Knight storm
The so-called Ritter storm was the 1802/1803 onset Mediatisierung the far-reaching immediate imperial knights in the Holy Roman Empire .
course
With the reorganization of the empire in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803, in contrast to the secularization of the clerical principalities , the imperial knights should actually be spared. As early as the winter of 1802/1803, however, the territorial states of Bavaria and Württemberg tried to take possession of the neighboring, mostly fragmented and small areas of the Imperial Knights with transfer and transfer patents. In the autumn of 1803, most of the approximately 300 imperial knighthoods were effectively incorporated into their larger neighbors. In 1804 the princes of Leiningen , Hohenlohe and zu Löwenstein followed .
The measures were described as illegal by Emperor Franz II , but in fact he could not reverse them due to the balance of power in the empire. 1806 was done with the end of the empire then the final media coverage of Empire Ritterschaften. The Rhine Confederation Act sanctioned the unilateral measures of the territorial states in Article 25.
literature
- Volker Himmelein, Hans Ulrich Rudolf: Alte Klöster - Neue Herren , exhibition catalog, volume 2, Thorbecke Verlag, 2003.
- Albert Funk: A short history of federalism: From the prince union to the Federal Republic , Verlag Ferd. Schöningh GmbH & Co. KG, 2010.