Bohemian State Offices
The state offices in the Kingdom of Bohemia emerged from the court offices of the Crown. Originally, the kings filled these offices at their own discretion, and the holders were to serve the monarch in running his household, managing the royal estates, and ruling the country.
When the power of the kingship declined as a result of the Hussite revolution , the character of these offices changed, they became state offices that the king could only fill in accordance with the wishes of the estates . The estate officials acted increasingly independently of the sovereign, and the state offices became important instruments of power for the Bohemian nobility. The individual offices are named in the so-called Vladislav regional order of 1500. There it is also recorded which of the two aristocratic classes was entitled to occupation.
The following state offices existed in the 15th and 16th centuries:
| State Office | Main task | occupation |
|---|---|---|
| Castle Count | Administration of the Hradschin | Member of the gentry's estate |
| Burgrave | Captain of the Karlštejn Castle | Member of the knighthood |
| Chancellor Colonel | Head of the court chancellery | Member of the gentry's estate |
| Vice Chancellor | Deputy d. Chancellor Colonel | Manor or knighthood |
| Oberstlandkämmerer | Administration of the chamber property | Member of the gentry's estate |
| Chamberlain | Taxation | Member of the knighthood |
| Oberstlandhofmeister | Administration of the royal. Household | Member of the gentry's estate |
| Oberstlandrichter | Presidency of land law | Member of the gentry's estate |
| Unterlandrichter | Deputy of the chief judge | Member of the knighthood |
| Oberstlandschreiber | Head of the Land Law Office | Member of the knighthood |
| Colonel Marshal | ||
| Oberlandeshauptmann | Governor of the Bohemian King in Silesia (until 1741) | Member of the princes |
As was typical in the Middle Ages, there were no clear task descriptions and competencies between the state offices. It depended on the respective office holders and the political situation how far the power of the individual office holders extended. At the beginning of the 16th century the Oberstburggraf Zdeniek Lev von Rosental clearly had the leading position, while in the second half of the 16th century the Colonel Chancellor had the greatest weight.
The holders of the Bohemian state offices were not heads of authorities or ministers in the modern sense. Some of the staff they needed to carry out their tasks had to be employed and paid for themselves. Only the court chancellery had permanent staff and was organized like an authority. The Bohemian state officers, as the class officials were also called, did not form a collegial government body either. Rather, they acted fairly independently of one another.
In dealing with the estates, King Ferdinand I also introduced purely royal offices and authorities to which only he himself had access. From 1527 these were the Bohemian Chamber, headed by a Chamber President, and from 1547 the governor, who had to represent the king in absentia.
Even after the defeat of the Bohemian class uprising in 1620, the state offices continued to exist. Only now they were filled with his partisans by the king at will. Only the state reforms in the 18th century under Empress Maria Theresa replaced the state offices with modern authorities.
literature
- Otto Peterka : Legal history of the Bohemian countries presented in its main features . 2 vols. Reichenberg 1928–33.