A pragmatic sanction is a sovereign's solemn decree on a matter of primary importance and has the force of fundamental law. In the late history of the Holy Roman Empire it referred more specifically to an edict issued by the Emperor.
When used as a proper noun, not otherwise qualified, it refers to the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, a legal mechanism designed to ensure that the Austrian throne and Habsburg lands would be inherited by Emperor Karl IV's daughter, Maria Theresa.
The so-called Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis X, King of France, purporting to have been issued in March1269, regarding various clerical reforms, was a forgery fabricated in the fourteenth century.
The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, issued by King Charles VIII of France, on 7 July1438, required a General Church Council, with authority superior to that of the pope, to be held every ten years, required election rather than appointment to ecclesiastical offices, prohibited the pope from bestowing, and profiting from, benefices, and limited appeals to Rome.
The German Pragmatic Sanction of 1439, issued by German ruling princes 26 March1439, accepted some of the decrees of the Council of Basel with modifications. It has been argued that the name Pragmatic Sanction is not properly applied to this document, as this pragma was issued by princes subordinate to the emperor without the emperor's endorsement.
The Pragmatic Sanction of Naples, issued 6 October1759, by King Charles III of Spain, governed the succession to the thrones of Naples, Sicily, and Spain, and forbade the union of Naples and the Two Sicilies.
The reaction to the promulgation of the PragmaticSanction of 1830 was immediate, since the Queen's pregnancy was announced officially at the same time.
Saint-Priest himself, replying on 17 May 1830 to Polignac, stated that it was the common belief that the earlier Pragmatic Decree of 1789 was in fact a forgery (and it exists only in copies, the original having disappeared), and that this was a liberal manoeuvre to prevent the succession of Don Carlos.
In a protest letter directed personally to King Ferdinand and dated 10 September 1830 (exactly one month before the birth of the future Isabel II, whose sex was of course as yet unknown), the King complained that the rights of his descendants conferred by the law of Philip V had been annulled.
The PragmaticSanction of 1549, issued by Charles V, established the Seventeen Provinces as an entity separate from the Empire and from France.
The PragmaticSanction of 1713 issued by Emperor Charles VI on April 19, 1713.
The PragmaticSanction of Naples, issued October 6, 1759, by King Charles III of Spain, governed the succession to the thrones of Naples, Sicily, and Spain, and forbade the union of Naples and the Two Sicilies.
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