Bohemian Residential Right, Inkolat, the Bohemian Crown Lands, early modern history, modern history

The crushing of the Estates rebellion in 1620 became the impulse for wide-ranging political and social changes in Bohemia and Moravia as the power of the monarch was strengthened. One of the key tools used to define and implement these changes was legislation. The main legislative changes appeared in the Renewed Constitution (Verneuerte Landesordnung) introduced for the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1627 and the Margraviate of Moravia in 1628; in both provinces this new document replaced older legal codes. One of the most important legislative changes concerned the award of the Inkolat (ius incolatus, the right of inhabitance in the Bohemian Lands). In Bohemia and Moravia prior to the Estates rebellion, the conferral of the Inkolat was within the remit of the Land Diet, which comprised representatives of the higher and lower nobility and the royal towns. Mentioned Renewed Land Constitutions removed this right from the Provincial Diet, and the award of the Inkolat became one of the most important royal prerogatives.