Statutum in favorem principum

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The statute in favorem principum (Würzburg version)

The Statutum in favorem principum (German statute in favor of the prince , the name comes from the 19th century), also Empire award of Worms called, issued on the court day in Worms from 1 May 1231, was a privilege King Henry (VII.) At the imperial princes of the Holy Roman Empire . The king came into conflict with the imperial princes in particular because of his city-friendly policy. Emperor Friedrich II had to confirm the privilege in May 1232.

It contains the establishment of all privileges ( regalia ) granted to the princes and acquired by them up to this point in 23 articles. In addition, this document means a guarantee of the aforementioned privileges for the future, such as independence in the administration of one's own territory, jurisdiction and the collection of customs duties. Together with the Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis , it formed the starting point for federal development in the empire and its successor states .

Starting position

The originally autonomous tribal duchies had changed to dependent imperial principalities in the 12th century . This change went, as can be seen in the disputes z. B. Henry the Lion shows with the Hohenstaufen emperors , did not take place without conflict, but initially seemed to lead to a more centralized state. The situation turned under Emperor Friedrich II. On the one hand, as in his Kingdom of Sicily, he tried to increase royal power by z. B. founded cities on episcopal land. On the other hand, he lived mainly in Italy, which meant that he lacked a presence in Germany to proceed with determination and to be able to intimidate the princes effectively. In addition, due to his constant conflicts with the popes, he was dependent on a reasonably conflict-free relationship with the imperial princes. His son, King Henry VII, who ruled only in Germany, ostensibly pursued the same goal as the emperor, to create a counterweight against the princes by promoting the cities, but due to his youth he lacked authority over the princes, moreover he angered them by his undisguised promotion of ministerials, whom he appointed as his highest advisers. This provoked their resistance, so that in January 1231 he finally had to renounce his city-friendly policy. The princes obtained an even greater concession from the king in May 1231 at the Reichstag in Worms with the "Statutum".

Emperor Friedrich II confirmed this privilege a year later when he was in Cividale del Friuli for negotiations with the German princes . However, from the emperor's point of view, the beneficiary princes should be made more responsible for the empire as a whole.

Content of the statute

Articles 1 to 5 of the statute forbade the building of royal castles and towns on church property or at the expense of the princes. In particular, the founding of cities on ecclesiastical territory had caused displeasure among the church princes. Old markets were not allowed to be damaged by the establishment of new markets and the requirement to visit certain markets was lifted. Furthermore, the ban mile around newly founded royal cities was removed.

In Articles 6 to 9, Frederick II recognized the princes' right to legislate, which in the long term led to the replacement of the prevailing customary law by territorial land law.

Articles 10 to 23 are mainly directed against the royal cities. You were u. a. It was forbidden to take in princely and ecclesiastical individuals and to expand municipal jurisdiction at the expense of the princely. Furthermore, property and fiefdoms that the cities had taken possession of had to be returned. The princely escort and coinage rights were guaranteed.

effect

With this recognition of a federal order, the Holy Roman Empire took a different path than the other European empires, which - with the exception of Italy, which was not unified until the 19th century - centralized. If you look at the current constitutional situation in the modern European states, it becomes clear that the statute has had an impact from 1231 until today. Only states that fall within the territory of the then Holy Roman Empire (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) have a permanent federal tradition, while in the other large states of Europe federalism (or a devolution) is always based on the autonomy efforts of individual areas after 1945 was fought for. France, Spain and Great Britain, for example, maintain their self-image as central states, which have granted individual regions certain rights.

research

While 19th-century research saw this decree and the somewhat older Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis privilege as the decisive step towards German particularism, more recent research emphasizes that in both privileges only those privileges granted by the clerical and the Secular princes' rights were formally recognized and confirmed.

The regal sovereignty had already passed in the course of a process from the level of the king to the level of the princes and at the time of the two decrees, the aforementioned regalia were already princely customary rights - even if they were first set in writing by the two privileges. This process took place particularly in the final years of Frederick I's rule and in the years of the so-called German throne dispute from 1198 to 1215.

The importance of the confirmation of political co-determination rights by the princes is sometimes compared in research with the Carta Magna Leonesa of the Kingdom of León (1188), the Magna Charta Libertatum of England (1215) or the Hungarian Golden Bull of 1222.

literature

  • Erich Klingelhöfer : The imperial laws of 1220, 1231/32 and 1235. Their becoming and their effect in the German state of Frederick II. Böhlau, Weimar 1955, ( Sources and studies on the constitutional history of the German Empire in the Middle Ages and Modern Times 8, 2).
  • Walter Koch : Statutum in favorem principum . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 8. Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01742-7 , column 75f.
  • Erich Schrader: On the interpretation of the princely privileges of 1220 and 1231/32 . In: Gunther Wolf (Ed.): Stupor mundi. On the history of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1966, ( Paths of Research 101), pp. 420–454.
  • Uwe Wesel : History of Law. From the early forms to the present . 2nd revised and expanded edition. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47543-4 , margin no. 206.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kersten Krüger : The land-based constitution. Munich 2003, p. 1f.