Ein Bruch mit der Tradition und eine Gefahr für den Reichsfrieden? Die Errichtung der Neunten Kur im Urteil des Reichshofratsconclusums vom April 1693

Abstract

Summary The resurgence of the Holy Roman Emperorship in the decades after the Peace of Westphalia (1648) has received considerable attention in recent historiography. In this respect the particular importance of the Imperial Court of Justice (Imperial Aulic Council, Reichshofrat) has been stressed: It is assumed that it played a key role within the Imperial government, that it had helped to secure the imperial loyalty to the postwestphalian constitutional order and that it contributed to the skillful use of the Imperial prerogatives by the Vienna Government. Against this backdrop, the position of the Aulic Council regarding the creation of the Ninth (Hannoverian) electorship by Emperor Leopold in 1692, which hitherto has not been examined in detail, reveals a different historical picture. On the one hand, the Imperial Aulic Council was not included in the decision processes concerning the electorship, it was not even officially informed and rebuked for accepting a remonstration against the electorship. On the other hand, the Aulic Council in return criticised the creation of the Ninth electorship quite frankly in its self justification in April 1693 with regard to the procedures and its possible dangerous political consequences.