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105-574: Achstetten ( German pronunciation: [ˈaxʃtetn̩] ) is the northernmost municipality in the district of Biberach , in the region of Upper Swabia in Baden-Württemberg , Germany . The villages of Oberholzheim , Bronnen and Stetten were incorporated into the municipality of Achstetten between 1972 and 1975. The strung-out village is situated west of the federal road Bundesstraße 30 . The river Rot runs through it. Achstetten lies approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) north of

210-473: A hostel for travelling tradesmen on the premises. Municipalities of Germany The highest degree of autonomy may be found in the Gemeinden which are not part of a Kreis ("district"). These Gemeinden are referred to as Kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise , often translated as "urban district". In some states they retained a higher measure of autonomy than the other municipalities of

315-434: A late mediaeval structure at the same location. In 1823, the spire was raised and a new top was added. The interior was last renovated in 1932 and a new pipe organ was installed in 2000. The gallery is separated into two parts, one part designated for the general public, and a second part into which only the former rulers of Achstetten, members of the dynasty of Reuttner von Weyl , were permitted. The compartment for

420-719: A Pandora's box and have severe repercussions on the institutional stability of the Empire. By the late 18th century, the continued existence of the Holy Roman Empire, despite its archaic constitution, was not seriously threatened from within its limits. An external factor – the French Revolution and the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte – brought about its demise. After Revolutionary France had declared war on Prussia and Austria in April 1792 , its armies invaded; by

525-472: A civil administration usually followed within a few weeks. Such haste was due in good part to the fear that the June plan might not be definitive and therefore it was thought safer to occupy the allotted territories and place everyone before a fait accompli . That strategy was not foolproof however and Bavaria, which had been in occupation of the bishopric of Eichstätt since September, was forced to evacuate it when

630-764: A compromise was reached in November 1801 to delegate the compensation task to an Imperial Deputation ( Reichsdeputation ), with France to act as 'mediator'. The Deputation consisted of the plenipotentiaries of the Electors of Mainz, Saxony, Brandenburg/Prussia, Bohemia and Bavaria, and of the Duke of Württemberg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Soon after Lunéville,

735-538: A feudal patchwork comprising "polyglot congeries of literally hundreds of nearly sovereign states and territories ranging in size from considerable to minuscule". From a high of nearly four hundred – 136 ecclesiastical and 173 secular lords plus 85 free imperial cities – on the eve of the Reformation, this number had only reduced to a little less than 300 by the late-18th century. The traditional explanation for this fragmentation ( Kleinstaaterei ) has focused on

840-753: A future general peace with the Holy Roman Empire surrendered to France the German territories west of the Rhine, including the Prussian provinces. A secret Franco-Prussian convention signed in August 1796 specified that such a compensation would be the Prince-Bishopric of Münster and Vest Recklinghausen . In addition, Article 3 of the convention provided that the Prince of Orange-Nassau, dynastically related to

945-484: A memorandum that suggested giving to the Wittelsbach Emperor the bishoprics of Passau, Augsburg and Regensburg, as well as the imperial cities of Augsburg, Regensburg and Ulm. Frederick II added the archbishopric of Salzburg to the list and Charles VII went as far as adding the bishoprics of Eichstätt and Freising. The plan caused a sensation, and outrage among the prince-bishops, the free imperial cities and

1050-532: A prince-bishopric targeted for secularisation. While the secret compensation provisions of the treaties of 1796 with Prussia, Baden and Württemberg targeted only ecclesiastical territories, by the time the Congress of Rastatt opened in late 1797, there were widespread rumors about the abolition of at least some cities. Alarmed by such rumors, the imperial cities of the Swabian Circle, where about half of all

1155-511: A regular basis. Elections for the municipal councils ( Kommunalwahlen ) take place every 4 years in Bremen, every 6 years in Bavaria and every 5 years in all other states. The office of mayor is full-time ( hauptamtlich ) in larger municipalities, and voluntary ( ehrenamtlich ) in smaller municipalities, for instance those that are part of a municipal association. Mayors are elected for

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1260-572: A specific term, which is different in every state. Since mayoral elections also have to be held when a mayor resigns from office, these do not take place at the same time for all municipalities in a state. The terms for mayors are: German Mediatisation German mediatisation ( English: / m iː d i ə t aɪ ˈ z eɪ ʃ ən / ; German : deutsche Mediatisierung ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of

1365-742: A territorial ruler. Already in January 1802 Elector Max Joseph had issued a decree that dissolved 77 Bavarian monasteries and 14 nunneries which were nichtständische (unrepresented at the territorial Estates). Soon after the proclamation of the Recess in February 1803, some 70 Prälatenklöster , which were landständische (represented at the territorial Estates) and as such had traditionally enjoyed considerable autonomy, were secularized as well. The rich Prälatenklöster had controlled approximately 28 per cent of all peasants holdings in Bavaria. Following

1470-551: A thread: while Regensburg and Wetzlar, seats of the Imperial Diet and the Imperial Cameral Tribunal respectively, were still on the short list of imperial cities that were to survive in the June 1802 general compensation plan, they were secularized a few months later in order to beef up the newly created Principality of Aschaffenburg that was to constitute the territorial base of Archbishop von Dalberg,

1575-525: A vote within the Imperial Diet were to enjoy an improved aristocratic status, being deemed equal to the still-reigning monarchs for marital purposes , and entitled to claim compensation for their losses. But it was left to each of the annexing states to compensate mediatised dynasties, and the latter had no international right to redress if dissatisfied with the new regime's reimbursement decisions. In 1825 and 1829, those houses which had been designated

1680-405: A week after Elector Maximilian IV Joseph had written to their respective prince-bishops to inform them of the imminent occupation of their principalities. During the autumn, Bavaria, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Württemberg, and even Austria, proceeded to occupy the prince-bishoprics, imperial abbeys, and free Imperial cities that had been allotted to them. Formal annexation and the establishment of

1785-690: Is a reminder of the Cistercian abbey in Gutenzell with whom the Freiherrn of Freyberg shared authority over the village from 1447 onwards. Originally, Achstetten was part of the parish of Laupheim. It became an independent parish in 1442, when the Freiherrn von Freyberg founded a new parish, subordinate to the monastery of Ochsenhausen. The monastery of Ochsenhausen had the church St Oswald and Agatha built in Renaissance -style in 1625, replacing

1890-574: Is evidence to indicate that a road towards the crossing of the river Iller branched off on the territory of Achstetten. This road would then lead on towards Regensburg . Achstetten is first mentioned in a charter dated 1194. This charter was signed by Pope Celestine III , confirming the rights of Wiblingen Abbey in Asteten . The possessions of the monastery of Wiblingen in Achstetten were, however, certainly older than 1194. From 1356 to 1447,

1995-566: The Kreis (e.g. Große Kreisstadt ). Municipalities titled Stadt (town or city) are urban municipalities while those titled Gemeinde are classified as rural municipalities. With more than 3,600,000 inhabitants, the most populous municipality of Germany is the city of Berlin ; and the least populous is Gröde in Schleswig-Holstein . Status as of January 2024. The number of municipalities of Germany has decreased strongly over

2100-531: The regnum Teutonicum was "an aristocracy with a monarchical head". Among those states and territories, the ecclesiastical principalities were unique to Germany. Historically, the Ottonian and early Salian Emperors, who appointed the bishops and abbots, used them as agents of the imperial crown – as they considered them more dependable than the dukes they appointed and who often attempted to establish independent hereditary principalities. The emperors expanded

2205-655: The Bavarian inheritance and during his later exchange plan to swap Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands, which included a secret provision for the secularisation of the Archbishopric of Salzburg and the Provostry of Berchtesgaden . Yet, none of these projects ever came close to be implemented because, in the end, key actors appreciated that the secularisation of one single prince-bishopric would open

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2310-502: The Freiherrn von Freyberg were the sole rulers of Achstetten. In 1442, the rule over Achstetten was divided amongst three brothers, Eberhard von Freyberg , Hans von Freyberg and Wilhelm von Freyberg . However, in 1447, Wilhelm von Freyberg sold his part to Gutenzell Abbey . As a consequence, the Freiherrn von Freyberg were forced to share the rule of the village with Gutenzell Abbey until 1625. In 1594, Ochsenhausen Abbey bought

2415-640: The Prince of Leiningen , followed suit. This came to be known as the Rittersturm . By autumn 1803, the majority of the knightly estates were de facto annexed by their larger neighbors but in January 1804, the seizures were declared illegal by the Emperor Francis II. Although the Emperor was unable to reverse the annexations, the threat of force put a stop to further seizures. Still, this violence

2520-486: The Roman period, Achstetten was also a place of settlement, indicated by the remains of Roman villa . The outlines of this structure are visible on aerial photographs . The Hil(de)gartstraße in Achstetten is a reminder of an early mediaeval trade route . It is a relic of a route leading from Konstanz via Meersburg towards Ulm and then further via Heidenheim to Aalen and Würzburg , terminating at Fulda . There

2625-655: The aristocracy is connected to the castle by a passageway, built on wooden columns . A similar structure existed in Laupheim. There, however, the passageway is only preserved in fragments. The Chapel of the Annunciation was built ca. 1650, immediately after the Thirty Years' War , as a burial church for the Freiherrn von Freyberg. Following the acquisition of Achstetten by the Counts of Reuttner von Weyl in 1795,

2730-580: The Archbishopric-Electorate of Mainz, the Teutonic Order and the Order of Malta. Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg of Mainz had salvaged his Electorate by convincing Bonaparte that his position as Imperial Archchancellor was essential to the functioning of the Empire. As much of his Electorate, including the cathedral city of Mainz, had been annexed by France, the archbishopric was translated to Regensburg and augmented with some remnants of

2835-630: The Catholic Church, but because they feared it would lead to the aggrandizement of Prussia, Austria and Bavaria. The Final Recess of the Imperial Deputation (German: Reichsdeputationshauptschluss ) of 25 February 1803 is commonly referred to as the Imperial law that brought about the territorial restructuring of the Empire by subsuming the church states and imperial cities to larger secular imperial estates. In reality, neither

2940-716: The Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbundakte), which sanctioned unilateral action by territorial states. On 12 June 1806, Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine to extend and help secure the eastern border of France. In reluctant recognition of Napoleon's dismemberment of imperial territory, on 6 August 1806, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II declared the Empire abolished , and claimed as much power as he could retain as ruler of

3045-410: The Counts of Toerring-Gutenzell became the inheritors of the share of Gutenzell Abbey, part of which had, since 1449, also been the hamlet of Mönchhöfe . As part of the mediatization , Achstetten became temporarily part of Bavaria in 1805, only to be handed over to the newly formed Kingdom of Württemberg in 1806. After having initially been part of the district of Wiblingen, it became part of

3150-466: The Deputation issued at its 46th meeting on 25 February 1803. The Imperial Diet approved it on 24 March and the Emperor ratified it on 27 April. The Emperor however made a formal reservation with respect to the reallocation of seats and votes within the Imperial Diet . While he accepted the new ten-member College of Electors, which would for the first time have a Protestant majority, he objected to

3255-650: The Electorate east of the Rhine, and Wetzlar . Dalberg, who was confirmed as Elector and Imperial Archchancellor and gained the new title of Primate of Germany, was to prove a constant and useful ally of Napoleon during the coming years. In addition, under the dogged insistence of the Emperor, the Teutonic Order, whose Grand Master was generally an Austrian archduke, as well as the Knights of St John (Knights of Malta), were also spared and their scattered small domains were augmented with several nearby abbeys. The intent here

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3360-811: The Emperors had sparked the investiture controversy in the 11th century, and in its aftermath the emperor's control over the bishops' selection and rule diminished considerably. The bishops, now elected by independent-minded cathedral chapters rather than chosen by the emperor or the pope, were confirmed as territorial lords equal to the secular princes. The register prepared for the 1521 Imperial Diet of Worms listed as ecclesiastical Estates 3 ecclesiastical electors, 4 archbishops, 46 bishops and 83 lesser prelates (imperial abbots and abbesses) compared to 180 secular lords. By 1792 only 3 electors, 1 archbishop, 29 bishops and prince-abbots, and 40 prelates remained, alongside 165 secular Estates. The decline had started well before

3465-566: The Final Recess nor the Imperial Deputation which drafted it played a significant role in the process since many decisions had already been made in Paris before the Deputation began its work. The Final Recess was nevertheless indispensable in lending a constitutional imprimatur on territorial remapping and the granting and denial of obligations and prerogatives that would otherwise have lacked legitimacy. Hard pressed by Bonaparte, now firmly at

3570-529: The Franco-Austrian convention of 26 December 1802 reallocated most of Eichstätt to the Habsburg compensation package. For their parts, the lesser princes and the counts, with little manpower and resources, generally had to wait until the Final Recess was issued before they could take possession of the territories – if any – that were awarded to them as compensation, usually a secularized abbey or one of

3675-438: The German political structure, in other words, local sovereignty under the Emperor's suzerainty. Already in the 12th century, the secular and spiritual princes did not regard themselves as the Emperor's subordinates, still less his subjects, but as rulers in their own right – and they jealously defended their established sphere of predominance. At the time of Emperor Frederick II 's death in 1250, it had already been decided that

3780-409: The Habsburg realms. To gain support from the more powerful German states, the former Holy Roman Emperor accepted, and Napoleon encouraged, the mediatisation by those that remained of their minor neighbouring states. Mediatisation transferred the sovereignty of more than 100 small secular states to their larger neighbours, most of whom became founding members of the Confederation in order to participate in

3885-730: The Holy Roman Empire, was increasingly considered an anachronism especially, but not exclusively, by the Protestant princes, who also coveted these defenceless territories. Thus, secret proposals by Prussia to end the War of the Austrian Succession called for increasing the insufficient territorial base of the Wittelsbach Emperor Charles VII through his annexation of some prince-bishoprics. In 1743, Frederick II 's minister Heinrich von Podewils wrote

3990-637: The Imperial Archchancellor. In the end, only Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck, Frankfurt, Augsburg, and Nuremberg survived mediatisation in 1803. While the original intent had been to compensate the dispossessed secular rulers only for lost territory, that criterion was to be applied only to the minor princes and the counts who sometimes only received an annuity or a territorial compensation so modest that it had to be augmented with an annuity paid by better provisioned princes in order that their total income would not be less than their former income. In

4095-566: The King of Prussia and the Prince of Orange-Nassau could take possession of the territories allotted to them immediately after ratification. Two weeks later, the King issued a proclamation listing all the compensation territories awarded to Prussia but he waited until the first week of August 1802 before occupying the bishoprics of Paderborn and Hildesheim and its share of Münster, as well as the other territories that had been allotted to Prussia. The same month, Bavarian troops entered Bamberg and Würzburg

4200-601: The Netherlands. In all, 112 imperial estates disappeared. Apart from the territory ceded to France, their land and properties were distributed among the seventy-two rulers entitled to compensation. The outcome of the compensation process confirmed by the Final Recess of February 1803 was the most extensive redistribution of property in German history before 1945. Approximately 73,000 km (28,000 sq mi) of ecclesiastical territory, with some 2.36 million inhabitants and 12.72 million guildens per annum of revenue

4305-430: The Reformation, which only accelerated the trend for secular rulers to incorporate into their territories the material assets of Church fiefs. Many of the ecclesiastical Estates recorded in the 1521 register were already disappearing this way, including 15 prince-bishoprics. In the course of the Reformation, several of the bishoprics in the north and northeast were secularized and transformed into secular duchies, mostly to

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4410-600: The Republic as soon as circumstances permitted, dispossessing both secular and ecclesiastical German rulers. The French revolutionaries, and later Napoleon Bonaparte , felt that some of these secular rulers should be compensated, by receiving "secularized" ecclesiastical land and property located on the right bank. This amounted to the appropriation of church lands. Already, the Franco-Prussian Treaty of Basel of April 1795 spoke of "a compensation" in case

4515-561: The Revolution had done to France. Following the Final Recess, the scattered estates of approximately 300 free imperial knights and 99 imperial counts , totaling perhaps 4,500 square miles, should have remained untouched. But by the winter of 1803, the rulers of Bavaria, Hesse-Kassel, and Württemberg began to take possession of these tiny enclaves through a combination of Surrender and Transfer Edicts (Abtretungs- und Überweisungspatenten) and military force and other smaller rulers, such as

4620-517: The Rhine, and that a specific compensation plan be discussed and adopted. Indeed, on 9 March 1798, the delegates at the congress at Rastatt formally accepted the sacrifice of the entire left bank and, on 4 April 1798, approved the secularisation of all the ecclesiastical states save the three Electorates of Mainz, Cologne and Trier, whose continued existence was an absolute red line for Emperor Francis II . The congress, which lingered on well into 1799, failed in its other goals due to disagreement among

4725-534: The Treaty of Campo Formio and the guidelines set at Rastatt. Article 7 of the treaty provided that "in conformity with the principles formally established at the congress of Rastatt, the empire shall be bound to give to the hereditary Princes who shall be dispossessed on the left bank of the Rhine, an indemnity, which shall be taken from the whole of the empire, according to arrangements which on these bases shall be ultimately determined upon." This time, Francis II signed

4830-478: The amount of compensation should be limited to the amount of territory, or income, lost, and that all the Estates of the Empire, and not just the ecclesiastical states, should bear the burden. They warned that a complete secularisation would be such a blow to the Empire that it would lead to its demise. Generally, the proponents of secularisation were less vocal and passionate, in good part because they realized that

4935-570: The annexations. Between the first abdication of Napoleon in 1814 and the Battle of Waterloo and the final abdication of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna was convened by the Great Powers to redraw the borders of Europe. During this time, it was decided that the mediatised principalities, free cities, and secularised states would not be reinstated. Instead, the former rulers who held

5040-653: The benefit of Protestant princes. In the later sixteenth century the Counter-Reformation attempted to reverse some of these secularisations, and the question of the fates of secularized territories became an important one in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). In the end, the Peace of Westphalia confirmed the secularisation of a score of prince-bishoprics, including the archbishoprics of Bremen and Magdeburg and six bishoprics with full political powers, which were assigned to Sweden, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg. On

5145-534: The bishoprics' cathedral chapters were also expropriated. The Final Recess detailed the financial and other obligations of the new rulers toward the former rulers, dignitaries, administrators and other civilian and military personnel of the abolished ecclesiastical principalities. The former prince-bishops and prince-abbots remained immediate to the emperor for their own person. They retained extensive authority, including judicial jurisdiction in civil and some criminal matters over their servants (art. 49). They retained

5250-469: The case of the larger states, they generally received more than the territory they had lost. Baden received over seven times as much, Prussia nearly five times. Hanover gained the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück, having lost nothing. The Duchy of Oldenburg received much of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster although it had lost only the income of a toll station, and Austria did well also. In addition,

5355-499: The castle at the same location was mentioned in 1583. The last Komtur of the Teutonic Knights, Freiherr Beat Conrad Reuttner von Weyl, had a new castle built by the official architect of the Teutonic Knights, Franz Anton Bagnato , between 1794 and 1796. As early as 1449, a tavern was mentioned to have existed in Achstetten. In 1573, the two lordships over Achstetten determined that apart from this one, no other tavern or inn

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5460-539: The cession of specific ecclesiastical territories as their compensation in case their losses became permanent. Signed in the wake of major French victories over the Austrian armies, the Treaty of Campo Formio of October 1797, dictated by General Bonaparte, provided that Austria would be compensated for the loss of the Austrian Netherlands and Austrian Lombardy with Venice and Dalmatia. A secret article, not implemented at

5565-551: The chapel has been used as the final resting place for members of that family. The structure of the chapel is marked by flat wall-pillars on the interior as well as the exterior, a semi-circular choir and a pointed-topped spire. A castle was first mentioned in 1386. The original castle was burnt down in 1525 during the German Peasants' War after the Baltringer Haufen had stormed the building. A rebuilding of

5670-601: The city of Laupheim and approximately 18 km (11 mi) south of the city of Ulm . The name Achstetten is derived from the Old High German words aha meaning water, and stet , meaning place; the name meaning thus place close to water . Close to the road to Ersingen , tumuli from the Hallstatt period have been discovered. This indicates that the area has been settled for at least 2500 years. Celtic tribes are associated with Hallstatt culture. During

5775-479: The claims and grievances, which were almost automatically transferred to the local French officials for decision or referral to Talleyrand in Paris. A "general compensation plan" combining the various formal and informal accords concluded in Paris was drafted by Talleyrand in June 1802, approved by Russia with minor changes, and submitted almost as an ultimatum to the Imperial Deputation when it finally convened at Regensburg for its first meeting on 24 August 1802. It

5880-435: The course of events was in their favor. Even when they were in agreement with some of the anti-secularisation arguments, they contended that Notrecht (the law of necessity) made secularisation unavoidable: the victorious French unequivocally demanded it and since peace was essential to the preservation of the state, sacrificing part of the state to preserve the whole was not only permissible but necessary. For its part, Austria

5985-429: The delegates on the repartition of the secularized territories and insufficient French control over the process caused by the mounting power struggle in Paris. In March 1799, Austria, allied with Russia, resumed the war against France. A series of military defeats and the withdrawal of Russia from the war forced Austria to seek an armistice and, on 9 February 1801 to sign the Treaty of Lunéville which mostly reconfirmed

6090-451: The district of Laupheim in 1845. On 1 October 1938, Achstetten became part of the district of Biberach. On 1 March 1972, the formerly independent municipality of Oberholzheim was incorporated into Achstetten, followed on 1 November 1972 by Bronnen and on 1 January 1975 by Stetten. The three silver balls on blue were taken from the coat of arms of the Freiherrn of Freyberg who ruled the village from 1356 to 1625. The red and silver banderole

6195-509: The dukes of Arenberg, Croy and Looz, the prince of Salm-Kyrburg , the counts of Sickingen and Wartenberg, among others – tried their chances with the French diplomats posted at Regensburg, who could recommend additions or amendments to the general compensation plan, generally in exchange for bribes. Nevertheless, all claims were examined and there was an effort to detect fictitious or exaggerated claims. The Imperial Deputation very seldom examined

6300-483: The end of 1794, they had consolidated their hold over the Austrian Netherlands and the rest of the left bank of the Rhine. The forcefully secular French Republic had outlawed independent, non-state-sanctioned houses of worship; thus both Catholic and Protestant Germany were hostile to the Republic. Many German rulers allowed French people to carry on counter­revolutionary activities from their lands. The French leaders resolved more or less openly to annex those lands to

6405-462: The end of the mediatisation process, the number of German states had been reduced from almost 300 to 39. In the strict sense of the word, mediatisation consists in the subsumption of an immediate ( unmittelbar ) state into another state, thus becoming mediate ( mittelbar ), while generally leaving the dispossessed ruler with his private estates and a number of privileges and feudal rights, such as low justice . For convenience, historians use

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6510-403: The expectation of substantial financial gains, the German rulers decided at the last moment and on their own accord to include in the Final Recess of February 1803 a radical extension of the secularization process – Article 35 – which authorized the secularization of all the non-immediate monasteries, abbeys, convents and other religious houses throughout the empire which were legally subordinate to

6615-537: The gradual usurpation by the princes of the powers of the Holy Roman Emperor during the Staufen period (1138–1254), to the extent that by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the Emperor had become a mere primus inter pares . In recent decades, some historians have maintained that the fragmentation of Germany was not to be found in the misfortunes, weakness or mistakes of imperial dynasties, but rather in

6720-475: The helm in France as First Consul , the Empire was obliged soon after Lunéville to take on the task of drafting a definitive compensation plan ( Entschädigungsplan ). The Imperial Diet resolved to entrust that task to the Emperor, as plenipotentiary of the Empire, while it intended to reserve the final decision to itself. Not wanting to bear the full onus of the changes that were bound to occur under French diktat, Francis II declined. After months of deliberations,

6825-550: The history of the Empire. This explains in good part why medium and small states, both ecclesiastical and secular, were able to survive and even prosper in the vicinity of powerful states with standing armies such as Brandenburg/Prussia, Bavaria and Austria. While no actual secularisation took place during the century and a half that followed the Peace of Westphalia, there was a long history of rumors and half-baked plans on possible secularisations. The continued existence of independent prince-bishoprics, an anomalous phenomenon unique to

6930-403: The huge geographical extent of the Empire and the vigor of aristocratic and ecclesiastical rule in its localities. Successive imperial dynasties were compelled to accept a set of circumstances that could not be reversed until the 19th century: that the autonomous rule of the bishops, abbots, and secular princes, interspersed with independent city-states and lands of the imperial knights, constituted

7035-417: The imperial cities were located, held a special conference at Ulm in early March 1798 to examine the situation, for which they felt helpless. However, given that it was expected from the start that the handful of the largest and wealthiest cities would maintain their independence, the expected mediatisation of the imperial cities did not raise much public interest. The survival of an imperial city often hung by

7140-429: The invading French, be adequately compensated. The Imperial Deputation, originally entrusted with the compensation process but now reduced to a subordinate role, tended to be seen by the mediating Powers and the key German States as mere constitutional window dressing. This was demonstrated with the Franco-Prussian agreement of 23 May 1802 which, ignoring the Imperial Deputation that has not yet convened, stated that both

7245-400: The key German rulers entitled to compensation moved quickly to secure their compensation directly with France, and Paris was soon flooded with envoys bearing shopping lists of coveted territories. The French government encouraged the movement. Bonaparte left the details to his foreign minister Talleyrand , who famously lined his pockets with bribes. Meanwhile, Bonaparte, who had been courting

7350-439: The king of Prussia, who actively defended his interests, would be compensated with the Prince-Bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg if his loss of the Dutch hereditary stadtholdership , which followed the creation of the French-backed Batavian Republic , was to become permanent. Likewise, the peace treaties France signed with Württemberg and Baden the same month contained secret articles whereby France committed to intercede to obtain

7455-423: The last Komtur of the Teutonic Knights , the Freiherr Beat Conrad Reuttner von Weyl . He transferred his possession to his nephew Julius Cäsar Reuttner von Weyl , who, in 1802, bought the rights of the revenue from the complete tithes from Ochsenhausen Abbey. He was elevated to the rank of count in 1819. To this day, his successors are owners of the Lordship of Achstetten. Following the secularization in 1803,

7560-431: The new Tsar Alexander I , replied favourably to the latter's wish to become involved in the process as co-mediator. On 19 October 1801 the two countries signed an agreement to act jointly as the "mediating Powers". Essentially, Alexander, whose wife and mother belonged to the princely houses of Baden and Württemberg, wanted to favor his various German relatives and this concurred with France's long-standing aim to strengthen

7665-707: The occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Final Recess, Cardinal Karl Lehmann , bishop of Mainz, pointed out that the secularization of 1803 had brought about the greatest territorial upheaval that Germany had experienced up to then, "more drastic than the Protestant Reformation and the Peace of Westphalia" and he emphasized that its implementation had taken place with brute force and reckless violation of religious feeling, at its most brutal in Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden. Monks were dispersed without pension and nuns were parked in central "Aussterbeklöstern". In

7770-406: The other hand, Hildesheim and Paderborn – under Protestant administration for decades and given up for lost – were restored as prince-bishoprics. In addition, the Peace conclusively reaffirmed the imperial immediacy, and therefore the de facto independence, of the prince-bishops and imperial abbots, free imperial cities, imperial counts, as well as the imperial knights. According to one authority,

7875-508: The other minor imperial estates , and the bishops discussed raising an army of 40,000 to defend themselves against the Emperor who contemplated grabbing ecclesiastical land that his coronation oath committed him to protect. Although the sudden death of Charles VII put an end to this scheming, the idea of secularisation did not fade away. It was actively discussed during the Seven Years' War , and again during Joseph II 's maneuverings over

7980-580: The power of the Church, and especially of the bishops, with land grants and numerous privileges of immunity and protection as well as extensive judicial rights, which eventually coalesced into a distinctive temporal principality: the Hochstift . The German bishop became a "prince of the Empire" and direct vassal of the Emperor for his Hochstift , while continuing to exercise only pastoral authority over his larger diocese . The personal appointment of bishops by

8085-633: The pre-war balance of power between the key German rulers", two goals that were somewhat contradictory. The mediating Powers had decided right from the beginning of the process that income rather than population and size was to be the determining factor in estimating the losses. As Austria had been excluded from the discussions, its envoy at Paris only learned of the plan when he read it in Le Moniteur . He swiftly negotiated revisions which confirmed both Francis II's Imperial prerogatives and his rights as ruler of Austria. The Habsburgs' compensation package

8190-600: The prince-bishops of their political power and abolished their principality, they were still bishops and they retained normal pastoral authority over their diocese, parishes and clergy. Some, such as Bishop Christoph Franz von Buseck of Bamberg, adjusted to their diminished circumstances and stayed in their diocese to carry on their pastoral duties; others, such as Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo of Salzburg, abandoned their pastoral duties to auxiliary bishops and went to live in Vienna or on their family estates. In principle,

8295-549: The pro-Westphalian group finally prevailing. Between July 1801 and May 1802, preliminary compensation agreements were signed with Bavaria, Württemberg, and Prussia and others were concluded less formally with Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Cassel and other mid-level states. Frantic discussions and dealings went on simultaneously in Regensburg, where the Imperial Diet and its Deputation were in session. In particular, many mid and lower ranking rulers who lacked influence in Paris –

8400-444: The same time, many districts and also urban districts were merged into larger districts. There are several types of municipalities in Germany, with different levels of autonomy. Each federal state has its own administrative laws, and its own local government structure. The main types of municipalities are: In all municipalities, the mayor and the members of the municipal council are appointed by local elections that take place on

8505-460: The second half of the revenues made from tithes , having already owned the first half for some time. Through marriage, the two remaining parts of Achstetten came into the possession of the Counts of Öttingen-Spielberg in 1689. They exchanged it in 1765, so that from 1765 onwards, it was part of the landed territories of the Freiherrn von Welden . The Freiherrn von Welden sold it on 12 May 1795 to

8610-508: The secularization process only targeted the ecclesiastical principalities – including the 40-odd imperial abbeys – that were immediate and were represented at the Imperial Diet. However, due to the influence of the Enlightenment, growing anticlericalism and a desire to strengthen and modernize the state, exemplified by the policies of Count Maximilian von Montgelas , the influential minister of Elector Max Joseph of Bavaria , as well as

8715-542: The simultaneous secularization of so many monasteries by Bavaria and other states and the hurried sale of their assets, including monastic buildings and lands, the market was saturated and the expected financial gain did not materialize. The process resulted in huge losses and the destruction of cultural assets All rulers did not act at once but by 1812, all but a handful of monasteries and religious houses – about 400 – had been dissolved in South Germany. In 2003, on

8820-476: The sixty-five ecclesiastical rulers then controlled one-seventh of the total land area and approximately 12% of the Empire's population, perhaps three and a half million subjects. Owing to the traumatic experience of the Thirty Years' War and in order to avoid a repetition of this catastrophe, the German rulers great or small were now inclined to value law and legal structures more highly than ever before in

8925-411: The smaller imperial cities. On 8 October 1802, the mediating Powers transmitted to the Deputation their second general compensation plan whose many modifications reflected the considerable number of claims, memoirs, petitions and observations they had received from all quarters. A third plan was transmitted in November and a final one in mid-February 1803. It served as the basis for the Final Recess that

9030-438: The southern states of Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt and Bavaria, strategically located between France and Austria, the arch-foe. Hectic discussions and dealings went on, not only with the mediating Powers and between the various princes, but within the various governments as well. Inside the Prussian cabinet, one group pushed for expansion westward into Westphalia while another favored expansion southward into Franconia, with

9135-486: The strong Protestant majority within the new College of Princes (77 Protestant vs 53 Catholic votes, plus 4 alternating votes), where traditionally the Emperor's influence had been the most strongly felt, and he proposed religious parity instead. Discussions regarding this matter were still ongoing when the Empire was dissolved in 1806. Under the terms of the Final Recess, all the ecclesiastical principalities – archbishoprics, bishoprics and abbeys – were dissolved except for

9240-466: The subsumption and secularisation of a large number of Imperial Estates , prefiguring, precipitating, and continuing after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire . Most ecclesiastical principalities , free imperial cities , secular principalities , and other minor self-ruling entities of the Holy Roman Empire lost their independent status and were absorbed by the remaining states. By

9345-400: The term mediatisation for the entire restructuring process that took place at the time, whether the mediatised states persisted in some form or lost all individuality. The secularisation of ecclesiastical states took place concurrently with the mediatisation of free imperial cities and other secular states. The mass mediatisation and secularisation of German states that took place at the time

9450-407: The territories and at the Imperial Diet. Among other arguments, the defenders of the ecclesiastical states insisted that it was fundamentally illegal and unconstitutional to dissolve any imperial estates, and that the notion of compensating rulers for lost territory was contrary to all past treaties, where "each had to bear his own fate". They contended that even if circumstances now made it necessary,

9555-511: The time, added the Archbishopric of Salzburg and a portion of Bavaria as additional compensation. The treaty also provided for the holding of a congress at Rastatt where delegates of the Imperial Diet would negotiate a general peace with France. It was widely and correctly anticipated that France would demand the formal cession of the entire west bank, that the dispossessed secular princes be compensated with ecclesiastical territories east of

9660-704: The title and ranking of prince-bishop or prince-abbot for life and were entitled to a number of honors and privileges (art. 50). However, the prince-bishops' palatial residences, such as the Würzburg Residence and Schloss Nordkirchen , passed to new owners and the bishops were granted more modest lodgings as well as the use of a summer residence. The former prince-bishops, prince-abbots and imperial abbots and abbesses were entitled to an annual pension ranging from 20,000 to 60,000 gulden, 6,000 to 12,000 gulden and 3,000 to 6,000 gulden respectively, depending on their past earnings (art. 51). While secularisation stripped

9765-435: The treaty not only on Austria's behalf but also on behalf of the Empire, which officially conceded the loss of the Austrian Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine. The sudden realization in the wake of Campo Formio that the Empire was on the threshold of radical changes initiated a debate on the issues of compensation and secularisation conducted in pamphlets, in the press, in the political correspondence within and amongst

9870-516: The two Habsburg archdukes who had been dispossessed of their Italian realms (the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Duchy of Modena) were also compensated even though their realms were not part of the Holy Roman Empire. Likewise, the King of Prussia was able to obtain a generous territorial compensation for the dynastically related Prince of Orange-Nassau for the loss of the hereditary stadtholdership of

9975-403: The wake of secularization and the dissolution of monasteries, people were left more socially disadvantaged than before, and the education system in rural areas collapsed. Among the positive sides he pointed out the improved image of bishops and a Church freed of a power-hungry aristocracy which had seen the Church primarily as a source of wealth. The 51 free imperial cities had less to offer in

10080-521: The way of territory (7,365 square kilometres (2,844 sq mi)) or population (815,000) than the ecclesiastical states but the secular princes had long resented the independence of the ones enclaved within their territory. With a few exceptions, they suffered from an even worse reputation of decay and mismanagement than the ecclesiastical states. A few imperial cities had been included in some of 18th century stillborn secularisation plans, chiefly because they were either contiguous to or enclaved within

10185-547: The years: in 1968 there were 24,282 municipalities in West Germany , and in 1980 there were 8,409. The same trend occurred in the New states of Germany after the German reunification: from 7,612 municipalities in 1990 to 2,380 as of 1 January 2024. While in some cases growing cities absorbed neighbouring municipalities, most of these mergers were driven by a need to increase the efficiency and reduce costs of administration. At

10290-409: Was also augmented with additional secularized bishoprics. Francis II had been hostile to secularisation, but once it became clear that near complete secularisation was unavoidable, he fought as hard as any other ruler to obtain his share of former church states. He was particularly adamant that his younger brother Ferdinand , who had been dispossessed of his secundogeniture Grand Duchy of Tuscany by

10395-475: Was not initiated by Germans. It came under relentless military and diplomatic pressure from revolutionary France and Napoleon . It constituted the most extensive redistribution of property and territories in German history prior to 1945. Although most of its neighbors coalesced into relatively centralized states before the 19th century, Germany did not follow that path. Instead, the Holy Roman Empire remained

10500-489: Was stated in the preamble that the mediating Powers had been forced to come up with a compensation plan due to the "irreconcilable differences between the German Princes" regarding the details of compensation, and the Imperial Deputation's delay in starting its work. It was said that the plan, "based on calculations of unquestionable impartiality" endeavored to effect compensation for recognized losses while “maintaining

10605-432: Was to be allowed in Achstetten. Even then, the inn was used as a place for gatherings where the villagers would discuss and decide local affairs. The present building was erected at the beginning of the 18th century and continued to serve as a country inn until 2008 when it was converted into individual flats . In 2010, the designation of the building was changed when the local council approved plans by developers to establish

10710-438: Was to be consistently hostile to secularisation, particularly in its wholesale form, since it realized it had more to lose than to gain from it as it would result in the disappearance of the ecclesiastical princes and prelates from the Imperial Diet and the loss of their traditional support for the Emperor. Likewise, the Electors of Hanover and Saxony opposed the principles of compensation and secularization, not out of sympathy for

10815-406: Was to have grave consequences for the small princes of the Empire. With the effective end of imperial governance following the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805, the violence done unto the knights and counts was extended to these defenseless princes, resulting in a second great mediatisation in 1806. The formal mediatisation of the imperial knights and counts was legalized by Article 25 of the Treaty of

10920-509: Was to provide livings for some of the 700 noble members of the cathedral chapters whose property and estates had been expropriated when the prince-bishoprics were secularized. Some prince-bishoprics were transferred whole to a new owner while others, such as Münster, Trier, Cologne, Würzburg, Augsburg, Freising, Eichstätt, Passau and Constance, were either split between two or several new owners or had some districts or exclaves allotted to different new owners. The substantial property and estates of

11025-536: Was transferred to new rulers. The position of the established Roman Catholic Church in Germany, the Reichskirche , was not only diminished, but nearly destroyed. The Church lost its crucial constitutional role in the Empire; most of the Catholic universities were closed, as well as hundreds of monasteries and religious foundations. It has been said that the Final Recess of 1803 did to German land ownership what

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