Provincial estates of the Fulda Abbey
The estates of the pen Fulda were the landständische representation of chivalry , church and towns of the secular dominion pin Fulda .
history
The unions
The Fulda Abbey was the donor of a large number of individual fiefs . In the Middle Ages, communication between the prince abbot and his vassals took place via court days .
In the 14th century, the estates first articulated themselves in unions . These were initially informal meetings of allied corporations. So at the unification on November 19, 1380 knights and the cities of Fulda , Vacha and Hammelburg were represented. The reason was the prince's poor ability to defend the territory and the frequent pledging of properties.
The most important unification was that of January 25, 1382. Here the knights, cities, the collegiate chapter and representatives of monastic communities met. After the fall of Prince Abbot Konrad IV , it was decided to set up a guardianship . A standing committee was set up as an instrument to assert the interests of the estates.
On August 20, 1384, on March 21, 1386 and on February 22, 1387 there were further agreements. On March 12, 1387, the Würzburg bishop and Würzburg cities, later also Hessian cities, joined the unification.
Already under Prince Abbot Friedrich I (1383-1395), the unification and the standing committee largely lost its importance. The main reason was the withdrawal of the knighthood, who feared that the prince could use this instrument to expand his own jurisdiction. In addition, the general peace in 1389 had satisfied the estates' need for security.
The chapter
As ecclesiastical and at the same time secular rule, the representation of the clergy had a double role: as a chapter they chose the prince abbot and were thus part of the rule, as part of the estates they represented their local interests.
With the conclusion of the “Old Statutes” on September 1, 1395 (also known as “permanent election surrender”), the rights of the chapter were codified. The chapter managed to use the power struggle between the two candidates as prince abbot, Johann von Merlau (1395-1440) and the collegiate dean Karl von Bibra, to significantly strengthen its own power. But the rights of knighthood were also reaffirmed in the old statutes.
As a central right, the chapter received the tax approval right, but also rights of participation in pledges.
The statutes of July 25, 1410 extended the rights of the chapter: Now all political, legal and constitutional changes had to be discussed in the chapter assembly.
While, on the one hand , the participation of the class was significantly more pronounced than that of other imperial classes, the participation of the knighthood and cities was low. While the knighthood was in agreement with this situation because, conversely, they increased their independence from the abbot (they were promised tax exemption and a preferred jurisdiction in the so-called court of paradise), the cities were poorly protected against the abbot's tax claims.
Origin of the estates
With the increasing territorialization, the estates formalized in many areas. In the Fulda Abbey, the knights met on August 12, 1510 and decided on a mutual assistance pact against feuds, which was formulated so generally that it could also be directed against the sovereign, and the establishment of a court of arbitration, which the calling of the Fulda Court court should handle. In the future, annual meetings were agreed upon at which a spokesperson was to be elected.
This alliance became important five years later. Prince Abbot Hartmann Burggraf von Kirberg was a man of ambition and had the Emperor and Pope incorporate the Hersfeld Abbey into the Fulda Abbey. This cost a lot of money and met fierce resistance from the Landgraviate of Hesse . In order to secure support in his own country, the prince had to invite knights and cities to a meeting in early March 1515. The knighthood and cities refused to support, forcing the prince abbot on the one hand to have a (inconclusive) day of comparison with Landgrave Anna von Hessen and to invite the first Landtag in March 1516 to demand accountability for his policies there.
Chapters, knights and cities took part in the Landtag. The estates demanded the appointment of a coadjutor (named Johann von Henneberg , who was only 13 years old , whose father Wilhelm spoke for him) and the prince abbot's withdrawal to a purely formal role. The prince should be accountable to the state parliament for his personal expenses.
The prince abbot fled to Hammelburg on March 9, 1516 and now sought support from Landgravine Anna (to whom he gave the certificate of incorporation) and the Archbishop of Mainz. Mainz invited to a settlement day in Aschaffenburg, which brought no agreement. On August 16, 1516, after consultation with the knighthood and cities, the chapter decided to elect Hennemann as abbot in the event of Hartmann's resignation or death.
After long negotiations, on April 23, 1518 in Mainz a comparison was made between Hartmann and Dechant and Kapitel, also knighthood and landscape of the Fulda monastery. Dean Philipp Schenck zu Schweinsberg became secular, provost Eberhard von Buches spiritual ruler. Hartmann only retained formal sovereignty and received defined income. Hartmann resigned in 1521 and Johann von Henneberg was elected as the chapter's successor in 1522.
The role of the estates was further strengthened after the peasant uprisings in 1525. With a contract dated April 22, 1525, Johann gave in to the demands of the rebels, but at the same time moved Philip of Hesse to take military action. As a result, Johann came back to his rule, but had to commit to high payments to Philip. These and later the imperial tax demands due to the Turkish wars forced the abbot to regular institutionalized convocation of the estates until 1662. After 1662 there were still diets on June 20, 1702 and June 25, 1716.
With a few exceptions, the state parliaments in Fulda took place in the castle and from the middle of the 17th century in the town hall.
The power of the estates ended at the end of the 17th century (even if it existed on paper until the end of the HRR ). In the spirit of absolutism, power passed to the prince-bishop. In particular, the stand's core task, tax approval, lost its importance. The tax system had been systematized and tax collection was summarized in the court chamber . The estates remained in place, but were no longer convened for state parliaments. The Fulda Abbey (now elevated to the status of a prince-bishopric ) was abolished with the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 and fell to Nassau-Orange . In 1806 the area became part of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt . There was the assembly of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt , which indirectly became the successor to the Fulda estates.
Curiae
First there were the three curiae of the clergy (here: the chapter), the knighthood and the cities. From 1599 the collegiate monasteries are named as the fourth curia. These were secular clergymen who live according to rules similar to those of an order and were active in pastoral care in certain districts.
literature
- Berthold Jäger: The ecclesiastical principality of Fulda in the early modern period: sovereignty, estates and princely administration, chapter The estates of Fulda Abbey , pp. 152–268, 1986, ISBN 3-7708-0826-6