/u/Comrade-Chernov

Yes, by and large those reforms were based on real, historic attempts to reform the HRE. But the terminologies are a bit abused. In particular, the term Reichsreform is very broad, and encompasses more than just the definition you gave from EU4. It should comprehensively include some of the other reforms below -- Reichsregiment, Reichskammegericht, Gemeiner Pfennig, Ewiger Landfriede -- as they are part of a jointly negotiated reform. I think EU4's breakdown into specific steps is inaccurate and may mis-represent how these reforms came about. At best, it makes little sense to look at them separately and out of context. At worst, it gives a misleading picture of how the HRE worked and the balance of power among its elements, specifically the emperor and the estates and electors.

Reichsreform was promulgated in 1495 during the Diet of Worms, to create a new structure upon which the HRE was to be set. It attempted to harmonize the political relationship -- or more precisely concordance -- between the HRE emperor and the imperial estates. One of the key issue here is the complicated relationship between the emperor, member estates, the emperor's holdings outside the HRE, and rulers outside the HRE that control imperial estates.

Maximilian's imperial vision was to unite Christians into a common crusade against the Ottomans, and to formulate a common defense against French incursions into nomimal HRE holdings in Italy. At the same time, he wanted to use the resources of the HRE to protect his personal claims to Burgundy. However, there was surprisingly stiff resistance from estate lords of the HRE, in particular the Elector of Mainz Berthold von Henneberg. What Maximilian thought was going to be his asking for (and obtaining) funds for intervention in Italy, ended up being a comprehensive discussion in the Diet of Worms, 1495.

To give an idea of Maxiliam's underestimation, he called a Diet in Worms on his way to Italy to fight the forces of Charles VIII, expecting a short meeting to last only 2 weeks. With all the discussions, disagreements, and attempts at reforms, it ended up being more than 5 months long.

Thus, discussions of Imperial reform should include all of the following in holistic manner.

1. Reichsregiment or imperial government is sometimes defined as one aspect of the greater Rechsreform. In the Diet of Worms 1495, a first attempt at this was made, whereby the Emperor was to set up a permanent representative body of the estates (so that decisions and consultations could be made more swiftly than before) in return for income from the Common Penny (so that money would be available for action). Maximilian fought hard against this, even if he was desperate for money. Ultimately, Maximilian was able to abolish this in 1502 so it was ineffective. Later Diets (Augsburg in 1500 and Worms in 1521) saw attempts to further assert control over the emperor, however due to changing circumstances they achieved varying degrees of success.

2. Gemeiner Pfennig or common penny is already discussed above, so let's get into the context of why this is important. The enactment of the Common Penny gave the emperor a permanent income base that empowered him militarily and politically. Prior to this, emperors had to rely on their own personal domain income or from special tax grants which often came with requisite compromises. The emperor's argument for this is that there was a big mismatch between what is needed for common interest of the HRE, and what was made available. The problem is two-fold. First, it is difficult to obtain special taxes, as the HRE up to this point tended to rely on consensus. Second, even for regular tax grants, they were often left uncollected, either due to inefficiencies in the system or particular lords or villages and towns avoiding payment. All this meant it was difficult to have consistent funding for important things such as an army. With the common penny, the goal was to have a regular, reliable revenue stream.

3. Ewiger Landfriede or Perpetual Public Peace is an agreement from the Reform attempts within the Diet of Worms 1495, part and parcel with other aspects above. It is an attempt to curb feuding between lords, such that differences are resolved not through warfare but through courts. This, of course, is related to the reform of the Hofgericht or more specifically the founding of the Reichskammegericht. Effectively, it empowered lords against their vassals, as it forced lower level lords to comply with the developing hierarchy rather than use force; it gives higher lords the monopoly of projection of lethal power, and in particular the emperor has greater means to affect imperial resources toward external threats, as it strengthened the hierarchy of power. Pragmatically speaking, the public peace made it illegal for vassals to raise arms against their lords. Most famously, in 1566 Austria refused to recognize the Dutch Revolt as violation of the public peace, angering Spain.

4. Reform of the Hofgericht is an attempt to align the judicial system with the emerging political hierarchy. In the 1200s, the practice justice was given to nobles to assert juridical powers within their own domains. By 1300 there was a two-tier judicial hierarchy. The lowest tier was due to the decline of direct control by lords upon their towns and villages, thus local justice systems emerged. The higher tier was the circuit-based justice system whereby territorial judges toured a territory (perhaps 10 towns and villages or so) to hear cases, representing the prince or lord directly. By 1500 a third tier emerged as superior courts within specific territories. They are usually based off imperial privileges granted to specific territories. Some of these, chaired by the prince or lord, is called the Hofgericht. The problem here is that the Hofgericht can be the terminal avenue of appeal, and to try and obtain justice directly from the emperor requires a separate attempt through the personal Imperial Chamber court, which can be expensive, slow, difficult to access, or all of the above. After all, mighty as the Emperor may be, he is not omniscient. Thus, the Reichskammegericht or Imperial Chamber Court, was founded in 1495 as an institution beyond the emperor's personal court. However, in this case, the emperor is not the final authority, rather the empire is. The emperor could appoint the presiding judge, but estates nominate ordinary judges.

So, how successful was the reform? See Part II of this post for more details.

From the longer view of obtaining resources for the emperor's interest, it was a success. From the very short view of Maximilian imposing his will, it was a failure. Regardless, some view the reform as a failed attempt to assert to a proto-modern nation-state, which some others view as a presentist viewpoint, as this was never the goal of the participants.

Although the Reichsreform brought the discussion of reform to the fore, the exact outcomes did not last. The Reichsregiment was disbanded in 1502. The common penny ended up being a sore subject as it was legitimized as a tax primarily to enable the fight against Ottomans. Knights refused to pay this tax, with the usual argument they were already doing the fighting. Certain communities like the Swiss refused to pay into a conflict they had no interest in. The Reichskammegericht did have a lasting impact, becoming the venue in which commoners and lords alike addressed their disputes. The public peace became a tool to curb the independence of vassals and lower-level lords.

Erbkaisertum has been attempted to varying degrees not only by the Habsburgs but by other ruling houses of the HRE. However, they were limited to the political game of controlling the Electors. It was not until 1848-9 that there was real progress toward this, as the German Empire was being defined.

Privilegia I am not aware of, I suspect this is based on the practice of enfeoffment and vassalage, but I am not sure. In the HRE, a vassal has to give an oath of allegiance (a ritualized homage or lehnseid) to his lord, else the lord may demand the territory.

In the context of the HRE and the early modern era, the term "privileges" is widely used and abused. In most cases, it means exemptions to a top-down command hierarchy. For example, certain members of knightly orders have the privilege that they are subject only to justice dispensed by that order; effectively, they are exempt from the normal justice system. Another example are the privileges of certain imperial estates, in particular cities, such that new taxes could not be raised without their consent. This was very important because as I said above, regular taxes were small and effectively irregular. Thus, this curtailed the emperor's ability to conduct war. Certain Burgundian cities obtained further privileges, namely they could not be dragged into war without their own consent.

Renovatio imperii is indeed the dream that wasn't reached by the Holy Roman Emperors.

References: The Heart of Europe by Peter H. Wilson, Germany and the HRE Vol I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia 1493-1648 by Joachim Whale are the two best books. If you do get them, I highly recommend a e-copy, in particular Wilson's book is a delight to read but difficult to do research on due to the way it is organized.

This is great! Thank you.