Hoftag

As a court day is called the formless and irregularly held meetings of the Holy Roman Emperor and King of selected nobles of the Holy Roman Empire. The earlier research also referred to this meeting as the Reichstag, although the meeting did not abstract based on the Empire, but specifically to the respective rulers.

History

From lehnsrechtlichen commitment to become the king with advice and act to the side, one initiated in the High Middle Ages, the obligation to appear at the request of the king of deliberations and decision in person at court; the so-called Hoffahrtspflicht. For this purpose, the court days were used. This court days are named differently in sources. Man this is registered names such as parlamentum, conventus, Colloquium, curia, curia. All these names were using phrases such as Solemnis ( German solemnly ) or extended magnus ( German large) to make the importance of the meeting clearly. The court days were different from normal proceedings of the Court in the core only by the presence of invitees. This could be princes, nobles, ecclesiastical dignitaries or representatives of foreign powers. Since the 13th century, representatives of the imperial cities were invited to court days. The court days were also organized as part of the royal household and strictly related to the king.

When the king held court days and those whom he invited to this, lay alone in its sole discretion. Therefore, a distinction between legally significant agreement of the princes is difficult to make a decision and advice. However, it was from the obligation to give the king advice, soon the right of the princes, in important matters concerning the kingdom, for example, the squad for the imperial army drive to be heard. What issues the King had advised and caught the consent of the princes, but seems to have largely located in the discretion of the king, so that may be of institutionalized co-rule of the princes of the question.

High and late medieval documents which contain important policy decisions or dispositions of imperial estates emphasize that the decisions were made with the "advice " and the " consent " of the princes. Both terms are used in these documents seen by the relevance of synonyms. Who was not loaded by the princes and was in opposition to the king, did not feel bound by the decisions of the court days.

After the interregnum in the 13th century took on the role of the electors, as they entered alone into the role of the princes of the empire and charges by so-called will of its formal acceptance letters to royal decrees on imperial. But here is no obligation of the king is recognized authorities with such letters will in his dispositions.

As a result of the withdrawal of royalty to the respective hereditary lands late 14th century and the general weakness at the time of his Graf Kings won the King lots of days on which consulted the grandees of the empire without the help of the king, is becoming increasingly important. Only rarely court days were held. These days, lots of king end of the 15th century, the legal institution of the Reichstag developed.