Forty-Eight (Dithmarschen)
The forty-eight were the self-governing organ of the Dithmarschen peasant republic from 1447 to 1559 .
With the recording of the Dithmarsch land law of February 13, 1447, with which the Dithmarschers - advised by the Hansen - wanted to establish a solid and secure order in their own country and to meet the self-interests of the almost independently acting parishes , a higher court of 48 for life was also created appointed judges created. In the following decades this college developed into the actual self-governing body of the peasant republic of Dithmarschen (1227–1559). Since the members of the forty-eight were not chosen on the basis of free, equal and secret elections, but were sent from the ranks of the large peasantry, one cannot speak of a republican form of government in the narrower sense, but rather of a large peasant oligarchy .
The composition was based on the duodecimal system - each part of the country was originally supposed to have 12 representatives. These parts of the country were called Döffte (Low German for baptism , meaning a church in a central place of the respective region). The peasant republic Dithmarschen consisted of a total of 5 Döffts: The Westerdöfft, the Mitteldöfft, the Osterdöfft, the Meldorfer Döfft and the Strandmannsdöfft. Since the latter part of the country did not want to take part in the constitutional reform, it did not provide a representative, so that a total of 48 judges were appointed by election.
The college of the forty-eight existed until the subjection of the peasant republic of Dithmarschen in the last feud in 1559.
literature
- Heinz Stoob : History of Dithmarschen in the age of rain , Westholsteinische Verlagsanstalt Boyens & Co., Heide 1959.
- Klaus Alberts: Peace and peacelessness according to the Dithmarsch land rights of 1447 and 1539 , Westholsteinische Verlagsanstalt Boyens & Co., Heide 1978, ISBN 3-8042-0212-8 .