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The Circle Colonel (german: Kreisobrist) was an office in the Imperial Circles of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the Early Modern Period. According to the Circle Edict of 1522, every Circle had to nominate a
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
(''Hauptmann'') and notify the
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...
. He was not, however, primarily the military superior of the
circle troops Circle troopsAugsburg reforms of 25 September 1555 his duties were set forth again, this time under the title of Circle Colonel.§§ 56 - 60 of the Augsburg ''Reichsabschied''


Duties

The most important duties of the circle colonels were: * the responsibility for law and order (the '' Landfrieden'') within the Circle, * ensuring the Religious Peace, * enforcing imperial legal rulings, * administrative tasks concerning imperial currency and imperial policing, * legal enforcement (execution) against defaulters within the Circle, * taking charge of Circle business as tasked by the Circle between Circle councils, * the mustering of circle troops and the supervision of their equipment and supplies. Where a Circle Captain or Circle Colonel was actually nominated in the Imperial Circles, the office was usually transferred to the most senior (i.e. highest ranking) secular Imperial Estate in the Circle for them to fill.


See also

*
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
* Imperial Circle * Bavarian Circle * Franconian Circle * Upper Rhenish Circle * Swabian Circle * '' Reichsarmee''


Remarks


Literature

* Winfried Dotzauer: ''Die deutschen Reichskreise (1383–1806). Geschichte und Aktenedition.'' Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1998, . * Hans Hubert Hofmann (ed.): ''Quellen zum Verfassungsorganismus des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation 1495–1815'' (= ''Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte der Neuzeit.'' Vol. 13). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1976, {{ISBN, 3-534-01959-8.


External links


Der Augsburger Reichsabschied ("Augsburger Religionsfrieden") - full text
Military history of the Holy Roman Empire Army of the Holy Roman Empire