Geraer house contract

With the Gera house contract , the succession in the Mark Brandenburg and in the Franconian areas of the Hohenzollern was regulated bindingly at the end of the 16th century.

The Gera house contract was a Hohenzollern house law and came about because Elector Johann Georg von Brandenburg had disregarded the stipulations made in the Dispositio Achillea in his will . In these provisions, the indivisibility of the Mark Brandenburg was prescribed as a binding principle of inheritance. However, Johann Georg had stipulated in his will that parts of the Mark (the Neumark and Crossen ) should be separated from it and given to his two younger sons.

Immediately after Johann Georg's death in 1598, however, his eldest son and successor, Elector Joachim Friedrich , carried out the annulment of the will and consulted with the Margrave Georg Friedrich of Brandenburg-Ansbach. This was the last descendant of the older line of the Franconian Hohenzollern and ruled the two margravates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach, but had no descendants of his own. The result of the deliberations was the Gera house contract: It stipulated that the two stepbrothers Joachim Friedrichs should inherit the two Frankish principalities after the death of Georg Friedrich. Linked to this, however, was their renunciation of the Brandenburg possessions intended for them, which made Johann Georg's will invalid.

After the Gera house contract had finally been accepted by all parties, it was ratified on April 29, 1599 in Magdeburg . The most important passage in the contract was that every Brandenburg elector should always inherit the entire and undivided mark, because this was an inseparable part of the electoral dignity. With this point the indivisibility of the Margraviate of Brandenburg , which was already prescribed in the Dispositio Achillea , was renewed and reinforced. For the younger sons of Johann Georg, the compensation associated with the annulment of the father's will was to be able to inherit the Franconian possessions of the Hohenzollern family. After the death of Georg Friedrich, they received both of his margravates as hereditary secundogenitures . Which principality each of them would then be allowed to take over was drawn from among themselves (as had already been done at the Dispositio Achillea ).

literature

• Gerhard Taddey (ed.): Lexicon of German history . Events, institutions, people. From the beginning to the surrender in 1945. 3rd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-81303-3 .
• Max Spindler , Andreas Kraus (Hrsg.): Handbook of Bavarian history. Volume 3: Franconia, Swabia, Upper Palatinate up to the end of the 18th century. Volume 1: History of Franconia up to the end of the 18th century. 3rd, revised edition. Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39451-5 .