Council of Two Hundred

The Council of Two Hundred was a collective designation for the principal legislative authorities of several Swiss cities and of the independent Republic of Geneva during the medieval and early modern periods. The institutions were known in German as the Rat der Zweihundert and in French as the Conseil des Deux-Cents. Their membership was nominally or approximately two hundred in many cases, although the actual size could vary and some councils reached around three hundred members. The councils developed from medieval urban governing structures rather than from a single organization established at one date. They operated in Zürich, Bern, Fribourg, and Basel, and a comparable body existed in the Republic of Geneva. Geneva’s council is recorded from 1526, while the broader tradition of large urban councils was rooted in the political institutions of medieval Swiss towns. These bodies represented the governing authority of established urban elites and formed part of the constitutional systems through which the cities administered themselves. The Council of Two Hundred was not a unified national parliament, commercial enterprise, or modern political party. The term describes related institutions that performed legislative and governing functions in separate city-states and quasi-independent polities. Their responsibilities and composition therefore differed by location, and the name should be understood as an institutional category rather than as the title of one continuously centralized body. Over time, political reforms and changes in constitutional organization replaced these large councils with smaller legislatures. The successor institutions commonly revived or retained the designation Grand Council, known in German as Grosser Rat and in French as Grand Conseil. Consequently, the Council of Two Hundred is principally a historical term associated with the governmental structures of the Swiss ancien régime and the period before the French Revolution.

The Councils of Two Hundred emerged from the medieval political development of Swiss urban communities. In the cities of the Old Swiss Confederacy, authority was exercised through layered institutions that combined civic representation, elite self-government, and executive administration. The bodies later called Councils of Two Hundred were among the larger assemblies in these systems and were associated with the legislative authority of Zürich, Bern, Fribourg, and Basel. The designation was descriptive rather than strictly numerical. Many of the councils had approximately two hundred members, which gave rise to the name, but membership was not uniform. Some assemblies could contain considerably more than two hundred people, with historical descriptions indicating that certain councils reached about three hundred members. Their composition and powers depended on the constitutional arrangements of the individual city. The councils should therefore not be treated as branches of a single Swiss-wide institution. A related council existed in the Republic of Geneva. Geneva’s Council of Two Hundred dates to 1526, when the city’s political institutions were reorganized during a period of constitutional and religious change. As in the other cities, the council formed part of a broader governing structure rather than operating as an independent modern legislature in the contemporary democratic sense. Its role was connected to the authority of the urban polity and to the established groups that participated in civic government. The councils functioned within the political order of the Swiss ancien régime. They helped make or approve laws and participated in the administration of their respective cities, while their exact relationship with smaller councils, executive authorities, and local social groups varied. The term’s use across Zürich, Bern, Fribourg, Basel, and Geneva reflects a family resemblance among urban governing institutions, not identical constitutional rules. The system changed as European political structures were transformed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the period surrounding the French Revolution, older forms of urban oligarchic government were challenged and, in some places, dismantled or reorganized. The large councils were eventually replaced by smaller legislative bodies. These successor institutions frequently adopted the older title Grand Council, or Grosser Rat in German and Grand Conseil in French. The Council of Two Hundred consequently became a historical designation for predecessor legislatures rather than the continuing name of an active political body.

• 1526

  Council established in Geneva

  [1]Council of Two Hundreden.wikipedia.org

  A Council of Two Hundred is recorded in the Republic of Geneva from 1526.

• Medieval origins of the urban councils

  [1]Council of Two Hundreden.wikipedia.org

  The councils developed from medieval governing institutions in Swiss cities and became associated with the legislative authority of Zürich, Bern, Fribourg, and Basel.

• Replacement by smaller Grand Councils

  [1]Council of Two Hundreden.wikipedia.org

  The large councils were later replaced by smaller legislatures, many of which used the designation Grand Council, Grosser Rat, or Grand Conseil.

Historical legislative institution

1. 1Council of Two Hundreden.wikipedia.org