Kingdom of Westphalia

Overview

Created by the Treaty of Tilsit (July 1807) as a Napoleonic "model state" (Musterstaat), ruled by Napoleon's youngest brother Jérôme Bonaparte (Jérôme Napoléon I). Capital: Cassel (Kassel), court at Wilhelmshöhe (renamed Napoleonshöhe). It was assembled from Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Hanoverian and Prussian territories (mostly historic Eastphalia, making the name a misnomer). Its constitution (drafted on the French model, promulgated 15 November and enacted by Jérôme on 7 December 1807) is generally regarded as the first modern written constitution in a German monarchy: it granted equality before the law to male citizens, abolished serfdom (Art. 13), reduced noble privilege, ended feudal obligations, and introduced the Napoleonic Code (Art. 45 ff.), the metric system, jury trial, and a French-style central administration and departments. In 1808 it passed Germany's first laws granting Jews equal rights (Jérôme's decree of 27 January 1808 abolished special fees on Jews), and he established the Royal Westphalian Consistory of the Israelites (March 1808) under Israel Jacobson, a landmark for Reform Judaism. Area varied ~38,000–64,000 km²; population ~1.95–2.6 million. Burdened by heavy conscription and taxation and never fully accepted, it collapsed after Leipzig in 1813 and was partitioned among Hanover, Hesse, Prussia and Brunswick.