
The Perpetual Diet of Regensburg
or the Eternal Diet of Regensburg,
() also commonly called in English the Perpetual Diet of Ratisbon,
[Jean Berenger, C.A. Simpson, ''The Habsburg Empire 1700-1918'' (2014), p. 134] from the city's
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
name, was a session of the
Imperial Diet (''Reichstag'') of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
that sat continuously from 1663 to 1806 in
Regensburg
Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...
in present-day
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, Germany.
__NOTOC__
Previously, the Diet had been convened in different cities but, beginning in 1594, it met only in the town hall in Regensburg. On 20 January 1663, the Diet convened to deal with threats from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
(the Turkish Question).
Since the
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (, ) 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 peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...
in 1648, the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
had been formally bound to accept all decisions made by the Diet. Hence, out of fear that the Emperor would disregard the Diet's role by not calling sessions,
it never dissolved and became a perpetual diet. Therefore, no final report of its decisions, known as a
Recess, could be issued, and that of the preceding diet, issued in 1654, was dubbed the .
From 1663 until the 1684
Truce of Ratisbon (a former name of Regensburg in English), the diet gradually developed into a permanent body.
In addition to envoys who represented the
Imperial Estate
An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise signi ...
s in the Diet, Regensburg had around 70 representatives (''Komitialgesandtern'' or ''Comitia'') from foreign states. The Emperor was represented by a Principal Commissioner (''Prinzipalkommissar''), a position that accrued to the
Thurn und Taxis
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (, ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the mail, postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and ...
family from 1748.
The last action of the Diet, on 25 March 1803, was the passage of the
German Mediatisation
German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of ...
, which reorganized and secularized the Empire.
Following the approval of that final constitutional document, the Diet never met again and its existence ended with the
dissolution of the Empire in 1806.
List of imperial principal commissioners
See also
*
List of Reichstag participants (1792)
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...
17th century in the Holy Roman Empire
18th century in the Holy Roman Empire
1663 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1806 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire