Editing Imperial Reform (section)

== Reform measures from 1495 ==
In 1495, an attempt was made at an [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] in the City of [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] to give the disintegrating [[Holy Roman Empire]] a new structure, commonly referred to as Imperial Reform. 
The fundamental idea of the reform was largely based on the theory of political concordance between the emperor and the [[Imperial State]]s, developed by [[Nicholas of Kues]].

After the fall of the [[House of Hohenstaufen]] in the mid-13th century, the power of the emperors gradually declined in favour of the [[Estates of the Realm]], especially of the [[prince-elector]]s assigned by the [[Golden Bull of 1356]]. The autonomous estates had nevertheless become painfully aware of the disadvantages of the absence of a centralised authority on the occasions of threats and armed conflicts like the [[Hussite Wars]].

[[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I of Austria]] was elected [[King of the Romans]] from 1486. At the 1495 Diet, Maximilian asked the representatives of the estates not only for contributions but also for an imperial tax to be raised and for troops to be committed for his wars against the Ottomans in the East and the French in Italy.{{sfn|Stollberg-Rilinger|2021|p=46}} The deputies, led by Chancellor [[Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild]], the [[Archbishopric of Mainz|Archbishop of Mainz]], agreed in principle to a [[Common Penny]] tax paid directly to the Empire, but in return set conditions:

# The constitution of an [[Imperial Government]], which placed power in the hand of the princes, with the emperor as a honorary chairman. Maximilian refused this restriction of his authority from outset, and did not consent until the Diet of [[Augsburg]], 1500, after the states had conceded their own [[Landsknecht]] troops to him, only to abolish the Government two years later.{{sfn|Brady|2009|p=429}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume II: The Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich, 1648–1806 |date=24 November 2011 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-162822-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ax6DCgAAQBAJ |access-date=5 February 2022 |language=en |page=61}}</ref>
# The [[Perpetual Public Peace]] established the Empire as a single body of law that excluded [[feud]]s as means of politics between the vassals.
# Reception of Roman law: Roman law was adopted as the official law for the whole Empire
# The related installation of the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'' (Imperial Chamber Court), a supreme court for all of the Empire's territory. This Court originally had its seat at [[Frankfurt am Main]]; it moved to [[Speyer]] in 1523 and finally to [[Wetzlar]] in 1693

Maximilian generally opposed the institutions that weakened his power, but he supported the Land Peace, adoption of Roman law, sounder administrative procedures, better record-keeping, qualifications for offices, etc. Responding to the proposal that an Imperial Council (the later Reichsregiment) should be created, he agreed and welcomed the participation of the Estates, but he alone should be the one who appointed members, and the council should function only during his campaigns. He supported modernizing reforms (which he himself pioneered in his Austrian lands) but also wanted to tie them to his personal control, above all by permanent taxation, which the Estates consistently opposed. In 1504, when he was strong enough to propose his own ideas for such a Council, the cowered Estates tried to resist. At his strongest point, though, he still failed to find a solution for the common tax matter, which led to disasters in Italy later. Meanwhile, he explored Austria's potential as a base for Imperial power and built his government largely with officials drawn from the lower aristocracy and burghers in Southern Germany.<ref>{{cite contribution|last1=Brady |first1=Thomas A. |contribution=Maximilian I and the Imperial Reform at the Diet of Worms, 1495 |title =Maximilians Ruhmeswerk |date=27 May 2015 |pages=31–56 |doi=10.1515/9783110351026-004 |isbn=978-3-11-034403-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-W_yCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA31|access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref>

=== Reception of Roman Law ===
[[File:Maximilian I watching an execution during Philip and Joanna betrothal.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Maximilian I paying attention to an execution instead of watching the betrothal of his son [[Philip I of Castile|Philip the Handsome]] and [[Joanna of Castile]]. The top right corner shows [[Cain and Abel]]. Satire against Maximilian's legal reform, associated with imperial tyranny. Created on behalf of the councilors of Augsburg. Plate 89 of ''Von der Arztney bayder Glück'' by the {{interlanguage link|Petrarcameister|de}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hodnet |first1=Andrew Arthur |title=The Othering of the Landsknechte |date=2018 |publisher=North Carolina State University |page=81}}</ref>]]

At the 1495 Diet, the Reception of Roman Law was accelerated and formalized. The Roman Law was made binding in German courts, except in the case it was contrary to local statutes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burdick |first1=William Livesey |title=The Principles of Roman Law and Their Relation to Modern Law |date=2004 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-58477-253-8 |pages=19, 20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRkMm73NCEUC&pg=PA19 |access-date=19 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In practice, it became the basic law throughout Germany, displacing Germanic local law to a large extent, although Germanic law was still operative at the lower courts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Daniel |title=Popular Sovereignty in Early Modern Constitutional Thought |date=19 February 2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-106244-5 |page=243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jfcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |access-date=20 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Thornhill |first1=Chris |title=German Political Philosophy: The Metaphysics of Law |date=24 January 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-38280-4 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JuU_MfVTbAC&pg=PA12 |access-date=20 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Haivry |first1=Ofir |title=John Selden and the Western Political Tradition |date=29 June 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-01134-2 |page=118 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNvFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |access-date=20 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mousourakis |first1=George |title=The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law |date=2 March 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-88840-0 |page=435 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6tBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT435 |access-date=20 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Other than the desire to achieve legal unity and other factors, the adoption also highlighted the continuity between the Ancient Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zoller |first1=Élisabeth |title=Introduction to Public Law: A Comparative Study |date=2008 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-16147-4 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1zfs2VcJs0C&pg=PA64 |access-date=20 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> To realize his resolve to reform and unify the legal system, the emperor frequently intervened personally in matters of local law, overriding local charters and customs. This practice was often met with irony and scorn from local councils, who wanted to protect their local codes.{{sfn|Hodnet|2018|pp=79–81}}

The legal reform seriously weakened the ancient [[Vehmic court]] (''Vehmgericht'', or Secret Tribunal of [[Westphalia]], traditionally held to be instituted by [[Charlemagne]] but this theory is now considered unlikely.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spence |first1=Lewis |title=An Encyclopedia of Occultism |date=1993 |publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-8065-1401-7 |page=133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDXYAAAAMAAJ |access-date=12 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Palgrave |first1=Francis |title=The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. |date=5 December 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-62636-2 |pages=xiv,203, 204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U98aAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 |access-date=12 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>), although it would not be abolished completely until 1811 (when it was abolished under the order of [[Jérôme Bonaparte]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beccaria |first1=Cesare marchese di |last2=Beccaria |first2=Cesare |last3=Stevenson |first3=Bryan |title=On Crimes and Punishments and Other Writings |date=1 January 2008 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8990-8 |page=133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=surdzOtEZgQC&pg=PA133 |access-date=12 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ripley |first1=George |last2=Dana |first2=Charles Anderson |title=The New American Cyclopædia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge |date=1869 |publisher=D. Appleton |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwIoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA43 |access-date=12 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>