Bremen citizens' companies

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The Bremen Citizens 'Companies were the militia of the city of Bremen from 1605 to 1814. Initially set up as military units, the Citizens' Companies took on more and more civilian tasks in the 18th century.

origin

Since the Middle Ages , every citizen of Bremen capable of military service had to be available to defend the city in the event of war and to have their own weapons and equipment ready. In the 13th and 14th centuries, this so-called "civil defense" consisted of an iron helmet, a shod with iron tunic or breastplate , arm and leg splints, iron gloves, a battle sword , a spear and a shield. The operational capability of the citizens was checked in regular weapon shows and exercises. Due to the special value of armor and weapons, they were  completely passed on to the oldest male heir in a special inheritance law - the army bet - and not divided up.

In the course of time, the organization of the citizenry fit for military service established itself in four teams, which corresponded to the four parishes or Verendeels of the old town : Our Dear Women , St. Ansgarii , St. Martini and St. Stephani . Each of these "parish teams" were subordinate to a captain from the Bremen council and an ensign from one of the families capable of advising (the bourgeois upper class). The units were to neighborhoods in Stamp divided, led by a respective Corporal, whose oath from the time after the rising of the 104 men is preserved (at 1532). The sergeant was responsible for military training and control of the security services . The task of the citizen troops was - in addition to defending the city in case of war - guarding the city ​​walls and gates . For operations outside the city limits, mostly volunteers and recruited troops were used. In addition to the guard and defense service, the citizen troops were also responsible for fighting fires.

Restructuring 1605

The division of the troops into parishes and ranks without further subdivision turned out to be inadequate over time due to the different sizes of the four quarters. The captain of the Martini-Quartier had 17 units to command, that of the St.-Stephani-Quartier 94. Also, the training and discipline of the units at the end of the 16th century showed considerable deficiencies, so that it was to be feared that the citizens' troops would break one Attack by an experienced mercenary force would not be able to offer any resistance worth mentioning. In the course of the Eighty Years' War (1568 to 1648) between the Netherlands and Spain and the conquest of the reformed Lingen by Spanish troops in 1605, the improvement of the town's defense readiness became of great importance to the council. The fortifications of Bremen were strengthened by modern bastions and a new watch order was drawn up, which included a reorganization of the parish teams. In the Hanseatic sister cities of Hamburg and Lübeck , too , the city defense , which had been recognized as inadequate, was reformed at the beginning of the 17th century and a company system was introduced: in 1619 the Hamburg citizens 'companies were set up and in 1628 the Lübeck citizens' companies .

The reorganization of Bremen Militia, which lasted until 1607 comprised a subdivision into 20 approximately equal companies led by a respective Lt. (sometimes the company commanders were also captain called). An ensign , a sergeant , a leader, a sergeant maior (or sergeant senior ) and a sergeant minor (or sergeant junior ) acted as additional officers per company . Each company in turn consisted of 9 or 10 ranks with a Rottmeister or corporal as a leader. The four watchmen (in the rank of captains ) from the council were in command of all the companies . They also appointed the officers and non-commissioned officers of the companies and were responsible for dispute and disciplinary matters.

The companies were distributed among the four parishes in the old town, which at the same time formed their guard quarters . H. contained the gates and sections of the city fortifications that they had to guard. The division of the four guard quarters was based on the boundaries of the parishes (quarters), but was not always identical to these. To identify them, the 20 companies were given code letters - two companies with consecutive letters were assigned to a watch cycle of ten days at the same time.

Contemporary depiction of the officers of a citizen company from Amsterdam
( Thomas de Keyser , 1632)

Distribution of companies and rotten to the four parishes:

Parish Companies Rotten Identifier
Our dear women 4th 36 A, C, E, G
St. Ansgari 4th 36 N, P, R, T
St. Martini 2 18th I, L
St. Stephani 10 95 B, D, F, H, K, M, O, Q, S, U

In addition to the formal designation with code letters, it became common to name the companies according to prominent locations and squares (e.g. Company A as "Company on the market"). The Rotten, on the other hand, were usually named after their leaders (e.g. "Berent Oelrichs' Rotte"). Each company also had its own flag and motto , such as:

  • Noli me tangere (lat.'Don't touch me')
  • Concordia servat (Latin for 'unity protects')
  • The key indicates freedom, the sword of the lion the brave man
  • We are safe under these protectors
  • Freedom is what we strive for until we give up our mind

Companies from Vorstadt and Neustadt

Own companies were also set up in the suburbs of Bremen at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1637 the first suburban company was formed and in 1664 there were already four. A fifth company was formed in 1683 by the citizens who lived in front of the stone tower , i.e. outside the Landwehr that ran along the Dobben . She was released from guard duty and was therefore also referred to as a "free company". The residents of the Stephaniweide and the peasantry in Utbremen and Pagentorn had a similar special status, but due to their small number they did not form a company of their own. The suburban companies were not subordinate to the four watchmen (of the old town), but to the suburban lords . Parallel to the settlement of the Neustadt area on the left bank of the Weser as a result of the expansion of the city fortifications, a first Neustadt company was set up in 1638 . From 1654 there were four and from 1691 five. These units were also not directly subordinate to the watchmen, but to the lords of the Neustadt .

In addition to the citizen companies, the rifle company , which was formed from the young masters of the craft guilds, has existed in the old town - as a special formation - from time immemorial . It was considered an elite unit of the citizen militia, but only existed in 1664.

Tasks of the citizen companies

defense

Set up to protect the city in the event of war, the citizen troops had to be deployed in the 16th and 17th centuries in three defense cases to support the Bremen city military and the rifle company consisting of recruited professional soldiers : the siege of Bremen in the Schmalkaldic War (1547) and - after the restructuring - in the First Bremen-Swedish War (1654) and Second Bremen-Swedish War (1666).

Guard duty

Bremen fortifications in the 18th century

In peacetime, the companies were assigned guard and maintenance tasks for certain sections and gates of the city fortifications, so the companies of the Martini-Quartier were responsible for the gate on the Great Weser Bridge , those of the Liebfrauen-Quartier for the Easter gate , those of the Ansgari-Quartier for the Herdentor and that of the Stephani-Quartier for the Doventor .

In the so-called “guard roll” all citizens were recorded who had to perform guard duty and pay guard fees. Craftsmen paid an average of one to three Reichstaler per year , wealthy citizens four to ten. The money remained in the guard coffers of the individual companies, only a small percentage went to the guard chamber of the council. Due to the different financial strength of the company districts and the lack of a central accounting office, the companies were financially uneven - while some companies achieved large surpluses, others had to go into debt in order to be able to fulfill their tasks. This system also encouraged fraud and disputes between neighboring companies, which had to be mediated regularly by the watchmen.

Only residents of the city who had taken the citizenship oath were allowed to take over guard duty at the gates and on the ramparts; the foreign professional soldiers who were temporarily recruited by the city were excluded. In order to evade the duties of the watch, the wealthy members of the citizen companies often hired full-time watchmen to take their place. The reputation of these guards was, however, bad and their inadequate efficiency was often criticized by the city, for example the citizens' convention ruled in 1665 that "they could handle the beer can better than the gun."

Further tasks

In addition to the defense and guard service, the citizen companies were also used for representative purposes, in particular as an honor guard on state visits and other special occasions. Firefighting has also been one of the most important tasks of the vigilante guard since the Middle Ages. So they helped z. B. in the fight against the great cathedral fire of 1656. Each company had a syringe for this purpose and each gang had its own fire chief since the 16th century . The costs for the acquisition and maintenance of the syringe had to be paid from the company treasury. While in the 17th century the citizen companies still had mainly military tasks, in the 18th century they (and the administrative unit of the company districts) served more and more civilian tasks, such as collecting various taxes, organizing the poor and cleaning streets, as well as maintenance the fountain (the fountain of the Kleiner Roland was donated in 1737 by the 1st Neustadt Citizens Company).

resolution

With the French occupation of Bremen in 1811, the citizens' companies were dissolved in their previous form and 12 new companies were formed, which were essentially only responsible for fire fighting. After the end of the French era, the original companies were restored and used for guard duties as well as for the “de-fortification” of the city. In 1814, however, they were finally dissolved and replaced by a civil guard , which, however, no longer had any military tasks.

See also

literature

  • Andree Brumshagen: The Bremen city military in the 17th and 18th centuries . State Archives Bremen, Bremen 2010.
  • Johann Hermann Duntze : History of the free city of Bremen . Third volume, Heyse Verlag, Bremen 1848, p. 401 ff.
  • Johann Focke : From the Bremen city military . In: Bremisches Jahrbuch . Volume 19, Bremen 1900, p. 3 ff.
  • Klaus Schwarz: Companies, parishes and convents in Bremen 1606–1814 . In: Publications from the State Archives of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Volume 37, (Ed.) Karl H. Schwebel, Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 1969.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Johann Georg Kohl: Old and New Times. Episodes from the history of the city of Bremen . C. Ed. Müller, Bremen 1871, p. 83-84 .
  2. ^ Klaus Schwarz: Companies, parishes and convents in Bremen 1606–1814 . In: Karl H. Schwebel (Ed.): Publications from the State Archives of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . tape 37 . Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1871, ISBN 978-3-11-000041-2 , p. 10 .
  3. ^ Herbert Black Forest: The Great Bremen Lexicon . Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X , p. 581 .
  4. ↑ a b Klaus Schwarz: Companies, parishes and convents in Bremen 1606-1814 . In: Karl H. Schwebel (Ed.): Publications from the State Archives of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . tape 37 . Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1871, ISBN 978-3-11-000041-2 , p. 13 .
  5. ^ Werner Koos: The Focke Museum in Bremen . In: Museums of cultural history in Germany . tape 3 . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1969, ISBN 978-3-11-000041-2 , p. 25 .
  6. ^ Klaus Schwarz: Companies, parishes and convents in Bremen 1606–1814 . In: Karl H. Schwebel (Ed.): Publications from the State Archives of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . tape 37 . Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1871, ISBN 978-3-11-000041-2 , p. 61 .
  7. ^ Peter Koster: Chronicle of the Imperial Free Imperial and Hanseatic City of Bremen 1600–1700 . Temmen, Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-86108-687-5 , p. 282, 284, 287, 290 .
  8. ^ Peter Koster: Chronicle of the Imperial Free Imperial and Hanseatic City of Bremen 1600–1700 . Temmen, Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-86108-687-5 , p. 236 .
  9. ^ Herbert Black Forest: The Great Bremen Lexicon . Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X , p. 736 .