In the fields of history and law, the term ‘privilege’ is generally understood to mean a favourable act of authority (e.g. by an emperor, pope, duke or lord) granted to an individual recipient or a group through the conferral of a (special) right (= privilege). Acts referred to as ‘grants of privilege’ occurred from the Middle Ages through to the modern era in all areas of public and private law, both in contract-like contexts and to denote a legal status (class privileges) or charters (e.g. municipal charters or imperial city privileges; the granting of rights under Magdeburg Law). Furthermore, there were privileges relating to coinage, printing, crafts, appeals or universities (permission to mint coins, produce printed matter, practise a craft, appeal to judicial authorities, or establish a university). In the early modern period, sovereign powers were frequently conferred in the form of sovereign privileges, meaning that these also played a role in constitutional development.^[1]

From the Middle Ages through to the modern era, the promise and actual granting of privileges were a prerequisite for attracting settlers. In this context, which is discussed below, the topic of ‘privileges’ is also relevant to the migration of Germans to Eastern Europe.

Latin: privilegium; English: privilege; Polish: przywilej; Czech: výsada, privilej

For those in power, attracting new settlers was a prerequisite for the economic and socio-cultural development of sparsely populated areas. The migration of settlers – not only to Eastern Europe, but in general – often took place following recruitment by the ruling classes with the aim of bringing previously unused land into cultivation. In order to make the option of settlement more attractive and to persuade as many settlers (colonists) as possible to take on the risk of resettling in areas that were often far away, they were promised far-reaching privileges in advance, often linked to land grants. Typically, these recruitment privileges involved the granting of rights as well as social and economic benefits, particularly in the following areas: personal freedom, the right to settle freely, freedom of movement, self-government, exemptions from levies, taxes and public services, exemption from military service and billeting, and – in modern times – the right to freedom of religious worship. These privileges placed those wishing to emigrate or the new settlers in a better position not only in comparison with their previous status in their region of origin, but also in relation to the local population in the settlement area.

The settlers – predominantly German, but also Flemish and Walloon – who, as part of the medieval expansion of the realm, were recruited and sent to Eastern Europe, which was sparsely populated in many areas during the High and Late Middle Ages, were granted there, by the sovereign, (location) privilege or other legal acts, granting them the ius teutonicum (‘German law’, in the Slavic countries) or the ius hospitum ( ‘law of the guests’, in Hungary), which characterised their privileged legal status.^[2] The settlement privilege constituted authorisation granted by the respective sovereign (e.g. king or duke) to the landowner to establish settlements governed by German law. The landowner, in turn, concluded a settlement contract (lokationsvertrag) with the settlement entrepreneur (lokator, gräfe) responsible for the settlement, which set out the terms and conditions of the settlement: Under the ius teutonicum / ius hospitum, the settlers were personally free and enjoyed freedom of movement; they were exempt from the local law otherwise in force (e.g. Polish law), including the associated levies, and from the jurisdiction of the local courts and officials. They were granted security of tenure and were permitted to bequeath their land freely (right of hereditary lease). The communities were granted self-government, with the right to practise their own legal customs, the right to dispose of the allocated property (hereditary lease), and their own jurisdiction. Part of these privileges also involved the specification of the obligations to be fulfilled (rents, tithes, participation in national defence, taxes), which were thereby protected from arbitrary increases.

As such privileges often led to favourable economic and cultural development, the ius teutonicum was in some cases also extended to the indigenous (e.g. Slavic or Baltic) population. As early as the 13th century, for instance in Silesia, Poles were also settled under German law, or existing villages were granted German law.^[3]

One example of such a privilege is the so-called Charter of the Transylvanian Saxons (also known as the Privilegium Andreanum, 1224), in which the Hungarian King Andrew II (c. 1177–1235) guaranteed the privileged status of the Germans who had settled under his predecessor.^[4] In it, the Transylvanian Saxons were granted the right to form a territorially defined political entity under their own administration. The king confirmed further privileges for them, such as direct subordination to royal jurisdiction (or that of the Count of Sibiu), privileges which were otherwise granted, in some cases, only to the nobility; this is why the self-governing territory of the ‘Saxon National University’ was also known as ‘Königsboden’ (the King’s Domain). Furthermore, the King guaranteed them ownership of their land, granted them free use of the forests and waterways, and the freedom to choose their own clergy. The duties of the Transylvanian Saxons were set out and were to be fulfilled directly to the Hungarian King alone: the payment of 500 marks in silver annually, the provision of 500 warriors within the Empire and 100 outside it (or 50 if the King did not take to the field himself).^[5]

Following the Thirty Years’ War (Peace of Westphalia, 1648) and the ‘Turkish Wars’ in south-eastern Europe (1526–1718), which had resulted in heavy population losses, many sovereigns pursued an active settlement policy, once again based on the granting of privileges. Brandenburg-Prussia, the Habsburg Monarchy and Russia became major destinations for immigration in the 17th and 18th centuries. Numerous laws, patents, rescripts and regulatory acts underpinning this modern-era population policy increasingly reflected the ideas of the absolutist states: mercantilist and populationist principles were to be implemented in order to attract foreign populations to their own countries by offering favourable conditions. There was fierce competition in this regard, particularly between Prussia – which directed those wishing to emigrate to the north-east by offering generous privileges (especially regarding the practice of religion) – and the Habsburg Monarchy.

In view of the population decline and the desolation of entire regions as a result of the ‘Turkish Wars’ in south-eastern Europe, Emperor Leopold I (1640–1705) issued the first Habsburg ‘impopulation patent’^[7] on 11 August 1689, which marked the beginning of the state-led settlement projects of the 18th century in the Danube region. (Further colonisation patents were issued in 1759 by Empress Maria Theresa [1717–1780] and in 1782 by Emperor Joseph II [1741–1790].) It was addressed to all those willing to settle in the Kingdom of Hungary and its neighbouring lands, ‘both in towns and in the countryside, as free citizens and subjects’. The following privileges were promised therein: a five-year tax exemption for foreign settlers and a three-year exemption for domestic settlers; houses and plots of land in towns were to be granted ‘at a very low price and value, whilst in the countryside they were to be granted entirely free of charge’; the right to inherit houses and land, five years’ exemption from labour duties in the form of ‘gifts and labour’, freedom to choose one’s place of residence, including the right to emigrate, and freedom to choose one’s parish priest. In addition, support for craftsmen was promised, as was the granting of further privileges for the establishment of ‘manufactures and commerce’ and of mines; however, the right to freedom of religious worship was not included. Since all the measures promised would only take effect in the long term, but even now ‘many thousands of the most fertile plots of land, indeed entire regions, remain uncultivated and are becoming increasingly desolate’, anyone ‘who so wished’ was permitted to ‘cultivate plots of land such as fields, meadows, vineyards and gardens for a small registration fee’. Emperor Leopold I’s Diplom of 21 August 1690 (supplemented by two imperial letters) specifically granted newly settled Orthodox Serbs freedom of religion and ecclesiastical self-government, the free election of their leader, exemption from all levies and taxes, and direct subjection to the King’s jurisdiction.^[8]

Key provisions of further Habsburg colonisation patents of the 18th century, each with regional specificities, included the guarantee of land, a time-limited exemption from levies and taxes, the construction of churches at the state’s expense, freedom of movement (albeit subject to a departure fee), and the provision of timber and seed.

Catherine II (the Great, 1729–1796) issued a manifesto on 4 December 1762 inviting foreigners to settle in the Russian Empire.^[9] Further details regarding the conditions of settlement were set out in the ‘Invitation Manifesto’ of 22 July 1763 addressed to all ‘foreigners’, which offered immigrants a range of privileges. The Tsarina permitted all colonists to settle in any province as merchants, citizens or peasants. Those lacking travel funds were to receive them from Russian representatives abroad and, upon arrival, also a food allowance until they had successfully settled. The immigrants were promised freedom of religious worship, the right to settle anywhere in the Tsarist Empire and the right to emigrate; peasant settlers were also granted the right to build churches and appoint pastors. Those settling on uncultivated land would be exempt from all taxes, labour duties and quartering for thirty years; those coming to St Petersburg/Sankt-Peterburg, Moscow/Moskva and in the provinces on the Baltic Sea for five years, and those settling in the remaining towns for ten years, from all taxes, labour duties and quartering. All new arrivals were to be allocated sufficient land and provided with loans for building houses and purchasing livestock, equipment and materials. The new colonies were permitted to establish self-governing bodies with internal jurisdiction and German as the official language; the newcomers were exempted from military and civilian service. Anyone who set up factories, manufacturing plants or workshops and produced goods could sell them duty-free both at home and abroad for ten years. This ‘Manifesto of Invitation’ became the basis for the immigration of Germans to Russia (see also Russian Germans).

The formal granting of privileges as part of government action and as an instrument of public administration increasingly came into conflict with the ideas of equality before the law and the nation state organised along centralised lines, which were gaining ground in the 19th century, and gradually fell out of use as a means of state settlement policy. However, the granting of benefits in connection with the management of immigration continues to be practised to this day. One example of this is the ‘Green Card’, which has existed in the USA since the 1950s and was also applied in Germany between 2000 and 2004, offering a privileged route to immigration for highly qualified specialists in the field of information technology. Some states (e.g. Israel) have immigration programmes for members of their respective ethnic groups and/or religious communities (privileged migration). To this day, Germany grants members of German minorities in Eastern, Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (repatriates and late repatriates) the right to immigrate, along with German citizenship and further support for integration.

• Detlef Brandes: Adopted by the Tsars. The German Colonists and the Balkan Settlers in New Russia and Bessarabia 1751–1914. Munich 1993 (Publications of the Federal Institute for East German Culture and History 2).
• Erik Fügedi: The Medieval Kingdom of Hungary as a Host Country. In: Lectures and Research 18 (1975), pp. 471–507.
• Konrad Gündisch: Transylvania and the Transylvanian Saxons. Munich 1998, 2nd ed. 2005 (Study Series of the East German Cultural Council Foundation 8).
• Charles Higounet: German Settlement in the East during the Middle Ages. Berlin 1986.
• Karl-Peter Kraus: German Emigrants in Hungary. Settlement in the Bóly Domain in the 18th Century. Stuttgart 2003 (Publications of the Institute of Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies 11).
• Josef Joachim Menzel: The Silesian Settlement Charters of the 13th Century. Würzburg 1977 (Sources and Studies on Silesian History 19).
• Eduard Mühle (ed.): The Founding of Towns with Municipal Rights in Medieval Poland. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2011 (Urban Studies. Series A: Monographs).
• Gerhard Seewann: History of the Germans in Hungary. Volume 1: From the Early Middle Ages to 1860. Marburg 2012 (Studies in East Central European Research 24/1).

[1] Hermann Krause: ‘Privilege’, medieval; Heinz Mohnhaupt: ‘Privilege’, modern. Both in: Adalbert Erler, Ekkehard Kaufmann (eds.): Concise Dictionary of German Legal History. Vol. 3. Berlin 1984, cols. 1999–2005 and cols. 2005–2011 respectively.

[2] Menzel: ‘Lokationsurkunden’, pp. 137–141 and 230ff.

[3] Stanisław Trawkowski: ‘The Role of German Village Colonisation and German Law in Poland in the 13th Century’. In: Walter Schlesinger (ed.): ‘German Settlement in the East during the Middle Ages as a Problem of European History’. Reichenau Lectures 1970–1972. Sigmaringen 1975 (Lectures and Research XVIII / Constance Working Group for Medieval History 18), pp. 349–368, here pp. 366–368.

[4] Seewann: History of the Germans in Hungary, p. 23.

[5] For details, see Gündisch: Transylvania and the Transylvanian Saxons, pp. 38–43.

[6] The patents concerning the colonists’ privileges are summarised in: Extract from the Royal Prussian Patents/ dated Berlin, 10 April 1723 and 17 February 1724, concerning the benefits and privileges to be granted to craftsmen of all trades settling in Prussia, as well as to other hard-working people skilled in agriculture and livestock farming (1732). Source: Salzburg Provincial Archives, Salzburg Documents, Archdiocese (1124–1805) SLA, Figure IV.31, available online at: monasterium.net, URL: monasterium.net/mom/AT-SLA/Erzstift/SLA_Graphik_IV.31/charter (accessed 24 August 2015).

[7] The Impopulationspatent of 11 August 1689. In: Herder Institute (ed.): Documents and Materials on East Central European History. Thematic module ‘Germans in Hungary’. Edited by Gerhard Seewann. URL: www.herder-institut.de/digitale-angebote/dokumente-und-materialien/themenmodule/modul/4/seite.html (accessed 22 November 2021).

[8] Seewann: History of the Germans in Hungary, pp. 95ff., 107, 132–138.

[9] Brandes: Adopted by the Tsars, pp. 20ff.

Matthias Weber: Privileges. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2015. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32784 (accessed 19 January 2021).