The Borders of Banishment
Résumé
In the early modern period, the Holy Roman Empire consisted of several hundred territories. The boundaries of these polities marked political claims to power, but posed few obstacles to the everyday life of the population. Using the example of penal expulsion, this article aims to show this ambivalent role of territorial borders in the Empire. It attempts in particular to illuminate the possibilities of social reintegration that were available to exiles due to the considerable trans-territorial interconnectedness of society in the Empire.