Mediatized Houses

The Mediatized Houses (German: Standesherren) were ruling princely and comital-ranked houses which were mediatized in the Holy Roman Empire during the period of 1806–15 as part of the German Mediatization, and were later recognised in 1825-29 by the German ruling houses as possessing considerable rights and rank. With few exceptions, these houses were those whose heads held a seat in the Imperial Diet when mediatized during the establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806–07 by France in 1810, or by the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15. The Mediatised Houses were organised into two ranks: the Princely houses predicated with Durchlaucht ("Serene Highness"), which previously possessed a vote in the Bench of Princes; and the Comital houses predicated with Erlaucht ("Illustrious Highness"), which previously possessed a vote in one of the four Benches of Counts. Whilst mediatization occurred in other countries such as France, Italy and Russia, only the certain houses within the former Holy Roman Empire comprised the Mediatized Houses.

Mediatized houses generally possessed greater rights than other houses. Whilst they lost sovereignty and certain rights (such as legislation, taxation, final jurisdiction, and control over policing and conscription) over their territories, they still often retained their private estates and feudal rights, which may have included rights over forestry, fishing, mining, hunting, jurisdiction over policing, and lower jurisdiction over civil and criminal court cases. Mediatised Houses also possessed the right to settle anywhere within the German Confederation. The Congress of Vienna specified that the Mediatised Houses were recognised as the first vassals in their respective states, and were equal in rank to the ruling houses. However the Congress of Vienna did not specify which houses were considered mediatised.

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