Trento compactates

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The Trento Compactates were a contract signed for the first time in 1363 between Rudolf IV and the Trento Bishop Albert von Ortenburg , with which the Habsburgs, as Counts of Tyrol, secured their influence on the empire-direct bishopric of Trento .

prehistory

Whereas important regalia were granted to the bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick II with the Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis in 1220 , Frederick again restricted the secular power of the Bishop of Trient on August 12, 1236 by appointing an imperial judge during his visit to Trento , after he had already done the same in the Brixen monastery. The reason for this decision was that he wanted to bring the two strategically important bishoprics directly under his control, as the northern Italian city-states, united in the Lombard League, had blocked his way to the south several times in the past. While the sovereign rights were returned to the prince-bishopric of Bressanone in 1240, this situation lasted in Trento until 1255 and thus beyond the death of Frederick. Subsequently, the prince-bishops of Trento saw themselves exposed almost seamlessly to the expansionist urge of the Counts of Tyrol .

The latter gained increasing influence on the fortunes of the bishopric of Trento from the middle of the 13th century. If the counts had been appointed bailiffs of the dioceses of Bressanone and Trento since the 12th century , they skillfully expanded this position under Meinhard I and especially under Meinhard II, even against the will of the bishops. Meinhard II also took advantage of the increasing threat to the prince-bishopric from external enemies, as from Ezzelino da Romano III. , who was supported in his urge to expand by some noble families from Trentino, such as the Castelbarco, the Da Campo and the Counts of Arco . After Ezzelino's death, Bishop Egno von Eppan tried to free himself from Meinhard's dependence by entering into alliances with the Trentino nobility, which only partially succeeded. Mastino I della Scala took advantage of this power vacuum , who sacked Trento in 1265 after Bishop Egno had previously fled. From this situation Meinhard was able to make a profit in the end and further consolidate his position, so that the bishop finally recognized the supremacy of the count in 1268 and Meinhard had to share in the prince-bishop's tax revenue.

The attempt of Bishop Heinrich II , the successor of Egnos on the bishop's see, to escape the control of Meinhard, ended with a military conflict between the two, which lasted with interruptions until 1284 and in which the bishop was ultimately forced to give the count the Leave the administration of the principality for a period of four years. Heinrich did not succeed in regaining his position after this time, and the renewed excommunication of Meinhard by Boniface VIII did not change the prince-bishop's powerlessness. It was not until Meinhard II's death in 1295 that the influence of the Counts of Tyrol on the Duchy of Trento relaxed again. Nevertheless, it was not until 1359 that the bishopric of Trento regained the status it had before the changes introduced by Meinhard II.

This condition lasted only a short time, because with the death of Count Ludwig I in 1361 and his son Meinhard III. , the last male heir of the Counts of Tyrol, in 1363 as well as the subsequent resignation of Margaret of Tyrol , the county came under Rudolf IV to the House of Habsburg. Rudolf cleverly took advantage of his relationships by supporting the election of Albert von Ortenburg as Bishop of Trient, who had already promised the Duke of Austria his help in 1257 if Habsburg would campaign for his election as bishop.

content

In the compacts completed on September 18, 1363 , Bishop Albert von Ortenburg granted the Count of Tyrol Rudolf IV essential rights in important areas of secular rule in the bishopric of Trento. With this, Rudolf practically succeeded in re-establishing the supremacy of the vassal over the feudal lord for which Meinhard II had fought for so long.

The treaty unilaterally bound the bishop to the Counts of Tyrol and should also be signed by the successors of Ortenburg before their secular installation. In addition to a duty of assistance to everyone with the exception of the Pope, it regulated in particular the status of the monastery officials. These could only be appointed by mutual agreement and had to swear allegiance to the count as well as the captain appointed by the bishop. In the event of a new appointment to the office of bishop, officials were not allowed to take a new oath of office without the prior consent of the count. They were also supposed to support the latter in the event of a dispute between the Prince-Bishop and the Count, and in this case were released from the oath given to the Bishop. In return, the count recognized a vague duty of assistance if the bishop and his office were exposed to an attack for no reason.

After Rudolf's death, the contract was renewed on November 5, 1365 in a slightly weakened form. In this new version, the military aspect was emphasized and the bond between the monastery officials and the counts was loosened. In addition to the military assistance, all castles under episcopal control now had to be open to the Tyrolean troops, which could only be occupied by people from Tyrol, just as the office of captain was only allowed to be occupied by a member of a Tyrolean noble family. The appointment of the monastery officials, on the other hand, was once again the exclusive right of the bishop, even if they only had to obey the Count of Tyrol in the event of a vacancy and no one was allowed to take an oath on the new bishop as long as he had not signed the compacts.

Effects

In the period that followed, the compacts were renewed several times under the influence of external threats, such as the expansionist efforts of the Republic of Venice , or internal unrest, such as the Trento uprising led in 1407 under Rodolfo Belenzani .

Some of them have been changed and supplemented. In 1430, Bishop Alexander of Mazovia had to undertake not to start any war without the prior consent of the Count or to enter into any alliance commitments after he had previously taken position for Milan in the disputes between Milan and Venice. This foreign policy clause was renewed in 1454 under Bishop Georg Hack.

Under Bishop Johannes Hinderbach and Duke Siegmund in 1468 the role of captain was reaffirmed, who played a key role in the secular power structure of the bishopric. Sigmund also saw the bishopric, as its patron ( "des stiffts ze Triendt vogt, lanndsfúrst vnd ​​beschirmer" ) he called himself in 1462 on the occasion of the transfer of the Bolzano City Court , increasingly as an integral part of the County of Tyrol and tried to dissolve the imperial immediacy. The Landlibell of 1511 represented a further step in this direction , with which the tax liability of the prince-bishopric towards the empire was transferred to the county of Tyrol and the counts of Tyrol.

Even if the Tridentine compacts bound the prince-bishopric of Trento to the counts of Tyrol or to the house of Habsburg, they did not represent a complete loss of sovereignty of the prince-bishopric, which was still directly imperial, and which only ceased to exist with the imperial deputation of 1803. Rather, it was a matter of limited state sovereignty, which largely depended on the negotiating skills and the power position of the respective signatories.

literature

  • Klaus Brandstätter : Regime di compattate (1363–1486) , in: Lia de Finis (ed.): Storia del Trentino . Temi, Trento 1996. ISBN 978-88-85114-21-0 .
  • Fridolin Dörrer: The "limited sovereignty" of the bishops of Trient and Brixen in relation to the ducal county of Tyrol , in: Erwin Riedenauer (Ed.): Landeshoheit. Contributions to the emergence, formation and typology of a constitutional element of the Roman-German Empire . CH Beck, Munich 1994. ISBN 978-3-7696-9691-2 .
  • Aldo Gorfer: Trento, città del concilio . Arca, Lavis 2003. ISBN 88-88203-10-9 .
  • Gianfranco Granello: Conflitti con i Tirolo da Mainardo a Margherita Maultasch , in: Lia de Finis (ed.): Storia del Trentino . Temi, Trento 1996. ISBN 978-88-85114-21-0 .
  • Rudolf Hoke , Ilse Reiter : Collection of sources on Austrian and German legal history . Böhlau, Vienna 1998. ISBN 978-3-205-98036-0 .
  • Hannes Obermair : Bozen South - Bolzano North. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 2 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-88-901870-1-8 .
  • Josef Riedmann : Crisi istituzionale agli albori dello Stato moderno (1236–1256) , in: Lia de Finis (ed.): Storia del Trentino . Temi, Trento 1996. ISBN 978-88-85114-21-0 .
  • Josef Riedmann: Verso l'egemonia tirolese (1256-1310) , in: Andrea Castagnetti, Gian Maria Varanini (eds.): Storia del Trentino. L'età medievale . Il Mulino, Bologna 2004. ISBN 978-88-15-10298-0 .
  • Martin P. Schennach: Law and rule: The emergence of the legislative state using the example of Tyrol . Böhlau, Cologne 2010. ISBN 978-3-412-20635-2 .
  • Martin P. Schennach: The Tiroler Landlibell from 1511: On the history of a document . Wagner, Innsbruck 2011. ISBN 978-3-7030-0495-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Josef Riedmann: Crisi istituzionale agli albori dello Stato moderno (1236–1256) , pp. 129–142.
  2. ^ Josef Riedmann: Verso l'egemonia tirolese (1256-1310) , pp. 263-270.
  3. ↑ Gianfranco Granello: Conflitti con i Tirolo da Mainardo a Margherita Maultasch , pp. 144–157.
  4. ↑ Gianfranco Granello: Conflitti con i Tirolo since Mainardo a Margherita Maultasch , pp 158-166.
  5. ^ Klaus Brandstätter: Regime di compattate (1363–1486) , p. 178.
  6. ^ Klaus Brandstätter: Regime di compattate (1363–1486) , p. 178.
  7. ^ Klaus Brandstätter: Regime di compattate (1363–1486) , p. 179.
  8. ↑ Martin P. Schennach: Law and rule: The emergence of the legislative state using the example of Tyrol , p. 43.
  9. ↑ Aldo Gorfer: Trento, città del concilio , p. 44.
  10. ^ Hannes Obermair: Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen until 1500 , pp. 126–128.
  11. ^ Klaus Brandstätter: Regime di compattate (1363–1486) , pp. 180–186.
  12. ^ Klaus Brandstätter: Regime di compattate (1363–1486) , p. 178.
  13. ↑ Fridolin Dörrer: The "limited sovereignty" of the bishops of Trient and Brixen in relation to the ducal county of Tyrol , pp. 135–144.