# Landstände

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Landst%C3%A4nde
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Landst%C3%A4nde.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landst%C3%A4nde
> Source revision: 1260232524
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Territorial diets of the Holy Roman Empire

The ***Landstände*** (singular *Landstand*) or ***Landtage*** (singular *Landtag*) were the various [territorial estates or diets](/source/Estates_of_the_realm) in the [Holy Roman Empire](/source/Holy_Roman_Empire) in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) and the [early modern period](/source/Early_modern_period), as opposed to their respective [territorial lords](/source/Territorial_lord) (the *Landesherrn*).

## Usage

The structure of the *Landstände* was highly variable depending on the country and period of history. Furthermore, both the representatives of the older system, the *Ständeordnung*, where the estates were predominant, and the parliaments of the newer people's representative systems were called *Landstände*. The term *Landtag* was used, both under the *Ständeordnung* as well as the newer representative structures, for a general assembly of the estates or the parliament. The totality of the *Landstände* in a sovereign territory was also called the *Landschaft*.

In the older feudal system, the estates originally consisted of the assembly of deputies of the privileged estates of a country, the [nobility](/source/Nobility) and the [clergy](/source/Clergy), who had joined together to form an organised body. Later, representatives of the towns were added. In some cases (for example, in [Vienna](/source/Vienna), [Württemberg](/source/W%C3%BCrttemberg) or [Mecklenburg](/source/Mecklenburg)), [yeomen](/source/Yeomen) (*Freibauer*) were also given the right to participate as representatives of the [peasants](/source/Peasant).[1] An unusual exception were the estates in the [land of Hadeln](/source/Land_of_Hadeln), which were formed almost exclusively of the farmers of large farms (*Großbauer*).[2]

At the *Landtage,* the *Landstände* were divided into separate *curiae* (divisions). As a rule, three *curiae* were usually distinguished: the [prelates](/source/Prelate), the [knights](/source/Knight) and the [towns](/source/Town).[3] However, the early *Landstände* initially only represented the rights of their own estate and could only indirectly be considered to represent the whole population in their domain at the same time. In the *Ständeordnungen*, unlike [absolutist](/source/Absolute_monarchy) systems of rule, the prince could not raise new taxes or adopt new laws outside his own personal estate (*chamber goods* or *Kämmergüter*) without the consent of the *Landstände*.[1] In some cases, the estates also shared in the administration of justice and other public affairs. The limits of their powers were not usually accurately determined.

Sometimes, the term *Landstände* was retained even for the constitutional assemblies of newer representative systems, which in many countries took the place of the privileged assemblies of the *Ständeordnung* during the 19th century.[4]

## History

### Precursor

The *Landstände* first emerged in the 14th century, although the term itself was not used in [Middle High German](/source/Middle_High_German) and was probably first translated later from the [French](/source/French_language) word *états*.[3] But it was not a new concept. The records of the Roman historian, [Tacitus](/source/Tacitus), show that co-determination was already being practised in the [classical period](/source/Classical_antiquity) at important public occasions. And according to the old Germanic law, public meetings and court hearings - the so-called *[things](/source/Thing_(assembly))* - were held, in the open. Even in the later [Frankish Empire](/source/Francia), alongside the general assemblies of the [nobility](/source/Nobility) and [clergy](/source/Clergy), so-called *[placita](/source/Placita)* are recorded; a form of representation of the people.

In individual tribes, for example the [Bavarians](/source/Bavaria) and [Saxons](/source/Saxons), there were such meetings too. However, these gatherings did not represent a formal grouping of the estates, as had evolved by the 14th century. Even the [imperial and knightly assemblies](/source/Hoftag) and the state *things* of the 12th and 13th centuries were structures that dealt with the general welfare of the land, but these meetings still lacked the character of an independent body.

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Herders_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Herders_1-1) Herders Conversations-Lexikon. Freiburg im Breisgau 1855, Vol. 3, p. 704.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Eduard Rüther: „Hadler Chronik. Quellenbuch zur Geschichte des Landes Hadeln.“ 1932. Neu heraus gegeben Bremerhaven 1979. pp. 37 ff

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Götzinger_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Götzinger_3-1) Götzinger, E.: Reallexicon der Deutschen Altertümer. Leipzig, 1885., pp. 943-944.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Peter Michael EHRLE: Volksvertretung im Vormärz. Studien zur Zusammensetzung, Wahl und Funktion der deutschen Landtage im Spannungsfeld zwischen monarchischem Prinzip und ständischer Repräsentation, 2 Bde., Frankfurt a. M., 1979 [=Europ. Hochschulschriften III/127].

## Literature

- Kersten Krüger: *Die landständische Verfassung*. Munich, 2003, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [3-486-55017-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/3-486-55017-9) (*Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte*, 67).

## External links

- [Landtag (diète territoriale)](http://saintempire.hypotheses.org/publications/glossaire/landtag) at *Les mots du Saint-Empire*

Authority control databases GND

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Landstände](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landst%C3%A4nde) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landst%C3%A4nde?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.