Inheritance

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In the Holy Roman Empire, an inheritance was a court office that noblemen exercised on official, especially ceremonial occasions (such as coronations). The court offices at the emperor's court had developed from the Merovingian house offices and had only been exercised by important imperial princes since the 10th century , although in practice they became more and more symbolic, while the original function was almost completely lost. The most important of them were later than "Erzämter" with the Electorate connected so exercised by the electors. The court offices of the empire were hereditary early on for the secular electors and tied to the respective bishop's seat for the clergy, but their administration and practical exercise on behalf of the electoral owner (e.g. at the coronation of the Roman-German kings and emperors ) became assigned to lower-ranking nobles as "inheritance". The emperors had originally only granted this substitute for life, but since the beginning of the 13th century it has also become hereditary. The hereditary offices of the empire were, however, more numerous than the senior offices.

Archbishop of the Holy Roman Empire

The following families held the offices last:

These families mostly had the symbol of their office in their coat of arms.

At the coronation of an emperor or Roman king , representatives of these families had to wear the insignia on behalf of the electors and perform symbolic acts before or at the subsequent coronation meal:

  • The Hereditary Marshal carried the imperial sword and at the coronation meal rode his horse into a heap of oats that had to reach the horse's stomach.
  • The Chamberlain carried the imperial scepter and at the coronation meal handed the emperor a jug of water and a hand-washing cloth.
  • The hereditary cupbearer brought the emperor a silver cup with wine.
  • The Erbtruchsess carried the imperial orb and at the coronation meal cut a slice from an ox roasted on the square in front of the Römer in Frankfurt and presented it to the emperor.
  • The hereditary banner bearer carried the imperial banner and the imperial storm flag .
  • In 1658, at the coronation of Leopold I , the inheritance treasurer performed his office for the first time by throwing commemorative coins at the people. He then wore the imperial crown at the coronation . This office was conferred after 1648 in order to create a corresponding hereditary office, based on the eighth electoral dignity of the Count Palatine near Rhine, who were awarded the office of treasurer.

After these ceremonies, oats, wine and ox were given to the people, which regularly led to tumult.

Not all positions lasted. Count Rainald II von Geldern received the title of Archguard Master ( Protovestiarius ) together with the ducal title in 1339 , but the corresponding office was allegedly unable to assert itself.

Further ore and hereditary offices

In addition to these imperial offices, there were also hereditary offices of the individual imperial princes. Emperor Konrad II had already given the imperial princes the right to establish court offices based on the model of the imperial authorities . These court offices , which were subsequently increased considerably and partly endowed with lucrative benefices , also became hereditary in certain families. They were sought after as pleasant sinecures . With the dissolution of the empire also its hereditary offices ceased; some of those in the individual countries were retained, new hereditary land offices were added. Its establishment was the responsibility of the sovereign, its owners had to perform certain honorary services on special ceremonial occasions according to the ceremonial regulations.

Austria

In the Habsburg Monarchy there were numerous hereditary offices in the states that belonged to the former German Confederation . In the hereditary lands the four hereditary offices existed from the beginning: Erbtruchsess, Marschall, Erbschenk and Hereditary Chamberlain, in Carinthia also the Palatine Office.

Prussia

In Prussia , too, many hereditary land offices had been created in the various parts of the country. There were four such offices in the Duchy of Prussia :

Bavaria

In the Kingdom of Bavaria , the constitutional charter of May 1, 1808 created four refinable Imperial Crown Offices . Of these dignities, that of the Crown Court Master was held by the Prince of Öttingen-Öttingen or Öttingen-Spielberg, that of the Crown Chamberlain was held by the Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and the Office of Crown Marshal was held by the Prince of Fugger-Babenhausen . The fourth Crown Official of the Reich was the Crown Colonel Postmaster, who was provided by the Thurn und Taxis family . The holders of all these offices were members of the Chamber of Imperial Councils.

Kingdom of Hanover

In the Kingdom of Hanover , a hereditary marshal's office was established in 1814 and transferred to Georg zu Münster .

Württemberg

In 1808, four senior crown offices were created in the Kingdom of Württemberg :

The hereditary offices of the hereditary treasurer (Baron von giltlingen ) and the hereditary marshal (Baron Thumb von Neuburg ) from older times do not belong to the crown officials of Württemberg.

literature

  • Art. 'Hereditary offices' . In: German Encyclopedia or General Real Dictionary of All Arts and Sciences, Vol. 8, Frankfurt am Main 1783, pp. 585-592
  • Julius von Ficker, 'Die Reichshofbeamten of the Hohenstaufen period' . In: Meeting reports of the philosophical-historical class of the Imperial Academy of Sciences 40 (1862), pp. 447–559
  • Irmgard Latzke: court office, ore office and inheritance office in the medieval German Empire. Diss. Frankfurt 1970

Individual evidence

  1. Erbämter , In: Meyers Konversationslexikon , Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna, fourth edition, 1885-1892
  2. Alois Niederstätter, Die Herrschaft Österreich, 1278–1411, Prince and Land in the Late Middle Ages , Vienna 2001, p. 307f, in: Herwig Wolfram (Ed.), Österreichische Geschichte, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X