Imperial Cities College
The Reichsstädtekollegium (also Reichsstädterat , Reichsstädtebank ) was the curia of the Free and Imperial Cities of the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation .
history
| Swabian Bank | Rheinische Bank |
|---|---|
| regensburg | Cologne |
| augsburg | Aachen |
| Nuremberg | Lübeck |
| Ulm | Worms |
| Esslingen | Speyer |
| Reutlingen | Frankfurt am Main |
| Nordlingen | Goslar |
| Rothenburg | Bremen |
| Schwäbisch Hall | Hamburg |
| Rottweil | Mulhouse |
| Überlingen | Nordhausen |
| Heilbronn | Dortmund |
| Schwäbisch Gmünd | Friedberg |
| Memmingen | Wetzlar |
| Lindau | |
| Dinkelsbühl | |
| Biberach | |
| Ravensburg | |
| Schweinfurt | |
| Kempten | |
| Kaufbeuren | |
| Because | |
| Cheeks | |
| Isny | |
| Pfullendorf | |
| Offenburg | |
| Leutkirch | |
| Windsheim | |
| Wimpfen | |
| Weißenburg im Nordgau | |
| Giengen | |
| Gengenbach | |
| Zell am Harmersbach | |
| Buchhorn | |
| Bask | |
| Buchau | |
| Bopfingen |
At the Diet of 1495, the cities themselves were still unsure whether they should take part in the deliberations. From 1540 the imperial cities demanded their participation audibly. Their main argument was their closeness to the emperor and empire. They not only wanted to provide services in the form of taxes or by providing soldiers, but also wanted to have a say in questions of Reich politics. The new formation of the city curia promoted the institutional consolidation of the Reichstag.
Compared to the two higher curiae of the Reichstag, the Electoral Council and the Reichsfürstenrat , the vote of the imperial cities initially had less weight and could be ignored in imperial matters. The two upper curiae were able to come to an agreement with the emperor. Even if this did not happen, they did not allow the cities to make decisions. It was not until the farewell of the Augsburg Reichstag in 1582 that the Imperial City College was given greater political weight through a votum decisivum . The Peace of Westphalia has confirmed this. However, they could not automatically assert this decisive right to vote in the event of differing votes from the Imperial Council and Electors. However, the position of the imperial cities had to be submitted to the emperor for approval or non-approval of imperial reports.
In the Reichstag itself, the imperial cities had only two collective curiate votes and not, like the imperial princes, virile votes . This weakened the importance of the quorum. The committee was subdivided into the Swabian city bank and the Rhenish city bank. On the Swabian city bank, Nuremberg , Augsburg and Regensburg were the most important imperial cities, while on the Rhenish city bank it was Cologne , Lübeck and Frankfurt am Main . Representatives of the imperial cities on the imperial deputation days were Nuremberg from 1555 and Cologne from 1559.
Until 1663, the city council of the current conference location was always in charge of the imperial cities college. With the perpetuation of the Reichstag as the Perpetual Reichstag, the presidency of the curia remained permanently with the imperial city of Regensburg. For cost reasons, the cities themselves did not send all of their own representatives to the Reichstag. Not infrequently they commissioned a Regensburg citizen to represent their interests.
The number of member cities changed with the increase and decrease of the imperial cities. The imperial register of 1521 still listed 86 imperial cities. In 1791 there were still around 51 imperial cities (the main changes can be seen in the list of free and imperial cities after clicking on the heading "Mediatization / End of Status"). In the second half of the 17th century, for example, the cities of the Alsatian Decapolis , which fell to France, were eliminated . Some, like Basel, Mulhouse or Schaffhausen, that had been part of the Swiss Confederation for a long time , had also been part of it legally since 1648. Some imperial cities also lost their imperial immediacy in favor of a prince. Bremen was a new addition compared to 1521. The imperial estate of Hamburg was not recognized by Denmark until 1768.
With the end of the old empire, the body of the imperial cities college also expired. With the exception of Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck, Frankfurt, Augsburg and Nuremberg, all imperial cities were mediated in the course of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss .
literature
- Helmut Neuhaus : The Empire in the Early Modern Age (= Encyclopedia of German History . Vol. 42). Oldenbourg, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-486-55861-7 , pp. 34-36.
Individual evidence
- ^ Meyer's Large Conversational Lexicon . Volume 16: Badges to Rinteln. 6th, completely revised and enlarged edition, new impression. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig et al. 1908, pp. 742–743, ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger : The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. From the end of the Middle Ages to 1806 (= Beck'sche series. 2399). Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-53599-2 , p. 34.
- ^ Johannes Burkhardt : Completion and reorientation of the early modern empire. 1648–1763 (= Handbook of German History . Vol. 11). 10th, completely revised edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-608-60011-6 , p. 60.
- ^ Johannes Burkhardt: Completion and reorientation of the early modern empire. 1648–1763 (= Handbook of German History. Vol. 11). 10th, completely revised edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-608-60011-6 , p. 83.