Conditions for Integration of Central Europe at the End of the Middle Ages (1356-1495)

Abstract

In his study, the author provides a new interpretation of the Holy Roman Empire in the late Middle Ages. Legally, the main turning point of the definition of this political entity can be traced back to the Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV (1356). At the same time, Charles IV was the hereditary ruler of the Czech Kingdom and therefore he pursued a Bohemocentric model of governance. This structure latently remained even during religious wars and the interregnum period in the first half of the fifteenth century. Even the planned imperial reforms were based upon maintaining the dominant position of the Czech king within the imperial structure. This state of affairs changed rapidly only as a consequence of the death of the young Habsburg monarch, Ladislav, in 1457, who had been the presumed heir to the throne. A deep crisis ensued within the Holy Roman Empire, which was accompanied by political disintegration. The main basis of the new integrative structure was the expansionist approach of the Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus, which the reigning emperor, Friedrich III, was powerless to resist. In 1485–1486, the imperial dukes agreed to provide military assistance to the emperor subject to the condition that the Empire should be reformed. In 1495, the Empire was reconstituted in a manner quite different from the mid-fourteenth century. The new integrative phase at the end of the fifteenth century was limited merely to the German part of the Empire. The author defines seven main differences between the reign of Charles IV (1356) and that of the newly-constituted Roman-German Empire (1495): 1. state name; 2. main center of the Empire; 3. state order; 4. State organization; 5. state language; 6. imperial legislation; 7. territorial boundaries.