Association of Catholic Nobles in Germany
The Association of Catholic Nobles in Germany was an association in which the Roman Catholic nobility in Westphalia organized itself , but which was also open to Catholic nobility from other parts of Germany.
prehistory
Since 1861 an informal association of like-minded nobles existed for the purpose of discussing class interests, religion and effectiveness in public life. Its founding members were u. a. Clemens Heidenreich Droste zu Vischering , Ferdinand von Galen , Maximilian von Oer and Clemens Heereman von Zuydtwyk . They wanted to “confess themselves as faithful sons of the Catholic Church, follow the Tridentine creed and live according to church laws”. Due to the Prussian association law of the reaction era , a formal association was initially impossible.
history
Bismarck's small German policy and the German war against Catholic Austria met with unanimous rejection from the Catholic nobility. The annexation policy of Prussia after the war was won was condemned as directed against legitimism . The representatives of the Catholic nobility therefore decided to go public with their political ideas and to found a Germany-wide association for this purpose. The founding meeting took place on July 31, 1869 at the Erbdrostenhof in Münster. A registered association was founded, which at the end of 1869 had a total of 55 members. 45 of them came from Westphalia, 5 from the Rhineland and 5 from other parts of Germany. Even until 1918, the Westphalian nobles always made up more than half of the members. First chairman was Wilderich Kettler , vice chairman Burghard Schorlemer-Alst .
The association first tried to establish a good relationship with the Prussian government. A petition by the association on October 18, 1870 sought to bring Prussia and the Pope closer together. The Kulturkampf ended this, however. When the center was founded in the province of Westphalia, members of the Association of Catholic Nobles in Germany played a leading role, but the association itself did not appear in this context. Due to the three-class suffrage , the aristocracy was represented far above average in the Prussian parliaments. Accordingly, leading association members were also MPs. However, the importance of the nobility in the Center Party continued to decline and by 1900 had almost disappeared. After the establishment of the German Aristocratic Association , the two associations were in competition. It was not until 1893 that double memberships were accepted.
During the Kulturkampf, the number of members continued to grow. There were 139 members in 1877 and 157 in 1884. Then the number of members decreased. The main reason was the establishment of regional Catholic aristocratic associations. The Association of Catholic Nobles in Bavaria was founded in 1876, and the Association of Catholic Nobles in Silesia in 1890 .
In 1919 it was called the Association of Catholic Nobles, Münster Department in the Main Association of Catholic Nobles, was renamed in 1928 as the Rhenish-Westphalian Association of Catholic Nobles and continues today under the name of the Association of Catholic Nobility Rhineland and Westphalia .
Since its founding, the association has intensively accompanied and tried to influence developments in German society and politics in a confessional sense. In the 1920s, democracy and republic were rejected and, with the help of Clemens August Graf von Galen, modern clothing and the new "modern" dances were condemned.
See also
- Nobility chain , secret corporation
- Lobbying
- Association of Catholic nobles in Austria
- Association of the German Nobility Associations
literature
- Friedrich Keinemann: From Krumstab to Republic - Westphalian nobility under Prussian rule 1802 - 1945 . 1997, ISBN 3-8196-0541-X , pp. 303-304.