman Empire . This stepped next to the Wetterau Empire Counts College . Since the Reichstag of 1495, the Wetterau and Swabians each claimed one vote in the Reichstag. Initially, however, only the voice of the Wetterau counts was undisputed. It was not until 1524 that the Swabians succeeded in securing a firm promise from the emperor for a second count's curiate vote for the imperial counts.

From 1549 the Swabian counts had a permanent legation at imperial assemblies. From 1557 the envoys also represented the Frankish imperial counts. The representation ended with the formation of a Frankish Imperial Counts College after 1641.

In 1579, the Wetterauische concluded the Dinkelsbühler Union with the Swabian college . This provided for mutual support against other imperial estates and a non-violent reconciliation of interests within.

organization

At the head of the college were two directors, called count captains. Later adjuncts from the members were added as further office holders. Without their consent, no count's day could be convened and the directors had to seek advice on important issues. Together with a syndic , these officers and the directors formed the college council. All office holders were initially elected for an indefinite period and then for life.

The Swabian Imperial Counts College met for regular count days from 1533. The meetings were interrupted during the Thirty Years' War between 1630 and 1645. It usually took place at the same time as the district assemblies of the Swabian Reichskreis. The heads of the member territories had voting rights. When a sex died out, the right to vote was also extinguished. At first the counts had to appear in person, later they could also send representatives. There was a simple majority, since 1613 a two-thirds majority.

The prerequisite for membership was immediate imperial rule. There were exceptions since the middle of the 16th century. After that there were realists d. H. those members who actually had territory and personalists . This included those members who temporarily or permanently renounced possession of a territory.

At the district assemblies of the Swabian Imperial Circle, the Swabian Imperial Counts College formed the count bank. Since the members - with the exception of Baden, which was added in 1747 - were Catholic, the college belonged to the Corpus Catholicorum . The Schwäbische Grafenbank took # 98 in the order of the Reichsfürstenrat. The end of the empire in 1806 also meant the end of the Swabian Imperial Counts College.

The members of the Swabian Imperial Counts College 1792

coat of arms

  • Furstenberg

  • Heiligenberg

  • Werdenberg

  • Buchau women's monastery

  • Strassberg

  • German medal

  • Oettingen

  • Austria

  • Montfort

  • Bavaria

  • Helfenstein

  • Schwarzenberg

  • Sulz

  • Königsegg

  • Forest castle

  • to bathe

  • Eberstein

  • Hohenzollern-Hechingen

  • Freyberg

  • von der Leyen

  • Hohengeroldseck

  • Fugger

  • Hohenems

  • Abensperg and Traun

  • St Blasien

  • Stadion

  • Thurn and Taxis

  • Khevenhüller

  • Kuefstein

  • Colloredo

  • Harrach

  • Sternberg

  • Neipperg

  • Trauttmansdorff

  • Waldstein

  • Sickingen

Dissolution of the Swabian Imperial Counts College

The end of the Swabian Reichsgrafenkollegium began with the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of February 25, 1803.

  • The prince of Thurn und Taxis received in § 13 city and prince dynasty Buchau as imperial principality Buchau ;
  • In § 26 the possession of the Order of St. John was guaranteed and the county of Bonndorf was assigned to it. In 1805 Bonndorf fell to Württemberg and was ceded to Baden in the Rhine Confederation Treaty of July 12, 1806 (Articles 14, 19).
  • In § 32 the reorganization of the virile votes in the Reichsfürstenrat was made. They received their own virile votes and left the Imperial Counts College
    • Oettingen-Spielberg and Oettingen-Wallerstein,
    • Schwarzenberg received an additional virile vote for Klettgau.

In 1804 Königsegg-Rothenfels was sold to Austria, but annexed by Bavaria in 1805.

With the dissolution of Upper Austria and the Alsace and Burgundy Ballei of the Teutonic Order, Montfort and Hohenems and the Coming Rohr and Waldstetten fell to Bavaria in Article VIII of the Peace of Schönbrunn of December 16, 1805, as confirmed in the Treaty of the Rhine Confederation, Article 17.

The princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and von der Leyen (for Hohengeroldseck) became signatory states to the Rhine Confederation Act of July 12, 1806. However, other members of the Swabian Imperial Counts College lost their independence and were mediatized.

  • Art. 24 listed the territories that were added to the Confederation of the Rhine allied with Napoleon:
    • the king of Bavaria received Oettingen, the counties of Fugger, Thannhausen and Eglingen,
    • the King of Württemberg received Königsegg-Aulendorf, Waldburg, Justingen, Eglofs as well as in Art. 18 the former Altshausen Teutonic Order,
    • the Grand Duke of Baden received Fürstenberg, Klettgau and Sulz, Eberstein,
    • the prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen received the rule of Straßberg as well as in Art. 23 the Teutonic orders Achberg and Hohenfels.

A final correction was made in the border treaty between the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg, concluded in Paris on May 18, 1810. Bavaria received Trauchburg and ceded Oettingen-Baldern, Montfort, Helfenstein and Eglingen to Württemberg.

literature

  • Gerhard Köbler : Historical lexicon of the German countries. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present . 4th completely revised edition. Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-35865-9 , p. 569.
  • Wilfried Beutter: Swabian Imperial Counts College . In: Gerhard Taddey : Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War . 2nd revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-520-81302-5 , p. 1129.
  • Nikolaus Schönburg: The constitutional position of the imperial counts from the end of the Middle Ages to the end of the Old Empire . Master's thesis, Vienna 2008, p. 99ff., Digital version (PDF; 893 kB).

Remarks

  1. ↑ The County of Werdenberg had already passed into other hands since 1483 and came to the Swiss canton of Glarus in 1517 via the Counts of Sax-Misox and the Barons of Hewen .
  2. ^ The possessions of the Waldburg Truchsessen including Waldburg-Scheer were mediated by Württemberg in 1806; Trauchburg was ceded to Bavaria by Württemberg in 1810. Waldburg-Scheer was not represented in the Swabian Reichsgrafenkollegium, as it had been an Austrian man fief since 1680. As the feudal owner of the duchy Reichsgrafschaft Friedberg-Scheer acquired in 1786/87 (formed from the holdings of the three lines of the Truchsessen von Waldburg as heirs of the Waldburg-Trauchburg line, which died out in 1772), the Princes of Thurn and Taxis had a seat in the Swabian Empire, Bank of the Counts and gentlemen, III. (Constant) quarter. Despite being an imperial prince, Waldburg was not admitted to the imperial council of princes before 1803, but was not included in the call order after the 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.
  3. ↑ In 1798 the Wolfegg-Wolfegg line of the Waldburg family died out and was inherited by the Wolfegg-Waldsee line.
  4. ↑ As the fiefdom of the duchy of Friedberg-Scheer, acquired in 1786/87 (formed from the holdings of the three lines of the Waldburg-Scheer Truchess), the Princes of Thurn and Taxis had a seat in the Swabian Empire, Bank of Counts and Lords, III. (Constant) quarter.
  5. ↑ Straßberg was mediated by Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1806; the Prince of Thurn and Taxis kept his property, the so-called manor.