Restructuring Germany

Two rare German regional atlases, published by J.C. Lange in Leipzig in 1803 and 1804.

The collation of the first work is very difficult. The title calls for 12 maps, but only 11 map sheets are present. All but the first map present are number in German, beginning with the number "Erstes" on the second map, with one of the maps number 8-9. Two maps are sequentially missing 3 (Schwaben) and 11 (Westphalien Landen).

Our comparison of this first atlas to the University of Lausanne copy (which has 4 maps out of order, but is otherwise complete).

Restructuring Germany - February 25, 1803

These two atlases were published shortly after the Final Recess of February 1803.

The Final Recess of the Imperial Deputation (German: Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) of February 1803 is commonly referred to as the Imperial law that brought about the territorial restructuring of the Empire by reallocating the ecclesiastical states and the imperial cities to other imperial estates.

In reality, neither the Final Recess nor the Imperial Deputation which drafted it played a significant role in the process since many key decisions had already been taken behind closed doors in Paris before the Deputation even started its work. The Final Recess was nevertheless indispensable since it bestowed a constitutional seal of approval on the major territorial and political restructuring that would otherwise have lacked legitimacy.