Ecclesiastical or Princely-Worldly? The Role of the Imperial Prelates in the Development of Early Modern Statehood (Kirchlich oder Fürstlich-Weltlich? Die Rolle der Reichsprälaten in der Entwicklung frühmoderner Staatlichkeit)
Author : Wolfgang Wüst
Abstract :
The discourse about advantages and disadvantages of statehood under the “Krummstab” led, among other findings, to an overemphasized dividing line between secular, ecclesiastical and monastic rule. The result was a black-and-white dichotomy of sacred and profane spaces of life, that has flared up since the Enlightenment. A conference held in Fulda in September 2024 entitled “Rule of women - rule of men. Princely abbeys as secular residences” showed how wrong it was to transfer the traditional separation of church and state, which is primarily constitutionally, institutionally and administratively oriented, to the level of well-connected, princely and imperial abbeys. There, the systemically relevant administrative and legal development often faced other problems than the close fulfillment of any monastic rule. For the criteria of monastic rule, developed by the Swiss historian Peter Hersche, the reception of strict enclosure and religious rules played a subordinate role. Church and imperial careers, such as that of Cardinal Bernhard Gustav von Baden-Durlach (1673–1677) as Prince-Abbot of Fulda and Kempten, led to administrative home absences, but they also broadened the horizon of secular and ecclesiastical duty fulfillment. The same applied within a monastic landscape through participation in the political events of the imperial diets on the “Prälatenbänke”. Rule had to be secured. Abbots, abbesses and monastic provosts invested large sums of money in sovereignty, as the case of the Poor Clares in Söflingen near Ulm shortly before secularization showed. They freed them from dependence on neighboring powers. At the same time, monasteries, like prince-bishoprics and the Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden), based their buildings and residences on the iconography of the Old Roman Empire. In Imperial Representation Halls (“Kaisersäle”), alongside scenes of the secular regiment, as the case of Ottobeuren shows, one finds beside Roman Emperors and secularly acting Princes all kinds of ecclesiastical and papal references. One could ask how a perception directed towards both the church and the state, varied by changes of dynasty, affected the development of cloisters, palaces, states and towns? Critics of the church put their finger in the wound of an authority overburdened by the dual office of church and state. Andreas Josef Schnaubert (1750-1825), who taught constitutional and canon law in Helmstedt and Jena, stated that the welfare of the state was disintegrating into monastic territories and that the abbots were only interested in personal advantages and family-related benefices.
Keywords :
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Governance, Imperial Princes, Imperial Prelates, Imperial Church, Imperial Diets, Imperial Halls (Kaisersäle) etc.
