The so-called Godsey 2004, p. 145 () was the illegal seizure of the Imperially immediate territories of the

Imperial Knights The Free Imperial Knights (, ) were free nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, whose direct overlord was the Emperor. They were the remnants of the medieval free nobility ('' edelfrei'') and the ministeriales. What distinguished them from other kn ...

within 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 ...

by some Imperial Estates in 1802–1804.Whaley 2012, p. 626 In 1803, under the new political structures imposed by the final resolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the , the Imperial Knights ( should have remain untouched, unlike the ecclesial prince-bishoprics which were forcibly secularised. But by the winter of 1802/1803, the

territorial state The term territorial state is used to refer to a state, typical of the High Middle Ages, since around 1000 AD, and "other large-scale complex organizations that attained size, stability, capacity, efficiency, and territorial reach not seen since ant ...

s of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate (), was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon t ...

and

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

attempted to take possession of the tiny and fragmented estates belonging to the neighbouring Imperial Knights through a combination of Surrender and Transfer Edicts () and military force. In autumn 1803 the majority of the roughly 300 knightly estates were ''de facto'' annexed by their larger neighbours. In the winter of 1803/1804 the Princes of Leiningen,

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It formerly ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire, which was divided between several branches. In 1806, the area of Hohenlohe was 1,760 km² and its estimated pop ...

and

Löwenstein Löwenstein () is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was first mentioned in 1123. The castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nob ...

followed suit. The annexing powers often had competing claims.

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

, Hesse-Darmstadt, Leiningen and Bavaria each sent troops to occupy parts of the estates of the late in 1803. Massenbach territory ultimately fell to Württemberg in May 1807. The measures were denounced by the knights to the and, in January 1804, pronounced as illegal by Emperor Francis II. The emperor empowered the states of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Baden,

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

and Regensburg (Mainz) to enforce his decision. Although Francis was not practically able to reverse many of the annexations, the threat of force put a stop to the ''Rittersturm''. In 1806, with the end of the Empire, the formal mediatisation of the baronies was concluded. Article 25 of the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine sanctioned unilateral action by territorial states.

Notes

Literature

*Klaus Epstein. ''The Genesis of German Conservatism''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966. *Albert Funk. ''Kleine Geschichte des Föderalismus: Vom Fürstenbund zur Bundesrepublik''. Verlag Ferd. Schöningh GmbH & Co. KG, 2010. *John G. Gagliardo. ''Reich and Nation: The Holy Roman Empire as Idea and Reality, 1763–1806''. Indiana University Press, 1980. *William D. Godsey. ''Nobles and Nation in Central Europe: Free Imperial Knights in the Age of Revolution, 1750–1850''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. *Volker Himmelein and Hans Ulrich Rudolf. ''Alte Klöster - Neue Herren'', Ausstellungskatalog, vol. 2. Thorbecke Verlag, 2003. *Joachim Whaley. ''Germany and the Holy Roman Empire'', vol. 2. Oxford University Press, 2012, *Peter H. Wilson, "Bolstering the Prestige of the Habsburgs: The End of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806", ''The International History Review'', 28:4 (2006), 709–36. *Peter H. Wilson. ''Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire''. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2016. {{refend Imperial Knights 19th century in Germany