Page 166 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
majority of political power and rights with the Emperor and his govern-
ment, while the parliaments were marginalised, and the Empire was divid-
17
ed into crownlands that had substantially less autonomy than before. Even
though crownlands were nominally granted equality and the right of pres-
ervation of their own languages and national identities, one of the Consti-
tution’s main goals was to turn the Habsburg Monarchy into an unified
empire, without regional particularities or national differences that could
threaten the state’s stability. While the March Constitution was tradition-
18
ally viewed rather negatively because of all the limitations it imposed on
national and political freedoms, its positive aspects included the definitive
abolition of serfdom, universal equality before the law, freedom of move-
ment, and equal access to public services. 19
The very restrictive constitutionalism of the March Constitution was
soon replaced with full absolutism, proclaimed in the Silvester Patent on 31
December 1851. This new absolutism, for that reason called Neo-absolutism,
was marked by strong Germanisation, unitarisation and centralisation. The
country was divided into districts (specifically introduced in an attempt to
efface historical borders of different kingdoms or their provinces that con-
stituted the Empire), and parliaments were abolished. In Croatia, the au-
tonomous government of the time, called the Ban’s Council, was abolished
and replaced with the Ban’s Government (1850), an administrative body re-
sponsible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1854, simultaneously with
20
the introduction of new administrative and governance reform, the Ban’s
Government was further restructured into the Imperial and Royal Regen-
21
cy. The use of the Croatian tricolour flag and of language were prohib-
ited in this period, and Croatia was divided into five districts instead of
historical lands. German was introduced as the official language in admin-
istration and education and a large number of newly appointed German
officials came to the country, while most of those active in the previous
period were retired. On the other hand, certain modernising efforts were

17 Individual parliaments were supposed to be convened during 1850, and the central
Parliament in 1851, but neither of them was actually convened until after the disso-
lution of Neo-absolutism. Ibid., 15.
18 Ibid.
19 Cf. Vlasta Švoger, “Political Rights and Freedoms in the Croatian National Reviv-
al and the Croatian Political Movement of 1848–1849. Reestablishing Continuity,”
Hungarian Historical Review 5, no. 1 (2016): 88.
20 Cf. “Banska vlada,” in Hrvatska enciklopedija, online edition, https://enciklopedija
.hr/clanak/banska-vlada.
21 Cf. Gross, Počeci moderne Hrvatske, 83–5.

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