Council nation

Council nations were a new form of organization within the councils that developed in the late Middle Ages . At the Council of Constance (1414–1418), the geographical division of this nation was an integral part of controversy.

The council nations were divided into two types: on the one hand, the nationes principales , who were empowered to make decisions within the councils and were relevant for voting, but had no secular existence outside the councils; on the other hand, the nationes particulares , which stood for secular domains, linguistic communities or communities of descent.

At the Council of Constance the nationes Italica, Gallicana, Germanica (with Scandinavia, Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary, Bohemia) and Anglica existed. Later these were supplemented by Hispanica.

literature

• Caspar Hirschi: Competition of Nations. Constructions of a German community of honor at the turn of the Middle Ages to the modern age. Wallstein, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-936-8 (also revised dissertation at the University of Freiburg im Üechtland , 2004).