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 legitimate force, by rulers of specified territories, to assert their own legal claims. This especially affected the right of

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

ing.

Scope

''Landfrieden'' agreements formed the political basis for pursuing claims without resorting to the private use of violence. They also often regulated the jurisdiction and thus allowed the settlement of disputes through judgements based on a common set of rules. Offences or violations of the public peace were liable to severe punishment. For example, objects or buildings (such as churches, homes, mills, agricultural implements, bridges, and especially

imperial road {{About, the imperial medieval roads, other uses, Reichsstraße (disambiguation){{!Reichsstraße In medieval times, imperial roads (german: Reichsstraße) were designated routes in the Holy Roman Empire that afforded protection to travellers in r ...

s) and people (priests, pilgrims, merchants, women, even farmers, hunters and fishermen in carrying out their work) could be placed under protection. The ''Landfrieden'' created a type of martial law, as well as special courts, the ''Landfriedensgerichte''. Some scholars have argued that the concept of ''Landfrieden'' applied both to peace-keeping associations and to the late medieval and early modern laws and ordinances which sought to restrict feuding and violence across large parts of the Holy Roman Empire, or the Empire as a whole. The historian Duncan Hardy has interpreted ''Landfrieden'' as a discursive strategy, marked out by appeals to widely used concepts of peace, justice, and honor and the defense of travelers in a shared locality and on the imperial roads. Political actors ranging from the kings and emperors of the Romans to local German nobles and towns might employ this discourse to legitimize themselves and signal their belonging to an imperial layer of governance within the Holy Roman Empire.

Development

In the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 1500 ...

from the 11th century onwards, the ''Landfrieden'' movement strove to extend the so-called Peace and Truce of God (''Gottesfrieden''). The first imperial ''Landfriede'' was established by Emperor Henry IV in 1103 for a term of four years and was known as the First Imperial Peace of Mainz (''Erster Mainzer Reichslandfriede''). It followed the Mainz Peace and Truce of God (''Mainzer Gottesfrieden'') which he had already proclaimed in 1085. In 1152

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

proclaimed the Great Imperial Peace (''Großer Reichslandfrieden''), which extended to the whole Empire. This was an act of constitution and brought into effect a time-limited alliance of ruling

princes A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

. It was established in 1186 that a feud had to be announced in

feud letter A feud letter (german: Fehdebrief or ''Absagebrief'') was a document in which a feud was announced, usually with few words, in medieval Europe. The letter had to be issued three days in advance to be legally valid. To prevent the feud from becomi ...

issued three days in advance. Originating from the law schools in Bologna and Pavia, the concepts of medieval Roman law (''

Corpus Iuris Civilis The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor. It is also sometimes referred ...

'') started to dominate the legal profession under Barbarossa's rule. The most important Imperial Peace of Mainz (', also ''Mainzer Reichslandfrieden''), announced by Emperor Frederick II at the Imperial Diet of 1235, was more like a legal decree and had less of the character of an alliance. Already in 1231, Frederick had issued the

Constitutions of Melfi The Constitutions of Melfi, or ''Liber Augustalis'',Also called the ''Liber Constitutionum Regni Siciliae'' or ''Constitutiones Melphitanae'', from which its informal name, Constitutions of Melfi, derives. The name Liber Augustalis was invented by ...

, a book of

codified law In law, codification is the process of collecting and restating the law of a jurisdiction in certain areas, usually by subject, forming a legal code, i.e. a codex (book) of law. Codification is one of the defining features of civil law jurisdi ...

and inquisitorial system applying to his Kingdom of Sicily. The Mainz ''Landfriede'', now applicable for an indefinite period of time, was a constitutional act and became one of the basic laws that applied to the whole Empire. For the first time this document was bilingually drafted, i.e. written in both Latin and

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hi ...

. Subsequently, numerous regional and local ''Landfrieden'' alliances, such as city federations arose during the 13th and 14th centuries. The 1235 Peace of Mainz was renewed at the

diet of Würzburg Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

in 1287, and again in 1290, 1298 and 1354.Peter H. Wilson (2016), ''Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire'' (Belknap Press), p. 622. It was superseded by the Perpetual Public Peace (''

Ewiger Landfriede The ''Ewiger Landfriede'' ("everlasting '' Landfriede''", variously translated as "Perpetual Peace", "Eternal Peace", "Perpetual Public Peace") of 1495, passed by Maximilian I, German king and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was the definitive a ...

'') passed by Maximilian I in 1495, which definitely outlawed any feuds and constituted a permanent ''Landfriede'' for the Holy Roman Empire, including the establishment of the '' Reichskammergericht'' (Imperial Chamber Court).

Modern forms

Up to today a breach of the ''Landfrieden'' (''Landfriedensbruch'') by involvement in violent

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...

s is a criminal offence according to German criminal law
§ 125 StGB
and 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: ...

§ 274 StGB
and Swiss
Art. 260 CH-StGB
equivalents. The preservation of the ''Landfrieden'' in the sense of public law and order – i.e. the ban on

jungle law "The law of the jungle" (also called jungle law) is an expression that has come to describe a scenario where "anything goes". The '' Oxford English Dictionary'' defines the Law of the Jungle as "''the code of survival in jungle life'', now usua ...

(''Faustrecht'') and

frontier justice Frontier justice is extrajudicial punishment that is motivated by the nonexistence of law and order or dissatisfaction with justice. The phrase can also be used to describe a prejudiced judge. Lynching, vigilantism and gunfighting are considered ...

(''Selbstjustiz'') – by giving the state authorities a

monopoly on violence In political philosophy, a monopoly on violence or monopoly on the legal use of force is the property of a polity that is the only entity in its jurisdiction to legitimately use force, and thus the supreme authority of that area. While the mon ...

, is the basis of all modern

legal code A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the cod ...

References

Literature

* Heinz Angermeier: ''Königtum und Landfriede im deutschen Spätmittelalter''. Munich, 1966. * Joachim Bumke: ''Höfische Kultur. Literatur und Gesellschaft im hohen Mittelalter'' (= ''dtv'' 30170). 11th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich, 2005, . * Arno Buschmann, Elmar Wadle (ed.): ''Landfrieden. Anspruch und Wirklichkeit'' (= ''Rechts- und staatswissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Görres-Gesellschaft.'' NF Vol. 98). Schöningh, Paderborn etc., 2002, . * Mattias G. Fischer: ''Reichsreform und „Ewiger Landfrieden“. Über die Entwicklung des Fehderechts im 15. Jahrhundert bis zum absoluten Fehdeverbot von 1495'' (= ''Untersuchungen zur deutschen Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte.'' NF Vol. 34). Scientia, Aalen, 2007, (Also: Göttingen, University, Dissertation, 2002). * Joachim Gernhuber: ''Die Landfriedensbewegung in Deutschland bis zum Mainzer Reichslandfrieden von 1235'' (= ''Bonner rechtswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen.'' H. 44, ). Röhrscheid, Bonn, 1952. * Duncan Hardy: ''Landfrieden''. In: Irene Dingel, Michael Rohrschneider, Inken Schmidt-Voges, Siegrid Westphal and Joachim Whaley (eds.), ''Handbuch Frieden im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit / Handbook of Peace in Early Modern Europe.'' Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, pp. 151–169. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110591316-008/html?lang=en * Duncan Hardy: ''Between Regional Alliances and Imperial Assemblies: Landfrieden as a Political Concept and Discursive Strategy in the Holy Roman Empire, c. 1350-1520''. In: Hendrik Baumbach and Horst Carl (eds.), ''Landfrieden – epochenübergreifend. Neue Perspektiven der Landfriedensforschung auf Verfassung, Recht, Konflikt'' (=''Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung. Beihefte. 54''.) Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2018, pp. 85–120. * Guido Komatsu: ''Landfriedensbünde im 16. Jahrhundert. Ein typologischer Vergleich.'' Dissertation, University of Göttingen, 2001
Volltext
. * Elmar Wadle: ''Landfrieden, Strafe, Recht. Zwölf Studien zum Mittelalter'' (= ''Schriften zur europäischen Rechts- und Verfassungsgeschichte.'' Vol. 37). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 2001, .

External links