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The ''itio in partes'' ("going into parts") was a procedure of the Imperial Diet 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 unt ...
between 1648 and 1806. In this procedure, the members of the diet divided into two bodies (''corpora''), the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' (body of Evangelicals) and the ''Corpus Catholicorum'' (body of Catholics), irrespective of the colleges to which they otherwise belonged. That is, the
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
(Evangelical) members of the College of Electors, the College of Princes and the College of Cities gathered together separately from the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
members of the same. The two bodies then negotiated with each other, but debated and voted among themselves. A decision was reached only when both bodies agreed. The ''itio in partes'' could be invoked whenever there was a unanimous vote of one body. At first, it could only be invoked in matters affecting religion, but gradually this requirement was dropped.


Background

The formation of the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' as a grouping in the diet was a gradual process that began before 1648. During the period of confessional struggle between the
Diet of Worms The Diet of Worms of 1521 (german: Reichstag zu Worms ) was an imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned t ...
(1521) and the
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pe ...
(1648), there had been several Protestant leagues and a Catholic League, but these had no formal role in the empire's constitution. The first to propose making the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' (i.e., the Protestant states collectively) an integral part of the empire's constitution was King
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
. Shortly before his death in 1632, he proposed as a settlement of the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
the establishment of a ''corpus politicum'' (political body) composed only of Protestant princes for civil administration and a ''corpus bellicum'' (body of war) for matters of defence. The relationship these ''corpora'' were to have with the empire is unclear. Gustavus' intention was mainly to limit the authority of the imperial Habsburg dynasty to their own lands and to strengthen Swedish domination of the Protestant part of the Empire. The Peace of Westphalia (which ended the Thirty Years' War) enshrined the ''corpora'' in the imperial constitution and introduced the ''itio in partes'' procedure for religious matters. The separation of the Catholic and Protestant states at the Westphalian peace conference (1645–48) was itself the model for the ''itio in partes''. The Catholic states had gathered at
Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...
, where negotiations between France and the Empire were to take place, while the Protestant states had gathered at Osnabrück for negotiations between Sweden and the Empire.


Establishment

The ''itio in partes'' was introduced in Article V, §52 of the Treaty of Osnabrück. It provided for the right of the diet to divide into two bodies to deliberate separately on a religious question. Each body would formulate its position separately before coming together to negotiate an "amicable agreement" (''amicabilis compositio''). In fact, Protestants and Catholics never agreed on what a religious question was. The ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' was of the view that any issue which affected a Protestant was a religious issue and thus, in effect, anything could be deliberated by ''itio in partes''. Also implicit in the treaty was that no decision might be reached if the two ''corpora'' could not agree. This became the explicit view of the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' by 1700. Each ''corpus'' was placed under a director. The director of the ''Corpus Catholicorum'' was the
Elector of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Arch ...
. The majority of Catholic states were bishoprics and abbacies. The ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' was formally organized on 22 July 1653 with the Elector of Saxony as director. When the elector,
Augustus the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as ...
, converted to Catholicism in 1697, he refused to relinquish the directorate. In practice, actual control of the directorate was transferred to a cadet branch of the Saxon house, the Dukes of Weissenfels. Still, the dukes could not act without the approval of the Saxon
privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
in
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
. In response, Saxony's chief rival for the directorate,
Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...
, assumed the role of vice-director.


Evolution of the ''corpora''

After 1653, interest in the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' as a vehicle for Protestant interests dwindled. It was re-ignited by the Peace of Ryswick (1697), which contained a clause contravening the Peace of Westphalia in favour of Catholicism. During the Eternal Diet that was in permanent session from 1663 until 1806, the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' met as a separate body from 1712 to 1725, from 1750 to 1769 and from 1774 to 1778. Except for during an ''itio in partes'', the ''Corpus Catholicorum'' did not meet separately from the regular diet. The periods of highest activity for the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' correspond to periods of heightened Austro-Prussian rivalry. By the early 1700s, there were two factions within the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'': a moderate party supportive of the Saxon directorate and following its lead and a more radically Protestant party led by Brandenburg and
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. The French called these factions the ''politiques'' (politicians) and the ''zélés'' (zealots). Under the influence of Brandenburg and Hanover, the ''Corpus'' drew up a list of 432 '' gravamina'' (grievances), published at
Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...
in 1719. Two more lists followed over the next three years. From the 1720s onwards, Protestants claimed that all religious issues could only be decided by the diet and that no court decision nor any decision by an imperial deputation could ever be final. It was always possible to appeal the decision to the diet, the '' recursus ad comitia''. This tendency was exacerbated by Brandenburg's dominance of the ''Corpus Evangelicorum''. The ''corpus'' made decisions by majority vote. Since it was composed of imperial estates, and the ruler of Brandenburg held many (besides Brandenburg), he had effective control of the body. By the middle of the 18th century, a majority of votes in the ''corpus'' were held by Brandenburg alone. This made it to Brandenburg's advantage to claim that every issue was a religious one and to try to force an ''itio in partes''. Under Frederick II, who had little respect for the imperial constitution, this practice paralyzed the diet.


Invoking the ''itio''

There was no dispute over how the ''itio'' could be invoked or whether one ''corpus'' alone could demand it. There was, however, a dispute at first over who was to decide if an issue constituted a "religious question". The Catholics insisted that an ''itio'' could only be demanded if both sides agree that the question was religious in nature. The Protestant view, which ultimately won out, was that a ''corpus'' could decide that unilaterally, just as a ''corpus'' could unilaterally force an ''itio in partes''. The procedure of ''itio in partes'' was often threatened, but only ever formally invoked four times (1727, 1758, 1761, 1764). It was seriously threatened on one further occasion (1774–75). In every case it was primarily a tactic of Prussia to weaken Habsburg influence in the diet. Since Catholics had a permanent majority in both the College of Electors and the College of Princes after 1648, only the ''Corpus Evangelicorum'' ever initiated the ''itio in partes''.


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Latin legal terminology Legal history of the Holy Roman Empire 1648 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire