Prince Provost

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A prince provost was the provost of a collegiate monastery , who was elevated to imperial prince of the Holy Roman Empire , which went hand in hand with the right to a virile vote on the spiritual bench in the imperial council . In addition to his ecclesiastical and secular power, he exercised over a territory which he presided over as sovereign . In the Holy Roman Empire, the provosts of three collegiate monasteries were raised to prince provosts only in the period between 1460 and 1559.

The office of prince provost included a benefice and a certain political influence, which is why several applicants often ran for an upcoming election. However, the external political impact of the prince provosts was probably rather less despite the virile vote - it was not uncommon (for the prince provosts of Weißenburg throughout) that it was for its bearers who simultaneously exercised several spiritual offices (in this case as prince-bishop of Speyer) and then often also did not stay in the residences of the prince provinces themselves, merely as an additional increase in influence and territorial significance.

The function, title and territory of a prince provost were abolished at the latest with the dissolution of the empire following the entry into force of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss on April 27, 1803, the Alsatian prince provosty Weissenburg already at the beginning of the French Revolution . The use of secular symbols of dignity (such as the prince's hat and coat ) was in 1951 by Pope Pius XII. formally abolished.

Prince provosts and provosts in the Holy Roman Empire

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Gall : Austrian heraldry. Handbook of coat of arms science. 2nd edition Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1992, p. 219, ISBN 3-205-05352-4 .