Siege of Freiburg (1677)
Siege of Freiburg 1677. The suburb of Neuburg is on the left in the picture.
| date | November 9, 1677 to November 16, 1677 |
|---|---|
| place | Freiburg in Breisgau |
| output | French victory |
| consequences | Freiburg is taken by the French |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 2,800 men | 20,000 men |
| losses | |
|
about 200 dead |
about 1,000 dead |
.svg){kind=small}
Dutch War (1672–1678 / 79)
Solebay - First Schooneveld - Second Schooneveld - Texel - Bonn - Maastricht - Sinsheim - Seneffe - Enzheim - Türkheim - Sasbach - Konzer Bridge - Stromboli - Augusta - Palermo - Kokersberg - Philippsburg - Maastricht - Valenciennes - Tobago - Cassel - Freiburg - Ypres - Rheinfelden - Saint-Denis
The siege of Freiburg from November 9th to 16th, 1677 by the French army under Marshal François de Créquy was a military action in the Dutch War at the end of the campaign year 1677. Créquy was able to quickly capture Freiburg, which was neglected and neglectful in its defense efforts, and thereby the Breisgau dominate.
Sieges and battles around Freiburg
In the course of its history, Freiburg has been the target of French attacks on several occasions, with the siege and inglorious surrender of the city of 1677 receiving less attention in literature than other military events. Here follows a historical classification of the siege and the capture of Freiburg in 1677 in earlier and later military actions.
On April 12, 1638, Freiburg surrendered to French-Swedish troops under Bernhard von Weimar after an eleven day siege.
In August 1644 there were three days of fighting between imperial and French associations, known as the Battle of Freiburg im Breisgau , although the city remained imperial, but no decision was made in the battle.
In September 1713, the French marshal Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars lay in front of the city, which the imperial family gave up after a three-week siege.
In 1744 the French King Louis XV besieged . Freiburg, which capitulated after six weeks.
Course of military actions in 1677
Towards the end of 1677 the warring parties withdrew to their winter quarters as usual. The imperial troops under the Duke of Lorraine took winter quarters in Franconia, Swabia and on the Saar. In view of the peace negotiations that began in Nijmwegen at the end of 1677, the French commander von Breisach and the Austrian commander of Freiburg, General Georg von Schütz zu Pürschütz and Geislingen, signed an armistice that lasted until November 11th. In addition, Freiburg hurried to get rid of the burden of two infantry regiments and one cavalry regiment that the Duke of Lorraine had stationed in the city. After vigorous presentations in Vienna, some of the troops were withdrawn.
The French army of Marshal François de Créquy also gave the appearance of moving to their winter quarters in Lorraine. But when Créquy wrote to his king in Paris that he saw a good opportunity to take Freiburg, Louis XIV agreed to a winter campaign. On November 8th, the marshal and his troops surprisingly crossed the Rhine near Breisach , marched in the direction of Freiburg and stood in front of the city on November 9th at around 8 a.m. The rearguard of the French troops with 300 riders was in command of a certain General Louis Hector Duc de Villars, who in 1713 commanded the siege of Freiburg.
The commander-in-chief of the imperial army, Charles of Lorraine, quickly tried to mobilize his units again. However, it took a lot of time to get your scattered troops into Breisgau via generally poor roads. In addition, only the imperial units followed his order to collect, while the contingents of the imperial districts could not be persuaded to continue the campaign of 1677.
On November 10th, Créquy began firing artillery on the suburb of Neuburg . The main attack took place here under his command, while Meinhard von Schomberg attacked the Schneckenvorstadt from the south and the Karlseck from the Charterhouse . On the night of November 10th to 11th, Colonel Kaunitz made a sortie to disturb the French in building the trenches . On November 11th, Freiburg experienced a violent cannonade in which thousands of cannonballs fell on the city, although the damage was limited. Kaunitz made another sortie to break open the enclosure and send messengers to the Duke of Lorraine. After the French artillery under the Marquis de Freselières had fired a breach more than 30 meters wide in the city wall of the suburb of Neuburg on November 12 , Créquy called on Freiburg to surrender. City commandant Schütz refused because his officers advised against it. From November 12th to 13th, the French drove the trenches further and widened the breach. The following night they dug a tunnel to the monk's tower, which was to be blown up. On November 14th at 4 p.m. Schütz gave up the suburb, although the French had not yet started the attack on the breach that had been made in the fortifications. The French occupied the suburbs and Créquy again called for surrender. Schütz showed himself to be completely incapable of action, which is why the Austrian government asked Count Portia to take over command, but he refused. Their own soldiers began to loot, and the vigilantes left their posts to protect their own homes. In the meantime, the French were able to prepare their positions for the bombardment of the inner Freiburg wall ring undisturbed during the night.
On November 15th, the French prepared to storm the Christophstor. At the same time they managed to storm the hill on the Schlossberg and conquer the fortifications on Karlseck. This allowed them to shoot at the defenders from above and so Créquy had cannons brought to the highest point of the Schlossberg for an even more successful bombing of the city. Meanwhile the city commandant slept in a guardroom. In the meantime the French had made a breach at the Christophstor. Around lunchtime, rumors spread around town that the French had already invaded, causing the population to flee in panic into the monasteries and castle, crushing 5 children and 5 adults. Late in the evening of November 15, the city commandant signaled to the French that he wanted to enter into surrender negotiations, after which there was a ceasefire. Créquy insisted that the city and castle must be handed over by November 16 at 8 a.m. After dark one heard cannon shots in Freiburg from the imperial stronghold near Emmendingen , which announced the arrival of relief troops. In fact, messengers came during the night from Hermann von Baden-Baden , who was standing with an imperial corps at Emmendingen and promised to be in Freiburg by evening at the latest.
In the meantime, there was confusion in Freiburg due to the disagreement between the city councilors, the government of Upper Austria and the officers. Nobody wanted to decide on Créquy's claim. While the members of the Austrian government continued to shirk any responsibility, City Commander Schütz was determined to hand over the property and was now looking for support for his decision from his officers, who felt bound to Créquy by an oral promise given the day before. The council and citizens would have held out until the relief arrived, but they were not heard. The document of surrender was signed on November 16 before 8 a.m. The Austrian occupation was allowed to withdraw to Rheinfelden with their weapons, while the French guaranteed the citizens life and property. Regardless of this, both imperial and French troops plundered Freiburg. The withdrawal of the imperial associations began at 1 p.m. Most of the French units did not move into the city until November 17th. Since many rural residents had fled their remaining supplies and their belongings to the city and the city itself had sufficient provisions for a longer siege, the French found rich booty.
Consequences of surrender
After the surrender of Freiburg, French units under the Duc de Villars moved to Waldkirch , where they came into battle with units of the Imperial Relief Army under General Schulz. More patrol troops crossed the Black Forest to Villingen. Louis-François de Boufflers became French city commander of Freiburg. The citizens lamented the licentiousness of the French occupation, which they found to be even worse than that of the Imperial Croatian Portia regiment.
When Karl von Lothringen heard of the surrender of Freiburg, he arranged for the city commandant Schütz to be arrested. However, before a court martial in Vienna he was acquitted. In reports from contemporary witnesses there are numerous indications that Schütz and possibly also members of the West Austrian government and the local nobility had worked into the hands of the French. Louis XIV was known for buying or blackmailing foreign princes and their officials. General Schütz's acquittal was attributed to the influence of the Freiburg court chancellor Johann Paul Hocher , who was related to Schütz. Hocher also had his share in the loss of the city through his advocacy in reducing the number of troops in Freiburg.
In France, the capture of Freiburg was celebrated as a great victory and a foam coin was minted to commemorate this event.
In addition to the direct material damage from looting and contributions, Freiburg also suffered from the loss of facilities in the long term (the city belonged to the French Crown until June 11, 1698), which also had economic consequences. The university fled to Konstanz , Vienna relocated the government of Upper Austria to Waldshut and the Basel cathedral chapter moved to Arlesheim .
The citizens of Freiburg, who had complained about the burden of billeting between 1670 and 1677, now had to watch as the French converted the city into a fortress by Vauban , for which the suburb of Neuburg, the Schneckenvorstadt and the Wiehre were demolished - the fate of the Residents did not interest the occupiers and compensation was out of the question. Habsburg gave up Freiburg in the Peace of Nijmegen and once more abandoned the Breisgau subjects.
Involved military units
German Empire
An infantry units , the Croatian Infantry Regiment were under Colonel Count Adolf of Portia and the Colonel Sergeant Prince Karl Bernhard von Baden , the youngest son of the Margrave William of Baden-Baden involved, as well as 6 free companies under Lieutenant Colonel Gerhardi. In addition, the city and the University of Freiburg provided around 800 vigilantes. The cavalry consisted of 6 squadrons of cuirassiers under Colonel Kaunitz .
literature
- FL Dammert: Freiburg in the second half of the XVII. Century. VI. How the city of Freiburg became French . In: Journal of the Society for the Promotion of History, Antiquity and Folklore, Volume 6, Freiburg im Breisgau 1887, pp. 3–157 Digitized version of the Freiburg University Library
- FL Dammert: Report of the councilor D. Franz Karl Vogel on the siege and surrender of the city of Freiburg in November 1677. In: Journal of the Society for the Promotion of History, Antiquity and Folklore, Volume 6, Freiburg im Breisgau 1887, p. 379–393 digitized version of the Freiburg University Library
- True relationship, what happened in the siege of Freyburg im Breyßgau, and whose, so in the ongoing siege, your Roman Imperial Majesty of all submissive, loyal, obedient, and most guilty services have served. Digital version of the MDZ
- Teutophilus Ernestus: Justissima fugitivi Apollinis et musarum indignatio super turpissima urbis & castri Friburgensis Deditione concepta. 1678 (Latin) Google Books
- Wolfgang Michael: Karl von Lothringen and the capture of Freiburg by the French in 1677. In: Journal of the Society for the Promotion of History, Antiquity and Folklore, Volume 46, Freiburg im Breisgau 1935, pp. 47–54 digitized version of the University Library Freiburg
- Theatrum Europaeum , Volume 11, Frankfurt am Main, 1682, pp. 1032-1033 online at Augsburg University Library
- Marcellin LaGarde, Willem J. Hofdijk: The troubled Dutch lion , 1678, volume 11; Pp. 192–213 in Google Book Search
- Adolf Poinsignon : The Freiburg fortress 1678-1745 . In: Schau-ins-Land, Volume 18 (1892), p. 48 online at Freiburg University Library
- Heinrich Schreiber : History of the City and University of Freiburg im Breisgau , IV. Theil, Freiburg 1858, pp. 192-204 online in the Google book search
- Franz Kreutter: History of the Imperial and Royal Front Austrian States . Fürstliches Reichsstift, St. Blasien 1790, 2nd part, pp. 364–365 online in the Google book search
- Mathias Stammnitz: The former fortress Freiburg. A historical building description . In: Schau-ins-Land, Volume 33 (1906), pp. 80–81 with two map sketches online at Freiburg University Library
Web links
- Description on the home page www.freiburgs-geschichte.de; accessed on January 28, 2014
- Image of the French foam coin commemorating the capture of Freiburg on the Medieval and modern coin search engine homepage; Retrieved January 25, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ No figures are available, but the losses are said to have been "far more substantial", with 20 officers alone being killed or wounded
- ↑ see illustration of the French foam coin commemorating the capture of Freiburg on the Medieval and modern coin search engine homepage; Retrieved January 25, 2014
- ↑ After the Peace of Rijswijk in September 1697, it took almost nine months for the French to actually leave