Constitutional history of the Middle Ages

The constitutional history of the Middle Ages shows the constitutional framework within which medieval societies were organized. It forms part of the legal history .

The constitution of the Holy Roman Empire (HRR), which is shown here as an example, was not a systematically written constitution in the current sense, but was made up of a relatively uncoordinated number of individual decisions, judgments, etc. in a notarized form and composed of common law . The decisions at the Reich level z. B. could from the monarch alone (especially in the early Middle Ages ), from the monarch with the consent of the estates (tax collection, warfare in the Reichstag ; the Golden Bull of 1356 e.g. in the court assembly ), or in exceptional cases also from other bodies ( electoral election of the monarch since around the late Middle Ages ). Another method of decision-making was the Concordat (e.g. Worms Concordat of 1122), which had to seal a contractual agreement between several parties. Above all, the high and late Middle Ages were an epoch that did not allow the monarchs to have any absolute power.

The medieval constitution regulated the social conditions of the time in a very rudimentary form: structure of feudal beings and manorial rule ; political structure of empire and territorial states (Reichstag, state parliaments ) within the framework of the estates. In addition, over time, the peace orders that sought to curb the feudal and fist law. Since the medieval territories were more associations of persons than states in today's sense (even the extremely poor communication possibilities made systematic government activity impossible), there could be no question of a state monopoly of force or even the rule of law, arbitrariness or even vigilante justice were omnipresent.

literature

• H. Boockmann: Introduction to the history of the Middle Ages. 1981.
• H. Boldt: German constitutional history. Volume 1: From the beginning to the end of the older empire. 1986.