The Reich of the Golden Bull

Ulrike Hohensee, Mathias Lawo, Michael Lindner, Michael Menzel, Olaf B. Rader, eds.. Die Goldene Bulle Kaiser Karls IV: Politik - Wahrnehmung - Rezeption. Berichte und Abhandlungen, ed. Berlin/Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Sonderband 12. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2009. 1249 pp. 2 vols. EUR 99.80, cloth, ISBN 978-3-05-004292-3. Reviewed by Joachim Whaley Published on H-German (March, 2011) Commissioned by Susan R. Boettcher "Every kingdom divided against itself shall and the "Slavic tongue" from the age of seven to disintegrate. For its princes have become the com‐ fourteen. The bull further provided for an annual panions of robbers and thieves." These opening meeting of the electors in which they were to de‐ words of the Golden Bull of 1356 set a forthright liberate with the emperor. The emperor's authori‐ agenda for the reform of the Holy Roman Empire. ty was asserted by giving him the power to re‐ The following thirty-one chapters, agreed upon by scind an elector’s privileges in certain circum‐ Charles IV and the German princes at the Hoftage stances. Leagues of all kinds, except those devoted (diets) of Nuremberg 1355-56 and Metz 1356-57, to maintaining the peace, were to be prohibited. set out the mode of procedure for the election and Conspiracies against the electors were to be pun‐ succession of a Holy Roman emperor, the rights ished severely. Finally, the practice of subjects and privileges of the seven electors, together with who lived in a territory claiming freedom in re‐ detailed stipulations concerning orders of prece‐ spect of citizenship in a free city (Pfahlbürger) dence at elections and other occasions. The elec‐ was outlawed. tors were guaranteed immunity from imperial ju‐ The general aim was to establish the Reich on risdiction and hereditary tenure of their electoral a new basis: to end the divisive and chaotic con‐ titles. Their rights to maintain mints and levy cus‐ duct of imperial elections, to pacify the Reich and toms dues were confirmed, as was their right to to create a mechanism for its effective govern‐ promulgate legislation and their duty to protect ment by the emperor in close consultation with the Jews in return for the payment of a fee. The the electors and in wider consultation with the lands of the electors were declared to be indivisi‐ princes generally. The emphasis placed on Bo‐ ble and electoral titles were to be passed on by hemia throughout the text reflected Charles's as‐ primogeniture and it was laid down that eldest piration to make that kingdom into the secure sons should receive instruction in Latin, Italian, foundation for his dynasty's tenure of the imperi‐ H-Net Reviews al crown. The prohibition of Pfahlbürger reflected the Golden Bull can in some respects be seen as a the particular interests of certain electors, notably formalization and implementation of principles the archbishop of Cologne, whose more prosper‐ and aspirations developed in the thirty or so years ous subjects were wont to claim that they were re‐ before Charles's election. Menzel indeed speaks of ally citizens of the imperial city of Cologne which a "hostile takeover" of ludovician principles in the lay at the heart of his lands. Golden Bull (p. 39). Equally, Paul-Joachim Heinig How novel was this Bull? What did it signify draws attention to antecedents in the prior devel‐ for the reign of Charles IV, and how far did it opment of the electors: their gradual emergence change the nature of the German monarchy after as recognized exclusive players in German royal his death? What were the implications of the elections and in particular the role of the ecclesi‐ Golden Bull for the longer term development of astical electors in the dispute over papal preroga‐ the Reich? These are the questions addressed by tives, culminating in the Declaration of Rhense of the two-volume work edited by members of the 1338 which explicitly rejected the notion that the Berlin research unit of the Monumenta Germani‐ emperor might in any way be dependent on the ae Historica responsible for "Constitutiones et pope. In two separate contributions Michael Lind‐ acta publica." Twenty-four of the essays were pa‐ ner shows how Charles built on the practice of his pers given at a conference that marked the 650th predecessor and also drew on the works anti-pa‐ anniversary of the Golden Bull in 2006. Ten fur‐ pal writers such as Marsilius of Padua, William of ther essays have been added to the publication. Ockham and, above all, Lupold of Bebenburg to The whole work comprises 1249 pages, including clarify and reinforce his own position. meticulous indices of people, places, and subjects, While Heinig emphasizes that the Golden Bull which alone cover eighty-nine pages. was essentially the outcome of a complex compro‐ The essays are arranged in four thematic sec‐ mise between emperor and electors, Lindner tions: emperor and Reich in the fourteenth centu‐ stresses that it was a sovereign declaration of in‐ ry; the "staging" or "performance" and represen‐ dependence from the pope. Wherever one lays tation of the Reich; the Reich and its neighbors; the emphasis, the bull was certainly, as Eva the reception and impact of the Golden Bull in the Schlotheuber suggests, a striking expression of 450 years following its promulgation. Many of the Charles's image of himself as a law-giver, whom essays deal with topics that go far beyond the bull Petrarch famously recognized in a letter of March itself; some are in reality more contributions to 1361 as having a profound understanding of im‐ the study of the reign of Charles IV and his times perial law. Even so, in practice, as Claudia Garnier generally. Overall, though, the volumes raise im‐ argues, the bull was scarcely heeded for the rest portant questions about the early development of of the century. Indeed, the election of Charles's the Holy Roman Empire and about the signifi‐ own son, Wenceslaus, as his heir (king of the Ro‐ cance of Charles IV's key edict. mans) in 1376 arguably represented a transgres‐ sion, for elections vivente imperatore were not ex‐ The frst group of essays is directly concerned plicitly envisaged, though the election and coro‐ with the text of the bull. Contributions by Jean- nation themselves were carried out according to Marie Moeglin and Michael Menzel show how the letter of the law. Similarly, in subsequently de‐ much Charles IV owed to Louis IV (Louis the posing Wenceslaus in 1400, the electors exceeded Bavarian). Despite Charles's ferce hatred of his their powers. It was almost certainly this act that predecessor and his attempts to eradicate his led Wenceslaus to commission the most splendid memory in the Reich, much of his legislative pro‐ of all copies of the Golden Bull, which he used to gram that was at least conceived under Louis and justify his resolute refusal to recognize his deposi‐ 2 H-Net Reviews tion. It was this copy that Emperor Frederick III underlines the character of the Reich as a polity acquired around 1440-41 from the estate of Al‐ dominated by an oligarchic association of emper‐ brecht II of Hungary and Bohemia, and increas‐ or and electors, while in France the king was por‐ ingly used to stabilize the Reich during his long trayed as surrounded by wise advisers and in reign. England the monarch was tied to parliament. The Golden Bull was only gradually accepted, The following essays in this section examine and adhered to, as a fundamental law of the Re‐ diverse aspects of the way that Charles projected ich. In the same way, as Dietmar Willoweit sug‐ his power. Martin Kitzinger contrasts Charles's gests in one of the most important essays in the confident assertiveness with the nervous collection, the bull itself might be seen as part of grandiosity with which his contemporary Charles the gradual reception of Roman law in the Reich. V of France sought to compensate the weakness of It illustrates, he argues, the way that German his position. Robert Suckale compares Charles IV's rulers appropriated those elements of Roman law iconography with that of Rudolf I and Louis IV, that reinforced their interests as rulers and which while Jiří Fajt investigates what is "caroline" in they combined as required with elements of the court art of Charles's reign. Richard Nĕmec de‐ canonical, Swabian, and Saxon law. He also un‐ constructs the iconographic programme of derlines the striking parallel between the institu‐ Charles's residence at Lauf an der Pegnitz near tional development of Reich and territories in the Nuremberg and Olaf Rader examines his burial fourteenth century: in each case the major inno‐ monument in Prague in comparison with those of vation was the formation of a ruling council (Rat) other German kings. Wolfgang Schmid illumi‐ with particular office holders as permanent mem‐ nates Charles's use of relics and the distinction ap‐ bers. In both Reich and territories, he argues, Ro‐ parently made between the "private" reliquaries man law facilitated the formalization of political held at the Karlstejn castle and the public reli‐ procedures and enabled contemporaries to step quaries, including the remains of Saint Wences‐ out of the shadow of customary law and develop laus, at Prague itself. Representations of the the more rational constitutional structures that monarch on coins and in literature are dealt with were characteristic of the early modern period. by Torsten Fried and Martin Schubert respective‐ Emphasizing the slow acceptance of the Gold‐ ly, while Mathias Lawo analyzes the development en Bull focuses attention on its significance for the of the language of official documents, showing reign of Charles IV.

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