Upper Lusatian border document
The Oberlausitzer border document defined the borders between the Kingdom of Bohemia belonging Oberlausitz and the possessions of the Bishop of Meissen . It was signed on May 7th 1241 by King Wenzel auf dem Königstein . Many of the places between Bautzen , Sebnitz and Stolpen , which were founded in the course of the high medieval state development, are mentioned in writing for the first time in the Upper Lusatian border document.
prehistory
The Gau of the Sorbian Milzener , which later became Upper Lusatia, had been the expansion target of the neighboring countries since the 10th century. The area was first dependent on the German king, then for a short time Polish, later ownership changed several times between the Bohemian kings and the margraves of Meißen, before the country of Budissin , as Upper Lusatia was then called, was a side country of the kingdom for more than 450 years in 1158 Bohemia became. As early as the beginning of the 11th century, the Meissen Monastery had acquired possessions in Upper Lusatia through various donations, especially around Stolpen, Bischofswerda and Göda . Both the Meißner bishops and the kings of Bohemia began to bring colonists into the country in the second half of the 12th century, they cleared the forests and created new villages. Most of the founding places in Upper Lusatia go back to the decades between 1150 and 1240. By 1220, the land suitable for settlement was largely dispersed, and numerous border disputes arose between the king's and bishop's followers. A precise definition of which areas belonged to Bohemia and which belonged to the Meissen bishopric had become necessary.
Setting the limit
In 1213 and again in 1223, the border was mounted, measured and determined in several sections by a commission consisting of followers of the king and the bishop who knew the area. The twelve commissioners presented their results in minutes. This contained around 100 terrain features that determined the course of the border. The most frequent names are watercourses that can clearly define the boundary line over a longer distance. In second place are mountains and hills.
Coming from the Elbe, the border followed the Sebnitzbach upwards, then went north at Sebnitz towards Langburkersdorf , turned from there northwest to Frankenthal , where it followed a piece of the Schwarzen Röder . The border then continued over the Keulenberg to Pulsnitz . From then on, the river of the same name up to its confluence with the Black Elster formed the border marker.
The Burgward of Doberschau with the villages of Schwarznaußlitz , Singwitz , Blumenthal, Obergurig and Mönchswalde belonged to the diocese of Meißen, but was surrounded by Bohemian territory. The Meissen enclave of Bischdorf east of Löbau is also mentioned in the border document.
The certificate
In 1228 a draft of the border document was drawn up, which King Ottokar and his son and co-king Wenceslaus did not sign for reasons unknown. Incidentally, Wenzel was dux budissinensis at that time, i.e. entrusted with the administration of Upper Lusatia.
On May 7, 1241, the Upper Lusatian border document was signed by King Wenzel at Königstein Castle on the Elbe. Several copies of this important document were immediately made out. In terms of content, there were no significant differences to the draft of 1228. In addition to other nobles, members of the commission that had carried out the survey almost 20 years earlier acted as witnesses.
The name of the document is not contemporary, because when it was issued, the state name Oberlausitz did not even exist. The Upper Lusatian border document is only mentioned in recent publications. In the document itself, the old Slavic Gaue Milska , Dacena (both Bohemian) and Nisani (Meißnisch) are delimited from each other.
Further development
Due to changes of ownership in many places, the Bohemian-Meissnian border changed several times in the late Middle Ages. Only the northern part of the border line, from about the Keulenberg, remained in existence for around 400 years until the Margraviate Oberlausitz came under the rule of the Saxon electors in 1635.
literature
source
- Four copies of the Upper Lusatian border document are in the Saxon Main State Archives in Dresden . It is printed in: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin . Volume 95, 1919, pp. 88-93.
Representations
- Alfred Meiche : The Upper Lusatian border document from 1241 and the Burgwarde Ostrusna, Trebista and Godobi . In: New Lusatian Magazine . Volume 84, 1908, pp. 145-251
- Richard Jecht : News about the Upper Lusatian border document . In: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin, Volume 95, Görlitz 1919, pp. 63–94
- Christine Klecker : The Upper Lusatian border document. Land development in the field of tension between landscape and the formation of power . In: Rainer Aurig u. a. (Ed.): State history in Saxony. Tradition and innovation . Studies on regional history. 10. Bielefeld 1997, ISBN 3-89534-210-6 , p. 29-40 .
- Kurt Hartmann: The Upper Lusatian border document from 1241. In: Contributions to the local history of West Lusatia. Volume 9, 1999.
- Diethard Mardek: The Upper Lusatian border document from 1241. The border line through the municipality of Obergurig. In: Official and bulletin of the community of Obergurig. Volume 16, 2005, No. 8, pp. 10–12.
- Lutz Mohr : The "Oberlausitzer Grenzurkunde" from 1241 from the point of view of the Neusalza lawyer and local researcher Gustav Hermann Schulze (1833–1901) and older and modern research. In: Günter Hensel (arrangement): History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg. Volume 4, Kultur- und Heimatfreunde eV and Local History Interest Group (IGO), Neusalza-Spremberg 2011, pp. 29–50.
Remarks
- ↑ Upper Lusatia
- ↑ the area from Tetschen down the Elbe to Königstein