Kingdom of Westphalia

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Kingdom of Westphalia (German)
Royaume de Westphalie (French)
1807-1813
Westphalia flag
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Westphalia
flag coat of arms
Official language German and French 1
Capital kassel
Form of government Constitutional monarchy
Head of state , also head of government King Hieronymus Napoleon
surface 37,883 (1807-1809)
63,652 (1810)
45,427 (1811-1813) km²
population 1,950,724 (1809)
over 2.6 million (1810)
2,065,970 (1812)
currency Westphalian franc
founding December 7, 1807
resolution October 1st and 26th, 1813
1Regionally also Low German .
Kingdom of Westphalia (1812) .svg

The Kingdom of Westphalia ( French Royaume de Westphalie ) was a satellite state of the First French Empire and, similar to the Grand Duchy of Berg and partly the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt , also a model state . It was created by the French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte after the Peace of Tilsit (1807). His youngest brother, Jérôme Bonaparte , became king . The country was politically and militarily under the control of France and, in terms of its modern state constitution and administration, was intended to be a model for the policy of the German states of the Rhine Confederation founded in 1806 . It existed for seven years from its foundation on November 15, 1807, and ended with Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig , as a result of which his power in Europe collapsed . After 1813, the Westphalian administration was largely absorbed by the successor commissions of the re-established Prussian , Hessian and Hanoverian princely states.

Modern historians use the French spelling with "ph" to denote the kingdom to distinguish it from the landscape , the earlier duchy and the later province of Westphalia of the state of Prussia . This form of naming was mostly not contemporary in German-speaking countries.

Emergence and goal setting

Jérôme and Katharina as King and Queen of Westphalia

The Kingdom of Westphalia was created by Napoléon Bonaparte by decree of August 18, 1807 for his youngest brother Jérôme (Hieronymus) after the Peace of Tilsit . The capital was Kassel, the capital of the Electorate of Hesse . More than half of the inhabitants of this new state consisted of subjects of former Prussian parts of the country. However, some of these areas had only been Prussian since 1803. The former Kurhessen only made up a good fifth of the population.

The kingdom only partially coincided geographically with the later Prussian province of Westphalia. Real Westphalian areas, i.e. with a Westphalian- speaking population, were only in the far west of the kingdom. Up to its end, this included the following previously Prussian areas: the former bishoprics of Paderborn and Osnabrück , the county of Ravensberg (complete until 1810) and the principality of Minden . Osnabrück was already part of " Kurhannover " from 1802–1806 , but was part of the Lower Rhine-Westphalian Empire until the fall of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation .

According to the Landesmuseum Kassel and some historians, the new kingdom was already burdened by an art theft that had taken place before its establishment: French troops had confiscated the most valuable art objects for exhibition in the Louvre in Paris immediately after taking Kassel . The justification for the robbery was that they wanted to free art from private princely collections and make it accessible to the public.

Westphalen (like the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt or the Grand Duchy of Berg ) was intended to be a model Napoleonic state that was to be characterized by a modern administration and justice system. In fact, the patrimonial courts , the tax exemption of the nobility and serfdom were abolished, the freedom of trade , the separation of powers , equal rights for Jews , the civil code and the keeping of civil status registers and duplicate church records were extended to the formerly non-Prussian areas.

territory

The Kingdom of Westphalia was composed of the following territories of the Holy Roman Empire, which was dissolved in 1806:

The national territory changed over time. It essentially comprised the Electorate of Hesse , the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and the core areas of the Prussian monarchy to the left of the Elbe with its strongest fortress Magdeburg and the State University of Halle, as well as from 1810 the entire territory of the Electorate of Hanover , but not the Duchy of Westphalia, which perished in 1803 . His area finally extended over parts of today's federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen.

Constitution and separation of powers

Beginning of the constitution in the bilingual law bulletin, a means of communication to all residents

With the Constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia of November 15, 1807, the country received a written constitution , which Jérôme put into effect on December 7, 1807 the day after his arrival in his new kingdom. A committee of State Councilors chaired by the President of the Commission of Experts on the Code Civil , Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès , and the State Councilor Michel Louis Étienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély had designed these and, in doing so, were e.g. Partly based on the constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw . Napoleon had presented the draft to five high-ranking administrative officials from the territories he occupied by decree and had it discussed by them, but the comments they made on it were only intended to be known to the court and had no effect.

The constitution stipulated the division of all central state power. She appointed a monarch as head of state , who came from the Bonaparte family and was to have a hereditary title under the law of agnates (Tit 3). He was supported by a council of state, which could consist of at least 15, but no more than 20-25 men and which was divided into the three sections of justice and internal affairs , warfare and trade and finance . It discussed legislative proposals and drafts that were to be submitted to the king for approval. He also formed the court of cassation in cases of administrative disputes and the highest appellate body for cases that went beyond the competencies of the court of appeal in Kassel. As far as the executive was concerned, he only had an advisory role to the king.

The head of the executive was made up of four ministers. They were technically divided into the following departments :

  • The Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs , which dealt with the remuneration of civil servants, the foundation and welfare and police affairs , and which takes all decisions in law enforcement, in the application of civil legislation to legal practice and in the replacement of the Farmers' taxes were due to the old employers.
  • The Ministry of War , which had to decide on all questions of the pay, equipment and employment of the troops, also organized the gendarmerie and the royal guard. The commander-in-chief of the Westphalian troops was the king.
  • The Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Public Treasury , which u. a. was responsible for repaying the high war contribution imposed by Napoleon, and who had the taxes, voluntary loans to residents and other income from the monasteries, funds and coffers of the kingdom.
  • The Minister-Secretary of State in charge of the Kingdom's external affairs .
Joseph Jérôme Siméon as Minister of Westphalia (1810), private collection François-Josèphe Kinson

The peculiarity of the rule of the kingdom by line ministries was a hitherto unknown innovation in the states of the old Old Kingdom. In offices, employees no longer worked with a team, but only for themselves and their department. The minister responsible was the only one who assigned the departments or divisions. This hierarchical, rational subdivision not only ensured the controllable training of specific administrative expertise, but also speed and efficiency.

Personnel management of the ministries passed to the officials of the provisional government, who monitored the collection of contributions and taxes in Kassel from August 28 to December 7, 1807. It included the French legal scholar Joseph Jérôme Siméon , who took over the department of home affairs and justice, the State Councilor and former Secretary of Voltaire Jacques Claude Beugnot , who, as Minister of Commerce and Finance, took over the relevant ministry with Jean-Baptiste-Moïse Jollivet , responsible for the Treasury, shared, and former Internal Affairs Director and Military Governor Joseph Lagrange who became Secretary of War.

While the last two officials were removed shortly after the king's arrival, Siméon remained permanently in their positions as minister of justice and minister of finance until March 1808. Beugnot's successor was the former Magdeburg Chamber President Friedrich Ludwig Victor Hans von Bülow after his resignation . In addition, Siméon's ministry was divided again, as the administrative regulations of January 11th expressly stipulated the strict separation of justice and administration. From then on, the Ministry of the Interior was headed by the Brunswick civil servant Gustav Anton von Wolffradt . After Lagrange, the war ministry was initially temporarily given to Joseph Antoine Morio , who then headed the war ministry from February to December 1808. He was succeeded by the French general Jean Baptiste Eblé for a year . The ministers changed there even more frequently.

King Jerome Bonaparte entrusted one of his state councilors, his former secretary, Pierre Alexandre le Camus , Count von Fürstenstein since 1807 , with external affairs. A dispute between Napoleon and Jerome had previously arisen over the occupation of his post, who had initially appointed his favorite, the Swiss historian Johannes von Müller , as State Secretary on November 17, 1807. The fact that Müller had to take leave of his office only nine days after his arrival in Kassel was largely due to Jerome's court policy. Müller's departure and Napoleon's disfavor about it demonstrated how closely the court of Westphalia was already in the early days of the state interwoven with the personal interests of the monarch and how much Westphalen escaped direct control of France. In March, Müller received a transfer to the General Directorate of Public Education, so that he stayed with the state for at least another year in a post that was more suitable for him.

The legislature was separated from the executive. Elected residents of the kingdom were given a say in introducing and deciding on the laws. Not only the landlords took part, but also scholars and entrepreneurs. The old estates corporations or other political bodies of the old empire were abolished (Tit four, Art 11). Significantly, they were abolished under the same title in which the abolition of serfdom (Art. 13) and a secular understanding of the state (Art. 10) were laid down. The estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia , which were now elected by colleges from the respective departments and gathered in Kassel when convened by the king, took the place of the estates corporations . Like the constitution, the Westphalian “parliament” was the first institution of its kind in the area of ​​the former Holy Roman Empire .

The imperial estates, which met for the first time on July 2, 1808 in the orangery in Kassel, consisted of 100 elected members, 70 of whom were landowners, 15 merchants and manufacturers and 15 scholars and otherwise deserving citizens. They approved the budget and discussed bills submitted by the State Council. An important difference to later elected parliaments was the parliamentary practice, which was based on the assemblies of the French Corps législatif . Laws basically had to be discussed in committees and commissions and could only then be approved or disapproved of by a keynote speaker from the respective commission in the plenary sessions . At least the sessions were public and what was discussed was transparent. The votes of the imperial estates were more or less planned and taken into account in advance. One legislative proposal could be rejected per session. In 1808 the property tax law on equal taxation of residents was overturned, in 1810 the stamp duty law of the kingdom was overturned. Although the king had to adhere to the voting results, he could, however, issue extraordinary decrees at any time outside of the meetings and thus make the decisions of the estates invalid.

Because of this practice, German historiography assessed the imperial estates very negatively for a long time. The constitutional historian Ernst Rudolf Huber called it pseudo constitutionalism and the historian Helmut Stubbe da Luz wrote of "political sandpit". The historian Herbert Obenaus did not want to grant the imperial estates the status of an actual parliament , despite the recognition of the constitutional innovations and the change in the old class conception in the 1970s . However, like the more recent research on the kingdom, Obenaus referred to the political leeway and attitudes of parliament. Just like the character of the whole festival practice and symbolic culture of the kingdom, the designation "imperial estates" should build a bridge between the traditions of an old feudal system of estates and modern constitutional representation of interests. Even if the imperial estates had no powers of first instance in the sense of a constitutional separation of powers, they did ensure that an elected representation of interests followed a democratic idea .

The historian Stefan Brakensiek saw z. B. Starting points for (at least symbolic) influence, especially in financial matters, such as the property tax in 1808, because these belonged to the important and state-supporting questions of the kingdom. Stubbe da Luz also conceded that despite the lack of constitutional power, the influence on sensitive issues of Westphalian politics could have resulted in a permanent increase in the power of the imperial estates.

The civil rights of the constitution were characteristic of Bonaparte's export of the French Revolution . Under the king, subjects were equal to the law (Art. 10). The privileges of the nobility (Article 12) and serfdom (Article 13) were abolished, and Article 45 introduced the Napoleonic Code .

Administrative division

The Kingdom of Westphalia in the Rhine Confederation in 1808. In early 1810, the entire former Electorate of Hanover (excluding Lauenburg) was added for a short time
The Kingdom of Westphalia in the Rhine Confederation in 1812. At the end of 1810, Osnabrück and the North Sea coast were ceded to France

Territorial organization

Map of the Kingdom of Westphalia by Friedrich Wilhelm Streit (1808, Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg )

Following the French model , the Kingdom of Westphalia was divided into départements , the départements into districts , these into cantons and those again into municipalities . From 1812 onwards, the Bielefeld district was an exception , in which each canton had only one municipality.

  • In each department there was a prefect (Préfet) and a general secretary of the prefecture, a prefectural council (Conseil de préfecture) for disputed matters and a general department council.
  • The district ( arrondissement ) was administered by a sub-prefect (Sous-Préfet). Each district had a sub-prefecture or district council. The term "arrondissement" was hardly used in Westphalia.
  • Each municipality was headed by a mayor ( Maire ) and the municipal council ( Conseil municipal ).

These administrative units usually did not coincide with the previous provinces, counties and judicial districts. In order to emphasize the break with the past, the departments were named after rivers or mountains, for example. Apparently, it was also about the fragmentation of the former administrative districts and patrimonial courts.

Deviating from the French model, at the end of 1809 in the cantons, which were mainly the districts of the justice of the peace, maires were also appointed to lead the work of the mayors of the communes. These “Maires de canton” were occupied by nobles in some regions who wanted to put pressure on the peasants who were compulsory for service. In 1807 the kingdom consisted of eight departments (→ List of the departments in the Kingdom of Westphalia ), in 1810 the departments of the Aller (capital Hanover ), the Elbe and Weser estuaries (capital Stade ) and the Lower Elbe (capital Lüneburg) were added ).

The size of the councils in the departments and municipalities varied. While the Prefectural Council had to consist of 24 members in the Elbe, Fulda, Oker, Werra and Weser departments, three in the Harz, Leine and Saale departments and 16 members in the General Department Council. The councils should be renewed every two years. In addition to the administrative regulations, there was also a departmental college for 200 to 1000 residents. Its members were appointed by the king and made up of one-sixth of the most highly taxed, one-sixth of the richest merchants and one-sixth of the scholars and artists. These departmental colleges should elect the justices of the peace and propose the members of the municipal councils. In fact, these colleges, in which many representatives of the old elites were represented, were passed over by the government after 1808. The king later appointed both the justice of the peace and the municipal councils by decree.

Development since 1810

In January 1810, the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg became an integral part of Westphalia, with the exception of the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg . On December 13 of the year it had much of the Weser departments including the capital Osnabrück cede that (about a line from the lip mouth until also large parts of northwest Germany on the French Empire Lübeck following) incorporated, so the continental blockade against Britain to amplify. The dissolution of the departments of the Elbe and Weser estuaries and the Lower Elbe officially took place on January 1, 1811; the parts remaining to the kingdom were added to the départements of the Aller and Fulda .

Judicial constitution

On January 1, 1808, the Civil Code ( Code Napóleon ) was introduced in the kingdom. The authorities could be sued before a court of appeal. The judgments were pronounced on behalf of the king. The military conscription was the basic law of the kingdom.

General Directors and Spiritual Administration

Over time, the kingdom received a number of general directorates, which, although hierarchically under the ministries, were independent authorities.

Directory founding ladder Department
General Directory of Public Education January 21, 1808 Johannes von Müller
Justus Christoph Leist (from June 1809)		 Administration of the Westphalian schools, lyceums , academies and higher educational institutions; in the départements competing with the teaching department of the prefect, since 1809 increasingly in dispute with the University of Göttingen because of the restriction of the country teams; Administration of the Universities of Göttingen, Halle , Marburg , Rinteln (closed in 1810) and Helmstedt (closed in 1810); Annual budget, 30,000 francs,
General Directory of the High Police September 18, 1808 Joseph Legras de Bercagny
Jean-François Marie de Bongard (from April 1812)		 Central authority of the state police. Direct control of the remote provinces in the kingdom, competed in the départements since December 1808 with the general commissioners of the high police who were used to monitor civil administration, and later also the population. Tasks and a. Investigation of unrest and revolts, censorship and regular reporting on conspicuous incidents and people in the individual departments, espionage of public officials and the population.
General Directory of the Post February 11, 1808 Alexis Jean François Pothau With the exception of one mile around Magdeburg, it had the unrestricted monopoly of the delivery of letters and parcels in the kingdom, and was subject to the Ministry of Finance
General amortization fund July 14, 1808 Karl August von Malchus
Karl-Otto von der Malsburg (from June 1809)
Louis André Pichon (from 1811)
Dupleix (from 1812)		 Debt repayment of the French Empire, initially used by the Finance Minister von Bülow for government spending, reorganized under Pichon from 1811 after criticism from French ambassadors in Paris and the cashier Malchus. Tasks and a. Administration of foundation and corporation assets after the dissolution of the monasteries and convents in 1811. On January 1, 1812, united with the public treasury to form the general director of the public treasury
General Directory of the Public Treasury November 17, 1808 Karl-Otto von der Malsburg
Philipp von Pestel (from October 1809)
Karl-Otto von der Malsburg (from 1811)
General Directory of Direct Taxes March 19, 1808 Karl August von Malchus (until 1811)
General Directory of Indirect Taxes December 5, 1808 Justus von Schmidt-Phiseldeck (from 1811)
General Directorate of Domains , Forests and Waters March 29, 1808 Friedrich Ludwig von Witzleben
Karl Wasmuth von Wintzingerode (from 1811 only domains)
General directorate of the mining, smelting and salt works, the coins, the bridges and roads January 27, 1809 Antoine-Marie Héron de Villefosse

Each directorate had its own subdivision in each department.

Abolition of the guilds

With the loss of the guilds from 1809 and the growth of the royal court, handicrafts and trades initially developed in the royal seat of Kassel. Some regional branches of industry, such as cloth making, uniform tailoring or distillery, such as B. in the Nordhausen district also flourished. However, the economic development depended strongly on the regional economic development and the social conditions of the individual parts of the country.

Westphalian Mounted Artillery 1812

military

Westphalian troops 1812

The national borders and thus the number of inhabitants of the kingdom changed several times (1807: almost 2 million, 1810: over 2.6 million, 1811: over 2 million). It had to provide the Rheinbund with a contingent of 25,000 soldiers, which could only be achieved through conscription based on conscription for all 20 to 25-year-old men. Wealthy people could be represented by income- earners , but, unlike in France, had to buy themselves out from the state treasury beforehand. In 1808 the Westphalian army consisted of the royal guards on foot and on horseback, about 4,000 men, the gendarmerie, an artillery regiment, 8 line infantry regiments, 4 light battalions, 6 cavalry regiments, 6 veterans and 8 department companies, in total more than 30,000 men . The main fortress in Westphalia was Magdeburg on the Elbe. A commanding general was appointed in each department and on February 28, 1808 Joseph Antoine Morio was appointed Minister of War; but he only stayed that way until November, when he was sent to Spain with a 6,000-strong division . In his place came the French Général de division Jean Baptiste Eblé .

Westphalian divisions put down revolts in Spain and Germany (including the Dörnberg uprising ) in 1809 . In 1812 the entire Westphalian army was mobilized and set out for Poland in the spring to form the eighth corps of the Grande Army , which was commanded by the king himself and, under him, General Vandamme, later General Junot. In fact, 28,000 Westphalians fought in Russia in 1812 , of which barely 1,000 returned.

Shortly after the troops were lost, a new Westphalian army was built up in the spring of 1813. Kassel was captured by Russian troops on October 1, 1813, but the troops of the Kingdom of Westphalia only disbanded as a result of the Battle of Leipzig .

Claim and Reality

The reforms were only successful to a limited extent, as the constant need for money and people for the Napoleonic wars drained the country economically. The finances of the kingdom were shattered by constant contributions to France. In addition, against the will of reform-minded ministers and Jeromes, Napoleon left a large part of the once taxable goods to French officers as appanages. Napoleon not only set up his own commission for the administration of these endowment domains, but even made sure, in case of doubt, that the Westphalian subordinate rights did not even come into force there. Areas with reformed property rights, abolished bans and justice were right next to places and lands where these same patrimonial privileges continued to apply. As a result of the shattered finances and the threat of national bankruptcy, forced bonds were issued , the bonds of the Kingdom of Westphalia . The role of financial and military burdens, however, is relativized by recent studies and assessed differently.

The heavy financial burden on the national budget was a problem for many states during this warlike time, but it was also one of those challenges that forced modernization. The financial hardship of the Kingdom of Westphalia accelerated the secularization of church property, which was acquired by wealthy citizens such as the Magdeburg merchant Nathusius , who is considered a pioneer of German industry. Apart from that, the Westphalian state gradually unified the tax system in the previously very differently constituted parts of the country. In many of the former Prussian areas in particular, the Westphalian consumption tax was felt to be significantly lower and less oppressive than the previous excise . The property tax, which weighed on the income from property, was now also required by the formerly tax-exempt noblemen.

The attempts of the formerly privileged to evade taxation commensurate with their income mostly failed because of the efficiency of the Westphalian financial administration, which was able to rely on the support of broad sections of the population in estimating the actual taxable income of those concerned. As part of a major re-assessment of the tax amounts carried out in 1811 and 1812, the property tax on many noble goods increased, while in regions where taxation was difficult in the pre-Westphalian period it even fell for citizens who had not been exempted before, as in the Altmark. Provinces that were previously lightly taxed mostly saw a moderate increase. According to the constitution, the share of property tax in income could not exceed 20%. The proportions of taxed away income from all types of taxes estimated by earlier historians are now viewed as exaggerated. The Westphalian financial administration, which is regarded as ruthless, owes its image in history in part to the uncritical adoption of the testimonies of the formerly privileged class lords.

Spying and police-state repression were supposed to bring the citizens, some bitterly opposed to the new rulers, to reason. In Kurhessen there were repeated uprisings and resistance actions in various places as early as 1806/07. These uprisings were mainly directed against conscription, the previously largely unknown general conscription . The uprising of 1809 led by Wilhelm Freiherr von Dörnberg was the most extensive of these surveys. In the same year, Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig also tried to recapture his father's duchy. However, the population did not join his black band , u. a. because King Jerome married Katharina von Württemberg, a granddaughter of the old duke, and had obtained additional legitimacy.

The population's response to the new state varied regionally and locally. Not all reforms met with approval in every region. The negative reaction of many residents of Kurhessen seems to be clearly different from that of the former Prussians, who quite willingly accepted the new state's institutions. A different development, however, took place in areas with a religious diaspora . Due to the amalgamation of administrative areas of different denominations, the inhabitants repeatedly had different ideas about fair administrative action. Conflicts that so often did not become violent and at first glance did not have any supra-regional impact, resulted in completely different attitudes of the population towards the state and their own development into the modern era. This was clearly shown in Catholic enclaves in otherwise Protestant areas, such as in the former Electorate of Mainz, Eichsfeld . Here the citizens increasingly saw it as the task of the state to represent and protect their rights of participation in the liturgy and the election of priests.

Order of the Westphalian Crown

Order of the Crown of the Kingdom of Westphalia

On December 25, 1809, Jerome Napoleon (the official name of the king) donated an " Order of the Westphalian Crown " in Paris .

End of the kingdom

After the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (1813), the Kingdom of Westphalia dissolved. On September 28, 1813, Cossacks stood in front of Kassel, who took the city under Alexander Tschernyschow on October 1 and declared the kingdom dissolved. When the city was abandoned by the Cossacks after only four days, it was reoccupied by French troops, and Jérôme returned for the last time on October 16, only to evacuate Kassel ten days later. A little later the Electorate of Hesse, Prince William, and a Russian corps moved into the city. With the arrival of Elector Wilhelm I , which did not take place until November 21, the restoration was finally initiated.

Contemporary sources report in many places "jubilation" with which the Cossacks were greeted by the population. Occasionally they also report riots, some of which were directed against former Maires (mayors of the Westphalian era) and partly against the Jews who were emancipated under Westphalian rule . The fortress of Magdeburg , occupied by French troops, only surrendered in May 1814, after Napoleon's abdication. Accordingly, the Westphalian administration remained there up to this point in time.

literature

Modern scientific secondary literature:

  • Oliver Baustian: Trade and Industry of the Kingdom of Westphalia under the sign of the "système continental" - economic and customs reforms, state business promotion and regulation of foreign trade relations 1807–1813 (= publications from the archives of Prussian cultural property research, volume 16). Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-428-15724-2 .
  • Oliver Baustian: The porcelain trade in the Kingdom of Westphalia - trade promotion and competition under the sign of the "système continental". In: Porcelaine royale - Napoleon's importance for Sèvres and Fürstenberg (exhibition catalog Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum). Dresden 2017, pp. 42–55.
  • Helmut Berding : The Kingdom of Westphalia as a Napoleonic model state (1807-1813). In: Lippische Mitteilungen aus Geschichte und Landeskunde 54, 1985, pp. 181–193.
  • Helmut Berding: Napoleonic rule and social policy in the Kingdom of Westphalia 1807-1813 (=  critical studies on historical science . Volume 7). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1973, ISBN 3-525-35958-6 .
  • Helmut Burmeister (ed.): King Jérome and the reformed state of Westphalia. A young monarch caught between enthusiasm and rejection (=  Hessische Forschungen , vol. 47). Hofgeismar 2006.
  • Gerd Dethlefs, Armin Owzar , Gisela Weiß (ed.): Model and Reality. Politics, culture and society in the Grand Duchy of Berg and in the Kingdom of Westphalia. Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2008.
  • Jens Flemming ; Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar (ed.): Foreign rule and freedom. The Kingdom of Westphalia as a Napoleonic model state. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-89958-475-2 . Here in particular the essay by Winfried Speitkamp: Unrest, protest, uprising. Resistance and opposition to the Napoleonic "foreign rule", pp. 133–151.
  • Ewald Grothe : Model or Myth? The Constitution of Westphalia of 1807 and Early German Constitutionalism. In: German Studies Review 28 (2005), pp. 1-19.
  • Ewald Grothe: The constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 . In: Hartwig Brandt , Ewald Grothe (ed.): Rheinbündischer Konstitutionalismus (= legal historical series , vol. 350). Frankfurt a. M. etc. 2007, pp. 31-51.
  • Andreas Hedwig , Klaus Malettke , Karl Murk (eds.): Napoleon and the Kingdom of Westphalia. System of rule and model state policy (=  publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse , vol. 69). Marburg 2008.
  • Jochen Lengemann: Parliaments in Hesse 1808–1813. Biographical manual of the imperial estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia and the assembly of estates of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt (= The Hessen Library in Insel Verlag ). Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-458-16185-6 .
  • Museum Landscape Hessen Kassel (Ed.): King Lustik !? Jérôme Bonaparte and the model state Kingdom of Westphalia. Hessian state exhibition in the Museum Fridericianum Kassel 19.3. – 29.6.2008 (=  catalogs of the museum landscape Hessen Kassel , vol. 39). Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7774-3955-6 .
  • Armin Owzar: France in Westphalia. Constitutionalization and parliamentarization under Napoleon (1806–1813). In: Westfalen 79 (2001), pp. 183-196.
  • Claudie Paye: “ Can speak French”. Communication in the field of tension between languages ​​and cultures in the Kingdom of Westphalia (1807–1813) (=  Paris Historical Studies , vol. 100). Oldenbourg, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-486-71728-0 .
  • Klaus Rob: Government files of the Kingdom of Westphalia 1807-1813 (=  sources on the reforms in the Confederation of the Rhine , Vol. 2). Munich 1992.
  • Bettina Severin-Barboutie: Model state policy in Germany, Berg, Westphalia and Frankfurt in comparison. In: Francia 24 (1997), No. 2, pp. 181-203.
  • Nicola Todorov: Replacement of the “arbitrary Prussian rule” by a “wise and liberal administration”? The Magdeburg and Westphalian states. In: Parthenopolis  1 (2007/2008), pp. 103–126.
  • Nicola Todorov: Finances et fiscalité dans le royaume de Westphalie. In: Revue de l'Institut Napoléon 189 (2004 / II), pp. 7-46.

Literature of the time:

Web links

Commons : Kingdom of Westphalia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Kingdom of Westphalia  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nicola-Peter Todorov: L'administration du royaume de Westphalie de 1807 à 1813. Le département de l'Elbe. Editions universitaires européennes, Saarbrücken 2010, ISBN 978-613-1-54964-9 , p. 145.
  2. ^ Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Gotha 1893, pp. 10-11.
  3. ↑ Moniteur westphalien - gazette officielle; Westphälischer Moniteur - official newspaper of the Kingdom of Westphalia . tape 2 , no. 18 , February 7, 1808, p. 74 .
  4. ^ Thimme: The inner states of the Electorate of Hanover, Bd. II, Hanover 1895, pp. 67-77.
  5. ↑ Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia. 1895, p. 34 f.
  6. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German Constitutional History . Vol. I Reform and Restoration 1789 to 1830. Stuttgart 1961 (ND Stuttgart 1957), p. 88.
  7. ↑ a b Helmut Stubbe da Luz: 'Democratic' and participatory approaches. In: Armin Owzar, Gerd Dethlefs, Gisela Weiß (eds.): Model and Reality. Paderborn u. a. 2008, p. 38.
  8. ^ Stefan Brakensiek: The imperial estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia. In: Westphalian Research - Journal of the Westphalian Institute for Regional History of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe, Vol. 53 (2003), p. 231.
  9. ↑ Helmut Stubbe da Luz: 'Democratic' and participatory approaches. In: Armin Owzar, Gerd Dethlefs, Gisela Weiß (eds.): Model and Reality. Paderborn u. a. 2008, p. 45.
  10. ↑ Hans Boldt (Ed.): Reich und Länder - Texts on German constitutional history in the 19th and 20th centuries. Munich 1987.
  11. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Hanover 1811.
  12. ^ Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Gotha 1894, pp. 160-161, 331.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Kohl : The administration of the eastern departments. Berlin 1937, p. 64ff.
  14. ↑ Rainer Wohlfeil : From the standing army of absolutism to general conscription . In: Friedrich Forstmeier u. a. (Ed.): German military history in six volumes, 1648–1939. Founded by Hans Meier-Welcker . Volume 1, Section II, Pawlak, Herrsching 1983, ISBN 3-88199-112-3 , p. 63 f.
  15. ↑ Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 19. Altenburg 1865, pp. 125-127 ( Link ).
  16. ↑ Information from the Landesmuseum Kassel.
  17. ^ Christophe Duhamelle : Denominational identity as a dispute process. In: Historische Anthropologie, Vol. 11 (2003), pp. 400–402.

Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′  N , 9 ° 30 ′  E