German Mediatisation, 25 February 1803

Chateau at Ratisbon/Regensburg.

The terms of the Peace Treaty of Luneville (9 February 1801) granted France the entire left bank of the Rhine, an area covering 60,000 square kilometers, and including 3.5 million German inhabitants. In order to compensate for these losses, the Reichstag assembly at Regensburg called a deputation. However, the decision really lay with France and Russia, who supported the states of Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse in territorial claims against Prussia and Austria.

On 25 February 1803, the imperial diet at Regensburg accepted the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss decision:

  • Secularisation of all clerical principalities and bishoprics, with the exception of the Hoch- und Deutschmeister, and the Electoral Archbishopric. The latter lost the Electorate of Mainz, and received Regensburg, Wetzlar and Aschaffenburg in exchange, including the title of Primate of Germany.
  • Imperial cities came under state jurisdiction, with the exception of Bremen, Lübeck, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Nürnberg and Augsburg.
  • Austria received the Bishoprics of Trient and Brixen. The Grand Duke of Tuscany received Salzburg. In return, Austria surrendered the Breisgau and the Ortenau to the Duke of Modena.
  • Prussia received the Bishopric of Hildesheim, Paderborn, the most part of Münster, Erfurt and the Eichsfeld, the Abby of Essen, Werden, and Quedlinburg, and the City of Nordhausen, Mühlhausen, and Goslar.
  • Hannover gained Osnabrück.
  • Bavaria received the Bishopric of Würzburg, Bamberg, Eichstätt, Freising, Augsburg, Passau, and a number of Imperial cities and abbies within its territory.
  • Württemberg received jurisdiction over the Imperial cities and abbies within its territory.
  • Baden gained seven times the territory it had lost.
  • Hesse-Darmstadt and Nassau gained territory.
  • Cologne and Treves lost electoral status.
  • Württemberg, Baden, Hesse-Cassel, and Salzburg became Electorates.

The Reichsdeputationshauptschluß marks the end of the Holy Roman Empire. French influence in Germany had grown significantly. By the time of the Third Koalition War, Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden allied themselves with France.

Campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars, 1789–1802