The great year of Erfurt

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The great year of Erfurt is the summary term for the revolt of the city population of Erfurt against their councilors, which began in 1509 .

The history

The late medieval city of Erfurt had risen to become one of the largest and most important cities in the empire in the 15th century thanks to the hunting trade and the imperial trade fair privilege. Erfurt always had to defend its supremacy in Thuringia against the Wettins and the neighboring counties, for which reason it was involved in numerous conflicts as a result. For the benefit of its economic interests, the city government had also made considerable investments to get strategically important castles into their hands.

Feuds and warlike entanglements

The citizens of Erfurt had already been weakened by numerous feuds during the Saxon fratricidal war ; the protection treaties concluded in 1483 with the Saxon dukes and the Archdiocese of Mainz demanded high annual protection funds from the city, the declining economic power and wrong decisions by the councilors led to the accumulation of further debts which at the beginning of 1509 had totaled the unimaginable sum of 550,000 guilders.

Loss of trade fair privileges

The granting of the imperial trade fair privilege to the competing trading city of Leipzig by the Roman-German King and later Emperor Maximilian I in 1497 and the tightening of these regulations in 1507 broke Erfurt's economic strength lastingly. The income necessary for the city administration and the warfare did not materialize.

Outbreak of the riots

The Erfurt councilor Heinrich Kellner had significant influence on the city's financial affairs until 1509, he also had the costly construction of the Cyriaksburg and was seen as the originator of the pledge of the Kapellendorf moated castle on May 5, 1508, which was unfavorable for Erfurt . In order to prevent the insolvency of the city treasury, which had been kept secret until then, he had asked the city population to collect additional taxes. The associated outrage of the craftsmen, day laborers and the poor in the city led to the formation of the Black Rotte - a secret society of young craftsmen with the aim of overthrowing waiters. This conspiracy was betrayed and Kellner had his opponents incarcerated.

Councilor Kellner's end

When the insolvency of the city treasury became public at the next appointment on June 9, 1509, and the debt had already risen to 600,000 guilders , representatives of the guilds and the city poor stormed the council chamber to disempower the councilors. Kellner, who had sparked the unrest with an arrogant and provocative speech in the council chamber, initially managed to escape.

“Who is the church? - This is the parish! ”This is what Obervierherr Heinrich Kellner hurled at himself on June 9th, 1509, at the angry citizens who stormed the council chamber. In these words lay the self-confidence of a patrician ruling class of rich merchants and hunters who determined the fortunes of the city. However, they had driven Erfurt to ruin in the previous decades, which now aroused popular anger. This went down in history as a “great year”.

Startled by the unrest in the city, the Electors of Mainz and the Saxon dukes began a game of intrigue to consolidate their influence in the city. Here Mainz made pacts with the guilds, the dukes supported the noble families and councilors.

After his capture, Kellner's fate was sealed, he was hanged on the Galgenberg on June 28, 1509 after painful torture and public condemnation.

Intrigue of the dukes

The ruling councilors could not hold out against the interests and the numerical superiority of the city population, many left the city for a time and thus weakened the position of the Saxon dukes.

Establishment of a Landwehr over the Thuringian Forest

In order to bring the city, which was in dire economic straits, back to its knees, the Saxon dukes started a trade war against Erfurt. Newly built barriers made the trade routes to the south and west impassable for Erfurt goods. By 1512, an almost closed Landwehr was built along the Rennsteig from Ilmenau to the Werra near Creuzburg , and the existing Werra bridges and fords from Treffurt to Barchfeld were secured.

Unrest broke out again - 1510

Contemporary leaflet on the Erfurt revolt

The university based in Erfurt was an important economic factor for the city, the humanists teaching in Erfurt around 1500 attracted students from all parts of Europe.

The students, who often came from wealthy backgrounds, were the reason for the renewed outbreak of the unrest in Erfurt in 1510. By openly making pacts with the expelled councilors and displaying their wealth in a provocative manner, they triggered a second wave of violence, which found its way into the city chronicle as Erfurt student heat.

The Erfurt Collegium Maius and other university buildings were stormed and damaged by the craftsmen, and many students left Erfurt afterwards. Until 1514 it was fermenting in the city: a Doctor Berthold Bobezahn , City Counsel and member of the University came into conflict with the Kannengießer Hans Kuehn . Under pressure from the guilds was Bobezahn immediately imprisoned, tortured and broken on the wheel , which his counsel payable councilor Taubach was beheaded .

Consequences of the revolt

The reputation of the city of Erfurt and the economic situation were ruined by the events of the great year . In addition, the citizens had to prepare for a long trade war with the Saxon dukes, the city was already largely surrounded by hostile neighbors. The economic blockade that was only lifted with the Naumburg Treaty of 1516 had caused considerable damage to the city.

reception

The great year of Erfurt is one of the events painted by Johann Peter Theodor Janssen in his six-part cycle of themes on the history of the city of Erfurt. The paintings can be found today in the ballroom of the Erfurt town hall .

literature

  • Carl August Hugo Burkhardt: The great year in Erfurt and its consequences 1509-1523 . In: Archives for Saxon History, Vol. XII, Dresden 1877, pp. 396–400.
  • Wilhelm von Tettau: Erfurt in its past and present. Historical-topographical guide through the city. Erfurt, Villaret 1868, pp. 8-12. (2nd edition 1880)
  • Ulman Weiß: The great year in Erfurt. In: Communications of the Association for the History and Archeology of Erfurt 71 (2010). Pp. 23-35.
  • Ulman Weiß: The great year in Erfurt. In: City and History. Journal for Erfurt (SuG), No. 42, 2009, pp. 22–23.
  • Theodor Neubauer : The great year in Erfurt . Thüringer Volksverlag, Weimar 1948, 108 pages.
  • Ludwig Bechstein : The great year in Erfurt. Historical-romantic novel from the 16th century. (= Library of the complete literature at home and abroad; 1282/1287), Hendel, Halle an der Saale 1899, 471 pages. (2nd edition 1928 with 357 pages)
  • Karl Reineck: Erfurt and the great year. A historical picture , Hamburg 1893, 56 pages.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Hans Patze , Peter Aufgebauer (Ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 9: Thuringia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 313). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-520-31302-2 , pp. 110-111.
  2. ^ Steffen Raßloff : History of the city of Erfurt . Erfurt 2012, ISBN 978-3-95400-044-9 , p. 49 ff.
  3. Councilor - in literature the term "four men" is used for the four most important councilors. In 1509, Kellner was the most powerful of these four men.
  4. Steffen Raßloff: "The great year of Erfurt": The murals in the town hall festival hall (7): Uprising of the citizenship 1509/10. In: Erfurt-Web.de. February 22, 2015, accessed January 25, 2019 .
  5. Heinrich Heß: The Thuringian Forest in ancient times (reprint) . Rockstuhl, 1999, p. 57-72 .
  6. Raßloff p. 38 f
  7. Raßloff p. 43