Bailiwick (HRR)

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The Vogtei (also called Vogteilichkeit or Vogteiliche Obrigkeit ) was a legal institution of the Middle Ages and early modern times that played an important role in the legal system of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation , especially since the first half of the 16th century .

definition

In the Holy Roman Empire (HRR), the rule that existed between a Vogt and his subjects was referred to as “Vogtei” . This term, derived from the Latin term “advocatia” or “advocatus” (i.e. legal counsel), in its original meaning primarily described legal matters within which church institutions were represented by a layperson in secular business transactions. According to the derivation of the term, this was the case, for example, when exercising jurisdiction.

In the course of the late Middle Ages, this meaning changed and expanded into a kind of protective relationship that enabled the bailiff exercising the bailiwick to acquire important powers over the subjects under his rule. These could either be their own basic subjects or the rear occupants of those monasteries in which the Vogt held a function as a legal representative. The exercise of the bailiff was connected with the acquisition of manorial powers, as well as with an increase in the financial income of the bailiff. In addition, the exercise of the bailiwick was linked to the direct rulership of the village ("Zwing und Bann"), as well as to church protection and often also to tax and defense sovereignty.

history

The decisive impetus for the increase in importance of the Bailiwick came from the great process of upheaval that had arisen in the legal system of the HRR since the end of the 15th century and which gave the Bailiwick the vast majority of jurisdiction. The Vogteiliche jurisdiction forming this legal circle included not only the entire civil jurisdiction but also the criminal jurisdiction, with the exception of only the serious criminal cases, because these remained reserved for the high jurisdiction .

The spread of Protestantism that began in the first half of the 16th century was a further impetus for the Bailiwick to play a decisive role in the legal system of the HRR. Because at the Augsburg Reichstag of 1555 with the Augsburg Religious Peace the free choice of religion was allowed in the empire, albeit as a privilege that was only granted to the secular princely houses. Through the provision Cuius regio, eius religio ( Latin for whose area, whose religion ) contained in the religious peace, the secular power could determine which religion the inhabitants of a ruled territory had to adopt. With this, however, the question of which imperial power could successfully claim sovereignty over a place became of decisive importance. In the Franconian and Swabian regions in particular , it was often difficult to answer this question, as this part of the empire was particularly fragmented in legal and territorial terms. Here, the rights of the different territorial rulers overlapped and competed in such a complex situation that a legal institution had to be found that allowed a clear determination of the "sovereign rulers" determining the religion in a place. Due to the legal situation, the answer to this question fell to the bailiwick in the Franconian area, in the form of its specifically "Franconian character". This was supplemented by the village and community rulership , which then played a decisive role when several bailiffs competed with each other for the claim of sovereignty over a place.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gertrud Diepolder : Bavarian History Atlas . Ed .: Max Spindler . Bayerischer Schulbuch Verlag, Munich 1969, ISBN 3-7627-0723-5 , p. 87 .
  2. ^ Reinhard Seyboth: Stadtlexikon Nürnberg . Ed .: Michael Diefenbacher, Rudolf Endres. 2nd, improved edition. W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2000, ISBN 3-921590-69-8 , p. 1144 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Hildegard Weiß: City and district of Bamberg . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . Commission for Bavarian State History, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-7696-9884-3 , p. 41 .
  4. ^ Ingomar Bog: Forchheim . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . Commission for Bavarian State History, Munich 1955, p. 15 ( online ).