Richard C. Schlag

Research Topic

Local Conflict and the Consolidation of the Imperial Government in the Holy Roman Empire, c. 1460-1490

My doctoral thesis investigates and seeks to highlight the importance of the political and governmental consolidation of the imperial monarchy of the Holy Roman Empire in the late fifteenth century. I explore this theme through the lens of political, jurisdictional, and military conflicts within and between the principalities of the Empire. The focus of my analysis are the latter decades of the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III of Habsburg during which crucial power struggles reverberated through the Empire and were met with increasingly active and effective policies and interventions on the part of the emperor and his officials and affinity. My research aims to re-evaluate the relationship between local and territorial politics and the crown in the late medieval Empire, to challenge established narratives of the marginality of the late medieval imperial monarchy, and to reconsider and de-emphasize the importance of dynastic and princely politics which dominate the historiographical literature.

Supervisor: Professor John Watts

Conference, Workshop, and Seminar Papers

Imperial, episcopal, and communal authority during the Cologne diocesan feud and the renegotiation of power in the Lower Rhine region, circa 1465-1480 - Workshop Negotiating Power: Political interactions in late medieval communities (1200-1600), KU Leuven, 19 May 2022 

Urban Jurisdictional Conflict, Political Networks, and the Imperial Government in the Fifteenth Century Holy Roman Empire - The Voices of the People. Democratic Participation in European Urban Centers in the Late Middle Ages Conference, University of Lisbon, 25 May 2023