Ständen

Ständen is a term used in German historiography to denote estates or social orders that formed the basis of political representation in German-speaking regions and elsewhere in Europe from the Middle Ages until the 19th century. The classic model typically divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy), the Second Estate (nobility), and the Third Estate (commoners, including townspeople and peasants). Estates were tied to distinct privileges, duties, and often to taxation rights, and they could convene as bodies to advise rulers or to consent to taxation and legislation.

In many German-speaking areas, governing bodies of the estates were known as Landstände or Stände, functioning as regional diets that met to decide matters at the level of kingdoms, duchies, or free cities. The concept also appeared in the Holy Roman Empire as Reichsstände and in Swiss contexts as cantonal estates, reflecting a broader pattern of representative structures based on social orders rather than universal suffrage.

Over time, centralization, absolutism, and liberal-democratic movements eroded the privileges of the estates, leading to their dissolution or transformation into modern parliamentary institutions during the 18th and 19th centuries. In Switzerland, the term survives in historical usage and in bodies such as the Ständerat (Council of States), which represents cantons at the federal level.

Today, Ständen is primarily used in historical contexts within German-speaking historiography and constitutional history. It also appears in regional terms such as Landstände or Stände in Swiss cantonal contexts, highlighting the historic idea of privilege-based representation that preceded modern democracy.