The Imperial Military Constitution (german: Reichsheeresverfassung, also called the ''Reichskriegsverfassung'') was the collection of military laws of the
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 ...
. Like the rest of the imperial
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
, it grew out of various laws and governed the establishment of military forces within the Empire. It was the basis for the establishment of the
Army of the Holy Roman Empire
, image = Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806).svg
, image_size = 150
, caption =
, dates = 1422–1806
, country ...
(''Reichsarmee'', created in 1422), which was under the supreme command of 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), ...
but was distinct from his
Imperial Army (''Kaiserliche Armee'', emerged in the 17th century), as it could only be deployed by the
Imperial Diet. The last Imperial Defence Order (''Reichsdefensionalordnung''), entitled ''Reichsgutachten in puncto securitatis'', of 13/23 May 1681, completed the military constitution of the Holy Roman Empire.
Legal development
First Imperial Register
The first
Imperial Register was drawn up at the Imperial Diet at
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
in 1422. The proposal of the princes to levy a "hundredth" penny and use it to enlist and maintain an army of soldiers for the duration of a war was opposed by the cities. It was agreed to set up a single register as a list of the troop contingents of the individual imperial estates.
See also
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Circle troops
*
Circle Colonel
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 (''Hauptmann'' ...
*
Roman Month
The Roman Month (German ''Römer Monat'', pl. ''Römer Monate'', abbr. RM) was a basic unit of imperial taxation in the Holy Roman Empire, initially worth around 128,000 Rhenish guilders when the underlying tax was created in 1521 by the emperor ...
*
Army of the Holy Roman Empire
, image = Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806).svg
, image_size = 150
, caption =
, dates = 1422–1806
, country ...
References
Sources
Der Augsburger Reichsabschied ("Augsburger Religionsfrieden") – full text
Literature
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* . (''Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte der Neuzeit.'' Vol. 13)
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* (Inaugural-Dissertation der juristischen Fakultät der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität zu Erlangen, 1911)
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*{{cite book , first=Barbara , last=Stollberg-Rilinger , title=The Holy Roman Empire: A Short History , postscript=.
riginally published as ''Das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation: Vom Ende des Mittelalters bis 1806'' (Munich: C. H. Beck, 2013)., year=2018 , publisher=Princeton University Press
Military history of Germany
Military history of the Holy Roman Empire
Army of the Holy Roman Empire