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Article: Holy Roman Empire Institutions
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE INSTITUTIONS
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE INSTITUTIONS.
Though the German monarchy existed from late Carolingian times, the Holy Roman Empire as an institutionalized structure of governance was created between 1495 and 1555, and, with modifications following the Peace of Westphalia (1648), it endured until abolished by Napoleonic decree in 1803.
The imperial reform encompasses the institutions created through negotiations at the imperial diets. Its main phase began at Worms in 1495 and culminated there in 1521; following an interruption by the Reformation, a final phase of reform occurred at Augsburg in 1555. The reform provided for new organs of justice (the Imperial Chamber ...