Abstract
The Perpetual Peace 1495 In 1495 King Maximilian and the estates of the Holy Roman Empire held an assembly in Worms to negotiate the defence of the empire against the Turks and the maintenance of domestic peace. As a result, Maximilian issued the Ewiger Landfriede which completely prohibited violent conflicts and demanded the peaceful resolution of all disputes in a court of law. Similar restrictions had been announced several times since 1467. However, the promulgation at Worms affirmed these rules permanently for the first time. Three further resolutions accompanied the Landfriede: the king and a small group of imperial princes established the Imperial Chamber Court in Frankfurt; they delegated action against those who broke the peace to an annual assembly (Reichstag); and they implemented a poll tax (Gemeiner Pfennig) to finance their prosecution. These orders were not all enforced immediately but they were gradually adopted and improved during the sixteenth century.
