Recess (Holy Roman Empire)
A Recess (Reichsabschied, Reichsrezess) was the official record of all the decisions made by the Imperial Diet in the Holy Roman Empire. The Diet usually began with the Imperial Proposition—an agenda set by the Emperor—and ended with the Emperor reading and ratifying the decisions, which formed the Recess. The last Recess is called the Youngest Recess and covers the 1653–1654 Diet of Regensburg. The Perpetual Diet of Regensburg, started in 1663, was never formally finished, so its decisions were not put into a Recess; they appeared as Imperial Conclusions (Reichsschlüsse). Ratification of these conclusions was typically done by the Emperor’s representative in the Reichstag, the Principal Commissioner, through an Imperial Commissioner’s decree.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:05 (CET).