One of the major questions about the Mediatized Houses is the word
"Mediatized". What does it mean?
The word was used mostly in the operation of the Holy Roman Empire and
its successor states in what is now Germany. The root of the word is
the Latin word "media", meaning "between", and its use comes from the
number of layers of allegiance (in a feudal sense) between a nobleman
and his suzerain, who, in the Holy Roman Empire, was the Emperor. If
nobleman A and nobleman B held their fiefs directly from the Emperor,
then these were "immediate" fiefs ("im"-"mediate", nothing in between).
If for some reason nobleman A's fief was placed under the authority of
nobleman B, then nobleman A's fief was no longer "immediate", it was
"mediate". The act of degrading the type of allegiance in this way is
called "mediatizing".
For various reasons (none of which will be discussed here), Germany
did not coalesce into a modern nation the same way as, say, France and
Spain. While over the centuries there had been fitful attempts at
bringing the Germanies together, and various people used the title
"King of Germany", there was no such thing as "Germany" until the
Weimar Republic of 1918. Even the 1871 "German Empire" was not Germany
-- the King of Prussia simply took a higher-sounding title that did not
affect the sovereignty or indepencence or territory of any of the other
German states.
How many of these German states existed under the Holy Roman Empire,
and which of these states could be considered to have been sovereign?
The answers are "several hundred" and "only some of them". Having an
immediate fief (see above) was not enough.
To quote from Prince Jean Engelbert d'Arenberg, in his dissertation
*The Lesser Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the Napoleonic Era*
[Washington, D.C., 1950], later published as *Les Princes du St-Empire
a l'epoque napoleonienne* [Louvain, 1951], starting on p. 15:
The Imperial States [Reichsstand] were the real
pillars of the Holy Roman Empire. They consisted
mainly of the Princes and Counts of the Empire who
posessed immediate territories therein; i.e., fiefs
which were held directly of the Emperor himself, and
who had, each of them, a vote and a seat in the
Imperial Diet. The holders of these Imperial States
and all those who were of equal birth with them
constituted the High Nobility [Hochadel] ...
The dignity of States of the Empire was in general
attached not to the person but to the fief. Such a
territory had to enjoy sovereign rights under the
suzerainty of the Empire. ... The States of the Empire
accordingly exercised sovereignty over various Imperial
Territories. But the fact of sovereignty under the
suzerainty of the Emperor was not in itself sufficient
to constitute a State of the Empire. Of equal
importance was the fact of having a vote and a seat in
the Imperial Diet. Still another requirement was the
recognition of the quality of a State of the Empire
either by usage or by special legal authorization. In
a few cases this authorization was granted to persons
even without an immediate territority. The following
legal requirements were met by all Imperial States,
except by those who had received that dignity for their
person and not for their territory:
1. The possession of an immediate
Principality, County or Lordship invested with
the right of Sovereignty [Landeshoheit].
2. The consent of the Emperor and of all the
Councils of the Imperial Diet, in the case of
an Electorate; the consent of the Emperor, of
the Council of Electors and of the Council of
Princes in all other cases.
3. The assumption of an appropriate share in
supplying the financial, military and other
needs of the Empire.
4. The membership in one of the ten Imperial
Circles.
These Imperial Circles had been set up by Maximilian I, and were for
military purposes. As such, they won't be described further here.
In the Council of Princes [Reichsfuerstlicheskollegium] of the Imperial
Diet [Reichstag] of 1792 there were 108 seats and votes, allocated as
follows, with the name of the dynasty holding the seat given in
(parentheses):
. 3 ecclesiastical Electors
Mainz
Trier
Cologne
. 5 secular Electors:
Bohemia (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Palatinate (Wittelsbach)
Electoral Saxony (Electoral Saxony, i.e., Wettin)
Brandenburg (Electoral Brandenburg, i.e., Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Hanover (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
. 33 ecclesiastical Princes (not described here in detail)
. 61 secular Princes:
"Old Princes":
Austria (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Burgundy (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
Palatinate-Lautern (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
Palatinate-Simmern (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
Palatinate-Neuburg (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
Palatinate-Zweibruecken (Zweibruecken-Wittelsbach)
Palatinate-Veldenz (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
Saxe-Weimar (Wettin-Saxe-Weimar)
Saxe-Eisenach (Wettin-Saxe-Weimar)
Saxe-Coburg (Wettin-Saxe-Coburg)
Saxe-Gotha (Wettin-Saxe-Gotha)
Saxe-Altenburg (Wettin-Saxe-Gotha)
Brandenburg-Ansbach (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Brandenburg-Bayreuth (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Brunswick-Celle (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Brunswick-Kalenberg (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Brunswick-Grubenhagen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel (Brunswick-Guelf-Wolfenbuettel)
Pomerania-Wolgast (Sweden)
Pomerania-Stettin (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
Mecklenburg-Guestrow (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
Wuerttemberg (Wuerttemberg)
Hesse-Cassel (Hesse-Cassel)
Hesse-Darmstadt (Hesse-Darmstadt)
Baden-Baden (Baden)
Baden-Durlach (Baden)
Baden-Hochberg (Baden)
Holstein-Glueckstadt (Oldenburg-Denmark)
Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg-Holstein-Gottorp)
Saxe-Lauenburg (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Savoy (Savoy-Sardinia)
Leuchtenberg (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
Anhalt (Bernburg, Koethen, Zerbst, and Dessau branches)
Henneberg (all branches of the House of Saxony-Wettin)
Lorraine-Nomeny (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Montbeliard (Wuerttemberg)
Arenberg (Ligne-Arenberg)
Secularized ecclesiastical territories:
Magdeburg (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Bremen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Halberstadt (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Verden (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Minden (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
Kamin (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Ratzenburg (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
Hersfeld (Hesse-Cassel)
"New Princes":
Zollern (Hohenzollern-Hechingen)
Sternstein (Lobkowicz)
Salm (Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg)
Trasp in Tyrol (Dietrichstein)
Nassau-Hadamar (Nassau-Dietz-Orange)
Nassau-Dillenburg (Nassau-Dietz-Orange)
Wels (Auersperg)
East Frisia (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
Stuehlingen (Fuerstenberg)
Schwarzenberg (Schwarzenberg)
Schellenberg and Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
Schwarzburg (Schwarzburg)
Friedberg (Thurn und Taxis)
. 4 seats representing the Councils of the Counts of the Empire:
Council of the Counts of the Wetterau (representing 12 Houses)
Council of the Counts of Suabia (representing 23 Houses)
Council of the Counts of Franconia (representing 17 Houses)
Council of the Counts of Westphalia (representing 32 Houses)
. 2 other seats, representing the Free Cities.
This is also the order in which the Princes voted.
Several points can be made about this list. First, there are a number
of Habsburg domains, such as Hungary and Moravia, which are not on
this list. This is because they were not part of the Holy Roman
Empire. For that matter, Prussia (the territory that the Elector of
Brandenburg was King of) was not in the Empire either. Second, note
the concentration of votes in just a few houses -- for example the
Palatine Elector had six votes and the Elector of Hanover had seven.
The Elector of Hanover was, at that time (1792), also King of Great
Britain, which illustrates how many non-German sovereigns played a role
in the Empire (on the other hand the Kings of Sardinia, while they had
a seat in the Diet, seldom bothered even to send a representative).
Note also the distinction between "Old Princes" and "New Princes". All
of the "Old Princes" were present in the Diet of 1582, and the "New
Princes" were added afterwards. Starting in 1641, the Emperor would
award the title of "Reichsfuerst" [Prince of the Empire] to those
persons or Houses he thought worthy, and once the recipient person or
dynasty was able to satisfy the other requirements, they were admitted
to the Diet. Most though not all Reichsfuerst creations were for
persons or Houses which already had a territory and a function in the
Empire. The Houses which had received the title of Reichsfuerst but
which had not fulfilled the other requirements remained in the Councils
of the Counts of the Empire. These Councils comprised, as of around
1792, the following members:
Council of the Counts of the Wetterau
Princes and Counts of Solms-Braunfels, Solms-Hohensolms, Solms-
Roedelheim, and Solms-Laubach
Princes and Counts of Nassau-Usingen, Nassau-Weilburg, and
Nassau-Saarbruecken
Princes and Counts of Isenburg-Birstein, Isenburg-Buedingen,
Isenburg-Meerholz, and Isenburg-Waechtersbach
Counts of Stolberg-Gedern-Ortenburg, Stolberg-Stolberg, and
Stolberg-Wernigerode
Princes and Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Sayn-
Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein
Counts of Salm (Wild- und Rheingrafen zu Grumbach, and Wild-
und Rheingraf zu Rheingrafenstein)
Princes and Counts of Leiningen-Hartenburg and Leiningen-
Heidesheim
Counts of Westerburg
Princes of Schoenburg
Count of Wied-Runkel as Count of Criechingen
Counts of Ortenburg
Counts of Reuss zu Plauen
Council of the Counts of Suabia
Prince of Fuerstenberg as Count of Heiligenberg
Abbess of Buchau
Commander of the Teutonic Knights as Count of Alschhausen
Prince of Oettingen
House of Habsburg-Lorraine for the Count of Montfort
Elector of Bavaria as Count of Helfenstein
Prince of Schwarzenberg as Count of Klettgau and Sulz
Count of Koenigsegg
Count of Waldburg
Margrave of Baden-Baden as Count of Eberstein
Count von der Leyen as Lord of Hohengeroldseck
Counts of Fugger
House of Habsburg-Lorraine as Lords of Hohenems
Count of Traun as Lord of Eggloff
Prince-Abbot of St. Blase as Count of Bonndorf
Count of Stadion as Lord of Thannhausen
Prince of Thurn und Taxis as Lord of Eglingen
Count of Khevenhueller
Count of Kuefstein
Prince of Colloredo
Count of Harrach
Count of Sternberg
Count of Neipperg
Council of the Counts of Franconia
Princes and Counts of Hohenlohe
Counts of Castell
Counts of Erbach
Princes and Counts of Loewenstein as Counts of Wertheim
Heirs to the Counts of Limpurg
Counts of Nostitz as Counts of Rieneck
Prince of Schwarzenberg as Lord of Seinsheim
Heirs to the Counts of Wolfstein
Counts of Schoenborn as Lords of Reichelsberg
Counts of Schoenborn as Lords of Wiesentheid
Counts of Windischgraetz [personaliter]
Counts Orsini von Rosenberg [personaliter]
Counts of Starhemberg (elder line)
Counts of Wurmbrand [personaliter]
Counts of Giech [personaliter]
Counts of Graevenitz [personaliter]
Counts of Pueckler [personaliter]
Council of the Counts of Westphalia
King of Great Britain as Lord of Sayn-Altenkirchen
King of Great Britain as Count of Hoya
King of Great Britain as Count of Spiegelberg
King of Great Britain as Count of Diepholz
Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Elector of Brandenburg as Count of Tecklenburg
Duke of Arenberg as Count of Schleiden
Duke of Arenberg as Lord of Kerpen
Duke of Arenberg as Count of Saffenburg
Prince of Wied-Runkel as Count of Wied
Prince of Wied-Neuwied as Chairman of the Council
Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Count of Lippe-Bueckeburg as
Count of Schaumburg
Counts of Lippe
Counts of Bentheim
Princes and Counts of Loewenstein as Counts of Virneburg
Prince of Kaunitz as Lord of Rietberg
Prince of Waldeck as Count of Pyrmont
Count of Toerring as Count of Gronsfeld
Count of Aspremont as Count of Reckheim
Princes of Salm as Lords of Anholt
Count of Metternich as Lord of Winnenburg
Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumberg as Count of Holzapfel
Counts of Plettenberg as Lords of Witthem
Counts of Limburg-Stirum as Lords of Gehmen
Count of Wallmoden as Lord of Gimborn
Count of Quadt as Lord of Wyckradt
Counts of Ostein as Lords of Mylendonk
Counts of Nesselrode as Lords of Reichenstein
Counts of Salm-Reifferscheidt as Lords of Dyck
Counts of Platen [personaliter]
Counts of Sinzendorf as Lords of Rhieneck
Prince of Ligne as Count of Fagnolles
Those who are shown as [personaliter] were personal, not hereditary,
members of their Council.
Note also that these are not by any means the only titled persons in
the Empire. Nor are these the only people who held immediate or non-
immediate fiefs, or the people who comprised any of the ten Imperial
Circles. The people listed above are those who had a voice, however
small, in the Imperial decision-making process.
By the time of the 1792 Diet, the Empire's western neighbor, France,
had already sunk into revolution. France achieved some measure of
stability under the Republic and the Directorate, and its armies,
especially under the command of Bonaparte, won some major victories
against the Empire, particularly at Marengo (14 June 1800). In the
Treaty of Luneville (9 February 1801), the Empire lost some twenty-five
thousand square miles of territory. The only way for the Emperor to
compensate the dispossessed Princes was to sieze the remaining
ecclesiastical territories. An Imperial Delegation did so, and
published on 25 February 1803 the famous Reichsdeputationshauptschluss,
which reorganized the Empire and the Imperial Diet. The Diet ratified
this decision on 24 March 1803, and the Emperor ratified it on 27 April
1803 except for the paragraph (Paragraph 32) which dealt specifically
with the reorganization of the Diet. The Emperor's objections were
never overcome, thus the reorganization of the Diet based on the
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss cannot be considered lawful, even though
a tentative list of seats was drawn up. What little business
transacted by the Diet between 1803 and its dissolution in 1806 was
based on the list, part of which (the Council of Princes) was printed
in Prince Arenberg's dissertation (cited above) on pp. 61-64 and is
given here, territory first with name of the dynasty in (parentheses):
Austria (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Upper Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
Styria (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Magdeburg (Brandenburg)
Salzburg (Lorraine-Tuscany)
Lower Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
Regensburg (Elector of Mainz)
Sulzbach (Wittelsbach)
The Teutonic Knights
Neuburg (Wittelsbach)
Bamburg (Wittelsbach)
Bremen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Meissen (Wettin-Saxony)
Berg (Wittelsbach)
Wuerzburg (Wittelsbach)
Carinthia (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Eichstaedt (Lorraine-Tuscany)
Coburg (Wettin-Saxe-Coburg)
Bruchsal-Speier (Zaehringen-Baden)
Gotha (Wettin-Saxe-Coburg)
Ettenheim-Strassburg (Zaehringen-Baden)
Altenburg (Wettin-Saxe-Altenburg)
Constanz (Zaehringen-Baden)
Weimar (Wettin-Saxe-Weimar)
Augsburg (Wittelsbach)
Eisenach (Wettin-Saxe-Eisenach)
Hildesheim (Brandenburg)
Ansbach (Brandenburg)
Paderborn (Brandenburg)
Bayreuth (Brandenburg)
Freising (Wittelsbach)
Wolfenbuettel (Brunswick-Guelf-Wolfenbuettel)
Thuringia (Wettin-Saxony, Saxe-Weimar, and Saxe-Gotha)
Celle (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Passau (Wittelsbach)
Calenberg (Brunswick-Guelf-Calenberg)
Trent (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Grubenhagen (Brunswick-Guelf-Grubenhagen)
Brixen (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Halberstadt (Brandenburg)
Carniola (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Baden (Zaehringen-Baden)
Teck (Wuerttemberg)
Durlach (Zaehringen-Baden-Durlach)
Osnabrueck (Brunswick-Guelf-Lueneburg)
Verden (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Muenster (Brandenburg)
Hochberg (Zaehringen-Baden)
Luebeck (Oldenburg-Holstein)
Wuerttemberg (Wuerttemberg)
Hanau (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
Glueckstadt (Oldenburg-Holstein-Glueckstadt)
Fulda (Nassau-Orange)
Oldenburg-Gottorp (Oldenburg-Holstein-Gottorp)
Kempten (Wittelsbach)
Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
Ellwangen (Wuerttemberg)
Guestrow (Mecklenburg-Guestrow)
The Knights of St. John
Darmstadt (Louvain-Hesse-Darmstadt)
Berchtesgaden (Lorraine-Tuscany)
Cassel (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
Westphalia (Louvain-Hesse-Darmstadt)
Pomerania (Sweden)
Ploen (Oldenburg-Holstein)
Thither Pomerania (Brandenburg)
Breisgau (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Lauenburg (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Corvey (Nassau-Orange)
Minden (Brandenburg)
The Burggraviate of Meissen (Wettin-Saxony)
Leuchtenberg (Wittelsbach)
Anhalt (Anhalt)
Henneberg (Wettin - all Saxon houses)
Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
Camin (Brandenburg)
Ratzeburg (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
Hersfeld (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
Tyrol (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Tuebingen (Wuerttemberg)
Querfurt (Wettin-Saxony)
Arenberg (Ligne-Arenberg
Hechingen (Hohenzollern-Hechingen)
Fritzlar (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
Sternstein (Lobkowicz)
Salm (Salm)
Dietrichstein (Dietrichstein)
Hadamar (Nassau-Orange)
Zwiefalten (Wuerttemberg)
Dillenburg (Nassau-Dietz)
Auersperg (Auersperg)
Starkenburg (Louvain-Hesse-Darmstadt)
East Frisia (Brandenburg)
Fuerstenberg (Fuerstenberg)
Schwarzenberg (Schwarzenberg)
Goettingen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
Mindelheim (Wittelsbach)
Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein)
Thurn und Taxis (Thurn und Taxis)
Schwarzburg (Schwarzburg)
Ortenau (Habsburg-Lorraine)
Aschaffenburg (Elector of Mainz
Eichsfeld (Brandenburg)
Blankenburg (Brunswick-Guelf-Wolfenbuettel)
Stargard (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
Erfurt (Brandenburg)
Usingen (Nassau-Usingen)
Weilburg (Nassau-Weilburg)
Sigmaringen (Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen)
Kyrburg (Salm-Kyrburg)
Baar and Stuhlingen (Fuerstenberg)
Klettgau (Schwarzenberg)
Buchau (Thurn und Taxis)
Waldeck (Waldeck)
Loewenstein-Wertheim (Loewenstein-Wertheim)
Oettingen-Spielberg (Oettingen-Spielberg)
Oettingen-Wallerstein (Oettingen-Wallerstein)
Solms-Braunfels (Solms-Braunfels)
Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (Hohenlohe-Neuenstein)
Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfuerst (Hohenlohe-Wald-Schill)
Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein (Hohenlohe-Wald-Bart)
Isenburg-Birnstein (Isenburg-Birnstein)
Rittberg (Kaunitz)
Plauen-Greiz (Reuss-Plauen-Greiz)
Leiningen (Leiningen)
Edelstetten (Ligne)
Looz-Wolbeck (Looz-Corswarem)
The Council of the Counts of Suabia
The Council of the Counts of the Wetterau
The Council of the Counts of Franconia
The Council of the Counts of Westphalia
In all, 131 seats in the Council of Princes, after the proposed
reorganization of the Diet, based on the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss
of 1803.
The Princes who would have benefited from this reorganization by
finally gaining a seat in the Diet, such as Leiningen and Waldeck,
started acting as though they had become sovereign (though still under
the suzerainty of the Emperor), and have continued to be credited, in
otherwise accurate references works, as having achieved sovereignty by
virtue of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, even though the 1803
reorganization of the Diet cannot be considered lawful.
Also in 1803 the number of secular Electors was almost doubled, from 5
(Bohemia, Palatinate, Electoral Saxony, Brandenburg, and Hanover) to 9
(with Baden, Hesse-Cassel, Wuerttemberg, and Salzburg [later Wuerzburg,
and held by the Grand Duke of Tuscany] added), while the Ecclesiastial
Electors dropped from 3 (Mainz, Trier, and Cologne) to one (Mainz, the
other two being secularized).
After Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor of the French on 18 May
1804, the Holy Roman Emperor proclaimed himself Emperor of Austria on
11 August 1804, followed immediately by the Electors of Bavaria and
Wuerttemberg, who took advantage of the confusion and lack of Imperial
control to proclaim themselves Kings, and started gobbling up smaller
states, starting on 19 November 1805 when Wuerttemberg annexed
Fuerstenberg. The formal end of the Empire was signalled on 13 January
1806 when the King of Sweden refused to send a representative to the
Imperial Diet because of the violations of its constitution by its
members.
After his victory at Austerlitz (2 Dec 1805), Bonaparte tried to break
up the Empire by driving a wedge between Brandenburg (the power in the
north) and Austria (the power in the south), by offering to set up a
federation of the German states under his protection. Those states
which left the Empire and joined the federation could increase their
territories at the expense of those states which did not. On 12 July
1806 the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine was signed, and the
Confederation came into legal existance. The states which initially
joined the Confederation, their dynasties and their date of joining
were:
King of Bavaria Wittelsbach 12 July 1806
King of Wuerttemberg Wuerttemberg 12 July 1806
Grand Duke of Baden Zaehringen 12 July 1806
Grand Duke of Frankfurt Dalberg 12 July 1806
Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg Murat 12 July 1806
Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Hesse 12 July 1806
Duke of Nassau-Usingen Nassau 12 July 1806
Prince of Nassau-Weilburg Nassau 12 July 1806
P of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Hohenzollern 12 July 1806
P of Hohenzollern-Hechingen Hohenzollern 12 July 1806
Prince of Salm-Salm Salm 12 July 1806
Prince of Salm-Kyrburg Salm 12 July 1806
Prince of Isenburg-Birstein Isenburg 12 July 1806
Duke of Arenberg Ligne-Arenberg 12 July 1806
Prince of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 12 July 1806
Prince von der Leyen Leyen 12 July 1806
Note that many of these upgraded their title when they joined.
Articles 13-25 of the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine
described in detail the territorial exchanges between the states which
joined the Confederation, and annexations by the member states of the
territories of the Princes and Counts who did not join. The Princes
and Counts whose territories were annexed, and who were thus
mediatized on 12 July 1806, under the terms of Articles 13-25 of the
Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, were:
Prince of Auersperg
Duke of Croy-Solre
Prince of Dietrichstein
Prince of Esterhazy
Prince of Fuerstenberg
Princes/Counts of Fugger
Princes of Hohenlohe (7 branches in all)
Prince/Count of Leiningen
Prince of Lobkowicz
Princes/Counts of Loewenstein-Wertheim
Duke of Looz-Corswarem
Prince of Metternich
Prince of Nassau-Orange (Dillenburg, Siegen, etc.)
Princes of Oettingen
Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt
Prince of Sinzendorf
Princes/Counts of Solms
Prince of Thurn und Taxis
Princes/Counts of Truchsess-Waldburg
Prince of Wied
Count of Aspremont
Count of Bassenheim
Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt
Count of Castell
Count of Erbach
Count of Hatzfeld
Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg
Counts of Isenburg
Count of Koenegsegg-Aulendorf
Count of Limburg
Count of Nostitz
Count of Ostein
Count of Plettenberg
Count of Quadt
Count of Rechteren-Limpurg
Count of Salm-Horstmar
Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein
Count of Schaesberg
Count of Schoenborn
Count of Stadion
Count of Sternberg
Count of Toerring
Count of Traun
Count of Wallmoden
Count of Wartenberg
Baron of Boemelburg
Baron of Riedesel
Baron of Wendt
Prince of Anhalt as Count of Holzapfel
Prince of Stolberg-Gedern as Count of Koenigstein
The Knights of the Empire in Franconia
The Knights of the Empire in Suabia
The Knights of the Empire in Westphalia
It should be noted that these were the Princes and Counts who had
immediate fiefs which were mediatized by the annexations described in
Articles 13-25 of the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine. Some
of these Princes and Counts had a seat and a vote in the Council of
Princes (before or after the 1803 reorganization of the Imperial Diet),
and some of these Princes and Counts had a seat and a vote in one of
the Councils of the Counts of the Empire, and some of them had neither
seats nor votes. Mediatization of a fief refers only to the degrading
of the immediacy of that fief, and does not imply anything else about
the holder of the fief. Note also that mediatization under the
Confederation of the Rhine is slightly different from mediatization
under the Empire, because of the levels of feudal alliance involved.
On 1 August 1806, ten states (Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, the Arch-
Chancellor, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,
Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Salm-Salm, Salm-Kyrburg, and Isenburg)
presented a note to the Imperial Diet stating that they were seceeding
from the Empire and the Diet. Two weeks later Arenberg, von der Leyen,
Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg were added to the note, but by then
the Emperor had abdicated and the Empire dissolved (6 August 1806).
More states joined the Confederation:
Grand Duke of Wuerzburg Lorraine-Tuscany 25 Sept 1806
King of Saxony Wettin 11 Dec 1806
Duke of Saxe-Weimar Wettin 15 Dec 1806
Duke of Saxe-Gotha Wettin 15 Dec 1806
Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Wettin 15 Dec 1806
Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen Wettin 15 Dec 1806
Duke of Saxe-Coburg Wettin 15 Dec 1806
P of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg 18 Apr 1807
P of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg 18 Apr 1807
Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt 18 Apr 1807
Duke of Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt 18 Apr 1807
Duke of Anhalt-Koethen Anhalt 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Lippe-Detmold Lippe 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe Lippe 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Waldeck Waldeck 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Reuss-Greiz Reuss 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Reuss-Schleiz Reuss 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Reuss-Lobenstein Reuss 18 Apr 1807
Prince of Reuss-Ebersdorf Reuss 18 Apr 1807
King of Westphalia Bonaparte 7 Dec 1807
Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Mecklenburg 18 Feb 1808
Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg 22 Mar 1808
Duke of Oldenburg Oldenburg 14 Oct 1808
Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg Bonaparte 3 March 1809
(Murat had abdicated on 1 Aug 1808)
The details of the activities of the Confederation of the Rhine can
fill several books and need not concern us here, except that Napoleon's
military demands constantly increased. Napoleon at least maintained
the appearance of legality in his dealings with the states of the
Confederation, until 13 December 1810 when he, without pretext,
incorporated the Duchy of Oldenburg, the Duchy of Arenberg, the
Principalities of Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg, and large parts of the
Grand Duchy of Cleves and Berg, of the former Electorate of Hanover,
and of the Kingdom of Westphalia, into France. This followed his
swallowing of Holland (9 July 1810). The 13 December 1810 action was
later cited by Alexander I of Russia (brother-in-law of the Duke of
Oldenburg) as one of the reasons why he (Alexander I) joined the Great
Coalition against Napoleon.
The Confederation started unravelling after the Treaty of Kalisch (28
February 1813), which provided that the Confederation should be
dissolved after an Allied victory. The Mecklenburg Dukes promptly quit
the Confederation and joined the Allies, followed by the Anhalt Dukes
and most of the rest. Among the last to leave were the Princes of
Hohenzollern on 24 November 1813, leaving behind the King of Saxony,
the Grand Duke of Frankfurt, Prince von der Leyen, and the Prince of
Isenburg, but by then the Confederation of the Rhine was effectively
dead.
The Congress of Vienna was charged with bringing some sort of order to
Europe after the fall and exile of Napoleon. Again the details of the
negotiations need not concern us, but one result was the German Federal
Act [Deutschen Bundesakte] of 8 June 1815, which dealt with the
Mediatized houses in Article 14. In this, the Mediatized Houses were
counted among the higest nobility with the right of equality with the
reigning houses [Ebenbuertigkeit], the Heads of the Mediatized Houses
were the first vassals [Standesherren] of those states in which their
former territories were located, they were exempt from military
service, given civil and penal jurisdiction at the lowest level, etc.,
but always within the framework of the laws of the new state and under
the supervision of the government of the new state. Many of the
Mediatized Houses protested violently against the terms of this
Article, but they were powerless to prevent it. At no point, though,
did the Congress of Vienna decide exactly *which* Houses had been
mediatized, and thus deserving of these higher privileges, leaving that
up to the discretion of the individual states.
The astute reader may have noticed that the lists of those Houses
which had a seat and vote in the Council of Princes of the Imperial
Diet both before and after the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, and the
lists of those Houses which either joined the Confederation of the
Rhine, or whose territories were mediatized by the Treaty of the
Confederation of the Rhine, bear little or no relation to the list of
families we usually refer to as "Mediatized". There's an explanation
for this, though perhaps not a reason.
After the Congress of Vienna, Europe settled down. The sovereign
states in the area which used to be the Holy Roman Empire were the
states that are familiar to us:
Empire of Austria
Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Wuerttemberg
Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau
Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg
Duchy of Anhalt-Koethen
Grand Duchy of Baden
Duchy of Brunswick
Electorate of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine
Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Principality of Liechtenstein
Principality of Lippe-Detmold
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Principality of Nassau-Usingen
Principality of Nassau-Weilburg
Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
Principality of Reuss-Greiz
Principality of Reuss-Schleiz
Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein
Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf
Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchy of Saxe-Gotha
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen
Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen (later Saxe-Altenburg)
Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe
Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont
Several of these states acknowledged various Standesherren among the
nobility in their country, under the terms of Article 14 of the
Deutsches Bundesakte, and on 18 August 1825, the German Diet recognized
the predicate of "Most Serene Highness" [Durchlaucht] for the Heads of
the princely Houses that were recognized as Standesherren, and later on
13 February 1829 the Diet recognized the predicate of "Most Illustrious
Highness" [Erlaucht] for the Heads of the countly Houses that were
recognized as Standesherren.
Note that the Standesherren were the highest nobility in their
countries, and that these predicates of "Durchlaucht" and "Erlaucht"
denoted nothing more than social status within and among these
countries. The *Almanach de Gotha*, an annual publication, which up
until the 1835 edition had divided its genealogical pages into two
Parts, Part I showing the Sovereign houses and Part II showing the non-
sovereign Princely houses, added a Part III starting in its 1836 issue.
This Part III, "Maisons Princieres et Comtales", listed those Princes
and Counts who had been recognized as Standesherren, with the
predicates of "Durchlaucht" and "Erlaucht", and the states in which the
Standesherren had been recognized:
Princes ("Durchlaucht" as of 18 August 1825):
Arenberg (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
Auersperg (Austria)
Bentheim-Bentheim (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
Bentheim-Steinfurt (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
Colloredo-Mannsfeld (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Croy-Dulmen (Austria, Prussia)
Dietrichstein (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Esterhazy v Galantha (Austria, Bavaria)
Fuerstenberg (Austria, Wuerttemberg, Baden, Hohenzollern-
Sigmaringen)
Fugger-Babenhausen (Austria, Bavaria)
Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Hohenlohe-Oehringen (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Hohenlohe-Kirchberg (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein-Jagstberg (Austria,
Wuerttemberg)
Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfuerst (Austria, Bavaria,
Wuerttemberg)
Isenburg-Birstein (Austria, Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of
Hesse)
Kaunitz-Rietberg (Austria, Prussia)
Khevenhuller-Metsch (Austria)
Leiningen (Austria, Bavaria, Baden, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Leyen (Austria, Baden)
Lobkowicz (Austria)
Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (Austria, Bavaria,
Wuerttemberg, Baden, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (Austria, Bavaria,
Wuerttemberg, Baden, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Looz-Corswarem (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
Metternich (Austria)
Oettingen-Spielberg (Austria, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg)
Oettingen-Wallerstein (Austria, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg)
Rosenberg (Austria)
Salm-Salm (Austria, Prussia)
Salm-Kyrburg (Austria, Prussia)
Salm-Horstmar (Austria, Prussia)
Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim (Austria, Baden)
Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz (Austria)
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Austria, Prussia)
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (Austria, Prussia, Wuerttemberg)
Schoenburg-Waldenburg (Austria, Kingdom of Saxony)
Schoenburg-Hartenstein (Austria, Kingdom of Saxony)
Schwarzenberg (Austria, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg)
Solms-Braunfels (Austria, Prussia, Wuerttemberg, Grand Duchy od
Hesse)
Solms-Lich (Austria, Prussia, Wuerttemberg, Grand Duchy od
Hesse)
Starhemberg (Austria)
Thurn und Taxis (Austria, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Hohenzollern-
Sigmaringen)
Trauttmansdorff (Austria)
Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg (Austria, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg)
Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (Austria, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg)
Wied (Austria, Prussia, Nassau)
Windisch-Graetz (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Counts ("Erlaucht" as of 13 February 1829):
Castell-Remlingen (Bavaria)
Castell-Rudenhausen (Bavaria)
Erbach-Erbach (Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Erbach-Wartenberg-Roth (Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Grand Duchy of
Hesse)
Fugger-Kirchberg-Weissenhorn (Wuerttemberg)
Fugger-Gloett (Bavaria)
Fugger-Kirchheim (Bavaria)
Fugger-Nordendorf (Bavaria, Wuerttemberg)
Giech (Bavaria)
Goertz, Schlitz gennant von (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Harrach (Austria)
Isenburg-Philippseich (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Isenburg-Buedingen (Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Isenburg-Buedingen-Meerholz (Wuerttemberg, Electoral Hesse,
Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Koenigsegg-Aulendorf (Wuerttemberg)
Kuefstein (Austria)
Leiningen-Billigheim (Baden)
Leiningen-Neudenau (Baden)
Leiningen-Alt-Westerburg (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Leiningen-Neu-Westerburg (Nassau)
Neipperg (Wuerttemberg)
Ortenburg (Bavaria)
Pappenheim (Bavaria)
Platen-Hallermund (Hanover)
Plettenberg-Mietingen (Wuerttemberg)
Pueckler-Limpurg (Wuerttemberg)
Quadt-Isny (Wuerttemberg)
Rechberg (Wuerttemberg)
Rechteren-Limpurg (Bavaria)
Schaesberg-Thannheim (Wuerttemberg)
Schoenborn-Wiesentheid (Bavaria)
Schoenborn-Buchheim (Austria, Bavaria)
Schoenburg-Hinterglauchau (Kingdom of Saxony)
Schoenburg-Rochsburg (Kingdom of Saxony)
Schoenburg-Wechselburg (Kingdom of Saxony)
Solms-Laubach (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Solms-Roedelheim (Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Solms-Wildenfels (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Stadion (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Stadion-Thannhausen (Bavaria)
Sternberg-Manderscheid (Austria, Wuerttemberg)
Stolberg-Wernigerode (Prussia, Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Stolberg-Stolberg (Prussia, Hanover)
Stolberg-Rossla (Prussia, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
Toerring Gutenzell (Wuerttemberg)
Waldbott-Bassenheim (Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Nassau)
Waldeck-Pyrmont (Wuerttemberg)
Wallmoden-Gimborn (Mecklenburg)
Wurmbrand (Austria)
The list of Houses the German Diet considered to have been Mediatized
seems fairly odd when compared to historical events (mentioned above)
in the Holy Roman Empire and in the Confederation of the Rhine, but
since the decisions as to which Prince or Count was to be recognized as
a Standesherr was left up to the individual states, there was no reason
to for the states to be overly concerned about what had happened
before. The major change for these mediatized houses was that they now
had a new predicate (Durchlaucht or Erlaucht) by which they should be
addressed. Even these honors were lightly given, as on 12 June 1845
the German Diet extended the recognition of "Erlaucht" to the Count of
Bentinck, who was not even a Standesherr in any of the German States
(though Oldenburg later made the Count of Bentinck a Standesherr).
These divisions of genealogical section of the *Almanach de Gotha*
(Part I the Sovereign houses, Part II the non-Sovereign Princely
houses including those Standesherren who were Princes, and Part III the
Standesherren Counts of the German States) continued until the Franco-
Prussian War and the King of Prussia naming himself "Emperor of
Germany" (1871). A pan-German triumphalism appeared in the German
states, and the editors of the *Almanach de Gotha* followed along. In
a fairly nasty bit of Germanic chauvinism, the 1876 *Almanach de Gotha*
combined Parts II and III into a single Part II.
In the Preface of the 1876 edition, the editors claim that their reason
for doing this was that some of the houses in Part III belonged to the
same dynasty as some of the houses in Part II (no examples were given
in the Preface, though Fugger, Isenburg, and Leiningen are good
examples), and they thought it would be easier for the reader to deal
with these houses when they were combined into a single list. This was
bad enough (insinuating that a higher-ranking noblemen in a small
German state, such as the Counts of Goertz or the Counts of
Pappenheim, were in some way comparable to the Princes of Rohan or the
Princes Kinsky or the Princes of Chigi-Albani), but what happened with
the next edition was worse.
In the 1877 *Almanach de Gotha*, the new Part II was divided into two
sub-Parts, A and B. Part II A was for the mediatized German nobles,
and Part II B was for the other German Princes and the non-German
Princes. The criteria used for inclusion in Part II A were listed on
page 90 of the 1877 edition, and were solely the decisions of the
German Diet on 18 August 1825, 13 February 1829, and 12 June 1845
mentioned above about the Durchlaucht and Erlaucht predicates. This
means that, according to the editors of the *Almanach de Gotha*, the
Counts of Goertz and the Counts of Pappenheim were not just comparable
to the Princes of Rohan or the Princes Kinsky or the Princes of Chigi-
Albani, they were superior.
The 1890 edition changed the name of Part II A to Part II, and the name
of Part II B to Part III, but other than that there has been no
alteration in the structure of either the *Almanach de Gotha* or its
successor, the "Genealogisches Handbuch der Fuerstlichen Haeuser" sub-
series of the "Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels".
A case could be made that the Reichsstanden of the Holy Roman Empire,
that is, those Princes who held a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet
(at least those who held a seat and vote before the non-lawful
reorganization of the Diet in 1803) could be considered to have had
some level of Sovereignty, or even co-Sovereignty, under the suzerainty
of the Emperor, but the assertions of the *Almanach de Gotha* are, at
best, ludicrous. What's impressive, though, is the number of other
genealogical works, such as *Burke's Royal Families of the World*, vol.
I, pp. 547-557, which uncritically accept the opinions of the editors
of the *Almanach de Gotha* as being in any way representative of the
historical record.
One last quote from Prince Arenberg's dissertation (pp. 203-205):
All the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, except the Emperor,
the Elector of Brandenburg in his capacity as King of Prussia, the
Elector of Hanover in his capacity as King of England and a few
other Princes in similar positions, were not full-fledged
sovereigns because they recognized the suzerainty of the Empire
over their territories. The personification of this suzerainty
was the Emperor, who was for his own hereditary territories
Sovereign and Suzerain at the same time. But this situation
changed with the establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine.
The Sovereigns of the Confederation announced their succession
from the Empire and assumption of full sovereignty. That act, in
itself, could of course never constitute a legal termination of
the Suzerainty of the Emperor. But Francis II, in his
proclamation of August 6, 1806, abdicated for himself and for his
descendants, released the officials of the Empire from their oath
and effectuated the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The
position of the Emperor had legally never been that of a
hereditary monarch. The imperial dignity was elective, and,
therefore, contingent upon a sort of contract between the
Electoral States of the Empire and one particular State to whom
they wished to transfer the supreme authority. With much more
justice than in the case of the German Empire as created by
Bismarck, one can say of the Holy Roman Empire that it was a
republic of Princes with one of them as elected chairman. The
Sovereigns of the Confederation of the Rhine constituted a
minority of the total number of the States of the Empire, and
their secession, therefore, could not become legal until the
elected chairman agreed to bring about the end of the whole
system. But once this was done, the Princes of the Confederation
became independent in virtue of both their own act and of the
renunciation of their legal Suzerain.
Whether in the future someone will publish a genealogical handbook of
those families which were fully Sovereign, and including (or not) the
Reichsstanden (the Imperial States), and including (or not) the Houses
which were allegedly promoted by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, and
including (or not) the states which joined the Confederation of the
Rhine, in other words a genealogical handbook whose criteria for
inclusion is something closer to historical accuracy than the social-
precedence whims of the German Diet or the belligerent nationalism of a
nineteenth-century publisher is, of course, beyond the scope of this
paper.
William Addams Reitwiesner
January 1998