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''Reichsvogt'' (; ''Imperial Advocate'') was the term for the office of a ''
In addition to the imperial cities of
Vogt
An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...
'' that was nominated by the king of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
as his representative. Especially in what is now Switzerland, the ''Reichsvogt'' was a very influential position in the High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...
.
Function and rights
The ''Reichsvogt'' was patron, chairman of theblood court
High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. The scale ...
and administrator of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire acting with imperial rights. These included the territory under the direct reign of the emperor, and the imperial cities and imperial monasteries, among them medieval Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
and the Fraumünster Abbey, that were directly subordinate to the emperor, and not to individual dominions or churches and monasteries.
Switzerland
In addition to the imperial cities of Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
, Solothurn
Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
The town is ...
and Zürich, as well as the imperial monasteries , Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and Districts of Switzerland#Schwyz, district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey, established in the 10th century.
Histor ...
, Fraumünster
The Fraumünster (; lit. in ) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the l ...
and Grossmünster
The Grossmünster (; "great minster") is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche, and St. Peterskirche). Its congregation ...
in Zürich, and the St. Gallen Abbey territories, the ''Reichsvogt'' acted as the secular court. These extensive imperial complexes were directly subordinate to the king, especially in the Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...
and in the Western Switzerland.
By the 12th century, the latter were grouped into imperial bailiwick
A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ.
In English, the original French combi ...
s respectively imperial fief
A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
s to local barons, among them the houses of Zähringen, Kyburg, Rapperswil
Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...
and Toggenburg
Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the River Thur (Switzerland), Thur and that of the Necker (river), Necker, one of its afluents. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis ...
. In the 13th century, imperial bailiwicks were propagated fiefdom of large dynasties, Savoy
Savoy (; ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...
and Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
, alongside their officials perceived the imperial rights as ''Reichsvögte'' (plural). Zürich, for instance, in 1218 received the status as '' Reichsstadt'', an imperial city, and chose its first Reichsvogt from the urban citizenry, which exercised the advocacy of the two pins and the city. Zürich mostly sat his counselors as ''Reichsvogt'' and county judge in personal union, but from the middle of the 13th century the town's rights were ousted more and more by the Habsburg family.
In general, the ''Reichsvogt'' and comparable ''Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the ''Schultheiß'' () was the head of a municipality (akin to today's office of mayor), a '' Vogt'' or an executive official of the ruler. As official (''villicus'') it was his duty to order his assigned village or county ( ...
'' increasingly dealt, in addition to the jurisdiction, and walked up to the mayors at the head of the city's council. In the 15th century the office of ''Reichsvogt'' successively was acquired e.g. in 1400 in Zürich, St. Gallen in 1415, Schaffhausen in 1415/29, and the ''Reichsvogt'' became the chairman or executive officers of the blood court. The title ''Reichsvogt'' survived in St. Gallen and Appenzell Innerrhoden
Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden ( ; ; ; ), in English sometimes Appenzell Inner-Rhodes, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. The seat of the government and parliament is Appenzell. It is ...
(1606–1872) by the late 19th century.
See also
* ''Vogt'' (Switzerland)Literature
* Erwin Eugster: ''Adlige Territorialpolitik in der Ostschweiz. Kirchliche Stiftungen im Spannungsfeld früher landesherrlicher Verdrängungspolitik''. Zürich 1991, . * Roger Sablonier: ''Gründungszeit ohne Eidgenossen: Politik und Gesellschaft in der Innerschweiz um 1300''. hier + jetzt, Baden 2008, .References
External links
* {{Authority control History of Zurich Old Swiss Confederacy Feudalism in Switzerland *Reichsvogt German feudalism Swiss noble titles Legal history of Switzerland