Präsidium des Bundes or Bundespräsidium (, roughly ''chairmanship of the federation'') was a title under the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

(1815–1848, 1851–1866) whereby the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

delegate held the chair of the Federal Assembly. Austria was thus called the ''presiding power'' (german: Präsidialmacht). This did not give Austria extra competencies: its delegate simply led the proceedings of the Federal Assembly. Later, during the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

(1867–71), the same title was used for an office functioning as

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

.Ernst Rudolf Huber: ''Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789.'' Band III: ''Bismarck und das Reich''. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, p. 657. According to the constitution, the holder of this office was always the

king of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

. The king was also ''Bundesfeldherr'', federal commander-in-chief. The constitutional changes of 1870–71 renamed the North German Confederation as the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

; the title and function of ''Bundespräsidium'' remained, but were now combined with the additional title '' Deutscher Kaiser''.

Notes

{{Authority control Titles of national or ethnic leadership Legal history of Germany North German Confederation German Confederation