The Circle Colonel (german: Kreisobrist) was an office in the Imperial Circles of the

Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 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 unt ...

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 sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

. He was not, however, primarily the military superior of the circle troops, but was to carry out all the tasks laid down in the Circle Edict. In the Augsburg 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 Under the law of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''Landfrieden'' or ''Landfriede'' (Latin: ''constitutio pacis'', ''pax instituta'' or ''pax jurata'', variously translated as "land peace", or "public peace") was a contractual waiver of the use of legiti ...

'') 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 An Imperial State or Imperial Estate ( la, Status Imperii; german: Reichsstand, plural: ') was a part of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise si ...

in the Circle for them to fill.

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

Duties

See also

Remarks

Literature

External links