Speyer as central place of the Holy Roman Empire (1527-1689)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anette Baumann
• Subject Area: Early Modern History ; Principles of Law and Jurisprudence
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 243097442

Unlike modern states the Holy Roman Empire had no city in the status of a capital. But there were several central cities as Regensburg, Frankfurt am Main, Vienna and also Speyer. During the 16th and 17th century Speyer displays more than other cities the Empire`s structure as an organization of estates. Since 1527 the Imperial Chamber Court settled in Speyer, the Emperor and the imperial estates met there at the imperial diet and examined the Imperial Chamber Court. Politics and law interacted in different ways. In the protestant city of Speyer had a catholic episcopate and it was situated in the neighborhood of protestant Palatinate and catholic Mainz whose spheres of influence overlapped there. On the basic of recently discovered archive records the project is set out to describe the central political, confessional and judicial function.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants