A
personal union is the combination by which two
or more different
states are
governed by the same
monarch while their
boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It
should not be confused with a
federation
which is internationally considered a single state. Nor is it to be
confused with
dynastic union, where
the union can be under a dynasty.
Personal unions can arise for very different reasons, ranging from
near coincidence (a princess who is already married to a king
becomes
queen regnant, and their child
inherits the crown of both countries) to virtual
annexation (where a personal union sometimes was
seen as a means of preventing uprisings). They can also be
codified (i.e., the constitutions of the
states clearly express that they shall share the same person as
head of state) or non-codified, in which case they can easily be
broken (e.g., by the death of the monarch when the two states have
different succession laws).
Because
presidents of
republics are ordinarily chosen from within the
citizens of the state in question, personal
unions are almost entirely a phenomenon of
monarchies, and sometimes the term
dual
monarchy is used to signify a personal union between two
monarchies.
There is a somewhat grey area between personal unions and
federations, and the first has regularly grown into the
second.
The following provides some detail of personal unions through
history. With the exception of the 16 constitutional monarchies of
the Commonwealth realm, such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada,
there are no longer any personal unions in today's world.
The term
personal union is also used to describe
the bureaucratic device used in
Nazi
Germany to combine high level state positions with equivalent
positions in the
National
Socialist Party.
The same bureaucratic device is also used by
other governments, such as in the People's
Republic of China
. It is similar to the
persona designata scheme by which
judicial officers can be appointed to non-judicial or
quasi-judicial functions under common law systems.
Andorra
Aragon, Crown of
In 1162
Alfonso II of Aragon
was the first person to bear the titles of King of Aragon and Count
of Barcelona, ruling what was called later
Crown of Aragon.
James I of Aragon later created and added
the
Kingdom of Majorca and the
Kingdom of Valencia to the
Crown. Later,
Charles of Ghent -
Charles I of Spain, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire - would join
Aragon and Castile in a personal union that would become
Spain.
Bohemia
- Personal union with Poland 1003 - 1004 (Bohemia occupied by
Poles)
- Personal union with Poland 1300 - 1306 and Hungary 1301 - 1305
(Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III)
- Personal union with Luxembourg 1313 - 1378 and 1383 - 1388
- Personal union with Hungary 1419-1439 (Sigismund of Luxemburg
and his son in law) and 1490 - 1526 (Jagellon dynasty)
- Personal union with Austria and Hungary 1526 - 1918 (except
years 1619 - 1620)
Brandenburg
Brazil
Commonwealth realms
The conception of a
personal union was suggested to keep
the
Irish Free State as a
Commonwealth Realm.
The phrase
personal union appears in some discussion about
the early
Commonwealth of
Nations , though its application to Commonwealth was refuted by
others. They fit the classical definition, but whether they are in
personal union is doubted because of a) the functional unimportance
of the monarch in today's Commonwealth governments, and b) the term
being seen as an anachronism. Also it could be questioned whether a
shared monarchy falls under the definition of a personal union, as
the Crowns of the countries involved aren't entirely
separate.
Congo Free State
Croatia (disputed)
Hungarian occupation theory
According to a theory, Croatia was subjugated and incorporated into
Hungary. The alleged document of the personal union, the so-called
Pacta Conventa is most likely a forgery from centuries later.
The Pacta Conventa, the alleged document under which Croatians
became vassals of Hungarians never existed, but the story about it
was important for the Croatian position in the Habsburg Empire
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the Croats
claimed their right for statehood on the basis of that agreement.
Although Croatia ceased to exist as an independent state when
King Coloman of Hungary defeated the last
Croatian king, the Croatian nobility retained some powers.
According
to the Federal Research Division of the Library of
Congress
, the Croats enjoyed their own medieval kingdom for
several centuries before a long period of Hungarian rule from 1102
to 1918. Most Croats lived under
Hungarian kings until 1526 and under
Habsburg monarchs thereafter; the Croats of
Bosnia and Hercegovina and Slavonia lived under Ottoman rule for
several hundred years; and the Croats of Dalmatia passed from
Hungarian to Venetian to Austrian rule. With the help of Roman
Catholic clerics, the Croats maintained a strong collective memory
of their former statehood despite their centuries of foreign
domination.
Personal union theory
According to another theory,
Kingdom of Croatia and
Kingdom of Hungary formed a
personal union of two kingdoms in
1102, united
under the Hungarian king. In c.1102, when the Croatian dynasty died
out, the Croats joined the Hungarians in a personal union, but the
Croatian State kept its political individuality with its ban and
its assembly. King Coloman established the personal union of the
Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Hungary by an agreement
called Pacta conventa.
After King Koloman was crowned as a Croatian
king in Biograd
, Croatian
nobility retained strong powers. Although, the precise time
and terms of
Pacta Conventa
later became a matter of dispute; nonetheless there was at least a
non-written agreement that regulated the relations between Hungary
and Croatia in approximately the same way.
In the union with Hungary, institutions of separate Croatian
statehood were maintained through the Sabor (an assembly of
Croatian nobles) and the ban (viceroy). In addition, the Croatian
nobles retained their lands and titles. Coloman retained the
institution of the Sabor and relieved the Croatians of taxes on
their land.
Coloman's successors continued to crown
themselves as Kings of Croatia separately in Biograd na
Moru until the time of Bela
IV. In the 14th century a new term arose to describe the
collection of
de jure independent states under the rule of
the Hungarian King:
Archiregnum Hungaricum (
Lands of the Crown of Saint
Stephen).
Medieval
Hungary
and Croatia
were (in terms of public international law) allied
by means of personal union until the Battle of
Mohács
in 1526. On January 1, 1527, the Croatian
nobles at Cetin
unanimously
elected Ferdinand,
Archduke of Austria, as their king, and confirmed the
succession to him and his heirs. However, officially the
Hungarian-Croatian
state existed until the beginning of the 20th century and the
Treaty of Trianon.
Analysis
The actual nature of the relationship is inexplicable in modern
terms because it varied from time to time. Sometimes Croatia acted
as an independent agent and at other times as a vassal of Hungary.
However, Croatia retained a large degree of internal independence.
The degree of Croatian autonomy fluctuated throughout the centuries
as did its borders.
Denmark
England
Finland
France
Note: The point at issue in the
War of the Spanish Succession
was the fear that the succession to the Spanish throne dictated by
Spanish law, which would devolve on
Louis, le Grand
Dauphin — already heir to the throne of France — would
create a personal union that would upset the European
balance of power (France had the most
powerful military in Europe at the time, and Spain the largest
empire).
Great Britain
Hanover
Holy Roman Empire
- Personal union with Spain
from 1519 to
1556 under Charles
V.
- Personal union with Hungary from 1526 to 1806.
Hungary
- For the disputed situation regarding Croatia, see above.
- Personal union with Poland
and
Bohemia 1301 - 1305.
- Personal union with Poland from 1370
to 1382 under the reign of Louis the
Great. This period in Polish history is sometimes known
as the Andegawen Poland.
Louis inherited the Polish throne from his maternal uncle Casimir III. After Louis' death the
Polish nobles (the szlachta)
decided to end the personal union, since they didn't want to be
governed from Hungary, and chose Louis' younger daughter Jadwiga as their new ruler, while Hungary
was inherited by his elder daughter Mary. Personal union with Poland for the
second time from 1440 to 1444.
- Personal union with Bohemia from 1419 to 1439 and from 1490 to
1918.
- Personal union with the Holy Roman Empire from 1410 to 1439 and
from 1526 to 1806 (except 1608-1612).
- Real
union with Austria
from 1867 to 1918 (the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary) under the reigns of
Franz Joseph and Charles IV.
Iceland
- Personal union with Denmark
from 1918 to 1944 when the country became a
republic.
Ireland
Lithuania
Luxembourg
- Personal union with Bohemia, 1313 - 1378
and 1383 - 1388.
- Personal union with the Netherlands
from 1815 to 1890.
Navarre
- Personal union with France
from 1589 to
1620 due to the accession of Henry
IV, after which Navarre was formally integrated into
France.
The Netherlands
Norway
Poland
- Personal union with Bohemia, from 1300 to 1306, and with Hungary, from 1301 to 1305, (Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III).
- Personal union with Hungary from 1370 to 1382 and 1440 to 1444
(see Hungary section
above).
- Personal union with Lithuania
in the Union of
Krewo, 1386-1401, then from 1447 to the Union of Lublin in 1569 (with a break in
1492-1501) known as the Polish-Lithuanian Union. In
1569 the union was transformed into a federation of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
- Personal union with the Electorate
of Saxony from 1697 to 1706, 1709 to 1733, and 1734 to
1763.
- Eastern part: Personal union with Russia
from 1814 to
1832, known as Congress
Poland
; following the suppression of an army revolt, the
territory was annexed outright by Russia.
Poland-Lithuania
- Personal union with Sweden
from 1592 to
1599
- Personal union with Saxony
from 1697
to 1705, 1709 to 1733 and 1733 to 1763
Portugal
Romania
Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach
The duchies of
Saxe-Weimar and
Saxe-Eisenach were in personal union from
1741, when the ruling house of Saxe-Eisenach died out, until 1809,
when they were merged into the single duchyof
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
Schleswig and Holstein
Duchies with peculiar rules for succession.
- The
kings of Denmark at the same time being dukes of Schleswig and
Holstein 1460-1864. (Holstein being part of the Holy Roman Empire, while Schleswig was a
part of Denmark). The situation was complicated by the fact that
for some time, the Duchies were divided among collateral branches
of the House of Oldenburg (the ruling House in Denmark and
Schleswig-Holstein). Besides the "main" Duchy of
Schlewig-Holstein-Glückstadt, ruled by the Kings of Denmark, there
were states encompassing territory in both Duchies. Notably the
Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and the subordinate Dukes of
Schleswig-Holstein-Beck, Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
and Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
Scotland
- Personal union with France from 1559 to 1560
- Personal union with England
and Ireland from
1603 to 1707 (when England and Scotland were joined together in the
Kingdom of
Great Britain
)
- Personal union with the Netherlands from 1689 to 1702, with the King of Scotland,
England and Ireland also serving as Stadtholder of most of the
provinces of the Netherlands. The actual situation
was slightly more complex with the Dutch provinces Holland
, Zeeland
, Utrecht
, Gelderland and Overijssel entering into personal union in 1689
and Drenthe in 1696. Only 2 Dutch
provinces never entered into the personal union: Friesland and Groningen
.
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
References
- Lalor, ed. Various authors. See Contents. Cyclopaedia of
Political Science. New York: Maynard, Merrill, and Co., ed. John
Joseph Lalor, 1899. online version; accessed 21 June 2008
-
http://www.crownedrepublic.com.au/index.php/australian-crown/personal-union
- Van Antwerp Fine, p. 70
- Curta, Stephenson, p. 267
- Europa Publications Limited, p.271: Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent
States, Svezak 4
- Alain Finkielkraut, (pp. 17-18): Dispatches from the Balkan War and other
writings
- Imogen Bell, p.173: Central and South-Eastern Europe 2003
- Mitja Velikonja p.78: Religious separation and political intolerance in
Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Piotr Stefan Wandycz, p.159: The price of freedom: a history of East Central
Europe from the Middle Ages
- Adrian Webb,Inc NetLibrary, Adrian Webb, p.218: The Routledge companion to Central and Eastern
Europe since 1919
- Charles W. Ingrao, p.12: The Habsburg monarchy, 1618-1815
- David Raic, p. 342: Statehood and the law of
self-determination
- Font, Marta: Hungarian Kingdom and Croatia in the
Middle Age
- Font, Marta:Hungarian Kingdom and Croatia in the
Middle Age
-
[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/143561/Croatia/223953/History#ref=ref476634
Britannica:History of Croatia
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/143561/Croatia
- Curta, Stephenson, p. 267
- R. W. SETON -WATSON:The southern Slav question and
the Habsburg Monarchy page 18
- Font, Marta: Hungarian Kingdom and Croatia in the
Middle Age
- David Raič, p. 342: Statehood and the law of
self-determination
- Charles W. Ingrao, p.12: The Habsburg monarchy, 1618-1815
- Bellamy, p. 38
- Bellamy, p. 38
- Bellamy, p. 38
See also