104 men uprising
The uprising of the 104 men (also called the "one hundred and four") was a revolt in Bremen in 1532. The body of the 104 was the first to represent the entire citizenship of Bremen.
history
The uprising of 104 men was not the first popular uprising in Bremen. As early as 1365/66, guilds and the lower classes had protested in the so-called banner run against the fact that the class of rich merchants presumed to determine the politics of the community alone.
First riots
From 1530 to 1532, during the term of office of Mayor Daniel von Büren the Elder, there were revolutionary unrest among the urban lower classes of Bremen, which was sparked by the use and documentary evidence of ownership of the Bürgerweide . Two mayors, five councilors, the cathedral chapter and the Teutonic order commander could not prove their alleged particular rights to the use of the citizen pasture, which was defined in 1159 in the pasture letter of Archbishop Hartwig I as common land area . The ideas of the Reformation with equal rights for all people and the poor social conditions of the lower class also had an influence.
Swancke calls for citizen representation
The Eltermann Heinrich Swancke called in spring 1530 more rights for the community leader and a 75-member citizens' representation. Even his propagated demands led to Swancke being sentenced to death for violating the statutes of 1433 and the Bremen citizens' oath and then pardoned to banishment; Displeasure arose.
Commander's death
First, the anger of the masses against Rolf von Bardewisch , Commander of the Teutonic Order and co-owner of the Bürgerweiden. He and five of his servants were murdered on May 10, 1531 and the commandery was devastated. The city then had to grant the commander's family high compensation; this led to new resentment.
Community committee instead of council committee
The 16-member citizens' pasture committee formed in August 1530 (four members each for the Bremen council , merchants, guilds and the community representatives of the four parishes ) was replaced in November 1531 by a community committee with 40 members; ten each from the four parishes. The goldsmith Johann Dove came to the fore with his demands.
Excerpt from the cathedral chapter
In November 1531 there were serious clashes between the citizens and the cathedral chapter . The community's new civic pasture committee demanded that the cathedral chapter leave the use of the civic pasture fully to the citizens if they could not prove their own claims to ownership by documents. A "commander's trip" as an act of violence was threatened. The cathedral chapter then left the city for Verden .
The 104 as the first citizenship
In January 1532, the Bremen council was forced to expand the previous citizens' pasture committee from 40 to 104 elected men, 26 representatives from each of the four parishes, under threat of the "Komtur-Reise" . According to the certificate of January 13, 1532, sealed by Mayor von Borken, this body was allowed to have a say in almost all urban matters. The 104 represented the first Bremen citizenship . The spokesman for the 104 was Johann Dove.
Reformation in Bremen
In the cathedral could only be preached nor Protestant since March 23, the 1,532th In an old description of this it says: “ The 104 men slapped the books of the canons and vicarages assembled in the choir who were about to sing their canonical hours, threatened them to remain silent, overturned their desks and forced them to to leave the choir. They gave way to violence and withdrew from the city under the leadership of the Provost Franz Grambeke ”.
Parents disempowered, Schütting expropriated
At the end of January 1532 a violent dispute broke out over the property of the merchants' association. The 104 suspected an abuse of the barrel and beacon money for the purchase of the bulk or expensive parties. The parents in Bremen , heads of the merchants, lost their power. The 104 took over the administration of the pouring and regulated the tonnage money on their own.
Mayors, councilors and preachers evade
The four mayors of the city, six councilors, the council secretary and some rich citizens fled to Bederkesa in Bremen after warnings . Representatives of the 104 tried in vain to persuade them to return.
The evangelical preacher Jacobus Probst from the Church of Our Lady described the work of the 104 as a sin and the "work of Satan". On April 30th, he and Johann Timann from the Martinikirche left the city.
The citizens and the 104 fell out
Letters from the council members who had fled to the four parishes caused a controversial discussion in Bremen. Those who had escaped demanded the dissolution of 104 and promised a reform of Bremen's city law from 1433, an arbitration because of the citizen pasture and an amnesty by an arbitration tribunal. With new letters, those who escaped successfully split the mood in the city. More councilors left the city. The conservative citizens gathered and organized. The mood was heated again. The parishes of St. Stephani and St. Ansgarii stood for the democratic reforms that had been initiated, but the parishes of St. Martini and Unser Lieben Frauen supported the council that had escaped and were now in favor of the abolition of the 104th The citizens' interest slackened, and of the 104 were only around 50 active. The parish of St. Ansgarii also fell at the end of August. Except for Johann Dove (Swancke died of the plague), there was a lack of powerful leaders. But he had to realize that the 104 had now lost the majority. On August 28th, gunmen from the captain of the city took control. Dove was forced to hand over the sealed charter of the establishment of the 104. The first truly democratic constitution was pierced with a knife and declared invalid.
Restoration of the power of the council
The council had managed to regain power. He solemnly returned to Bremen on September 5th. Mayor von Büren announced a reformed order based on the Bremen city law of 1433. He promised an amnesty, but on December 2, 1532 the spokesman for the 104, the goldsmith Johann Dove, was sentenced and executed on flimsy grounds . Other members of the 104 were also executed, and 22 members of the 104 escaped and lost their property. In fact, it was then confirmed that the old city law from 1433 "should continue to apply for ever". On February 1, 1533, the merchants solemnly received the Schütting back. In 1534, with the constitution of the " Neue Eintracht ", the powers of the council were even strengthened and the Bremen citizens' oath was confirmed, supplemented by these "reforms".
The power struggle, whether according to Bremen city law, the council was still "powerful" or whether a balance could arise between the council and the community, had been decided in favor of the council and the upper classes.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide to the Cathedral Museum , p. 50.
literature
- Herbert Black Forest : History of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Volume I. Edition Temmen, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-86108-283-7 , pp. 184-206.
- Herbert Black Forest: The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .
- Asmut Brückmann: ... a defeat for the "common man". The uprising of the 104 men in Bremen and its failure. In: Practice History. Issue 1, 1991, p. 33.
- Detlev G. Gross (ed.), Ingrid Weibezahn: Treasures from the Bremen St. Petri Cathedral - guide through the Cathedral Museum. 1st edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2005, ISBN 3-86108-540-2 .