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| Capital (and largest city) |
Kornelimünster | ||||
| Language | Limburgish | ||||
| Abbott | Jean-Baptise | ||||
| Director | Matthias Baal | ||||
| Population | 12,190 | ||||
| Independence | 1987 | ||||
| Currency | AAG | ||||
The Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster, Kornelimünster, is a small constitutional theocracy in western Europe. It is bordered by Julich and United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The capital is Kornelimünster and the population around 12,000.
The Head of State is Abbott Jean-Baptise.
The official language is Limburgish.
The currency is the Aachen Groschen (AAG)
History[]
The Abbey was founded in 814 during the reign of Louis the Pious. It received immediacy in the mid-9th century. Throughout the early medieval period the Abbey built up a considerable portfolio of land along the Rhine making it rich, but sold the lands to Mainz in the 13th century.
During the Reformation it would hold out against Lutheranism but effectively became a vassal of Cologne for protection, not only against Schmalkaldic Julich but also Lutheran Luxembourg. Various ecclesiastical states in the region were being snapped up by the Luxembourgs, by manoeuvering relatives into the sees then secularising them.
The Abbey was burnt down during the Fifty Years War and was not rebuilt. Much of the stonework was reused to rebuild the town in the war's aftermath. Kornelimünster henceforth became an exclave of the Archbishopric of Cologne but the abbey's hierarchy still existed, independent of the land and town from which it still received a yearly bushel of wheat as rent. The title of abbot, now mostly meaningless, would be given to various noblemen, mostly in the [[France (The Kalmar Union)|French or Burgundian ruling families.
Eventually in 1951 Philip VIII of Burgundy re-founded the abbey as a physical entity, donating funds to purchase land and to build a modest abbey and cloister in a gothic style.
When the archbishopric and city of Cologne began talks to unite in the 1980s, local Kornelimünster politicians opposed the plans, mainly as the proposed constitution would invalidate many of the trade agreements that supported the town's economy. Eventually various treaties and deeds were produced, some stretching back to the 13th century which proved the Abbey's right to dictate its own affairs. The matter was referred to the Imperial Diet after Cologne objected, but as the abbey was never actually dissolved by Cologne it was deemed that the new abbey was a continuation of the original and that Kornelimünster was still technically independent.
As a result Kornelimünster received its independence as an ecclesiastical state with an Abbot as its head of state yet is, to all intents and purposes, a republic.
Government[]
Kornelimünster is governed by a single-chambered Diet with elections occurring every three years. The Abbott essentially has no executive power and is merely a figurehead.
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