The Golden Bull of 1356 is a piece of legislation passed by the Imperial Diet of the "Holy Roman Empire" and approved by Emperor Charles IV. Legalized the election of the emperor by the college of electors (electoral princes), assigned them other privileges. Contributed to the political fragmentation of Germany. It was in force until 1806. The document received this name because of the gold seal with which it was sealed.
Golden bull, this was the next step of the emperor of Germany to overcome the papal influence. Still, she had to extinguish the incessant feudal strife, from which Germany suffered so much. Repay by concessions and confirmation of the rights of the largest of the German princes, both secular and spiritual. In addition, the researchers draw attention to the fact that the Golden Bull legislatively formalized the plurality of power in Germany.
History of taking the Golden Bulla
The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire has long been elected by feudal lords. In the beginning, there was no definite order of his election. Many noble princes took part in the elections. By the end of the 12th century, several so-called electors emerged from the princes. The emperor was usually chosen by three archbishops - Mainz, Cologne and Trier - and 3-4 secular princes. A sharp struggle was fought over the vote of the Czech king, who was denied the right to vote on the grounds that he was not German. The papal curia constantly tried to interfere in the elections, and at times its approval or disapproval actually influenced the outcome of the procedure.
It was the pope, who was at enmity with the emperor Ludwig IV, who put forward him as a counterweight to the Czech king Charles. Some of the electors in 1346 elected him emperor. While still the governor of the king-father, and after the king of Bohemia, Charles has established himself as a person who has a clear political program and implements it, combining decisive action with political flexibility. He was able to subjugate the Czech nobles, improved the system of legal proceedings, and provided serious support to the cities.
1344 - Charles obtained from Pope Clement VI the establishment of the Prague Archbishopric, thereby freeing the Czech Republic from subordination to the Archbishop of Mainz. After becoming emperor, he never ceased to care about strengthening his power in Bohemia and Czech sovereignty in general.
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First of all, Charles IV confirmed all the letters given by his predecessors to the Czech Republic. With his own letter, he recognized Moravia, Silesia and Upper Lusatia as fiefs of the Czech crown. According to another charter, the power of the king of Bohemia in his country was recognized as unlimited. The royal throne was declared hereditary through the male line in the order of primogeniture, and in the absence of male offspring, the throne was inherited through the female line. In the event of the termination of the dynasty, the right to be elected belonged to the Diet.
It was also necessary to determine the attitude of the Czech Republic to the entire empire. Charles closely linked the solution of this problem with the solution of the issue of the election of the emperor - in this matter, complete clarity should have been made long ago, because all strata of society were already tired of the wars for the imperial crown. At the end of 1355 Charles called a convention at Nuremberg "to consult for the general good about peace in the country." It was about the principles of electing the emperor. The final decision on this matter was made in November 1356 at the congress in Metz. Charles VI issued the so-called Golden Bull, which determined the procedure for electing the emperor.
Content. Practical application of the Golden Bulla
According to the Golden Bull, the right to elect the emperor belonged to 7 electors: the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier, the Bohemian (Czech) king, the Rhine palatine, the Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg and the Margrave of Brandenburg. The duties of each of the electors during the electoral procedure were clearly defined, which emphasized their rank. After the death of the emperor, the archbishop of Mainz should have invited the electors to appear at the convention in Frankfurt am Main within 3 months.
The electoral procedure was limited to 30 days. If after a 30-day period the electors did not elect an emperor, then "they had to switch to food only with bread and water and in no case leave the city until a new ruler of the Christian people was elected." The voice of those who did not appear or were late were not counted. All princes were charged with supporting the electors who were sent to the elections. Even if it was their personal enemy, it was their duty to provide the electors with escort and protection to participate in the elections.
The elected emperor was crowned in Aachen, and all participation of the pope in the elections was canceled. The newly elected emperor had to confirm to all the princes-voters "all their rights, privileges and certificates, liberties, awards, ancient customs, as well as honorary dignities and everything that they received from the empire and what they possessed up to election day." Bulla envisioned the transformation of the college of electors into an all-time operating governing body, for which they must meet every year, but this point eventually ceased to be observed.
For the electors, the indivisibility of their possessions, freedom in legal matters and the privilege, by virtue of which the emperor had no right to accept an appeal to the elector court, was confirmed.
The golden mace of 1356 Charles IV: the electors have the right:
- Elect and remove kings;
- to fight with kings;
- Conduct court and collect taxes;
- Mint a coin.
The main place among the princes of the empire was occupied by the king of Bohemia. The Golden Bull says that after the votes of 3 archbishops, the turn of the Czech king follows, "who among the secular electors has primacy due to the greatness of the royal dignity, right and merit."
As for the Czech Republic, the Golden Bull confirmed that no one in it had the right to complain about the king's decisions, to appeal to the court of the emperor. Foreigners were forbidden to buy estates in Bohemia, but the king of Bohemia could acquire land in the empire. The power of the guardians of the empire in the event of an interregnum did not extend to the Czech Republic. Bohemia became part of the Holy Roman Empire as its main member, and the fiefdom of the Czech elector on the emperor was a fiction.
V. Karnatsevich