Diet of Worms (1495)

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Reichstag zu Worms 1495
( German postage stamp 1995)

The cornerstone for a comprehensive reform of the empire was laid at the Reichstag in Worms in 1495 . Even if some parts of the reforms decided there were not to be permanent, they still determined the further development of the empire significantly. They should change the structure and the constitutional order of the Holy Roman Empire in order to solve the problems of the imperial government.

prehistory

During the 15th century, it became increasingly clear that the Holy Roman Empire , a kingdom of reform was needed. Opinions about it ranged from the restoration of imperial power to an electoral regiment. For example, one of many designs was the Reformatio Sigismundi . Almost all reform proposals had in common the advocacy of an "eternal peace" , legal, judicial, tax and monetary regulations.

From the Frankfurt election day (1486) on, the imperial estates tried to make their support for the emperor dependent on concessions in the imperial reform. Emperor Friedrich III. but always refused this except for the ten-year country peace (1486). Maximilian I , Roman-German king and later emperor , extended the peace on May 10, 1494 to 1499, which is seen as a signal of his readiness for reform.

The Reichstag in Worms

When Maximilian I announced the Worms Reichstag on November 24, 1494 for February 2, 1495, his focus was not on imperial reform, but on various foreign policy problems. Maximilian saw the Turkish war against the Ottoman Empire as his most important duty. In addition, Charles VIII of France had started an Italian campaign in 1494 that threatened the Pope , imperial Italy and especially Milan , with whom Maximilian was connected by marriage. The Turkish war took a back seat and Maximilian planned an Italian campaign for 1495, which he wanted to combine with his coronation as emperor in Rome. For these reasons, he only planned two weeks for the Reichstag and hoped to leave for Rome with the imperial estates (which appeared to be armed according to his ideas) after the train.

After various delays, Maximilian arrived in Worms on March 18. Contrary to the king's optimistic ideas, he was not supposed to leave Worms until September, since the imperial estates were not interested in the campaign but in the imperial reform. The course of the Reichstag can be roughly divided into three phases.

March 26th to April 27th

After he opened the Reichstag, he pointed out the dangers in Italy to the estates. He calls for so-called "urgent help" against the French, which he sees as support for the Holy League , which he supports . The imperial estates initially reject this, also with reference to the nobles and ambassadors who have not yet arrived. Instead, they propose to discuss imperial reform. Since the king is obviously under pressure to move to Italy, the estates are trying to take advantage of the predicament to clarify the reform question. The Estates negotiations were not officially commenced until April 7th, with the Estates first discussing their reform wishes among themselves and without the presence of the King.

Meanwhile, the news from Italy was getting worse. The French had conquered the Kingdom of Naples and there was concern that they would conquer all of Italy. Pope and imperial crown threatened to fall into the hands of Charles VIII and 4,000 men had to be urgently sent to Italy, the king reported in a renewed request for help to the estates on April 24th. However, they still wanted nothing to do with financial support for the king without compensation in the form of reforms.

April 27th to June 22nd

On April 27th Maximilian appeared at the Reich Assembly and declared himself ready to negotiate first about the Reich Regiment , Landfriede and Kammergericht , according to which foreign aid and Reich taxes should be discussed. In the following, Maximilian asked several times for support in Italy and tried to stir up fear that France would be too strong. Despite the terrible news from Italy and appearances by ambassadors from the members of the Holy League, Maximilian was unable to assert himself against the estates.

The tone of the negotiations that followed intensified and the King spoke bitterly of blackmail. Minor and major concessions kept the negotiations going. On June 1st, the king was promised urgent aid of 100,000 guilders and an agreement was reached on the basic principles of peace, the court of justice and the imperial tax. The main point of contention was the imperial regiment, which Maximilian did not want to get involved with.

June 22nd to August 7th

After the estates had continued to show severity on the question of aid to Italy, Maximilian submitted a counter-proposal on June 22nd. In doing so, he offered an alternative to the reform plans of the imperial estates, which were unacceptable to him, but at the same time showed that he finally got involved in the domestic political dispute and put his Italy plans aside. At the end of June, Charles VIII withdrew from Italy, relieving Maximilian's foreign policy pressure. Now he could concentrate fully on the negotiations, which were drawing to a close. Presumably due to the influence of the Mainz Elector Berthold von Henneberg , the Imperial Arch Chancellor and spokesman for the Imperial Estates, the proposal of the Imperial Regiment was withdrawn by the Electors and Princes by June 28 and the promised and approved 100,000 guilders were paid out. This saved the fundamental negotiations and in the following weeks they agreed on compromises on the other negotiation points or postponed them to the next Reichstag. In the course of July, the final versions of the reform laws were drawn up and the final festivities began. After the final versions of the Eternal Peace, the Supreme Court, the Handling of War and Peace and the Common Pfennig were presented to the King on July 26th, final corrections were made before the official texts were published on August 7th.

The parties and the negotiations

The term Reichstag was not yet established at that time. In retrospect, one can speak of the Reichstag since the 1470s, but in parlance these assemblies were still referred to as court days and the term Reichstag only came into use with the resolutions of this Reichstag.

The stands involved and their positions

Even if an imperial assembly is assumed, not all the nobles and forces of the empire had come together. Five of the seven electors were present, Bohemia and Brandenburg did not appear. Ten ecclesiastical and 29 secular princes appeared in person, and twelve ecclesiastical and secular princes had sent diplomatic representatives. In addition, 67 counts and free lords were present and 24 imperial cities were represented. A total of 147 imperial estates were present, which made up almost half.

The Diet of Worms was not an event in which there were clear fronts between the king and the imperial estates. Rather, the main problem and the reason for the long negotiations was the lack of unity between the estates. At the Reichstag, the imperial estates were divided into three curiae (see also: Landtag (historical) ). In each of these curiae, all interests first had to be brought to a consensus, the interests of the three curiae agreed and only then could negotiations with the king be possible. If, as a result of negotiations, a change was made, the Curia had to be informed again. Some of the estates were very interested in the reform of the empire. Others were against the reform proposals for various reasons, such as foregoing privileges, seeing that their interests were not adequately represented, or that their loyalties were in conflict. With regard to the reforms, there were no closed fronts and no “kingdom against king”.

The role of Berthold von Henneberg

Berthold von Henneberg , Elector of Mainz , Imperial Arch Chancellor and spokesman for the Imperial Estates, was a central figure in the Reichstag. He met with the king, who in 1494 had confirmed and strengthened Berthold's position as arch-chancellor. In the negotiations he played the role of mediator between the estates and tried several times when the Reichstag threatened to fail to mediate and to make concessions to the king. At the same time he was one of the strongest representatives of the imperial reform. Since he was particularly committed to the imperial regiment, Maximilian soon suspected him of trying to establish himself as ruler of the empire in this way. It is not possible to determine what motivation Berthold von Henneberg had for his politics, but he was known as a clever and influential politician who continued to advocate reform of the Reich throughout his life.

The Reich Regiment

The imperial regiment was the central point of the reform plans of the estates and Bertholds von Henneberg and at the same time the most difficult and controversial. According to the plans of the estates, it would have meant a voluntary disempowerment of the king and the empire, in which the imperial government would have passed to a council. This would not have been a modern or even democratic "people's government", but rather the replacement of the monarchy by an oligarchy of the electors. The imperial estates quickly realized this, which is why the imperial regiment was the most difficult and controversial point in the reform plans, not only for the king. Maximilian made a counter-proposal that would have made the imperial regiment a councilor and a kind of absentee representative of the king. Since this, in turn, was not in the interests of the reform-minded nobles, the Reichstag could only be successful when the plans for the imperial regiment were completely abandoned.

The reforms of Worms

The Landfriede , the Kammergericht and the Common Pfennig were the outstanding and decisive results of the Reichstag of Worms. Due to their novelty and time, they could not immediately (or even not at all) lead to the planned success, but it is precisely the Landfrieds and Kammergericht that form the basis of today's constitutional state.

Much more important, however, are the not recorded and not so tangible results of the Reichstag of 1495. The Reichstag as a term and institution was shaped in a lasting way. The nobles were introduced to the concept of gathering to make organized politics. Institutionalization and the rule of law were promoted, which promoted state-building. And above all, the king accepted the Reichstag as an influential political instrument.

Further developments and consequences

The Swiss Confederation rejected the Reich Tax and the Reich Chamber of Commerce. This was one of the reasons that led to the Swabian War in 1499 . After the victory of the Confederation, it was implicitly recognized in the peace treaty of Basel that the Confederation remained exempt from imperial tax and imperial chamber court, without leaving the empire.

The Reichsregiment discussed in Worms was not actually convened until the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1500 , but was dissolved again in 1502 . A second attempt at reform, which was again made in Worms at the Diet of 1521 , also failed.

On July 21, 1495, the county of Württemberg was elevated to a duchy at the Reichstag under Eberhard I. In his honor, Justinus Kerner wrote the poem The Richest Prince in 1818 , which outlines events during the Reichstag.

See also

Web links

literature

  • Manfred Hollegger: Maximilian I. (1459-1519). Ruler and man of a turning point. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005.
  • Hermann Wiesflecker: Emperor Maximilian I. The Empire, Austria and Europe at the turn of the modern age. Volume II: Imperial Reform and Imperial Policy 1493-1500. Oldenbourg, Munich 1975
  • Heinz Angermeier : The imperial reform 1410–1555: the state problem in Germany between the Middle Ages and the present. Beck, Munich 1984
  • Paul-Joachim Heinig : The Worms Reichstag from 1495 as a court day. In: Journal for Historical Research, Vol. 33 (2006) pp. 338–357.
  • Claudia Helm (Ed.): 1495 - Kaiser, Reich, reforms: the Reichstag in Worms. State Archives Administration Rhineland-Palatinate, Koblenz 1995
  • Georg Schmidt-von Rhein (ed.): Kaiser Maximilian I .: Preserver and reformer. Ramstein, Paqué, 2002
  • Markus Thiel : The Reichstag in Worms in 1495 and the creation of the Reich Chamber Court. A compromise by a war-pressed emperor or peace-related legislation? In: The State . Journal for State Theory and Constitutional History , German and European Public Law , 41st Vol., 2002, pp. 551–573.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andre Gutmann: Swabian War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ^ Claudius Sieber-Lehmann : Basel, Frieden von (1499). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .