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Final Recess of the Reichsdeputation
1803
February 25, 1803:
The original German name of this act is
Hauptschluß
der ausserordentlichen Reichsdeputation
or a bit shorter,
the Reichsdeputationshauptschluß.
In English, it is also called the
Principal Decree of the Imperial Deputation.
The Final Recess of the Reichsdeputation was one of the last
laws the
Holy Roman
Empire came up with before the empire collapsed in 1806.
The Background of the
Final Recess of the Reichsdeputation
With the
Treaty of Luneville
in 1801, French
Napoleon had the Holy Roman
Empire sign over all German territories left of the Rhine
River.
These territories belonged to various
German princes, who, according to another paragraph in the Treaty of
Luneville, should be compensated.
Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II
was obliged to realize this compensation and his administration
composed the Final Recess of the Reichsdeputation.
What Did the Final
Recess of the Reichsdeputation stipulate?
The Final Recess of the Reichsdeputation
arranged for above mentioned compensations by means of
a) Secularization
and
b) Mediatization
Secularization meant that
possessions formerly owned by the Church were now given to above
listed German princes in need.
Mediatization
meant that smaller German states were annexed by larger German
states.
In other words, an incredible amount of
money, stuff, citizens, and territory changed hands.
And illustrated on a map, the entire thing looked like this
1803
Central Europe
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