The so-called ''Rittersturm''
[Godsey 2004, p. 145] (lit. "knight storm") was the illegal seizure of the
imperially immediate territories of the
Imperial Knights within the
Holy Roman Empire by some
Imperial Estates in 1802–1804.
[Whaley 2012, p. 626]
In 1803, under the new political structures imposed by the final resolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the ''
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss'', the Imperial Knights or ''Reichsritterschaften'' should have remain untouched, unlike the ecclesial prince-bishoprics which were forcibly
secularised. But by the winter of 1802/1803, the
territorial states of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
,
Hesse-Kassel and
Württemberg attempted to take possession of the tiny and fragmented estates belonging to the neighbouring Imperial Knights through a combination of Surrender and Transfer Edicts (''Abtretungs- und Überweisungspatenten'') and military force.
[
In autumn 1803 the majority of the roughly 300 knightly estates were ''de facto'' annexed by their larger neighbours. In the winter of 1803/1804 the Princes of Leiningen, ]Hohenlohe
The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous tim ...
and zu Löwenstein followed suit. The annexing powers often had competing claims. Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Leiningen and Bavaria each sent troops to occupy parts of the estates of the Freiherr von Massenbach late in 1803. Massenbach territory ultimately fell to Württemberg in May 1807.[
The measures were denounced by the knights to the '' Reichshofrat'' and, in January 1804, pronounced as illegal by Emperor Francis II. The emperor empowered the states of ]Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, Baden, Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
and Regensburg (Mainz) to enforce his decision. Although Francis was not practically able to reverse many of the annexations, the threat of force put a stop to the ''Rittersturm''.[ In 1806, with the end of the Empire, the formal mediatisation of the baronies was concluded. Article 25 of the ]Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria a ...
(''Rheinbundakte'') sanctioned unilateral action by territorial states.
Notes
Literature
*Klaus Epstein. ''The Genesis of German Conservatism''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966.
*Albert Funk. ''Kleine Geschichte des Föderalismus: Vom Fürstenbund zur Bundesrepublik''. Verlag Ferd. Schöningh GmbH & Co. KG, 2010.
*John G. Gagliardo. ''Reich and Nation: The Holy Roman Empire as Idea and Reality, 1763–1806''. Indiana University Press, 1980.
*William D. Godsey. ''Nobles and Nation in Central Europe: Free Imperial Knights in the Age of Revolution, 1750–1850''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
*Volker Himmelein and Hans Ulrich Rudolf. ''Alte Klöster - Neue Herren'', Ausstellungskatalog, vol. 2. Thorbecke Verlag, 2003.
*Joachim Whaley. ''Germany and the Holy Roman Empire'', vol. 2. Oxford University Press, 2012,
*Peter H. Wilson, "Bolstering the Prestige of the Habsburgs: The End of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806", ''The International History Review'', 28:4 (2006), 709–36.
*Peter H. Wilson. ''Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire''. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2016.
{{refend
Imperial Knights
19th century in Germany