Augsburg is one of Germany's oldest cities.
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| [Augsburg Reichstag in 1530] |
The imperial city of Augsburg has its origins in the 12th and 13th centuries' High Middle Ages. Augsburg went through a constitutional growth process that may be generally classified as episcopal city, royal city, and imperial city in terms of urban history. The changes were fluid, and they were linked to a complex inner and outer urban power network. For a time, as one of the empire's major cities, the Thirty Years' War represented a watershed moment in the city's history, resulting in a (more than) half of the population. In imperial law, the year 1648 introduced a peculiarity: until the end of the Old Empire, Augsburg was an equal imperial city, whose complicated offices were now denominationally filled by one Protestant and one Catholic official each. The imperial urban growth came to a stop with the mediatization on March 4, 1806. The Kingdom of Bavaria conquered Augsburg.
Imperial Augsburg
Augsburg is one of Germany's oldest cities, with its first historical splendor under the Roman Empire (1st century BC-3rd century AD). The town arose to become the capital of the Raetia Secunda province, situated on a high terrace between Lech and Wertach. Settlement continuity from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages is confirmed thanks to archaeological discoveries. Throughout the Middle Ages, the city was able to steadily grow in significance, not least for the central authority.
The attainment of imperial immediacy at Augsburg was the result of a centuries-long historical process influenced by a variety of causes and players. The bishop ruled the Ottonian-Salian city, but the king strengthened central power's grip over the city, not least by his presence in the upper Middle Ages. Friedrich I. Barbarossa (reigned 1152–1190, emperor from 1155) established the powers of bishop, burgrave, and bailiff, a municipal privilege that recurs on an older wisdom from 1104 and allowed substantial leeway for the continued growth of the citizens.
Barbarossa severely limited the bishop's privileges when he took over the bailiwick in 1176. The first citizen's seal was issued in 1237. During the 13th century, the citizens were successful in obtaining certain privileges from the bishop (such as the right to tax , military sovereignty, ungeld, customs , protection of Jews).
The royal privileges of Rudolf von Habsburg (ruled 1273–1291) from 1276 (city register) and Adolf von Nassau (ruled 1292–1298) from 1294 paved the way through granted statutes like the "ius de non evocando" (citizens were only allowed to be drawn before the municipal jurisdiction) the way to utrecht. During this time, the Council grew in importance as a body. King Ludwig IV the Bavarian (ruled 1314–1347, Emperor from 1328) declared the city indivisible from the Empire in 1316. (confirmed in 1358). That the power of electing the city bailiff was granted by Sigismund (ruled 1411–1437, emperor from 1433). The process of Augsburg's immediateization came to an end in 1426.
Despite episcopal attempts, particularly in the 15th century, to seize control of the city regiment, imperial immediacy prevailed, and the bishop's authority was primarily confined to the region surrounding the cathedral. The immediate status of the city was manifested in financial (coinage, but also taxes, registration fees) and judicial matters (appeal to the central authority in the case of a number of external threats over the course of history, such as the late medieval dispute with the nearby Wittelsbach territories) as well as administrative matters (such as the late medieval dispute with the nearby Wittelsbach territories).
The imperial estate's participation in the empire was reflected in its own imperial city council after partaking in city days in 1489. The imperial towns only had the right to advise from 1547 onwards, including the imperial city of Augsburg, but only after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 did they have the opportunity to interfere in the empire's decision-making processes. On the other hand, the king's authority over the city introduced a significant degree of central power influence into the city's constitutional framework.
The "Carolinian Regiment Order" issued in 1548 by Emperor Charles V (ruled 1519–1556, Emperor from 1530), established a new constitution for the imperial city, which took place under aristocratic and Catholic auspices and reinforced the central authority's involvement possibilities (revisions and additions in 1719 and 1740). Inner-city disputes, which were examined by proper committees, also had a "royal element" On March 4, 1806, Bavaria lost its position as an imperial city due to mediatization.
Historical demographics of Augsburg
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| [Augsburg,Germany] |
Because of the source, only approximations of pre-modern demographics are attainable, as they are in many cities. The imperial city of Augsburg had a population of 30,000 to 50,000 people at its heyday about 1500, according to estimates. The "population registers" that were maintained up to the middle of the 18th century are utilized and offer a largely secure base on the basis of births, deaths, and weddings, thus assertions can only be made from the late 16th century forward.
The inventory of the tax books is an important addition to the registers. It is generally estimated that Augsburg had approximately 30,000 residents around 1500, and that during the Thirty Years' War, the population had grown by another 10,000. The upheaval of the early half of the seventeenth century will be remembered as a major demographic tipping point. After a severe plague epidemic in 1628 that killed about 9,000 people, a census in 1635 revealed a population of 16,432 people (of which 12,017 were Protestant and 4,415 were Catholic). At the end of the Old Kingdom, contemporaries estimated Augsburg's population to be 34,000–38,000. Over the following century and a half, the balance of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews changed, and a census in 1809 revealed 11,534 Protestants, 16,944 Catholics, and 634 Jews.
How Augsburg became the city of court
A total of 109 royal stays from 787 to 1267, many of which may be classified as court days, demonstrate the importance of Augsburg for central power from the reign of Charlemagne (ruled 768–814, Emperor from 800). This importance stemmed from the strategically significant position, not least as a collecting place for Italian trains, in addition to the existing infrastructure.
In the year 1235, an Italian source ( Rolandinus von Padua, died 1276) listed Augsburg as the emperor's true city in "Germany" ("civitas scilicet imperatoris in Alemannia et semper imperii propria mansio"). It's debatable and doubtful that the existence of central power in the early and late Middle Ages resulted in more structural precipitation inside the city (than the royal palace).
The king's and empire's presence peaked in the 15th and especially the 16th centuries, coinciding with the imperial city's economic success. With his father Friedrich III. (ruled 1440–1493, emperor from 1452) emerging royal reference and having his own residence in the imperial capital, Maximilian I (reigned 1486 / 1493–1519, emperor from 1508) expanded the number. Augsburg hosted 12 Reichstag in the 16th century, including the particularly historic ones in 1518 with Martin Luther's interrogation, 1530 ("Confessio Augustana"), 1548 ("Armored Reichstag"), and 1555 ("Augsburger Religionsfrieden"), which elevated Augsburg to the top tier of the most important Reformation locations. Following the success of the "community reformations" ( Rolf Kießling ), the long-reluctant Augsburg council was persuaded to assume religious sovereignty in 1534, and even outlawed the Catholic ritual in 1537.
The Reichstag's history came to an end at Lechstadt in 1582. The "steps" of (institutionalized) imperial history gradually shifted away from Augsburg for a variety of reasons, not least because the Reichstag was linked to Regensburg from 1594 onwards. Augsburg's geostrategic location, sandwiched between the Habsburg and Wittelsbach spheres of power in the west and the Wittelsbach in the east, resulted in political ambivalence, preventing it from forming wider alliances (or did so late). This mentality was most likely a fundamental component of imperial city politics, maybe much more so than in comparable towns.
Augsburg: The city of equals
In the 18th century, enlightened contemporaries mocked the imperial legal characteristic of parity, which Augsburg shared with Biberach, Ravensburg (all in Baden-Württemberg), and Dinkelsbühl (district of Ansbach). The Augsburg Religious Peace of 1555 established denominational equality in religious and political terms, independent of the numerical majority, which was cemented in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The municipal positions were filled by one Protestant and one Catholic delegate each. This applied to hospitals and foundations, as well as censorship, such as the rich Augsburg printed literature; it also dictated the distribution of seats in the appropriate Small Council. Parity safeguarded the denominational minority, first the Catholics, then the Protestants throughout the first part of the 18th century.
There was a violent confessional clash during the 1582 "calendar dispute" Because the revised calendars were adjusted to the position of the sun, Pope Gregory XIII (ruled 1572-1585) was met with widespread opposition from Protestants who did not want to allow the Catholic leader "rule over time" There were practically no further big confrontations after the debate. Nonetheless, there existed a "invisible border" between the faiths, which was represented in the usage of given names, marital conduct, clothing, and façade design (Étienne François).
Last but not least, parity had a significant influence on the imperial city's educational system: the grammar schools at St. Anna and St. Salvator, built in 1531 and 1582, respectively, monopolized Protestant and Catholic children's education to a substantial extent. Furthermore, only the cathedral school and the Latin school at St. Moritz were able to survive until the 18th century of the parish schools going back to the Middle Ages.
Augsburg's social stratification, class structure, and social geography
In terms of socioeconomic stratification, there is no terminological consistency between the sources. As a result, categorization efforts must be thoroughly scrutinized. Citizenship in the early modern imperial city may be split into three categories: genders, multiplicity (non-patrician members of the house), and merchants. In Augsburg and elsewhere in the 18th century, there was a shift in the history of mind, which, in addition to legal concerns, brought in the degree of education for categorization. This also applies to artists, who positioned themselves as a new class between the community and merchants in the aftermath of the Old Kingdom's collapse.
Citizens (who were subject to municipal law and supported by the community) and non-resident marginalized persons are distinguished in the lowest class. Due to the split connected to the various financial conditions, attempts to divide into lower and higher class (with respective subdivisions) are also prone to some arbitrariness. More than three quarters of the inhabitants in the 15th century belonged to the lower class characterized in this way, with a stroke capacity of up to 99 florins, whereas in 1492 a good 80% of the entire assets were in the hands of 5% of the residents.
Around 1610, over 40% of the population was utterly impoverished, while 7.5 percent was wealthy or "extremely rich" A social geography may be seen in the texts from the 17th century onwards: In the upper town, money was amassed.
Economic progress was inextricably linked to social development, which can only be sketched here. Augsburg, as an imperial city that had been incorporated into and had a say in the systems of local and long-distance commerce since the late Middle Ages, was consequently heavily influenced by the commercial environment. From 1500 onwards, the heyday of Augsburg commerce resulted in population boom that was not equaled until the nineteenth century.
Even back then, though, the socioeconomic divide was enormous, thanks in part to the hegemony of the delicate textile industrylay. It had to contend with competition from Central German, English, and Dutch from the 16th century onwards. Overall, the Thirty Years' War is a watershed moment in history. The population dropped by almost 60%, and the number of weavers dropped by about four fifths. After 1648, there was a resurgence in the economy, thanks in part to textiles, arts and crafts, and goldsmithing.
In 1738, the imperial metropolis had about 275 expert goldsmiths, whose work was of European quality and sent to the time's great royal courts. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the arts and crafts were able to establish a high reputation, to the point that, in the late 18th century, contemporaries used the term "Augsburg taste" to describe a rococo style.
Aristocracy in Augsburg
A current notion of understanding is the term patriciate to define a political-social metropolitan ruling class. The word "viri potiores" can be recognized for Augsburg from the 16th century forward as "gentlemen", "burger des rats", "genders" or simply "patricians" in the high and late Middle Ages. From the 13th century onwards, the economic component of the Hohenstaufen ministeriality became increasingly prominent. This group increased in the next century, owing in part to immigration, before a council charter of 1383 put an end to the "open system" on the basis of a birth date. The patriciate was limited to a few households notwithstanding weddings and occasional new admissions. Emperor Charles V enhanced the patriciate's power after winning the Schmalkaldic War (1546-1547), but this also meant its numerical growth through central authority mandates. The last time it was documented was in 1802.
Political pressure and guilds in Augsburg
They earned a name for themselves as business cooperatives pushing for membership in the city regiment, particularly during the rise in 1368. If there had been earlier artisan collaboration with some internal organizations, the "insurgents" speakers, who had administrative and political expertise, now sought major changes in tax rules, including the municipal constitution. The "Second Guild Letter" (December 16, 1368) established the patriciate's and the 18 (from 1397: 17) guilds' allocation of council seats and municipal posts. This compromise-based hybrid constitution lasted until 1548. In the guilds, internal and outward aims were occasionally interwoven, resulting in very complex institutions. The guild twelve and guild masters, who were elected by their full members, not only represented the cooperative in council and court, but also made judgments on a variety of social, commercial, legal, and administrative matters. Guild membership was a method for up-and-coming families to exert political influence in the town.
The obligatory guild was an inner-city control mechanism that led to the internal structure of the imperial city via civil rights and autonomous trade (eventually only own taxable capital). From the late Middle Ages forward, this was reflected architecturally, as economically strong guilds erected domiciles for their collaboration close to aristocratic homes.
Due to its location near St. Moritz and in close proximity to the town hall, the weavers' home, acquired in 1389 by the guild most significant in the city's history, displayed the cooperative needs. The two wealthiest Augsburg guilds - long-distance merchants (such as Gossembrot, Welser, Hörbrot, Hoechstetter) and salt manufacturers (primarily from Hallein (Austria) and Reichenhall (Bad Reichenhall, district of Berchtesgadener Land) - organized themselves in the gentleman's and merchant's room and did not establish their own guild domicile.
In premodern Augsburg, there was poor relief.
Augsburg, like the other pre-modern southern German city, Nuremberg, was plagued by a severe poverty issue. Almsgiving reflects shifting socioeconomic realities: between 1625 and 1629, almost 170 percent more was spent on it than at the start of the century. Although the major motive was certainly the Christian mandate to love one's neighbor and its active confirmation for one's own salvation, the poor organization served the administrative infiltration of the community.
The church had a "monopoly" on poverty relief in the High Middle Ages, but the city and bourgeoisie with a comprehensive foundation system gradually took their position. The city was encompassed by a dense network of souls (for impoverished widowed or unmarried women), infirmaries, and hospitals, most of which were run by caregivers and frequently began in the late Middle Ages.
From the beginning of the 16th century, the alms office was in charge of all additional in-kind and monetary gifts. During the Reformation, the assets of the secularized convents were utilised for charitable causes. The six almsmen and their attendants attempted to get control of the begging situation. Foreign beggars were expelled from the city in 1541 after being allowed a three-day grace period. In 1711, a new poor and alms office was established. In general, study does not give the imperial city's low welfare and socially disciplinary activities high ratings, yet it has maintained the society for centuries.
Contemporaries, on the other hand, were quick to criticize the city authorities' often harsh repression. Poverty towards the end of the Old Empire was viewed as a mass phenomenon that could scarcely be managed by the imperial metropolis, but the weaver riots of 1784 and 1794 undoubtedly affected this opinion. Poor relief was only elevated to a new level in the nineteenth century as a result of various responses to the "social question" offered by various sides.
The author Dr. Christof Paulus is a German historian and Professor.