German mediatisation

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Background

The German Mediatisation is a name applied to the series of mediatisations and secularisations which occured in Germany during the Napoleonic Era (occuring 1795 - 1814AD). Mediatisation was, put simply, the process of annexing the lands of one sovereign monarchy to another, often leaving the annexed some rights. Secularisation was the process of annexing the secular lands held by an ecclesial ruler (such as a Bishop or an Abbot) and redistributing them to secular states.

Following the collapse of the Carolingian Empire and the creation and proliferation of Feudalism, much of Europe had been reduced to an array of small, indepedent statelets. Successive Kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors had at the same time vested temporal authority on many Bishoprics, Abbacies and Convents, and also granted Free City rights to many cities and villages throughout Germany. Unlike England and France, for example, the German kings were unable to coalesce their realms into a fully centralised kingdom, so over the course of centuries Germany had been reduced to no less than 300 independent states.

Secularisation

From the reestablishment of the Holy Roman Empire by the Salian Emperors in the 10th Century, the Feudal system had reduced Germany and northern Italy into a vast network of small statelets, each one having varying priveleges, titles and autonomy. To help administer Germany in the face of growing decentralisation and local autonomy following the rise of Feudalism, many Bishoprics, Abbacies and Convents throughout Germany were granted noble titles, such as Prince, Duke, or Count, and temporal estates by successive Holy Roman Emperors. The personal appointment of the Bishops by the Holy Roman Emperors had sparked the Investiture controversy, and in its' aftermath the Emperors were unable to use the Bishops for this end. Following this, the Bishops and Abbacies had begun to run their newfound realms as a temporal lord as opposed to a spiritual lord. The endemic corruption and decadence which followed had led to the falling from grace of the Ecclesial rulers, and eventually led to the Reformation. The Counter-Reformation reestablished the relevance of the Prince-Bishops as they had become known, but by the end of the Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia which had established the system whereby the inhabitants of a state were of the religion of the ruler left the Prince-Bishops again obsolete.

In 1797, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France defeated the armed forces of the Holy Roman Emperor and by the Treaty of Campo Formio annexed all the lands of the Holy Roman Empire west of the Rhine River. The Holy Roman Emperor was bound by the duty to compensate the now stateless monarchs who lost their lands to grant them new estates. The only available lands were those held by the Prince-Bishops, so they were secularised and dispersed amongst the monarchs of Germany.

Secularised States

Bishops and Archbishops: Augsburg; Bamberg (Babenberg); Basel; Brixen; Chur; Cologne (Köln); Constance (Konstanz); Eichstädt; Ellwangen; Freising; Hildesheim; Liege; Lübeck; Mainz; Münster; Osnabrück; Paderborn; Passau; Regensburg;Salzburg; Sitten (Sion); Speyer; Spires; Strasbourg; Trent (Trento); Trier; Worms; Würzburg

Abbeys, Convents and Provostries: Berchtesgaden; Beuron; Buchau; Corvey; Elchingen; Ellwangen; Essen; Fulda; Gutenzell; Heggbach; Heiligkreuzthal; Herford; Kaisersheim (Kaisheim); Kempten; Marchthal; Niedermünster-in-Regensburg; Neresheim; Ochsenhausen; Obermünster-in-Regensburg; Petershausen; Quedlinburg; Roth; Rottenmünster; Salem; Salmansweiler; Schönthal; Schussenried; Söflingen; Sorlingen; Stablo-Malmedy; St. Blasien; St. Cornelimünster; St. Emmeran; St. Gall; Thorn; [[Weingarten_%28W%FCrttemberg%29|Weingarten]]; Weissenau; Werden-Helmstädt; Wiblingen; Zweifalten;

Mediatisation

Although the number of German states had been steadily decreasing since the Thirty Years' War, there still remained approximately 200 states by the advent of the Napoleonic Era. The defeat of the First Coalition resulted in the secularisation of the Ecclesial states and the annexation by France of all lands west of the Rhine. Also in 1803, most of the Free Cities in Germany were mediatised. On June 12, 1806, Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine to help secure the eastern border of France. On August 6, 1806, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II declared the Empire abolished. In order to gain the support of the more powerful German states, it was announced that all states which joined could mediatise neighbouring states.

After the Battle of Waterloo and the exile of Napoleon to St. Helena, the Congress of Vienna was held in 1814 by the Great Powers to reestablish the old borders of Europe. It was decided that the mediatised monarchs, free cities and secularised states would not be recreated in Europe. The monarchs of the mediatised states though were to be considered equal to the remaining sovereign monarchs, and they would receive compensation for their loss. As it was left to each of the remaining states to compensate them, and with no authority to complain to if they weren't fairly reimbursed, few of the monarchs ever received any.

Mediatised Monarchies

Mediatised Free and Imperial Cities

Aachen; Aalen; Augsburg; Biberach; Bopfingen; Buchau; Buchhorn (Friedrichshafen); Cologne (Köln); Dinkelsbühl; Dortmund; Esslingen; Frankfurt; Friedberg; Gengenbach; Giengen; Goslar; Heilbronn; Isny; Kaufbeuren; Kempten; Leutkirch; Lindau; Memmingen; Mühlhausen; Nordhausen; Nördlingen; Nuremberg; Offenburg; Pfullendorf; Ravensburg; Regensburg; Reutlingen; Rothenburg; Rottweil; Schwäbisch Gmünd; Schwäbisch Hall; Schweinfurt; Speyer; Überlingen; Ulm; Wangen; Weil; Weissenburg; Wetzlar; Wimpfen; Windsheim; Worms; Zell


Most of the mediatisations occured in 1806 after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine. The ones which weren't were: Arenberg (annexed to France in 1810, and was not reestablished in 1814); Isenburg (the Congress of Vienna decided to mediatise Isenburg in 1814 for being to close to Napoleon); Leyen (the Congress of Vienna decided to mediatise Leyen in 1814 for being to close to Napoleon); Salm (several states of Salm survived to 1811 and 1813); and Stolberg (annexed by Prussia in 1815). Also mediatised 1806 - 1814 were several states created by Napoleon for his relatives and close allies. These include: the Prince of Aschaffenburg 1806; the Grand Duke of Frankfurt 1814; the King of Westphalia 1813; and the Grand Duke of Würzburg 1814. The only Free cities in Germany not mediatised 1803 were: Augsburg (mediatised 1805); Bremen; Frankfurt (mediatised 1806); Hamburg; Lübeck; and Regensburg (mediatised 1806).

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