Vladislav's national order

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As Vladislavsche Landesordnung (Czech Vladislavské zřízení zemské ) the King of Bohemia is Vladislav II. On March 11, 1500 issued Landesordnung referred. Since then, this order has regulated the mutual rights and duties of the Bohemian estates and the king. Although revised several times, it formed the core of the constitution of the Bohemian corporate state until 1619 .

Historical conditions and origin

Contrary to what the name suggests, the initiative for enacting the national ordinance of the year 1500 came from the lords and knights of the Kingdom of Bohemia.

After the Bohemian kingdom had been greatly weakened by the clashes with the Hussites in the 20s and 30s of the 15th century and the radical wing of the Hussites was destroyed in the Battle of Lipan , the Bohemian estates were able to control the country for the most part take their hands. This development was favored not least by the division of the church property during the Hussite revolution: the majority of the Bohemian nobility, especially the important noble families , were able to appropriate it, while the crown was empty. From then on, the clergy was no longer represented in the state parliament, which now consisted only of lords, knights and royal cities.

The conflict between Utraquists and Catholics was not resolved even after Lipan and until the Kuttenberg Religious Peace of 1485 repeatedly led to civil war-like battles between the religious parties . In order to be able to hold on to the throne in these troubled times, the kings elected by the estates Ladislaus Postumus (1443-1457), Georg von Podiebrad (1458-1471) and Vladislav (since 1471) had to participate in the government of the country . The underage Ladislaus was actually a plaything of the committee of estates that governed for him as a guardian. The utraquist King George also had to agree with his peers, who had chosen him from among their ranks, because he needed their support in the war against the Catholic opposition allied with foreign rulers. The same applies to Vladislav II, who inherited these conflicts from Georg. The actual power in the Kingdom of Bohemia therefore passed more and more to the estates assembled in the state parliament and to the so-called state officers . The latter were the owners of the former crown offices (e.g. Oberstburggraf and Oberstkanzler), which had increasingly become estates. The officials from the ranks of gentlemen and knights often exercised these offices in the interests of their peers.

In the course of these changes, a new political self-image developed among the nobility. He saw himself more and more as the collective embodiment of the crown of Bohemia and saw the king as the highest official who ruled on his behalf. After the political situation had calmed down in the last decade of the 15th century, the nobility was keen to have their customary rights recorded in documents. But the king also had an interest in having the legal relations between the crown and the estates recorded in writing.

The legally educated knight Albrecht Rendl von Uschau , who held the office of royal chamber procurator, was presumably commissioned to draft the state regulations in 1497 . Rendl von Uschau collected the relevant legal texts from the land tables and other archives and submitted a draft of the state regulations comprising over 500 articles. Peter von Sternberg auf Léštno and Zdeněk von Sternberg auf Zbiroh from the Herrenstand were also involved in the editing. Around the turn of the year 1499/1500 the design was ready.

Adoption of state regulations

The 554 articles of the Vladislav regional order were negotiated in March 1500 in the state parliament and included in the state parliament on the 11th of the month. The order was thus accepted by both the king and the estates. It gained legal force through its entry in the land boards on February 24, 1502.

Through its creation, the state order can be characterized as a constitutional treaty concluded between the king on the one hand and the lords and knights on the other .

content

To a large extent, the content of the Vladislav regional order is a collection of older privileges of the nobility. However, the editorial team made them more precise, placed them in new contexts and expanded their scope. If the customary rights of the nobility were generously taken into account, the urban rights that were not evidenced were pushed back.

The state order comprehensively confirmed the sovereignty rights of the aristocracy over their property without the crown being allowed to interfere in any way. Apart from a few fiefdoms in the outskirts of the kingdom, the king also had no influence on the passing on of the goods, be it through inheritance, pledging or sale.

The king also had to recognize that lords and knights lived according to their own law and that legal disputes only had to be resolved in their courts, which were occupied by their own peers. No nobleman was allowed to appear before the royal court. The same was true of the noble subjects if the landlord did not agree. (An exception was only when a subject of the nobility, was caught in an offense in the royal towns or castles in the act.) So that was sized land rights recognized as the highest court of the Kingdom with comprehensive skills. The royal court was only an appeal instance for the city courts.

The legal autonomy of the nobility even went so far that the gentry and knighthood in the state parliament could arbitrarily adopt new laws as far as they only concerned their own affairs. The royal cities as the third estate were only allowed to participate in the deliberations and decisions if they were also affected. The cities, especially the three Prague municipalities, which had gained a lot of power and influence in the middle of the 15th century, were successfully curtailed in their rights with the Vladislav regional order:

“It was rightly recognized that the gentlemen and knights have recognized and confirmed what is written above in these books as law, and that nothing should be changed about it by any person without the consent of the gentry and knighthood. Because the gentry and knighthood has always had the power and freedom to increase or decrease its laws. And this time, too, the two stands retain this freedom. The two classes may agree on whatever at the general diet, they will be able to increase or decrease it by virtue of their right. And also with regard to state law or the other courts. Whatever they would agree on, they could establish, expand or restrict as law, as it was from ancient times. However, what was written in the above books and related to the bourgeoisie and with what this would have to help with some articles, that should not be increased or decreased without the consent of the third estate. "

Not only the approval, but also the collection and administration of taxes was left entirely to the estates. The wealth and income of the nobility were basically tax-free.

The order also regulated the occupation of state offices. Each individual office was assigned either to the lords or the knights. The king was able to decide on the respective person in the occupation, but was bound by the class boundaries. The gentlemen in particular, an oligarchic association made up of barely three dozen families, were able to decisively influence the selection of state officers in practice.

It was also significant that in the absence of the ruler and during the interregnum, a state government formed from the state officers had to take over the reign. Since Vladislav II. And his son and successor Ludwig stayed mostly in Hungary, this meant that a small group from the gentry was mostly in charge in Prague.

Further development

Until the death of King Ludwig in 1526, gentlemen and knights could enjoy their privileges without being challenged. And the elected successor Ferdinand I von Habsburg had a class delegation in Vienna swear that he would respect the Vladislav regional order and all the privileges of the classes before they invited him to the coronation in Prague. Ferdinand, however, who had been brought up in early absolutist Spain, did not easily accept the restrictions imposed on the Bohemian king. First he tried to expand his room for maneuver by banning district assemblies of knighthood, which were not mentioned in the state regulations, and by placing new authorities next to the state officers.

In 1530 the state order was revised by a committee appointed by the king and the state parliament by mutual agreement. Substantially nothing changed. The suppression of the Bohemian uprising of 1547 led to a provisional repeal of the Vladislav regional order. Personally, however, this only affected the noble participants who were summoned to the royal court, and the city status as a whole. In 1550, the second revision of the state order was adopted, which confirmed lords and knights as corporations in all old rights. The royal cities, however, almost completely lost their participation rights in the state parliament. The nobility was more pleased about this, as they could now develop handicrafts and trade more freely in their media cities. The last renewal of the Vladislav regional order took place in 1564. Again little changed. However, when legislation was passed by lords and knights, it was now expressly required that the king give his consent. This is at least a sign of the resurgence of monarchical power under Ferdinand I. Of course, this addition had no meaning in the following decades, because the Habsburg rulers absolutely relied on the tax permits of the estates and were therefore often forced to respond to the wishes of the estates in exchange to give in.

In the other countries of the crown of Bohemia there were also regional regulations in the 16th century, but only in Moravia dealt with constitutional questions. The regulations of Upper Lusatia mainly contained regulations for the subjects. There were also some provisions about the state parliament. In contrast, the treatise issued by Ferdinand I in 1561 for the Upper Lusatian estates had constitutional character .

literature

swell

  • Zřízení zemské králowstwí českého za krále Wladislawa roku 1500 wydané. Jura et constitutiones regni Boemiae regnante Wladislao anno 1500, editae a M.Roderico Dubravo de Dubrava latinitate donatae ex exemplari regi Ferdinando anno 1527 oblato nunc primum typis vulgatae cura Francisci Palacky regni Boemiae historiographi (German The national order of the Kingdom of Bohemia, issued during the government of the Kingdom of Bohemia Vladislavs in 1500, edited after the copy translated into Latin by Magister Rodericus Dubravus a Dubrava, which was presented to King Ferdinand in 1527, now first printed by Franz Palacky ). Prague 1863.
  • Prawa a Zrüzenij Zemska Kraloivstivij czeskeho (= Book of Laws and Statutes for the Kingdom of Bohemia under Colonel Landschreiber Ulrich von Prostibor and on Lochowic). Prague 1550 (bilingual).
  • Prava a zrizeni zemska Kralowstwy Czeskeho (German rights and national order of the Kingdom of Bohemia ). Prague 1564.

literature

  • Otto Peterka : Legal history of the Bohemian countries presented in its main features. 2 volumes, Reichenberg 1928–1933.
  • Winfried Eberhard: Confession formation and classes in Bohemia. 1478 - 1530. Munich 1981.
  • Karel Malý (ed.): Vladislavské zřízení zemské. A počátky ústavního zřízení v českých zemích (1500-1619). Praha 2001, ISBN 80-7286035-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b František Čapka: Dějiny zemí Koruny české v datech. Verlag Libri, 1998, ISBN 80-85983-67-2 ( section “1500. 11. března” on p. 31 ).
  2. ↑ From the 1550 new edition of the Vladislav regional regulations, quoted from Falk: The Bohemian Landtag 1847, Doc. 7 (see web links).