Imperial idea
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The imperial idea is the concept of a supranational (here in the sense of standing over peoples or nations ) rule over an empire . Such an empire is not necessarily limited to a single territory and can serve as a bracket between different peoples, especially since the conception of the imperial idea usually refers to a universal empire . From a religious point of view, such concepts were mostly based on the idea of divine grace , according to which the ruler was appointed to his office by God or divine law . Based on thisideational core ideas were the concrete political programs vary to ruler of rulers.
history
The universal imperial idea has its origin in antiquity in the idea of the unity of the peoples who belonged to the world and were subject to Roman rule ( Imperium Romanum ) . The idea of pacification ( Pax Romana ) and the right to rule the world ( universal rule ) were associated with the imperial concept .
In late antiquity , the imperial idea was transferred to the now Christianized empire ( Imperium Christianum ) , which was supposed to unite the Christian peoples in supranational unity under an emperor as the governor of God. In this context, based on the doctrine of the four kingdoms, the view was expressed that the Roman Empire was the last empire in history . With the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the imperial idea did not die out, but remained alive in the Eastern Roman Empire . The Germanic rulers in the West, due to the mass migration there own kingdom had established, accepted the general dominance of the Eastern Roman-Byzantine Emperor least formally.
Since the middle of the 8th century, the Carolingian court school Alkuins and the papacy in the Frankish Empire played a major role in bringing about a concept based on the Roman idea of the empire. With the imperial coronation of the Frankish King Charles in the year 800, the empire was transferred to the Frankish Empire ( Translatio Imperii ) , although there was still an emperor in the east who did not give up his claim ( two- emperor problem ). In the West, however, the idea of a renewed " Roman Empire " was being represented. In 962, with the coronation of Otto I, the empire was transferred to the " Germans ", even if there was no national self-image in today's sense and the empire was always understood as a supranational , universal institution. In this regard, the implied translatio imperii an imperial view after the empire was to understand less than territorial concept but as an empire looked across.
In the medieval Holy Roman Empire , the imperial idea and the associated connection between empire and church (even though there were often conflicts here too) formed the basis of the claim to supremacy within (western) Christianity. However, this claim was mostly based less on power politics than on ideal grounds and meant that the emperor, who saw himself in the succession of the Roman emperors, had a special priority and the empire was assigned a salvation-historical significance. Throughout the Middle Ages, the idea of empire was increasingly charged with content through religion. Christian theology, for example Joachim von Fiore , formulated the thought prophesied in the Revelation of John of the establishment of the kingdom of God , a heavenly Jerusalem on earth, which should manifest itself in the Christian kingdom of the West. Paul anticipated the concept of a Christian kingdom that would unite all Christians in his care . He compared it with the postulates of an Old Testament ( lex mosaica ) and a pagan ( lex naturalis ) empire.
From the 13th and 14th centuries, the imperial idea, for example through the rule of the French King Louis IX. , increasingly opposed the idea of a sovereign monarchy of any kind of supremacy , creating a forerunner model for the later idea of nation states. The papal decretal Per Venerabilem from 1202 had made an early contribution to this; therein the kingdom of France was explicitly excluded from any form of imperial supremacy. With the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty , the importance of the empire and the empire again decreased significantly, from which France profited. It was not until Henry VII , who was crowned emperor in 1312 and who swore the greatness of the universal empire in writing, introduced a certain renovatio imperii . However, the influence of the empire remained very limited and the power of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe dwindled more and more.
Despite the decline of the political power of the empire and the increasing territorialization of the empire, the imperial idea remained until Napoleon was able to bring about the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. In the years that followed, the imperial idea lived on in the dispute over the German question in favor of a “ Greater German solution ”, which was not realized. In this context, the idea of the Reich was nationalized more and more in Germany and removed from its original supranational effect; In the “ Third Reich ” the idea of the Reich was then misused to justify the race and expansion policy.
literature
- Klaus Breuning: The vision of the empire. German Catholicism between democracy and dictatorship (1929–1934). Hueber, Munich 1969 (at the same time: Münster, Univ., Diss .: The Reich ideology in German Catholicism between democracy and dictatorship ).
- Dieter Langewiesche : Empire, Nation and State in Recent German History. In: Historical magazine . Vol. 254, 1992, pp. 341-381.
- Robert Folz : L'idée d'Empire en Occident du 5e au 14e siècle. Aubier, Paris 1953.
- Hans-Georg Meier-Stein: The imperial idea 1918–1945. The medieval empire as an idea of national renewal (= Summa Academica. Vol. 1). San Casciano Verlag, Aschau 1998, ISBN 3-928906-22-4 .
- Jürgen Miethke , Arnold Bühler: Emperor and Pope in conflict. On the relationship between state and church in the late Middle Ages. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-590-18167-2 .
- Percy Ernst Schramm : Emperor, Rome and Renovatio. Studies on the history of the Roman idea of renewal from the end of the Carolingian Empire to the Investiture Controversy (= Studies of the Warburg Library. Vol. 17, 1–2, ZDB -ID 251931-8 ). 2 volumes (Vol. 1: Studies. Vol. 2: Excursions and texts. ). Teubner, Leipzig [a. a.] 1929.
- Hans K. Schulze : Basic structures of the constitution in the Middle Ages. Volume 3: Kaiser und Reich (= Urban-Taschenbuch 463). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [a. a.] 1998, ISBN 3-17-013053-6 .
Remarks
- ↑ For general information on the conception of the empire from antiquity to the Middle Ages, see Hartmut Leppin , Bernd Schneidmüller , Stefan Weinfurter (eds.): Kaisertum im first millennium. Regensburg 2012.
- ↑ Hans K. Schulze: Basic structures of the constitution in the Middle Ages. Volume 3: Emperor and Empire. Stuttgart 1998.
- ↑ Eric Voegelin : The political religions. Edited and with an afterword by Peter J. Opitz . Fink, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7705-2838-7 , p. 39.