bavarikon4UInstructions of the Bavarian Dukes to the Burgraves, to Report on the Situation in the Parishes, 1524 (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Sammlung Lori 76, fol. 276)
On 5 August 1524, Dukes William IV (1493–1550, duke 1508–1550) and Louis X (1495–1550, duke 1514–1545) ordered the local ministers (the burgraves) to carry out a survey of the conditions of the parishes in their districts.
The survey was similar to a visitation. The results should be sent as reports to the dukes. The government was mainly interested in the fees charged by clergymen for burials and in the donations transferred to the respective churches in the form of bequests. In addition, the staffing of the parishes, of the branch churches and of their respective benefits should be listed.
The ducal order was a consequence of the Ratisbon Conference. A few weeks earlier, twelve southern German bishops under the chairmanship of the papal legate Lorenzo Campeggio (1474–1539), of the Bavarian dukes and of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1503–1564, Roman-German king 1531–1564) had gathered in Ratisbon to negotiate the enforcement of the Worms Edict and of the elimination of abuses in the Catholic church. In order to be able to undertake more precise measures, the dukes had to get an overview.
The survey was the first measure taken by the dukes following the Ratisbon Conference – even before the publication of the decisions in the second religious mandate. The dukes thus also extended their ecclesiastical sovereignty. The bishoprics considered the action to be an interference with their jurisdiction and as a result, they carried out their own surveys.