Imperial Diet and peace settlement. Decision-making processes and controversies on peace treaties at the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg

在威斯特伐利亚和约(1648)之后，神圣罗马帝国议会有权与外国列强共同决定和平条约。这一权利，即所谓的Ius Pacis，在其他早期现代欧洲君主制的议会和议会中是相当独特的。从17世纪70年代起，这个IUS Pacis反复成为皇帝和帝国国会庄园之间激烈谈判和激烈争议的主题，帝国国会自1663年以来一直是一个永久机构。这些讨论涉及和平条约的内容，但也涉及遗产适当参与和平谈判的问题。历史研究只提到这些讨论的重要性，仅针对里斯威克和平(1697)这样的特定案例。因此，与国会共同决定宣战的权利不同，《永久国会》关于国会的这些决策过程和争议尚未以系统和连贯的方式进行调查。填补这一空白是该研究项目的中心目标。这种调查追求不同的目标，这些目标在最近的研究背景下特别令人感兴趣：一方面，在这些关于特殊条约的争论中，和平与和平条约的一般相关性和价值得到了深入的讨论，但讨论的方式非常主要。因此，有可能对现代早期和平的一般思想和概念有深刻的了解。在和平解决和和平谈判是否必须被视为失败的问题上，情况尤其如此。这些问题在《长寿饮食》的传播中起到了至关重要的作用。因此，该项目有助于对早期现代概念和失败评估的一般研究。另一方面，这个项目为当代对神圣罗马帝国作为君主制的解释提供了新的见解，也是在欧洲的比较中。皇帝是否可以单独或只能与庄园一起代表帝国参加和平谈判，这一问题与对神圣罗马帝国的总体评估密切相关。

After the Peace of Westphalia (1648) the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire had the right to co-decide on peace treaties with foreign powers. This right, the so-called Ius Pacis, was quite unique regarding diets and parliaments of other Early Modern European monarchies. From the 1670ties onwards, this Ius Pacis was repeatedly subject of intense negotiations and bitter controversies between the Emperor and the estates at the Imperial Diet, which since 1663 had become – as the Immerwährender Reichstag (Perpetual Diet) – a permanent institution. These discussions dealt with the contents of peace treaties, but also with the appropriate participation of the estates in peace negotiations. Historical research has mentioned the importance of these discussions only regarding particular cases like the Peace of Rijswijk (1697). Thus and in contrast to the Ius Belli, the diet’s right to co-decide on declarations of war, these decision making processes and controversies of the Perpetual Diet about the Ius Pacis have not yet been investigated in a systematical and coherent way. Filling this gap is the central objective of the research project. Such an investigation pursues different goals, which are of special interest against the background of recent research: On the one hand, the general relevance and value of peace and peace treaties were intensively discussed during these controversies with respect to special treaties, but in a very principal manner. It is therefore possible to gain profound insights into general ideas and concepts of peace in the Early Modern period. This is especially the case when it comes to the question if peace settlements and peace negotiations had to be regarded as failed. Such questions played a crucial role in the communication of the Perpetual Diet. Thereby, the project contributes to the general research on Early Modern conceptions and assessments of failure. On the other hand, this project offers new insights into the contemporary interpretation of the Holy Roman Empire as a monarchy, also in European comparison. The question whether the Emperor could represent the Empire in peace negotiations on his own or only together with the estates was closely connected with general assessments of the Holy Roman Empire.