Constitutio de feudis

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The Constitutio de feudis , also Edictum de beneficiis regni Italici , is a feudal law enacted on May 28, 1037 by Emperor Conrad II in Cremona , with which he decreed the inheritance of the lower fiefdoms in imperial Italy . The Latin word feudum or feodum means fiefdom; not to be confused with feud ( feud ).

The background was the emperor's second Italian train. In Lombardy , the bishops and archbishops, especially Aribert of Milan and their supreme liege holders, the so-called Capitanei with their sub-vassals, faced each other , the Valvassors . In order to weaken the Capitanei, the bishops had begun to withdraw their fiefs from the Valvassors. An expanding uprising by the Milanese Valvassors against the actions of Archbishop Aribert called Emperor Conrad II to Northern Italy in 1036, because Conrad's rule in Imperial Italy was based to a large extent on the clout of the Capitanei and Valvassors.

"To reconcile the lords ( seniores ) and the vassals ( milites )," he proclaimed the Constitutio de feudis .

According to this, “no vassal should lose his fief, except after a proper verdict of his peers.” In addition, every fief, regardless of whether that of a high or low noble , should from now on be hereditary: “If a feudal man leaves this world, his son likes it Have a fief. ”If there was no son, the fief went to the grandson. Until now , this had only been granted to the higher nobles in the Quierzy Chapter , which was issued by Emperor Charles the Bald in 877 .

In fact, in this way it was possible to end the dispute in northern Italy so that Konrad could move on to southern Italy. In the long term, however, this did not resolve the conflict over imperial rule in Italy, which was to represent a persistent problem into modern times.

literature

  • Franz-Reiner Erkens : Konrad II. (Around 990-1039); Rule and empire of the first Salier emperor . Pustet, Regensburg 1998. ISBN 3-7917-1604-2
  • Hagen Keller : The edictum de beneficiis of Conrad II and the development of feudalism in the first half of the 11th century , in: Il feudalesimo nell′alto medioevo, Spoleto 2000 (Settimane di studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull′Alto Medioevo 47) , Pp. 227-257.
  • Werner Trillmich , ed. from the estate of Otto Bardong's author : Kaiser Konrad II. und seine Zeit , Europa-Union-Verlag, Bonn 1991.
  • Wipo : Deeds of Emperor Konrad II , retransmitted by Werner Trillmich in sources of the 9th and 11th centuries on the history of the Hamburg Church and the Empire . ISBN 3-534-00602-X

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edictum de beneficiis regni italici Dizionari online, accessed on June 21, 2020 (Italian).
  2. ^ Rodolfo Huber, Ruedi Graf: Capitanei di Locarno Historical Lexicon of Switzerland , December 1, 2008.
  3. ↑ May 28, 1037: Konrad II creates hereditary fiefdom ..de , May 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ Kay Bandermann: ZeitZeichen: May 28, 1037 - Signing of the Lehnsgesetz WDR , May 28, 2017.