Privilege Maius

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Title page of the copy of the Privilegium maius (1512) made for Emperor Maximilian I. It shows the Austrian shield on which the Austrian archduke's crown (with prongs, bow and cross) is depicted, which is approximated to a royal crown.

The Privilegium maius ( Latin ; "Great Letter of Freedom") is considered to be one of the most skilful forgeries of documents of the Middle Ages, whereby the Habsburg dynasty obtained a number of special rights (privileges) or special rights already granted were summarized in writing. Since the middle of the 15th century, the constitutional foundation for the growing together of the "Austrian" countries they ruled was formed from it.

Contents of the privileges

The forged document complex comprises five documents that were issued as alleged originals:

An elevation of the margraviate or the duchy of Austria to the archduchy is not found in the Privilegium maius. The terms are "ducatus" and "dux", the alleged privilege confirmations, in which the previous privileges (privileges) of the duke or his country are constantly supplemented, but aim at equality with the electors , as they u. a. had been written into the Golden Bull , e.g. B.

  • the indivisibility of countries ;
  • the automatic primogeniture (later expanded in the Pragmatic Sanction );
  • the independent jurisdiction , in which de jure there is no longer the possibility to use a foreign court or to turn to the “royal” or “imperial” court;
  • Symbols of power and ceremonial decorations, e.g. B. the feudal reception on horseback (and not kneeling), the solemn appearance at the feudal act with the ducal hat in the form of the crown of tines and other things.

Legal privileges such as the lowering of military service for the empire or the function of the duke as supreme court lord reduce the imperial prince's duties to the empire to an absolute minimum. Others, such as the indivisibility of the country and the succession of primogeniture, were based on the electoral position. The exercise of government by the senior of the dynasty was also added, which resulted in a restriction of the rights of brothers to participate in the rule.

The Privilegium maius (probably also in the eyes of the emperor) should not have been an outrage, but rather a catalog of maximum demands based on the existing rights of the Habsburgs. Charles IV. B. Already in 1348 Duke Albrecht II of Austria , Rudolf's father, was granted the Privilegium de non evocando , which allowed the creation of the sovereign judicial monopoly, as a helmet jewel he had already wielded a royal crown and his enfeoffment had taken place in a place that was an imperial fief , but was in the Duchy of Austria. What was missing were legal titles that were absolutely solid under imperial law, and that is probably what was originally the aim of the creation of the Privilegium maius .

The Privilegium maius was a legal basis for the further intensification and consolidation of the Habsburg rule. Although Rudolf IV did not succeed in obtaining confirmation from the emperor, he implemented this "program" within his sovereign territory. One of his most important goals here was the elimination of free rulers, an expansion of the sovereign feudal sovereignty as widely as possible and the power of disposal over the property of the clergy.

Most of the time, the Privilegium maius is only reduced to the title of Archduke . In the documents, however, the word “archidux” (Archduke) is only found once, namely as “palatinus archidux” (Palatinate Archduke) in connection with the ceremonial awards that refer to a privileged position of the Habsburg dynasty. With the title Palatinate Archduke, an equal ranking with the three ecclesiastical electors as arch chancellors of the empire (for Germania, Italy and Burgundy) and the secular electors as holders of an imperial treasury (as archbishop, arch chamberlain, arch marshal and arch trustee) is claimed, especially the with the Count Palatine near the Rhine and the Duke of Saxony. The latter two could also claim the imperial vicariate in certain areas as "Count Palatine" in the event of the empire vacancy, the Count Palatine near Rhine in the Swabian and Rhenish areas and in the Franconian legal area, the Duke of Saxony in the Saxon legal area. In addition to an approximation of the position of the king, the imperial vicariate is claimed in the Privilegium maius for all countries and dominions ruled by the Habsburgs. The legitimation as "Palatinate Archduke" is derived in the Privilegium maius from the rule of the Habsburgs over the Duchy of Carinthia. According to the chronicle of Johann von Viktring and an inset in the Schwabenspiegel, the Duke of Carinthia as Reichsjägermeister was supposedly also the owner of a Reichserzamt. After disputes with Charles IV , Rudolf had the title of Archduke since 1361 without the addition of Palatinate, obviously with the tacit consent of his father-in-law.

For the production of the certificates

The Privilegium maius consists of five documents that were created in the winter of 1358/59 on behalf of Duke Rudolf IV of Austria . The performers are unknown. (A participation of Rudolf's Chancellor Johann Ribi von Lenzburg or his councilor Lamprecht von Brunn is suspected, but has not been proven.) According to the concept and the formulation, there must have been legally trained and historically experienced persons among them who carried out the forgery Assignee must have had tremendous calligraphic skill.

The basis of the forgery complex was formed by the imperial certificate Privilegium minus , the "little letter of freedom" of September 17, 1156, which was greatly expanded and whose gold seal was attached to the Privilegium maius . Presumably the original of the Privilegium minus, which has only survived in copies , was then destroyed. Another template was the text conceived in 1245 for the elevation of the Duchy of Austria to a kingdom, which was planned by Emperor Friedrich II , but was never implemented. The creation of convincing documents from the early and high Middle Ages also requires that such documents have at least been available as a template.

In order to clearly summarize the privileges of the House of Austria, Rudolf IV had a Vidimus (a copy certified by several clergy) of the real and forged privileges issued on July 11, 1360.

history

Charles IV, Francesco Petrarca and the Privilegium maius

The Privilegium maius was submitted to Emperor Charles IV from the Luxembourg dynasty at the court conference in Nuremberg in November 1360 for confirmation. A great deal has been written about how Charles IV reacted, the only thing that is clearly documented is that the emperor ultimately treated the privilege as a list of demands that he partially confirmed, partially confirmed in a modified form and Part refused, giving reasons for his decisions.

Research has given various interpretations to the expert opinion that the emperor obtained from Francesco Petrarca . The indignant and disparaging judgment that exists only relates to the document that was allegedly issued on October 4th, 1058 by King Henry IV's office for Margrave Ernst of Austria. This contains the confirmation of two documents issued by the Roman "emperors" Julius Caesar and Nero , the alleged wording of which is advertised . According to these, the historical region of Noricum was already granted special rights under them. It is not clear whether Charles IV presented the entire set of documents to Petrarch or whether the emperor only sought his opinion with regard to the two pseudo-ancient texts, since Petrarch was considered one of the best experts on Roman antiquity at the time. Petrarch himself obviously considered the document to be genuine, but not its content, and he would have assumed that the chancellery of Henry IV, which allegedly had issued it, was a forgery. His derogatory remark about the author, whom he describes as an arch prankster, a roaring ox and a screaming donkey, is likely to have related to this office. In an essay from 2018, the question is discussed for the first time that the "Petrarca report" was not about a factual, sober report as a basis for decision-making, but a text that could be evaluated for a political debate.

After lengthy conflicts with Charles IV, Rudolf IV limited himself from 1361 to enforcing the demands of the Privilegium maius within those countries and dominions that were clearly ruled by him or his dynasty. Some of his successors have continued this policy. .

Another story after Charles IV.

On March 25, 1421, Karl's son Sigmund , another Luxembourger, as Roman-German king , Duke Albrecht V of Austria solemnly enfeoffed him with his lands and, as part of this enfeoff, also confirmed his Privilegium maius.

In the summer of 1442, the Habsburg Frederick III confirmed. as the Roman-German king the Privilegium maius of his own house, with the consent of the electors of Mainz, Brandenburg and Saxony. On January 6, 1453, already as emperor , he carried out a second confirmation in favor of his brother Albrecht VI. through, which at the same time included an essential extension, which mainly concerned the Archduke title. On the basis of these two confirmations, the Privilegium maius established itself as the constitutional foundation for the merging of the Austrian states from the middle of the 15th century, a development that has been observable since its creation and became the fundamental constitutional charter in the "Austrian" Land until the creation of the Austrian Empire. According to the research of the Albrecht biographer Langmaier, the real practical purpose of the archduke survey was to prevent the possibility of royal appellation, which should bring about the general strengthening of Habsburg rule.

The emperors Rudolf II. And Karl VI. reaffirmed the legal force of the "freedom letters". With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Privilegium maius lost its meaning. It was not until 1852, many years later, that Wilhelm Wattenbach definitely proved it to be a forgery.

literature

  • Heinrich Appelt : On the diplomatic assessment of the Privilegium maius. In: Basic Sciences and History. Festschrift for Peter Acht. Lassleben, Kallmünz i. d. Opf. 1976, ISBN 3-7847-4415-X , ( Munich historical studies - Department of Historical Auxiliary Sciences 15), pp. 210–217.
  • Günther Hödl: The confirmation and expansion of the Austrian letters of freedom by Emperor Friedrich III. In: Forgeries in the Middle Ages. International Congress of Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Munich 1986. Volume 3: Diplomatic forgeries. Part 1, Hahn, Hanover 1988, ISBN 3-7752-5158-8 ( Writings of Monumenta Germaniae Historica 33, 3), pp. 225–246.
  • Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. von Österreich (1418–1463), a prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire (research on the history of emperors and popes in the Middle Ages). Volume 38. Cologne 2015, p. 239 ff.
  • Alfons Lhotsky : Privilegium maius. The story of a document. Oldenbourg, Munich 1957 ( Austria Archive 2).
  • Thomas Just - Kathrin Kininger - Andrea Sommerlechner - Herwig Weigl (eds.): Privilegium maius . Autopsy, context and career of the forgeries of Rudolf IV of Austria (= publications by the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Vol. 69; also: Communications from the Austrian State Archives. Special Volume 15). Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar, 2018. ISBN 978-3-205-20049-9
  • Werner Maleczek : Privilegium maius. Privilege minus . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 7, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7608-8907-7 , Sp. 230 f. (handles the authentic and the forged document).
  • Peter Moraw : The Privilegium maius and the imperial constitution. In: Forgeries in the Middle Ages. International Congress of Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Munich 1986. Part 3: Diplomatic forgeries. Hahn, Hannover 1988, ISBN 3-7752-5158-8 ( writings of Monumenta Germaniae Historica 33, 3), pp. 201-224.
  • Alois Niederstätter : Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X
  • Eva Schlotheuber : The Privilegium maius - a Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007, pp. 143-165. http://www.univie.ac.at/igl.geschichte/rauscher/ss2010/Schlotheuber_maius.pdf (A representation from the point of view and with support for Charles IV.)
  • Wilhelm Wattenbach : The Austrian letters of freedom. Verification of their authenticity and research into their creation. In: Archive for customer Austrian historical sources 8. , 1852, ISSN  1013-1264 , pp. 77–119.

Web links

Commons : Privilegium maius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Short video and summary. Kunsthistorisches Museum in cooperation with the State Archives: Privilegium maius and its history. Retrieved April 3, 2020 .
  2. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 147f.
  3. a b http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/kultdoku/kataloge/20/html/1818.htm
  4. http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/kultdoku/kataloge/20/html/1818.htm ; a more detailed description can be found in Alois Niederstätter: Österreichische Geschichte 1278–1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , pp. 147-151.
  5. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Verlag Ueberreuter, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 151. The essay by Eva Schlotheuber: Das Privilegium maius - one shows that an assessment of the Privilegium maius also depends on the priorities of a scientific investigation Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007. Here everything is subordinated to a lifelong, all-encompassing power struggle that Rudolf IV tries to wage against Charles IV. Such an approach to interpretation, as interesting as it is, absolutely cannot do justice to the actual historical role and significance of the privilege maius .
  6. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 159.
  7. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , pp. 149f.
  8. a b Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Verlag Ueberreuter, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 154.
  9. ^ Eva Schlotheuber: The Privilegium maius - a Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007, p. 147, counts the two advertised documents from Caesar and Nero as including and therefore comes to seven documents.
  10. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 146 and Eva Schlotheuber: The Privilegium maius - a Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007, p. 146f.
  11. a b Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 146.
  12. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Verlag Ueberreuter, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 149. According to Eva Schlotheuber: The Privilegium maius - a Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007, pp. 149f., Rudolf only thereby gave the Privilegium maius public recognition, which subsequently made it impossible for Charles IV to simply ignore the Privilegium maius . According to Vreni Dangl: The Archduke and his Bishop . Bishop Gottfried von Passau and Duke Rudolf IV of Austria in the context of the Austrian letters of freedom. In: Thomas Just - Kathrin Kininger - Andrea Sommerlechner - Herwig Weigl (eds.): Privilegium maius. Autopsy, context and career of the forgeries of Rudolf IV of Austria (= publications by the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Vol. 69; also: Communications from the Austrian State Archives. Special Volume 15). Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar, 2018. ISBN 978-3-205-20049-9 . P. 107f., Rudolf made sure by means of the visualization that when negotiating with the emperor about the confirmation of his documents he did not have to leave the originals to him for appraisal.
  13. ^ Eva Schlotheuber: The Privilegium maius - a Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007, p. 152. (Whether there was a first attempt for a confirmation in the spring of 1359 is suspected, but has not yet been clearly proven.)
  14. ^ Eva Schlotheuber: The Privilegium maius - a Habsburg forgery in the struggle for rank and influence. In: The Birth of Austria. 850 years of privilege minus. Regensburg 2007, p. 155.
  15. So z. B. with Heinrich Koller: Emperor Friedrich III. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2005, p. 23.
  16. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 149.
  17. cf. Elisabeth Klecker: Criticism of Authenticity - Invective - Self-Staging . Francesco Petrarca on the pseudo-antique insert in the Heinricianum (Sen. 16,5). In: Thomas Just - Kathrin Kininger - Andrea Sommerlechner - Herwig Weigl (eds.): Privilegium maius. Autopsy, context and career of the forgeries of Rudolf IV of Austria (= publications by the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Vol. 69; also: Communications from the Austrian State Archives. Special Volume 15). Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar, 2018. ISBN 978-3-205-20049-9 . Pp. 193-212, especially pp. 200ff.
  18. http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/kultdoku/kataloge/20/html/1818.htm ; a more detailed description can be found in Alois Niederstätter: Österreichische Geschichte 1278–1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. Verlag Ueberreuter, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3526-X , p. 154.
  19. Walter Kleindel: Austria Chronicle. History and culture data. 1978, p. 83.
  20. ^ Heinrich Koller : Emperor Friedrich III. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2005, p. 134f.
  21. Sabrina Vaschauner, Mario Drußnitzer, Markus Ertl: Austrian and European Legal History of public law. ( PDF ), accessed on January 4, 2017, p. 27.
  22. Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: : Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire . Ed .: Research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. tape 38 . Cologne 2015, p. 239 ff .