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292 GERMANY. [Rothwell.
R O r H W E I L.
The free Imperial town of Rofhvcil or Rotliceil ftands on an eminer.ce
on the Neckar, its territories being furrounded by the Autchy oi M^urtetiiberg,
the upper county of Hohenberg belonging to Außria and the Furjlenberg
Landgraviate of Bacir. Rothiiril is Ronuvi-c^ihoYic, and contains in it a
houfe of Monks of the order of St. Jol.vi, together with a refidence of Jefuits
and three convents. It is a very ancient Imperial town, and was engaged
by the Emperors Charles IV. and Wcnceßam to be maintained as fuch.
In the Imperial Diet it holds the tenth place among the towns of Snabia-,
and the eighth among thofe of the circle. Its affeHment in the Imperial
and circular nuitricula, which formerly amounted to two hundred
and eighty florins, v/as, in 16S3, reduced to one hundred and feventy-feven,
and in 1728 Iirfl: to one hundred and forty-fjur, afterwards to thirty, and
at lafl to fourteen. The contingency it pays to a kamraerziele is one hundi-ed
and fifty-feven rixdoUars, twenty kruitzers and a half. In 1463 it
entered into an alliance for the fir ft time, and in 1519 into one for ever
with the cantons oi S-witzcrlafid, with a refervation, however, of all due
allegiance to the Roman Empire : But receiving an Außrian garrifon in
1632 on its being befieged by the Swedes, it was excluded from that alliance.
The principal thing in this town is the Imperial tribunal, the firft traces of
^vhich are to be found in the provincial court of Sivabia, which feems to
have received its origin in the time of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria, and
till
the middle of the fifteenth century was fometimes called the provincial
court of the Emperor and fometimes the Imperial tribunal of i?c/2'iör/7. In
1360 the Emperor Charles IV^ transferred to Count Rudolph of Sulz the
light of holding this country-court in the name of his Imperial Majefty
and the Empire, and in 140 1 the Emperor Rupert tm^owtred the faid
Counts to fubftitute a Baron or Count as their deputy. From the Counts
of Sulz this port of hereditary chief judge defcended to the houfe of
Schwarze7iberg, as mentioned above in the landgraviate oiKletgaii, and the
Vä^cto^ Schwarzenberg even chofe a Stadtholder for the diftridifrom among
the Counts or Barons. In this tribunal feven judges take their feats. It
depends, however, wholly upon the Emperor. Its jurifdiftion extends
over the circle of Swabia, and the Außrian countries lying therein, as alfo
over the circles of Franconia and the Rhine. A great many States, however,
have obtained the privilege of exemption from it, but this privilege
extends not ufually to matrimonial cafes, or fuch as are formally referved
to this tribunal. It enjoys a joint jurifdicftion with the Imperial
States is its diftriftj but thefe have for along time preferred feveral complaints
againft it. From it lies an appeal to the fupreme court of the Empire