Second Margrave War
| date | 1552 to 1554 |
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| place | Holy Roman Empire |
| output | Defeat of the Principality of Brandenburg-Kulmbach |
| Parties to the conflict | |
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The Second Margrave War , also known as the Margravial War or Federal State War , was a war in the Holy Roman Empire from 1552 to 1554. Margrave Albrecht Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach primarily fought the (Catholic) monasteries and tried to gain supremacy in Franconia . Eventually he was defeated by an alliance of numerous princes.
prehistory
The First Margrave War (1449–1450), which Albrecht Achilles waged primarily against his neighbors, including the imperial city of Nuremberg , was not directly related to the Second Margrave War. What they had in common was the attempt by the margraves to expand their influence in Franconia and to assert claims against their regional competitor Nuremberg.
The Second Margrave War developed directly from the prince uprising . Albrecht's intentions were not only to fight Catholicism, which was also lucrative through looting and pillaging of the Hochstifte, but also to enlarge his sphere of influence in Franconia. He had the idea of a Duchy of Franconia under the rule of the Hohenzollern .
Course of war
War against the Franconian neighbors
The fighting was initially directed against its immediate neighbors. Although he besieged the imperial city of Nuremberg unsuccessfully , he devastated the surrounding area considerably. Numerous towns and mansions were looted, pillaged or destroyed. The cities of Lauf and Altdorf were particularly hard hit. Albrecht also remained against political interventions, e.g. B. from Saxony and Hesse to let go of Nuremberg, indomitable. He obliged Nuremberg to make high payments. He took the Forchheim fortress , occupied Forchheim and threatened the episcopal city of Bamberg . This had to surrender to the attacker on May 19, 1552. Finally he managed to occupy the imperial city of Schweinfurt , which remained an important base for him until the end of the war. He forced the Hochstifte Würzburg under Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt and Bamberg under Weigand von Redwitz to make high payments and forced them to cede considerable land to him. However, Emperor Charles V did not recognize these treaties and put Albrecht on hold . But when he had to rely on the assistance of Albrecht Alcibiades' troops for the siege of the fortress of Metz , he confirmed his claims. The promises of the beleaguered emperor did not last.
Trains against the principalities
During the uprising of the princes , the margrave set about moving against the French army in order to join them against the emperor. On the way, in the summer of 1552, he feuded the Rhenish bishops Sebastian von Heusenstamm of Mainz and Johann V. von Isenburg von Trier . Speyer (see also the history of the city of Speyer ), Worms , Mainz , Oppenheim , Metz , Verdun and Frankfurt were affected . He demanded a pillage of 150,000 guilders from Speyer Bishop Philipp von Flersheim and, when this was refused, destroyed the Madenburg and Hambach Castle , the ruins of which were to become a German symbol of freedom in 1832. The Passau Treaty , which was the aim of the prince uprising, withdrew Albrecht's Protestant comrades-in-arms and shook the position he had won against his Franconian neighbors, so he continued his campaign.
defeat
Albrecht Alcibiades, who knew how to measure himself more in armed conflicts than in diplomatic negotiations, had meanwhile turned many princes against him. His neighbors had come together to form the Franconian Confederation and an initially mediating group of princes, the Heidelberg Bund , finally merged with Albrecht's Franconian opponents.
The war had long since reached its home country. Troops from Nuremberg, Würzburg and Bamberg had recaptured parts of their property. The leader of the Nuremberg troops, Haug von Parsberg , succeeded in conquering opposing castles before taking part in the siege of Kulmbach. Troops from Braunschweig and Saxony arrived at Schweinfurt. Albrecht, on the other hand, had set out for Braunschweig and raised new troops in Lower Saxony. On July 9, 1553, the federal army defeated him in the battle of Sievershausen, which was costly for both sides . It was led by Moritz von Sachsen , who was fatally wounded in the battle, and Duke Heinrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , who lost two of his sons.
The way to Albrecht's home country was thus open. Troops from Braunschweig , Bohemia under King Ferdinand , Bamberg, Nuremberg, Würzburg and other parts of the empire devastated the region. Bayreuth and Hof went up in flames. The castles of the margravial home country were also fought over: Kulm , Berneck , Stein , Creußen , Böheimstein , Zwernitz , Streitberg and Hohenlandsberg were in some cases considerably destroyed, and Böheimstein has also been in ruins since then. Albrecht's residence city Kulmbach was completely destroyed on November 26, 1553, Konraditag . The Plassenburg under Joachim von Zedtwitz , residence and state fortress of the Franconian Hohenzollern, was besieged until June 1554 (see Siege of Kulmbach and the Plassenburg ). Heinrich IV von Plauen was one of the leaders of the besiegers of Hof and Kulmbach. The imperial ban was imposed on Albrecht, who was staying in Schweinfurt . In the battle of Schwarzach in June 1554, Albrecht suffered a defeat and in July 1554 had to hand over the Plassenburg fortress to the federal troops, who destroyed it. He fled to his sister at the court of the Baden margrave Karl II , where he died at a young age after a few years. After the margrave had been administered in a transitional phase by imperial sequesters , including the Bohemian fief chancellor Graf von Schlick , it came to Georg Friedrich , the margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach , in 1557 .
reception
The largest diorama in the world is in the German Tin Figure Museum on the Plassenburg . With 19,500 figures, it depicts the battle and destruction of Kulmbach in 1553.
literature
- Johann Heilmann : War history of Bavaria, Franconia, Palatinate and Swabia from 1506 to 1651 . Volume 1. Munich 1868. pp. 116-147.
- Kurt Stierstorfer: The Siege of Hof 1553 . Hof 2003. ISBN 3-928626-43-4 .
- Bayreuth margrave booklet . Bayreuth 1910. pp. 31-34. ( PDF download )
Individual evidence
- ^ Weber, Andreas Otto: The Franconian Hohenzollern and the Augsburg Religious Peace. In: Wüst, Wolfgang et al .: Der Augsburger Religionsfrieden 1555. Augsburg 2005. S. 319.