Imperial Government

As the imperial government the feudal government departments set up in the years 1500 and 1521 were designated, which should give a unified political leadership with the participation of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

Both were composed of the emperor or his deputy and 20 - later 22 - representatives of the states together and had their headquarters in the city of Nuremberg. The creation of a fully functional imperial government was the central point of the reform of the Empire in the early 16th century. It failed both times after a short time the resistance of each emperor and to the divergent interests of princes.

The first imperial government

The first imperial government went back to an initiative of the Elector of Mainz, Berthold von Henneberg at the Diet of Worms of 1495. In return for granting the commons penny and for support in the war against France, he demanded of the Roman-German king and later Emperor Maximilian I, the establishment of a permanent government institution for corporative basis. The Emperor should result in the body that would control the finances, warfare and foreign policy of the empire, just as honorary chairman.

Since this would have meant a massive curtailment of his power, Maximilian I not agreed to the proposal. However, he was one under the pressure of his financially precarious situation on other reforms, which should pave the way to the imperial government. Only when the prince was available to him at the Diet of Augsburg in 1500, a realm militia, it actually came to form the imperial government. The committee, which took his seat in Nuremberg, included not only representatives of Maximilian I to 20 religious and secular princes and the free imperial cities. However, Maximilian refused to the institution from the beginning to the cooperation and solved it already in 1502 again.

The second Reichsregiment

Even Maximilian 's successor as emperor, Charles V saw themselves confronted with the demand of the princes at a Council of Regency. As a condition of his election as King of the Romans, he had to admit in his election capitulation reconvening the committee. As Karl reigned simultaneously over Spain and other countries outside of the realm, it was foreseeable that he would spend much of his reign outside Germany. The imperial government was to meet at this time under his brother Ferdinand and regulate the affairs of the kingdom.

At the Diet of Worms of 1521, on which Martin Luther was to justify himself to the Emperor, it therefore came to the establishment of the second imperial government. Charles V but endorsed him only for the periods of his absence from the kingdom to decision-making powers. Otherwise, it had a purely consultative role. So also failed the second imperial government at the lack of support by the emperor. After this had set in 1531 by the election of his brother Ferdinand King of the Romans, he dissolved the committee on final.