Hofpfalzgraf

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A Hofpfalzgraf ( comes palatinus or comes palatii or palatii comes , from Latin Comes "companion, companion", and palatinus "the one in the palace or court" or palatii "the palace or court") was a special one in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period privileged public official. Court Palatinate Counts played a role in the legal system of the Holy Roman Empire , especially after they were appointed by kings and emperors , but corresponding officials were also appointed by the Pope and the Ottoman Sultan . The term Pfalzgraf is used in some texts as a synonym for Hofpfalzgraf. However, compared to court palatine counts, count palatine had significantly more rights, including often those of a sovereign , accordingly there were only a few count palatine in the empire at the same time, but ultimately hundreds of court palatinate.

Royal Palatine Counts

In the Franconian empire of the Merovingians at the end of the 6th century, the royal palace count (Comes palatii regis) mainly had administrative and judicial powers. In the 7th century the caretakers took over the administrative tasks, the Hofpfalzgrafen remained mainly assessors and representatives of the king at the court . He attended the negotiations as a notary. In response to his presentation, the court court documents were drawn up in the office. After a court clerk had been set up under the Carolingians , it was subordinated to the Count of the Court of Palatinate. All entrances went through his hand, he lectured about them to the king. In less important matters he himself presided over the court. This activity of the court counts at the court disappeared in the post-Carolingian period around the year 1014.

Imperial Palatine Counts

function

An imperial court palatinate count ( Comes palatinus Caesareus ) was appointed in the Holy Roman Empire by conferring the so-called Palatinate . This represented a privilege to exercise some rights otherwise reserved to the emperor ( imperial reservation rights ). Depending on the extent of the rights granted, a distinction was made between:

  • Large Palatinate ( comitiva maior ): not territorially limited, also hereditary, also with the power to appoint count palatine with comitiva minor;
  • Small palatinate ( comitiva minor ): territorially limited, not hereditary.

The scope of the executive and judicial rights of the Counts of the Palatinate Court was specifically specified in the deed of appointment, the Comitiv ( Latin comitiva ), which sometimes contained lists of over 30 pages. The reservation rights, which the Roman-German emperors exercised through the Counts of the Palatinate, included, for example:

  • the granting of acts of grace , such as the award of letters of nobility and coat of arms , academic dignities ("bull doctors", "bull magisters"), and the poet's crown
  • the appointment of notaries (jus creandi notarios)
  • Certain cases of voluntary jurisdiction , such as the legitimation of illegitimate children, declarations of legal age, confirmation of adoption, certification of wills

The appointment as Hofpfalzgrafen was also of economic interest because fees could be charged for the performance of the official official acts mentioned.

development

The Hofpfalzgrafenamt as a state office was established in the Franconian empire of the Merovingians at the end of the 6th century, the final form of the court palatinate dignity in the Holy Roman Empire over several intermediate stages goes back to Emperor Charles IV , who primarily linked to the functions of the Hofpfalzgrafen in the court court . The Hofpfalzgrafen were appointed by the emperor for the individual territories. Above all, sovereigns such as princes and dukes received the Grand Palatinate. Hofpfalzgrafen mit Kleiner Palatinat, however, increasingly took on the role of local officials, comparable to today's civil servants . From the end of the 15th century the dignity of the court palatinate ("dignitas comitiva") was awarded more and more frequently, at the same time the number of court palatinate counts with a minor palatinate who did not have a university education as lawyers increased. Thus the Comitiva minor was also awarded to canons , rectors , deans and entire faculties , mayors and entire city councils such as the Bremen and Leipzig. Initially, the award of the Small Palatinate required recommendations, for example by princes or owners of the Great Palatinate. Later interested parties could apply for the award of the Small Palatinate and pay a fee if they were successful. Finally, the Small Palatinat could be purchased for a fee. There was extensive economic abuse of the privileges, for example the right to appoint masters, doctors (doctores bullati), notaries, town clerks and secretaries, especially if it also affected people who did not have sufficient training but had high fees paid to the appointing Hofpfalzgrafen. The Giessen professor Wilhelm Friedrich Hezel, for example, got into a violent conflict with his colleagues because of his liberal awarding of academic titles as Hofpfalzgraf. The granting of privileges in the name of the emperor was seen as an interference with their rights by the sovereigns, who were increasingly becoming independent from the emperor, and the exercise of the privileges was therefore monitored with suspicion. Some sovereigns, especially electors, ultimately refused to recognize the official acts of the court counts, for example in Brandenburg . Around 1700, the King in Prussia forbade the imperial Counts of the Palatinate to appoint notaries and legitimize illegitimate persons in his domain. Justus Henning Böhmer , Count of the Court of the Palatinate in Halle , who was thoroughly loyal to the Prussian state , was reprimanded for legitimation in 1716. The King in Prussia also imposed conditions on the University of Halle in exercising its court palatinate rights. In spite of the imperial privilege, legitimations by the counts of the Palatinate had to be approved beforehand by the respective king or were simply verified by him. Respected scholars withheld their possession of dignity because of the abuse by third parties. In its heyday, the Hofpfalzgrafen privilege bore the characteristics of the civil service. With the increasing training of a state administration carried out by civil servants, the office finally lost its importance. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the function ceased.

Papal Counts of the Palatinate

Hofpfalzgrafen were not only appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor, but also by the Pope. A papal Count Palatinate ( Comes palatinus Lateranus , sometimes the name Count of the Lateran Palace ) had rights comparable to those of an Imperial Count . These papal ministers were appointed either directly by the Bishop of Rome or by a papal legate acting on his behalf .

For example, in 1514 Pope Leo X appointed all curial pulpit scribes to Comites aulae Lateranensis and granted them the rights of court palatinate counts.

Order of the Golden Spur

The award of the papal order of the golden spur was traditionally associated with the appointment as papal Count Palatine. An example of this is the Brandenburg court architect Christian Eltester (1671–1700), who was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur in 1694 for his work on the papal Palazzo Montecitorio . Johann Georg von Toggenburg (1765-1847) was in 1796 by Pope Pius VI. appointed Knight [of the Golden Spur] and Count of Lateran . The practice was restricted in 1815 and in 1841 under Pope Gregory XVI. canceled.

A Hofpfalzgraf who had both the imperial and papal appointments was Comes palatinus imperiali et papali auctoritate (Hofpfalzgraf due to imperial and papal authorization).

Ottoman court palatine counts

As the successor to the Byzantine emperors, after the conquest of Constantinople (1453), the Ottoman sultan also bestowed the title of Count Palatine.

So Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) was not only in 1469 by Emperor Friedrich III. (1415–1493), but also in 1481 by Sultan Mehmet II. (1432–1481) appointed comes palatinus .

literature

  • Jürgen Arndt: Court Palatinate Count Register . 3 volumes. Degener, Neustadt an d. Aisch 1964–1988, Vol. 1–2 without ISBN, Vol. 3: ISBN 3-7686-3046-3
  • Erwin Schmidt: The dignity of the court palatinate at the Hesse-Darmstadt University of Marburg-Giessen . (= Reports and papers from the university library and the university archive Giessen; 23/1973). Giessen University Library, Giessen 1973 ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Erwin Schmidt: The dignity of the court palatinate at the Hesse-Darmstadt University of Marburg / Gießen , published by the University Library of Gießen, special edition 1973 from: Communications of the Upper Hessian History Association. 57.1972. (pdf, 96 p., 4.9 MB)
  2. ↑ For example, the “great Comitiv diploma” that Emperor Joseph I had awarded Prince Ludwig Friedrich von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1710 , as an appendix, pp. 1-44 after section II in: Heinrich Elias Gottfried Schwaben: “ Summarischer Lehr von Hofpfalzgrafen and notaries: in addition to a judge, advocate u. Library of Notaries (...) “, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1787
  3. ↑ for example the Palatinate diploma, which Prince Ludwig Günther zu Schwarzburg had awarded the Hofrat and Doctor of Philosophy Wilhelm Friedrich Hezel in 1778 , pp. 103–114 of Section II in: Heinrich Elias Gottfried Schwaben: “Summarical teaching by Hofpfalzgrafen and Notaries: plus one Judges, advocates and Library of Notaries (...) “, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1787
  4. ↑ Hilde de Ridder-Symoens, Walter Rüegg (Ed.): Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800) , Volume 2, Page 183, in: A History of the University in Europe , Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 9780521541145 SN 9780521541145
  5. ↑ a b Jürgen Arndt: "Hofpfalzgrafen-Register", publisher: Herold, Association for Heraldry, Genealogy and Related Sciences in Berlin , Neustadt an der Aisch a. Göttingen, Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verlage Degener & Co., 1964–1988, Vol. 1–2 without ISBN, Vol. 3: ISBN 3-7686-3046-3
  6. ↑ Granting of the title and powers of an imperial court palatine to Nikolaus von Troilo by Emperor Friedrich II, Prague, June 7, 1628 , pp. 65–69 in: Rainer Bendel, Josef Nolte (ed.): “Liberated Memory”, Volume 26 from "Contributions to theology, church and society in the 20th century", LIT Verlag Münster, 2017, SN 9783643131263
  7. ^ Reprint of the comitiv, which once ihro kays. Majesty Mr. Ferdinand II. graciously granted the decano of the laudable Faculty of Law in Marburg every time and now your Elector. Philipp Casimir Müller, University Printing Office Marburg 1745, have graciously renewed the transparency of Bavaria as the highest Reichsfürseher at the time
  8. ↑ Johann Philip Cassel: "Historical news of the regimental constitution and the advice of the kayserl. Free imperial city of Bremen, including the yearbook of the mayors and town councilors: collected from unprinted documents: brought to light with notes and an appendix of documents ” , Bremen. Joh. Henr. Cramer, 1768
  9. ↑ Andreas Wolfgang Wiedemann: Prussian judicial reforms and the development of legal notary services in Altpreussen (1700-1849) , p. 41 ff in: Volume 17 of 'Series of the German Notarial Law Association, Otto Schmidt Verlag, 2003, ISBN 9783504651183
  10. ^ Josef Braunwalder: Friedrich Count Toggenburg . Wattwil 1996, p. 105 ff. ( Digitized version )