Mehr als Normativität

More than Normativity. About the Function and Meaning of Magisterial and Military Ordinances during the Second Half of the Thirty Years’ War Research about German-language countries still disputes whether stately decrees (“Policeyordnungen”, “Mandate”) could be implemented by the respective subjects, or whether they should be implemented at all. This is an important question because it determines how we need to understand governance in the early modern period. The present article shows that the previous view of decrees is too narrow. The issue is not just whether decrees were implemented, but what other functions they fulfilled. The article explores these functions by looking at military and civil decrees and the related files during the second half of the Thirty Years’ War in the Duchy of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. It shows that the decrees were not only intended to regulate coexistence, but also served to store administrative knowledge. They also fulfilled diplomatic functions, recording the results of negotiations and serving as a means of sending political signals to foreign powers. By examining the multiple functions of decrees, the article sheds a new light on the military contribution system during the Thirty Years’ War.