Revolution of 1848/1849 in Reuss older line

The revolution of 1848/1849 in Reuss older line was successfully delayed by the prince and government and only led to minor changes.

initial situation

In Reuss older line , estates already existed before the 19th century . These consisted of the curiae of the knighthood and the representatives of the cities. Representation of the clergy was not planned. The stands met as planned every eight years. The knighthood's curia consisted of the owners of the knightly estates eligible for the state assembly, the cities were represented by the mayors of Greiz and Zeulenroda . The extremely small-scale state structure with many exclaves meant that four "foreigners", namely residents of Reuss younger line, were members of the estates: The owner of the manors Reichenfels and Hohenleuben , the pastor of Hohenleuben, a councilor from Schleiz as a representative of the German House in Schleiz and a city council from Saalburg as representatives of the local spiritual caste courts.

Although Article 13 of the German. Federal Act stipulated that in all countries of the German Federal landständische constitutions and state parliament should be set up, a modern parliament was in the Principality of Reuss-Greiz neither a constitution adopted yet been convened. The princes were anti- constitutional .

The censorship in Reuss a. L. was tight, the church and administration rejected any liberal thinking. The administration and judiciary had not been modernized (the separation of the judiciary from the administration had not taken place, the patrimonial jurisdiction continued to exist).

The revolution

The March Revolution also reached Reuss older line. However, in early 1848 there was no revolutionary mood. However, the people were just as affected by the bad harvests of recent years and the resulting rise in food prices, as the rest of Germany.

On March 14, 1848, a people's assembly took place in the neighboring Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf , which also triggered a March movement in Reuss a.L. Starting in Burck and Zeulenroda, people's assemblies were held in all parts of the country. A series of petitions with March demands were made to Prince Heinrich XX. submitted.

Even if there were only relatively harmless protests in Reuss a.L., the prince feared an escalation and on April 8, 1848 convened the estates for April 13. The estates, which had last met in 1840, advised a constitution that guaranteed basic liberal rights and a diet that would combine strong estates with democratic principles. The state parliament should be composed of 12 members. Four of them were supposed to represent the church and the manor owners. Two of them were to be elected by the manor owners, the church representative appointed by the prince. There was also a virile voice for the owner of the Reuss-Köstritzer Paragiat. Four representatives should be appointed by the cities. In addition to the two previous city representatives, two more should be elected by the cities. The last four were supposed to represent the rural population. One of them, with landed property, should be appointed by the prince, the last three elected. This constitution was adopted on April 16th in the Ritter- und Landschaft and confirmed by the Prince on April 18th.

These regulations were by no means in line with the spirit of 1848. Accordingly, the regulations were heavily criticized by the citizens. Prince Heinrich XX. recognized that this constitution would not be enough to avoid an uprising of the now clearly revolutionary-minded people. Negotiations broke out between the representatives of the Liberals and the government and the government had to give way.

The advisory state parliament

The deliberative state parliament should now consist of 12 members. Three of them were ordered by the previous knights and landscape, the other 9 were chosen directly and freely. This arrangement pacified the situation, even if the Liberals were still dissatisfied with the appointment of three old-class MPs. After the same question had been decided in the Landtag Reuss younger line in an arbitration on April 5th by the Provisional Central Authority in favor of the old-class MPs, this regulation was also changed in Reuss a.L. accepted.

The implementation of the election was delayed by the overload of the state authorities. On October 3, 1848, the official announcement of the elections took place, the elections themselves took place in November. Not all MPs had accepted the election by the end of January. Necessary by-elections were not held until February / March 1849. Due to the low turnout, both by-elections were won by the Conservatives ( Christian Friedrich Horlbeck and Heinrich Weigelt were elected ). The knights and landscape had meanwhile also chosen their representatives (including Eduard Alberti and Johann Gottlieb Stemmler ).

On June 25, 1849, the Landtag met for the first time in the “Zum Erbprinzen” inn. The revolutionary verve of 1848 had already died down by this point. The Landtag met in five sessions until July 4, 1851. The conservative Heinrich August Schwarz became President of Parliament and Horlbeck became his deputy. Even the most radical democratic representatives in the state parliament, such as Ernst Keil , took moderate constitutional positions because of the mood among the people and the composition of the chamber. The state parliament, the still existing knight and landscape and the princely government therefore worked together in a cooperative manner and the state parliament submitted a draft constitution in the summer of 1851. This contained the basic rights catalog of the Paulskirchen constitution and a freely elected state parliament.

The victory of the reaction

The constitution only required the Prince's approval to be effective. But this never happened. During the era of reaction , the March achievements were withdrawn in other parts of Germany. In Reuss a.L. the princely government simply prevented the constitution from coming into force. Reuss a.L. remained the only country in today's Thuringia without a constitution. It was not until 1867 that a constitution was passed and the Greiz Landtag was created.

Representatives in national parliaments

In the pre-parliament , Reuss Ä.L. no own representative. The leather manufacturer Philipp Knoch from Hirschberg was the representative of Reuss jL and was considered to be the representative of all Reussian countries.

From May 18, 1848 to May 24, 1849 Ludwig Bonardy represented the constituency Reuss older line in the Frankfurt National Assembly . There he belonged to the Württemberger Hof parliamentary group . From May 26, 1849 to June 18, 1849 Ferdinand Schröder ( Deutscher Hof ) was representative of the Reuss older line constituency.

On January 31, 1850, Eduard Alberti was unanimously elected by the 78 electors of the Reuss principalities in the constituency of the two principalities as a member of the People's House of the Erfurt Union Parliament.

literature

• Reyk Seela : Diets and regional representations in the Russian states 1848 / 67–1923. Biographical handbook (= Parliaments in Thuringia 1809–1952. Part 2). G. Fischer, Jena et al. 1996, ISBN 3-437-35046-3 , pp. 32-33, 62-67.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Waldemar Wucher: Reuss younger line in the movement of the years 1848/49. 1926, p. 58, (Jena, University, dissertation, 1927).