The House of Councillors (german: Kammer der Reichsräte) was the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

of the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

of the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

during its existence both as an independent state and as a federal subject of 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 House of Councillors was established by the 1818 Constitution of the Kingdom, and its composition and powers remained unchanged until its abolition under the 1918

Bamberg Constitution Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. ...

History

Sitzungssaal Kammer der Reichsraete Munich-2

Modeled after the British

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

, the House of Councillors was intended to serve as an intermediary between the Crown and the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, and formally served as the lower house's equal. Its members comprised the aristocracy and noblemen, including the royal princes, holders of the crown offices, archbishops, members of the

Mediatized Houses The mediatised houses (or mediatized houses, german: Standesherren) were ruling princely and comital-ranked houses that were mediatised in the Holy Roman Empire during the period 1803–1815 as part of German mediatisation, and were later recognise ...

in bavaria and hereditary and lifelong nominees of the crown. The House of Councillors held its sessions in secret, which is one of the reasons why it received little public attention during the

Vormärz ' (; English: ''pre-March'') was a period in the history of Germany preceding the 1848 March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation. The beginning of the period is less well-defined. Some place the starting point directly after the ...

in Bavaria. Recent research suggests that the power of the House of Councillors far exceeded that of the House of Representatives.

Abolition

From 1919 on under the

in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

, the upper house of the ''Landtag'' was abolished and its lower house became a unicameral democratic elected assembly.

Presidents of the Imperial Council

*1819–1837: Prince

Karl Philipp von Wrede Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

*1840:

Sebastian von Schrenck Sebastian Wenzel Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing (28 September 1774, Hillstett/Oberpfalz - 16 Mary 1848, Munich) was a Roman Catholic Bavarian politician. He was a member of the chamber of deputies in the Landtag of Bavaria The Landtag of Bava ...

*1842–1848: Prince Karl zu Leiningen *1848–1881: Franz von

Stauffenberg The Schenk von Stauffenberg family is a noble (''Uradel'') Roman Catholic family from Swabia in Germany. The family's best-known recent member was Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg – the key figure in the 1944 "20 July plot" to ...

*1881–1890:

Georg von und zu Franckenstein Georg Albert Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein (18 March 1878 – 14 October 1953), known as Sir George Franckenstein, was an Austrian diplomat and a member of the Franckenstein (house of), Franckenstein family. Opposed to the Nazis, he became ...

*1891–1893: Karl Fugger von Babenhausen *1893–1904: Ludwig von Lerchenfeld-Köfering *1905–1911: Ernst zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg *1911–1918: Carl Fugger von Glött

References

{{reflist, 30em

History

Abolition

Presidents of the Imperial Council

References

See also