Hessian fratricidal war

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hessian Fratricidal War of 1469 was the climax of the inheritance disputes between the two eldest sons of the Hessian Landgrave Ludwig I , who died in 1458 , the Landgrave Ludwig II (* 1438; † 1471) and Heinrich III. (* 1440; † 1483).

When Ludwig I died on January 17, 1458, he left no binding inheritance regulation, but had previously suggested to his two firstborn sons to share their inheritance fraternally, with Lower Hesse going to Ludwig and Upper Hesse to Heinrich. The brothers agreed in principle in 1460 that Ludwig received Niederhessen and the Werra area with Eschwege and Sontra , while Heinrich got Oberhessen and the former county of Ziegenhain . However, a number of detailed questions remained unanswered, in particular with regard to the precise demarcation of boundaries and various sovereign rights. Final clarification of these questions was postponed for four years until 1464.

The dispute, which then broke out again, could not be resolved despite repeated negotiations and attempts at mediation and finally culminated in open war in 1469, in which Kurmainz took Heinrich's side. Ludwig, however, had the stronger hand, probably because of his recruitment of Bohemian mercenaries. His troops and allies burned Borken and Schwarzenborn , destroyed, after a long siege, the Mainz castle Jesberg and the castle Schönstein , which at that time belonged to Heinrich , and devastated the castle Hauneck .

Only then did the brother of the two opponents, Hermann , who later became Archbishop of Cologne , and the Hessian estates succeed in reaching an agreement. Repeated negotiations, mostly in the Spieskappel monastery near Frielendorf , in the border area between the two parts of the country, ultimately led to success, which was sealed at a state parliament of the Hessian estates in May 1470 at the spit tower near Spieskappel.

Thirty years later, with the death of Heinrich's son Wilhelm III. , the two parts of the country were reunited, in the hands of Ludwig's son Wilhelm II.

literature