Church immunity

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In the Church's immunity is a special legal status of the Middle Ages , of a religious institution (eg. As the monastery ) or person (eg. As bishop ) of a King was awarded.

The term immunity ( lat . Immunitas "the freedom from services", therefore exemption from duties and taxes) comes from the Roman legal language . In the Middle Ages, immunity was used to describe the exemption of people, places and possessions from taxes, services and burdens or from secular interventions.

history

This development began in the Carolingian era and continued into the era of the Ottonian-Salian kings. The granting of immunity was intended to strengthen royal rule over the church and reduce the influence of the nobility. By granting immunity to a monastery by the king, the property of the monastery was removed from the jurisdiction of the respective count. A legal area with a special status was created: the immunity district .

The monastery was now directly subordinate to the king. This is also known as imperial immediacy . Royal officials ( aristocracy ) were no longer allowed to enter this immunity area to carry out their official business (collecting taxes or holding a court). The immunity, however, did not contain any exemption from the duties levied in the empire or from military service.

The abbot had now become spiritual lord of immunity. He was given the tasks that the count had previously held. To carry out these tasks and to ensure the structure of rule within the immunity, bailiffs were appointed. These were laypeople and, unlike the clergy, had legal authority and were able to take arms. Because of the ban on the use of force for clergymen, clerics were not fully capable of military service and were therefore subject to the spirits of a person capable of military service.

The monastery was autonomous and was allowed or had to hold court itself over the people living here, but they were not completely withdrawn from secular jurisdiction. In the case of serious crimes, the respective lord of immunity was obliged to bring his inmates to justice. Lawsuits by inmates of immunity against third parties were also settled in “public” courts. However, if third parties took legal action against immunity inmates or against each other, this fell within the remit of the respective immunity master.

Since Louis the Pious (778 to 840), ecclesiastical immunity has been very closely linked to the protection of kings, and thus also to kingship. This made the connection between the king and the (imperial) monastery even closer.

The king had the right to appoint an abbot of his choice. This enabled the king to secure his influence over the monastery, because he gave the abbeys to loyal followers, members of the nobility, provided they had sufficient spiritual training. Mostly they had received these beforehand in the king's court chapel. During the Carolingian period and up to the 9th century, these offices were also given to laypeople. Many abbots strove to become abbots of several abbeys because of political ambition, as this way they could gain great political influence. This is why the abbot was often no longer present in the monastery himself.

Functions and duties of the monasteries

The promotion of the monasteries was not only based on the religious background, the monastery also had duties to fulfill: prayer services, not only for kings and their families, but also for their ancestors. Furthermore, the monasteries had to pay annual taxes (lat. Dona regia): it is mentioned in a document in 854 that the monastery of St. Gallen had to deliver two horses and two shields with lances every year.

Imperial monasteries were obliged to perform the servitium regis (lat. Royal service). First of all, it was about the royal gazing : the king and his entourage had the right to take advantage of the hospitality and accommodation of the respective monastery. This represented a great burden for the respective monastery, but was also felt as a great honor. However, the monasteries were primarily used by the kings to pray. Government affairs were more likely to be carried out in palaces and dioceses.

Second, there was military service : in the event of war, abbots led contingents from convent vassals. Both imperial monasteries and dioceses had almost the same number of armored riders. Abbots often had special duties to fulfill: they were often sent on diplomatic missions or used as royal messengers and were often present at the royal court, as can be seen from interventions in royal documents. Abbot Grimald of St. Gallen (841 - 872) was also the abbot of the Weissenburg Monastery in Alsace, but primarily he was Arch Chancellor of Ludwig the German (around 806 to 876) and rarely stayed in the monastery.

After royal rule over the monasteries, there were occasional misappropriations : since there were no prisons yet, the king ordered compulsory admissions to the monastery. This mainly concerned political prisoners, but royal sons were also forcibly committed. So Karlmann, a son of Charles the Bald (823-877), was blinded and, since he was now dependent on care, referred to the monastery. This practice is known as "monk" and was in most cases a pardon from the death penalty .

See also

literature

Web links

  • Peter CA Schels: Immunity Small Encyclopedia of the German Middle Ages, 2015
  • Dietmar Willoweit : Immunity Concise Dictionary on German Legal History HRG, Volume II, Berlin 2016

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Pfeiffer: Rheinische Transitzölle in the Middle Ages. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-05-003177-8 , p. 547, (also: Trier, Universität, Dissertation, 1996).