Court chamber

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In the late Middle Ages and early modern times, authorities that administered the sovereign's income were referred to as Hofkammer , Kammer , Kastenamt , Rentkammer or Rentei . The different names are based on local traditions. The designation Rentkammer or Rentei is due to the fact that the income was also referred to as "pensions". Later Rentamt also designated an authority for the administration of manorial income. The term chamber is derived from the term chamber , which is still used today in local financial administration in some regions.

function

To finance the court, infrastructure and army, the sovereign initially resorted to his own financial sources. These included the income from agricultural domains , traditional (land) taxes, the income from regalia , e.g. B. Ungeld , border tariffs and profits from mining . All this income flowed together at the court chamber, which it made available to the royal court for consumption or investment and which paid the officials. Most of the time, the chambers were also responsible for construction . They were also responsible for taking out loans when the income was insufficient to cover the sovereign's financial needs.

As far as the estates approved taxes in a territory , these were mostly not paid to the court chamber, but administered separately.

Further development

With the emergence of the modern state financial administration in the 18th and 19th centuries and the separation of the princely private assets from the state budget, the court chambers continued to exist in some states as the administration of the private assets of the sovereign family (e.g. in Württemberg ). Some of these institutions continue to exist under private law to this day and sometimes continue to use the historical name "Hofkammer" or "Rentkammer", for example the princely court chamber in Bückeburg or the court chamber of the House of Württemberg . The term “Rentamt” or “Rentkammer” can also be found in the church sector for the church's financial administration.

In Bavaria , where the term was used for a particularly long time, the tax offices emerged as financial authorities from the earlier caste offices (from Kasten , also meaning "grain storage"), which were originally used to administer the sovereign chamber property , especially the tithes of agricultural products, later but also that of monetary levies. Since 1802, they were each headed by a rent official (later: Rentamtmann ). In 1919, as is common in the rest of Germany, the authorities were renamed “ Finanzamt ”.

See also

literature

  • Wolfgang Wüst : The court chamber of the prince-bishops of Augsburg. A contribution to the administrative and governing style of clerical states in the 18th century. In: Journal for Bavarian State History. 50, 1987, ISSN  0044-2364 , pp. 543-569, online .