Palatinate administration dispute

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The Palatinate administration dispute was a dispute over power between the Lutheran and Reformed parties in the Electoral Palatinate in the years 1592–1594.

the initial situation

Guardianship of Johann Kasimir

Count Palatine Johann Kasimir became regent of the Electoral Palatinate for the still underage son of his brother Friedrich IV. , As his father, Elector Ludwig VI. Died in 1583. Count Palatine Johann Kasimir was decidedly reformed and forced the elector, who was originally raised in a Lutheran manner, to adopt this denomination as well . Johann Kasimir died in 1592, a few weeks before his ward's 18th birthday.

The reformed party

The government of Elector Friedrich IV. Was controlled and determined by strictly reformed court councilors well beyond the end of his adulthood, who were in close contact with the predominantly Calvinist noble families organized in the Wetterau Imperial Counts College .

The Lutheran Duke Reichard von Simmern

After the death of Johann Kasimir, the ward's next agnate , the Lutheran Count Palatine Reichard von Pfalz-Simmern , was appointed guardian . Upon hearing of the death of Johann Kasimir, he immediately hurried from his residence in Simmern to Heidelberg , where a first, violent argument broke out between him and his councilors and those of the elector.

The legal situation

The legal situation was initially clear: the elector was not yet of legal age. The Heidelberg councilors bridged this with the weak argument that the elector would have his 18th birthday in a few weeks and that he would not get much smarter in the few weeks. In fact, they denied Duke Reichard access to the control points of power and forced the subjects to pay homage to the elector.

After this first phase, the legal situation became more complicated:

  • Due to the Golden Bull , electors came of age at the age of 18;
  • On the basis of two documents from Emperor Sigismund from 1414 and 1434, it was possible to extend the guardianship in the Electoral Palatinate until the age of 25

The legal background to these different legal age dates is that in the course of the adoption of Roman law in Germany under common law, the age of majority was shifted from 18 to 25 years of age. The question now arose as to which law was applicable to the specific case and whether it only applied to the Kurlande or to the entire Palatinate property. A heated dispute broke out between the parties about this.

course

The central point was the denominational question: return and expansion of Lutheranism to the Electoral Palatinate or preservation of the denominational status quo ? This was of great importance, since all subjects had to follow the denomination of the sovereign due to the rule " cuius regio, eius religio ".

External influences

  • The emperor was remarkably neutral: although he immediately congratulated Elector Friedrich IV on taking office, he delayed the granting of the imperial fiefs to Friedrich - it only took place two and a half years after Friedrich took office and after the administrative dispute ended.
  • The other electors did not have a unified opinion. At the emperor's instigation, they formed a committee that was supposed to take care of the matter, but it didn't really get going, partly because the other parties refused to work, and at least produced no result.
  • It was no different with the rest of the “foreign country”, which intervened verbally in some cases, including Queen Elizabeth of England , but was unable to exert any influence due to the lack of a uniform line. This was even true for
  • the co-guardians of Johann Kasimir, who continued to officiate formally and were all Lutheran: Duke Ludwig of Württemberg , Margrave Georg Friedrich I of Ansbach and Landgrave Ludwig IV of Hesse-Marburg . The Duke of Württemberg clearly took the Lutheran side, the other two at least acted neutrally.
  • The other agnates of the House of Wittelsbach either behaved neutrally or leaned towards the Reformed Heidelberg faction.

Internal solution

The solution to the conflict was achieved through two completely different factors: The economically precarious situation of the Duke of Simmern and his old age and the illness associated with it from 1594. In the end, Reichard was defeated in the two years of conflict because on the one hand he was dependent on the payments from Heidelberg, on the other hand he fell seriously ill in 1594 - presumably he had a stroke - could barely speak and was only able to act to a very limited extent. So at the end of the dispute he was able to get the Electoral Palatinate to take over his debts again, but on the other hand his expenses were now controlled via the Heidelberger Hof, so he was practically incapacitated. He had taken over the administration dispute. The result was not his intended introduction of Lutheranism in the Electoral Palatinate, but ultimately the introduction of the Reformed denomination in the Duchy of Simmern.

literature

  • Hans-Georg Sturm: Count Palatine Reichard von Simmern 1521–1598 . Diss. Mainz. Trier 1968.