Regensburg Electoral Congress (1630)

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The Regensburg Electoral Congress took place from July to November 1630. For Ferdinand II it meant a significant weakening of the imperial position of power.

prehistory

After the end of the Reichstag in 1613, there were no more Reichstag in the following almost three decades against the backdrop of the Thirty Years' War . In 1623, the emperor called the Regensburg Princes' Congress, which he dominated . Remains of class representation also took place during the war at some district assemblies of the imperial districts and the electoral days of 1619, 1627, 1630, 1636 and 1640.

The Electoral Day of 1630 was preceded by the Edict of Restitution by Emperor Ferdinand II and the conclusion of the Peace of Lübeck after Denmark's defeat by Wallenstein. The emperor was therefore in a favorable position to achieve his goals.

Course and results

For electors in Regensburg of 1630 as has archchancellor the Elector of Mainz Anselm Casimir Wambolt of Umstadt invited. The meeting was opened on July 3rd by Emperor Ferdinand II. The Catholic Electors were personally present, while Saxony and Brandenburg were represented by envoys.

The French delegation played a special role. Although she was represented by the professional diplomat Charles Brûlart de Léon , the Père Joseph headed the French legation. Behind the scenes, the friar promoted the recall of Wallenstein and, through passionate propaganda, stirred up the isolation of Emperor Ferdinand II among the princes and diplomats . He then advised the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden on his intervention, which put him in the role of Minister of War . Père Joseph's influence on Richelieu is controversial, but it undoubtedly influenced the French stance in the Thirty Years' War, which was to maintain neutrality for as long as possible in order to intervene directly in the conflict after the exhaustion of Sweden and the imperial troops.

The main concern of the emperor was to secure the election of his son Ferdinand as Roman king. At the same time, however, he also needed military support from the Empire against the States General and against France in the War of the Mantuan Succession . Then there was the threat from Gustav Adolf of Sweden , who landed in Pomerania just three days after the opening of the Electoral Congress.

Elector Maximilian of Bavaria in particular feared the increase in imperial power and the strength of the imperial army under Wallenstein . As a result, the Emperor encountered opposition even from the Catholic electors in Regensburg. This required a downsizing of the imperial army, a reduction in the burden of war and, in particular, the dismissal of Wallenstein.

The emperor had to largely give in to the demands if he did not want to lose his political base in the empire. Wallenstein was dismissed and Tilly was also given supreme command of the imperial troops. The imperial army was downsized despite the threat from Sweden. In the dispute over Mantua, Ferdinand saw himself forced to a peace that was soon broken again by France. The electors refused to elect the imperial son to be king. The edict of restitution was suspended out of concern for princely liberty .

The emperor, who had just been at the height of his power, experienced his first almost complete defeat against the imperial estates on the Electoral Day.

swell

  • Letters and files on the history of the Thirty Years War. New episode: The Policy of Maximilian I of Bavaria and his allies 1618–1648. Second part, fifth volume: July 1629 to December 1630 , edited by Dieter Albrecht . Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 1964 (sources on the Regensburger Kurfürstentag, pp. 414–731).

literature

  • Dieter Albrecht: The foreign policy of Maximilian of Bavaria 1618-1635 (series of publications of the historical commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Volume 6). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1962 (pp. 263-302).
  • Dieter Albrecht: The Regensburg Electoral Congress and the dismissal of Wallenstein . In: Dieter Albrecht (Ed.): Regensburg - City of the Reichstag (series of publications of the University of Regensburg, Volume 3). Mittelbayerische Druckerei- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 1980, pp. 51–71, ISBN 3-921114-52-7 .
  • Dieter Albrecht: Maximilian I of Bavaria 1573–1651 . Oldenbourg, Munich 1998 (pp. 733-759), ISBN 3-486-56334-3 .
  • Alfred Altmann: The Regensburg Electoral Congress of 1630 . Wolf, Munich 1913.
  • Johannes Burkhardt : The Thirty Years War (= Edition Suhrkamp 1542 = NF Bd. 542 New Historical Library ). Suhrkamp Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-518-11542-1 .
  • Moriz Ritter : German History in the Age of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years War (1555–1648). Third volume: History of the Thirty Years War. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1974 [unchanged reprint of the first edition, Stuttgart / Berlin 1908] (classic, not outdated representation; for the Regensburg Electoral Congress, pp. 449–462), ISBN 3-534-01162-7 .
  • Gerhard Taddey : Regensburg Electoral Congress. In: Gerhard Taddey (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War. 2nd revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-520-80002-0 , p. 1017.

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