ABSTRACT
The modern archival practices were born in the vast territories ruled by Charles V, who, as Holy Roman Emperor (1519–56), divided his Spanish and Habsburg territories between his brother, Ferdinand I and his son Phillip II. When Charles V's predecessor, Maximilian I came to power, the archives of the Austrian Habsburgs were split between Vienna, Wiener Neustadt, Graz and Innsbruck. In 1509 Maximilian considered centralising the archives at Innsbruck, but Ferdinand I revived and implemented the original plan. In the period of territorial and administrative rearrangement which followed the Treaty of Brussels in 1522, archival reorganisation was entrusted to Wilhelm Putsch, Secretary and Registrar of Upper Austria, both in Innsbruck and in Vienna. From 1526, when Ferdinand was elected King of Bohemia, the results of reorganisation were also visible within the Czech and Bohemian chancelleries. Bureaucratic reform, including archival reorganisation, spread in turn to ecclesiastical and municipal institutions, and to the great landed estates.
