Abstract:
Between 1716 and 1742 the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg, one of the smallest estates in the Holy Roman Empire, became the stage for two Debit Commissions of the Imperial Aulic Council. Their task was to investigate the volume and the structure of debts that the landgraves had accumulated and to propose a scheme for a successful debt settlement. This paper examines, on the basis of both published and unpublished sources, how the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg came to be in such dire financial straits, how the two commissions worked and what their lists of creditors reveal about interpersonal relations in a small territory of the Empire.
