Hammelburg contract

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The Hammelburg Treaty is a contract concluded in Hammelburg in 1530 between the Erfurt city council and the Archbishop of Mainz . It is considered to be the first treaty in the Holy Roman Empire that regulates the coexistence of Catholics and Protestants in one territory.

prehistory

The Reformation gained a foothold very early in the city ​​of Erfurt, which belongs to the Mainz ore monastery. Aided by the humanistic university and numerous printing works, the new teaching was spread from here immediately after Martin Luther's break with the Roman Church in 1520. In 1521 Luther preached in the Augustinian Church , in 1522 in the Merchant Church . In 1525/26 all of the Old Believers were expelled from the city and the Catholic rite was no longer practiced.

Thereupon the Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht von Brandenburg , demanded the restoration of all his rights. The Swabian League , which had put down the peasant uprising in 1525 , stood on his side and threatened violence. The matter dragged on until a compromise was finally negotiated on neutral ground in the town of Hammelburg, which belongs to the Fulda monastery .

Content of the contract

It was agreed that the city council would continue to pay homage to the sovereign and swear allegiance. The two collegiate churches Dom and Severi as well as the Peterskloster were to be returned to the Catholic rite and should be directly subordinate to the Archbishop. The parish churches should be divided between the denominational parties. The Catholics were left with the All Saints Church , Lorenz Church , Nikolai Church and Wigbert Church, and outside the walls the Martini extra muros and the Neuwerk Church . The Protestants also received four parish churches within the city with the Andreas , Kaufmann , Thomas and Reglerkirche . The monasteries, as far as they were still in the possession of the orders, were to be retained. This affected the four nunneries, the Carthusian monastery and the Schottenkloster with church. Preacher's monastery , Augustinian monastery , barefoot monastery and ruler's monastery could keep their buildings, but had to leave the churches to the Protestants. The city became so biconfessional and has remained so to this day.

literature

  • Birgit Emich : Two truths in one city? , in: Controversy & Compromise, ed. Eckhard Leuschner, Falko Bornschein and Kai Uwe Schierz, Dresden 2015