Consensual rule

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In historical studies, consensual rule describes the interaction of king and prince as an essential characteristic of medieval rule.

In the 19th century, research was still based on a contradiction between king and prince. National liberal historians focused on the princes' share in the decline of royal power. In recent research, the participation of the princes in the royal rule is regarded as "part of the naturally practiced consensual decision-making structure". Royal action was aimed at the approval of the greats concerned . The consensual bond between rule was established in oral and personal consultations, often prepared by confidential preliminary declarations. As a result, meetings and consultations aimed at establishing consensus became an important object of medieval research. The request was a frequently used form of behavior in consensus building and consultation. Behind the request was a massive demand that practically forced a consensus. However, this means obscured the coercion. Given the importance of honor and prestige, the petition gave the prayer the opportunity to give generously. Consensual rule was publicly staged through rituals. As a result, all participants were tied more closely to the consensus decision, since "their prestige depended on adherence to what was publicly stated". Bernd Schneidmüller called this domination practice "consensual rule". Steffen Patzold expanded the concept of “consensual rule” to include the factor of competition among the great for access to the “circle of the king's leading advisors”. The practice of consensual rule did not require a consensus with all the great, but with those who, given their rank and presence at court, set the tone. The greats, feeling particularly neglected, insisted strongly on consensus and consilium . Consensual rule encompasses all possibilities of influencing intrigue and manipulation, favoring and taking advantage and is not to be equated with constant harmony. The consensus could literally be enforced, also by force. The political weight of the nobility and the church was strengthened through the consultation with the clerical and secular greats.

In the 10th and 11th centuries, public consultations took on an important function for the consensual system of rule in emergency situations in which rule was endangered. As a result, however, there was also a deviation from the publication of the decisions made in secret through symbolic communication . In the 10th century the obligation of the king to decide by consensus with his followers increased significantly. In the 11th century, the rule of Henry IV got into a crisis mainly because he had discussed upcoming problems with the wrong people. Heinrich V initially seemed to have learned from his father's mistakes , as he ruled in consensus with the greats for several years. After his coronation as emperor in 1111, however, he turned away from joint rule with the princes and switched to earlier autocratic forms of rule of the Salians . According to Amalie Fößel , the consensus of the greats of the empire “probably ultimately establishes the actual legitimation for reigns and for any rule in the medieval empire”.

As early as 1979, Jürgen Hannig showed in a study of the Merovingian - Carolingian period that rule over the free since the 9th century was not possible without the establishment of a consensus between the rulers and the ruled. However, Hannig saw the integration of the greats in the rule of the king less as a general feature of medieval royal rule, but as an expression of the ideology of rule in the Carolingian era.

The remarks by Bernd Schneidmüller on consensual rule have been taken up in many medieval research. Stefan Weinfurter supplemented Schneidmüller's remarks for the time since the 11th century with the idea of ​​the totality of the empire. The king should not be the ruler of the individual ( singulorum ) but the "ruler of the whole" ( rex universorum ). The princes, together with the king, saw themselves as universitas that were jointly responsible for the empire. Medieval rule was therefore less command and obedience, but was based primarily on building consensus in deliberations. The insight into consensual forms of rule in the Middle Ages is considered one of the most important findings of the last decades in medieval studies .

literature

  • Thomas Ertl : Consensual rule as an intercultural concept. In: Matthias Becher , Stephan Conermann, Linda Dohmen (eds.): Power and rule transcultural. Premodern configurations and perspectives of research (= power and domination. Vol. 1). V & R unipress, Göttingen 2018, ISBN 978-3-8471-0881-8 , pp. 123-143.
  • Bernd Schneidmüller : Consensual rule. An essay on forms and concepts of political order in the Middle Ages. In: In: Paul-Joachim Heinig, Sigrid Jahns, Hans-Joachim Schmidt, Rainer Christoph Schwinges, Sabine Wefers (eds.): Empire, regions and Europe in the Middle Ages and modern times. Festschrift for Peter Moraw (= historical research. Vol. 67). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2000, pp. 53-87 ( online ).
  • Verena Epp , Christoph HF Meyer: Law and consensus in the early Middle Ages (= lectures and research. Vol. 82). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2017, ISBN 978-3-7995-6882-1 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Bernd Schneidmüller: Consensual rule. An essay on forms and concepts of political order in the Middle Ages. In: Paul-Joachim Heinig, Sigrid Jahns, Hans-Joachim Schmidt, Rainer Christoph Schwinges, Sabine Wefers (eds.): Empire, regions and Europe in the Middle Ages and modern times. Festschrift for Peter Moraw. Berlin 2000, pp. 53-87, here: p. 75 ( online ).
  2. ^ Basically Gerd Althoff: Colloquium familiare - colloquium secretum - colloquium publicum. Advice on political life in the early Middle Ages. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 24 (1990), pp. 145-167.
  3. ↑ Comprehensively see Gerd Althoff: Control of Power. Forms and rules of political advice in the Middle Ages. Darmstadt 2016.
  4. ↑ See Claudia Garnier: The culture of request. Rule and communication in the medieval empire. Darmstadt 2008.
  5. ↑ Gerd Althoff: Control of Power. Forms and rules of political advice in the Middle Ages. Darmstadt 2016, p. 26.
  6. ↑ Hagen Keller : Ritual, Symbolism and Visualization in the Culture of the Ottonian Empire. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien Vol. 35 (2001), pp. 23–59, here: p. 57.
  7. ↑ The quote from Gerd Althoff : Colloquium familiäre - colloquium secretum - colloquium publicum. Advice on political life in the early Middle Ages. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 24 (1990), pp. 145–167, here: 146. Cf. also Sarah Thieme: “'So may all people know' - functions of public advice in the 10th and 11th centuries.” In : Early Medieval Studies , Vol. 46 (2012). Pp. 157–189, here: p. 161.
  8. ↑ Bernd Schneidmüller: Consensual rule. An essay on forms and concepts of political order in the Middle Ages. In: Paul-Joachim Heinig (Ed.): Empire, regions and Europe in the Middle Ages and modern times. Festschrift for Peter Moraw. Berlin 2000, pp. 53-87.
  9. ↑ Steffen Patzold: Consensus and Competition. Thoughts on a current research concept in Medieval Studies. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 41 (2007), pp. 75-103, here: p. 78.
  10. ↑ Steffen Patzold: Consensus and Competition. Thoughts on a current research concept in Medieval Studies. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 41 (2007), pp. 75-103, here: p. 88.
  11. ↑ Gerd Althoff: Functioning of royal rule in the high Middle Ages. In: History in Science and Education , Vol. 63 (2012), H. 9/10, P. 536-550, here: P. 544.
  12. ^ Roman Deutinger : Royal rule in the East Franconian Empire. A pragmatic constitutional history of the late Carolingian era. Ostfildern 2006, p. 254ff.
  13. ↑ Gerd Althoff, Hagen Keller: Late Antiquity to the End of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, pp. 348, 353.
  14. ↑ Cf. Sarah Thieme: “'So may all people know' - functions of public consultation in the 10th and 11th centuries.” In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 46 (2012), pp. 157-189.
  15. ↑ Gerd Althoff, Hagen Keller: Late Antiquity to the End of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, p. 354. Gerd Althoff: The Ottonian Empire as regnum Francorum? In: Joachim Ehlers (Hrsg.): Germany and Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2002, pp. 235-261.
  16. ^ Jürgen Dendorfer : Heinrich V. Kings and Great at the end of the Salier period. In: Tilman Struve (Ed.): The Salians, the Reich and the Lower Rhine. Vienna 2008, pp. 115–170.
  17. ↑ Amalie Fößel: The Queen in the Medieval Empire. Exercise of power, rights of power, scope for action. Stuttgart 2000, p. 331 digitized
  18. ^ Jürgen Hannig: Consensus fidelium. Early feudal interpretations of the relationship between royalty and nobility using the example of the Franconian Empire. Stuttgart 1982.
  19. ↑ For the Carolingian period cf. Roman Deutinger: Royal rule in the East Franconian Empire. A pragmatic constitutional history of the late Carolingian era. Ostfildern 2006, pp. 225-272; on the High Middle Ages: Jutta Schlick: King, Prince and Empire (1056–1159). Understanding of power in transition. Stuttgart 2001 ( digitized version ); Monika Suchan: Princely opposition to royalty in the 11th and 12th centuries as a designer of medieval statehood. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 37 (2003), pp. 141–165; Jürgen Dendorfer: Fidi milites? The Hohenstaufen and Emperor Heinrich V. In: Hubertus Seibert , Jürgen Dendorfer (Ed.): Counts, dukes, kings. The rise of the early Hohenstaufen and the empire. Ostfildern 2005, pp. 213-265; Jürgen Dendorfer: Mutual Authority - Princely Participation in the Empire of the 13th Century. In: Hubertus Seibert, Werner Bomm, Verena Türck (eds.): Authority and acceptance. The empire in 13th century Europe. Ostfildern 2013, pp. 27–41.
  20. ↑ Stefan Weinfurter: The Empire in the Middle Ages. Brief German history from 500 to 1500. Munich 2008, p. 99 f.