Lower Rhine-Westphalian Imperial Counts College

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The Prince of Wied-Neuwied exercised the office of Protestant director

The Lower Rhine-Westphalian Reichsgrafenkollegium, also known as the Westphalian Count Bank , was the corporate association of the Lower Rhine-Westphalian imperial counts and lords to protect their interests at the Reichstag and in particular in the Imperial Council of Prince . It existed from 1653 until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

Origin and structure

The first approaches to the application for a curiate vote of the Westphalian-Lower Rhine counts and lords came from the second decade of the 17th century. A corresponding application followed in 1653/54. The emperor and the imperial council of princes agreed. Some of the members had previously belonged to the Wetterau Reichsgrafenkollegium . In the first period up to 1692, the voice guidance was assigned to an alternate appointed envoy. This exercised the right to vote for a month until the next representative was on. In the order of the imperial council of princes, the Westphalian Grafenbank took the last place (# 100). A stronger internal structure was created by 1706. A board of directors now managed the voting. Since 1698 there has been one director for the left bank and one for the right bank. The directors had to have ancestral origins and a law firm sufficient to handle the additional tasks. One of the tasks was to prepare for the Grafentage. There was also the joint Reichstag envoy, a syndic, a cashier and a registry office. The legal office was based in Cologne . Every year a counts' day took place in Cologne, mostly in connection with the district council of the Lower Rhine-Westphalian Empire .

development

At first, the common interest in relation to the advancing power of the princes was in the foreground. In order to avoid internal conflicts, the college paid attention to denominational parity. One problem from the beginning was that large territorial states such as Prussia , Hanover , Denmark- Oldenburg and others influenced the institution more and more because they also held the ownership and title of Counts from Lower Rhine-Westphalia. The attempts of the counts to exclude the princes from voting in the college failed several times.

Despite the desired denominational parity, the majority was in the Protestant camp. At the latest with the Austrian War of Succession , the policy of denominational compromise reached its limits. The Catholic counts tended to side with the Habsburgs , while the Protestant side was dominated by the interests of the great princes. This led to the fact that in 1747 a director of the college shut it down. In order to be able to continue doing politics together, the Protestant side founded a "closer correspondence association." This was refused recognition by the Catholic side. These disputes meant the de facto end of political influence. The vote in the Reichstag was continued by the Protestant side. Two denominationally separate sub-colleges were created, but were chaired by the two directors. The attempt on the part of the Catholic party to get a vote in the Reichstag led in 1805, shortly before the end of the Reich, to the creation of a Swabian-Westphalian Count's College.

The members of the Westphalian Imperial Counts College 1792

Of the 40 territories represented on the Count's Bank, ten were led by imperial princes with virile votes in the imperial council:

  • Margrave of Brandenburg and King of Prussia (Sayn-Altenkirchen and Tecklenburg)
  • Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel and 1720–1751 King of Sweden (Schaumburg)
  • Duke of Oldenburg and until 1773 King of Denmark (Oldenburg and Delmenhorst)
  • Elector of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and King of England (Bentheim, Hoya, Diepholz)
  • Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel (Blankenburg)
  • Prince of Nassau-Diez-Orange and inheritance holder of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (Spiegelberg)

coat of arms

  • Sayn

  • Tecklenburg

  • Wied

  • Schaumburg

  • Oldenburg

  • Delmenhorst

  • lip

  • Bentheim

  • Steinfurt

  • Hoya

  • Diepholz

  • Spiegelberg

  • Virneburg

  • Rietberg

  • Pyrmont

  • Gronsfeld

  • Reckheim

  • Anholt

  • Winneburg-Beilstein

  • Holzappel

  • Manderscheid-Blankenheim

  • Wittem

  • Gemen

  • Gimborn (Schwarzenberg)

  • Wickrath (Hochstaden)

  • Myllendonk (Reifferscheid)

  • Reichenstein (Nesselrode)

  • Schleiden (Manderscheid)

  • Kerpen and Lommersum

  • Dyck

  • Saffenburg

  • Hallermund

  • Bretzenheim

  • Fagnolle (Ligne)

  • Olbrück (Waldbott von Bassenheim)

  • Blankenburg

The dissolution of the Westphalian Imperial Counts College

The Peace of Lunéville of February 9, 1801 and the cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France brought the de facto end of the Westphalian Imperial Counts College:

  • 16 of the territories fell to France in the 1801 peace treaty:
    • Virneburg came to the Rhin-et-Moselle department ,
    • Gronsfeld came to the Meuse-Inférieure department ,
    • Reckheim came to the Meuse-Inférieure department,
    • Winneburg and Beilstein came to the Rhin-et-Moselle department,
    • Blankenheim and Gerolstein came to the Sarre department , 1812 Roer department ,
    • Wittem, Eyß and Schlenacken came to the Ourthe department ,
    • Wickrath and Schwanenberg came to the Roer department,
    • Myllendonk came to the Roer department,
    • Schleiden came to the Ourthe department, in 1812 the Roer department,
    • Kerpen and Lommersum came to the Roer department,
    • Dyck came to the Roer department,
    • Saffenburg came to the Rhin-et-Moselle department,
    • Rheineck came to the Rhin-et-Moselle department,
    • Bretzenheim and Winzenheim came to the Mont-Tonnerre department ,
    • Fagnolle came to the Ardennes department ,
    • Olbrück came to the Rhin-et-Moselle department.

The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of February 25, 1803 brought decisive changes to the holdings of the Westphalian Reichsgrafenkollegium:

  • The Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel received a viril vote for Blankenburg in the Imperial Council of Princes in Section 32 and thus resigned from the Westphalian Imperial Counts College. Blankenburg fell to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807 .
  • The Prince Kaunitz received a viril vote in § 32 in the Imperial Council of Princes and thus resigned from the Westphalian Imperial Counts College. Rietberg fell to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807 .

With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, other territories lost their independence and were mediatized

  • According to § 12, Sayn-Altenkirchen fell to Nassau-Usingen , "with the condition that, in view of the indemnification of the Sayn-Wittgenstein house , whose claims to the county of Sayn and its authorities remain extinguished, to behave according to the agreement reached."
  • In Section 21, Wied-Runkel was expanded to include the Electoral Cologne offices of Neuerburg and Altenwied and the Vilmar winery, but fell to Nassau-Usingen in 1806 , Runkel on the right of the Lahn became the Grand Duchy of Berg , and in 1805, Wied-Neuwied became Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg distributed, also Holzappel and Reichenstein were distributed to Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg in 1805,
  • In § 4 Hoya fell to Hanover, 1807 to France, Département Bouches-du-Weser ,
  • In § 4 Diepholz fell to Hanover, 1807 to France, Département Ems-Supérieur ,
  • Spiegelberg belonged to the princes of Nassau-Diez-Oranien since 1631, sold to Hanover in 1819,
  • Pyrmont belonged to Waldeck since the inheritance contract of 1625, raised to the principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1712,
  • The Duke of Arenberg as Count von der Mark got in § 3, the Bishopric of Münster belonging Office Meppen with the former Electoral Cologne County Recklinghausen for compensation.
  • Anholt had already been added to the Batavian Republic in 1800 , but fell back to Salm-Salm in 1803.
  • 15 Westphalian counts, whose territories were added to France in the Peace of Lunéville, received secularized monastery property in Upper Swabia as compensation in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss. The Westphalian counts were transplanted to the south-west of the empire. The sovereignty they gained in 1803 was already lost in 1806, when all the newly created principalities were mediatized.
    • In § 13, the Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim received the Freudenberg Office , the Grünau Charterhouse , the Triefenstein Monastery and 4 villages in the Würzburg region as compensation; 1806 to Baden.
    • The Count of Törring-Jettenbach received the Cistercian women's abbey Gutenzell in § 24 as compensation; 1806 to Württemberg.
    • The Count of Aspremont-Lynden received in Section 24 the Baindt Monastery as compensation (in addition, 850 guilders per year from Count Metternich); 1806 to Württemberg.
    • In § 24, Count von Metternich received the Benedictine Abbey of Ochsenhausen “with the exclusion of the Tannheim office , under the obligation, an annual pension of 20,000 guilders - namely 850 guilders to the Count of Aspremont - 11,000 guilders to the Count of Quadt - to the Count von Wartenberg 8 150 guilders, to be paid out “as compensation; 1806 to Württemberg.
    • In § 24, the Count of Sternberg received the Premonstratensian Abbeys Schussenried and Weißenau “subject to the obligation of an annual pension of 13,900 guilders, namely 5 500 guilders to the Count of Wartenberg, 1,110 guilders to the Count of Sickingen, 6 to the Count of Hallberg 880 guilders, to the Count of Nesselrode-Reichenstein 260 guilders, to the Count von Goltstein 150 guilders, to be paid out “as compensation; 1806 to Württemberg.
    • The Count of Plettenberg received the Kloster-Heggbachischen places Mietingen and Sulmingen as compensation in § 24 because of Wittem and Eyß ; 1806 to Württemberg. In the same context, Count von Goltstein received an annual pension of 1,850 guilders because of Schlenacken.
    • In Section 24, Count von Quadt received the abbey and the city ​​of Isny as compensation (in addition, 11,000 guilders annually from Count Metternich); 1806 to Württemberg.
    • The Count von Ostein received the Charterhouse of Buxheim “(excluding the village of Pleß ) under the obligation of an annual pension of 9,000 guilders, namely 1,300 guilders to the Count of Bassenheim and 6,000 guilders to the Count of Plettenberg to pay the Count of Goltstein 1,700 guilders out “as compensation; 1806 to Bavaria.
    • The Count of Nesselrode-Reichenstein only received an annual pension of 260 guilders in Section 24, payable by Count von Sternberg from the income from Schussenried and Weißenau.
    • In § 24, the Count of Schaesberg received the Tannheim Office belonging to the Benedictine Abbey of Ochsenhausen , “(with the exclusion of the village of Winterrieden ) under the obligation, an annual pension of 2,000 guilders - namely 1,500 guilders to the Count of Sinzendorf and 1,500 guilders to the Count of Hallberg 500 guilders, to be paid out “as compensation; 1806 to Württemberg.
    • The Count von Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck received in § 3 from the secularization estate of the Archdiocese of Mainz a permanent pension of 28,000 guilders on the possessions of the Frankfurt chapter.
    • In § 24, the Count of Sinzendorf received the village of Winterrieden, which belongs to the Benedictine Abbey of Ochsenhausen ( Tannheim Office ), “under the name of a burgraviate and an annual pension” of 1,500 guilders from Count Schaesberg as compensation; 1806 to Bavaria.
    • The Prince of Bretzenheim received in § 22 Die Stadt and the Fürstete Damenstift zu Lindau as compensation; Sold to Austria in 1804, annexed by Bavaria in 1805.
    • The Prince of Ligne received the Edelstetten Abbey in Section 11 under the name of a county; 1806 to Bavaria.
    • In § 24, the Count of Bassenheim received the Heggbach monastery (excluding Mietingen and Sulmingen ) as compensation; 1806 to Württemberg. In addition, he received an annual pension of 1,300 guilders, which Count von Ostein had to pay from the proceeds of the secularized Charterhouse of Buxheim , as compensation.

The former Westphalian counts, some of whom now bore the secularized monastery names in their titles, became landlords with extensive special rights in Württemberg, Bavaria and Baden until the First World War.

Eight of the Westphalian counts obtained or confirmed their status as sovereign princes and in 1806/1807 joined the Rhine Confederation with their territories led by Napoleon as protector , whereby the two Nassau lines in particular were able to expand considerably:

  • Nassau-Usingen (July 12, 1806),
  • Nassau-Weilburg (July 12, 1806),
  • Arenberg (July 12, 1806),
  • Schaumburg-Lippe (April 18, 1807),
  • Lippe (April 18, 1807),
  • Waldeck (April 18, 1807),
  • Salm-Salm (July 12, 1806),
  • Salm-Kyrburg (July 12, 1806) was able to take over the rule of Gemen in the Rhine Confederation Act, Art. 24, in 1810 to France, Département Lippe ,

Six territories fell to the French satellite states Kingdom of Westphalia and Grand Duchy of Berg :

  • Rietberg fell to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807,
  • the part of Schaumburg belonging to Hessen-Kassel fell to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807,
  • Bentheim fell to the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1806 and came to France, Département Lippe , in 1810
  • Steinfurt fell to the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1806 and came to France, Département Lippe, in 1810
  • Bentheim-Tecklenburg 1807 to the Grand Duchy of Berg, 1810 to France, Département Ems-Supérieur,
  • Gimborn and Neustadt fell to the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1806.

Oldenburg and Delmenhorst came to France in 1810, Département des Bouches-du-Weser.

literature

  • Johannes Arndt : The Niederrheinisch-Westfälische Reichsgrafenkollegium and its members 1653-1806 , dissertation Ruhr-Universität Bochum 1987, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1151-6 .
  • Nikolaus Schönburg: The constitutional position of the imperial counts from the end of the Middle Ages to the end of the old empire . Diploma thesis, Vienna 2008, digitized version (PDF file; 872 kB).
  • Gerhard Köbler : Historical lexicon of the German countries. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present . 7th completely revised edition. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-54986-1 , p. 781, partially digitized .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Until 1773 the Virilstimme of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorf was led by the Kingdom of Denmark; Oldenburg was a side court of Copenhagen. In 1773/77 Oldenburg was elevated to a duchy and from 1778 onwards the former Gottorf voice became the duchy of Holstein-Oldenburg. As feudal owners of the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, the dukes of Holstein-Gottorf-Oldenburg had two seats in the Westphalian Empire and in the Lower Rhine-Westphalian Empire in addition to their seat as Dukes of Oldenburg.
  2. ↑ With this, the land connection that Austria had been striving for since the Middle Ages from Tyrol and Vorarlberg to the actual foothills was finally realized, but only for a very short time, because Lindau was annexed by Bavaria as early as 1805, which established its land connection to Lake Constance (never published again) .
  3. ↑ Two of the counts - Goltstein because of Schlenacken and Nesselrode because of Reichenstein - were compensated with money, a third - Bretzenheim - had already sold his compensation before the mediatization. These three therefore did not attain the status of the nobleman
  4. ↑ Landlord Graf von Törring-Gutenzell, Landlord Graf von Aspremont-Lynden (sold Baindt in 1812 to Ulm merchants), Landlord Count von Metternich-Winneburg-Ochsenhausen (sold Ochsenhausen in 1825 to Württemberg), Landlord Graf von Sternberg (sold Schussenried and Weißenau in 1835 Württemberg), registrar Count von Plettenberg, registrar Count von Quadt-Isny, registrar Count von Schaesberg-Tannheim
  5. ↑ Landlord Graf von Ostein (expired in the male line in 1809, inherited from Waldbott von Bassenheim), landlord Graf von Sinzendorf (expired in the male line in 1822, inherited from Waldbott von Bassenheim), landlord Prince von Ligne (sold Edelstetten in 1804 to Prince Esterhazy von Galantha, line to Forchtenstein)
  6. ^ Lord of the rank of Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg