Truchsessian War

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Gebhard von Waldburg-Trauchburg, whose change to Protestantism triggered the war

The Truchsessian War was a conflict between 1583 and 1588, primarily between the electoral Cologne and Bavarian troops. It is also known as the Cologne War , Cologne War or Truchsesssche Wirren . The war foiled the attempt to transform the Archbishopric of Cologne into a hereditary, Protestant duchy .

occasion

The reason for the war was the change of denomination of the Archbishop of Cologne and Elector Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg and his attempt to transform Kurköln into a secular principality . He proclaimed the equality of denominations , presented the canons the commitment -free and injury to was then clergy reservation (a regulation of the Augsburg religious peace accused). After his marriage to the Protestant Countess Agnes von Mansfeld , Gebhard was deposed as archbishop on February 2, 1583, and on April 1, 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII. excommunicated .

Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben in a portrait

backgrounds

The friendship between Archbishop Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg and Count Adolf von Neuenahr from Moers (from the Neuenahr-Alpen line, who had married his 16-year-old aunt Anna Walburga von Neuenahr , widow from the Neuenahr-Moers line) was responsible for the development led to the Truchsessian War, of particular importance. Count Adolf's first contacts with Gebhard Truchsess came about when Count Hermann and Adolf from Moers, together with the Counts of Wetterau, supported Gebhard's election as Archbishop of Cologne (and thus elector) in the Cologne Cathedral Chapter in 1577. A closer relationship developed from this over time. The Counts of Neuenahr-Moers were committed supporters of the Reformation and opponents of Catholic teaching.

When Gebhard Truchsess fell seriously in love with the Countess and Protestant canon Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben in 1579 , Count Adolf was the one who made his Moers castle available to the couple for secret meetings. A cohabitation was out of the question for the countess, and her brothers put pressure on the archbishop to legalize the relationship through marriage. But he had been ordained a priest and was therefore under the compulsion of celibacy . However, Gebhard was initially prepared to renounce his archbishop's office and the associated benefices . His predecessor Salentin von Isenburg , who had also married after resigning from office, had already taken this step - however, Salentin was never ordained a priest.

Count Adolf and the Wetterau Counts - at their head Johann VI. von Nassau-Dillenburg - urged Gebhard to accept the Reformed denomination , to marry the countess and to transfer the archbishopric to secular rule . In terms of imperial law, such a step had to have consequences, because according to §18 of the Augsburg Religious Peace, the respective clerical ruler had to leave his office and territory if he changed his religion (keyword: “spiritual reservation”). The cathedral chapter would then be allowed to choose a person of the old religion instead.

Should Gebhard implement his plan, he would violate the law. In terms of religious politics, this case would be particularly explosive because the Archbishopric of Cologne was the mainstay of Catholicism in the north-west of the empire, with effects on the Westphalian monasteries of Münster and Paderborn and the Essen monastery . The balance of power in the empire could also be reversed if Electoral Cologne had become Protestant for future imperial elections - because with a Protestant majority in the Electoral College, even an Evangelical-minded emperor would have become conceivable.

Gebhard's plan, supported by the befriended counts, could only be successful if he found enough supporters in the empire, u. a. with the Lutheran imperial princes of Saxony , Hesse , Brandenburg and the Palatinate . Despite secret negotiations in the summer of 1582, the approval of these princes failed to materialize - Gebhard did not see himself as a Lutheran , but as a Calvinist .

When the Count of Moers had Reformed preachers appear in his hereditary bailiwick near Cologne in June 1582 - who were, however, driven out by cannon shots - he received support for the archbishop from Count Arnold von Bentheim , Hermann-Adolf zu Solms, and Wirich von Daun-Falkenstein , added the Wetterau counts; the Truchsessische Allianz felt strong enough to implement their plan.

On November 19, 1582, Gebhard openly converted to the Reformed denomination and allowed his subjects to confess. On February 22, 1583, he married Countess Mansfeld in Bonn . Thereupon the Pope excommunicated him and Emperor Rudolf II removed him from his office as elector. In May 1583, the cathedral chapter elected Ernst von Wittelsbach , brother of the Duke of Bavaria, as the new archbishop. Since Gebhard Truchsess did not recognize his dismissal, the so-called "Truchsessian War" broke out.

course

Map of the Archbishopric and Electorate of Cologne. The state borders and the rivers correspond to today's course.

As a result, violent armed conflicts broke out in the Rhineland between the supporters of Gebhard on the one hand (Count Adolf von Moers, the Wetterau counts, Electoral Palatinate troops, at times also the Orange Netherlands ), and on the opposing side Bavarian and Spanish troops - in particular from the Spanish-ruled parts of the Netherlands . The latter had been formally called in by the Cologne Cathedral Chapter after it had elected Ernst of Bavaria as Archbishop of Cologne and successor to Gebhard on May 23, 1583. The military on whom Ernst relied in the struggle for the politically important Electorate and Archbishopric of Cologne included u. a. Robert von Lynden , as well as troops of the choir bishop Friedrich von Sachsen-Lauenburg and the former Cologne archbishop Salentin von Isenburg , since his resignation as archbishop secular count of the Grenzauer line of the house Isenburg .

Battle of Hüls (1583) drawing by the artist Franz Hogenberg from the 16th century
Destruction of the Godesburg during the Truchsessian War

In the course of the fighting a number of cities were besieged and looted, such as Deutz , which was completely destroyed, Rheinberg and Linz in 1583. With the help of his friend Adolf von Neuenahr and Moers , on November 19, 1583, at the Battle of Hüls, became the small one Glory of Hüls taken by Gebhard's followers.

After conquering the Godesburg in Godesberg on December 7th, July / December 17, 1583 greg. By means of Bavarian-Spanish troops Gebhard first fled to Westphalia , where he resided in the electoral palace at Werl and where his people in the local parish church destroyed and plundered the altars and art treasures in an iconoclasm . Hermann von Hatzfeld , Droste zu Balve , was a bitter opponent of Archbishop Gebhard at this time. Looting and pillage took place in Uerdingen in 1583 and 1584 , while the crews were constantly changing.

In 1585, Count Adolf from Moers, fighting on Gebhard's side, conquered the city of Neuss and destroyed a number of smaller castles and fortified courtyards in the Neuss area. The castle of the Lords of Wevelinghoven ( in today's "Zubend", destroyed in 1587 ), Hülchrath Castle ( conquered by Spanish troops in 1583 ) and Bedburg Castle ( conquered in 1585 ) should be mentioned here. The latter two were the largest fortifications that were partially destroyed during the fighting. After defeats in Westphalia and the loss of Recklinghausen , also in 1585, Gebhard had to flee to the Netherlands . The following summer Neuss was besieged by the Flanders Army under Alessandro Farnese , recaptured and almost completely destroyed by mass murder, looting and pillage.

Gebhard sat through allies such as the Count von Moers, who destroyed the Kamp monastery in Cologne in 1586 , or Martin Schenk von Nideggen , who won the battle of Werl , and in particular with the help of Dutch troops who, among other things, conquered Bonn on December 23, 1587 the war continued. After a long siege , he lost the city of Bonn again in 1588. He finally had to give up the fight in 1588 after the Netherlands stopped supporting his cause. This had been promoted because the Dutch ally Wilhelm I of Orange fell out with Gebhard's previous supporter, Johann Casimir from the Electoral Palatinate , and the latter withdrew his seven thousand men due to lack of funds.

Count Adolf von Moers had to leave his county in 1586, which had been taken by Catholic-Spanish troops. He fled to the Netherlands and became governor of the Gelderland; on October 18, 1589, he was killed in an accident involving powder kegs in Arnhem .

Last years

After the task, Gebhard moved with his countess to Strasbourg and became Protestant cathedral dean at the court of Duke Friedrich I of Württemberg . He died in Strasbourg in 1601 and was buried in the Strasbourg Cathedral. In his will, Gebhard designated Duke Friedrich as his heir for the benefits he had done and entrusted him with the care and protection of his widow. Until her death in 1637, Agnes lived under the protection of the Württemberg dukes in Württemberg. She was buried in Sulzbach .

Junkersdorf massacre

On July 3, 1586, a convoy from Bergheim to Cologne, consisting of around 1000 people, mainly farmers and traders on the way to the weekly market and Cologne citizens on their return to the city. Troops of the Archbishopric from Worringen and Rodenkirchen under the command of Colonel Marco di Marcio lay in wait for the convoy between Junkersdorf and Melaten and attacked it in the early afternoon. Of those in the convoy, 200 were killed, 100 wounded and 50 captured. The troops of the archbishopric, who were friends with Cologne, acted on their own orders to steal money and goods. Ernst von Bayern sent commissioners to investigate the incident. Some of those responsible were subsequently executed. The event had little significance for the war itself, but it sparked great outrage. The elector apologized to the citizens of Cologne for the behavior of his troops and introduced the death penalty for attacks on travelers.

consequences

The victory of the Catholic party prevented a possible collapse of Catholicism in the north-west of the empire . Especially the dioceses of Münster , Paderborn , Osnabrück and Minden , all of which were located in the middle of Protestant territories, were strengthened. Furthermore, the Habsburg - Wittelsbacher position in the empire was considerably upgraded, since the new Archbishop Ernst von Bayern was a son of Duke Albrecht V and brother of Wilhelm the Pious .

The war represented a significant step towards the solution of denominational disputes through armed force. Similar conflicts had previously been largely resolved peacefully since the Peace of Augsburg . In addition, with the inclusion of Spanish, Dutch-Spanish and Dutch troops, the German denominational problem began to internationalize , which culminated in the Thirty Years' War .

As a long-term consequence of the war, the Archbishopric of Cologne and with it a vote in the Kurkolleg in secondary school went to the House of Wittelsbach, which meant an enormous gain in power in the empire for the Bavarian ruling family. Kurköln remained in Wittelsbacher hands until 1761.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otto Ottsen: Die Geschichte der Stadt Moers Verlag: Steiger, Moers, 1950, p. 285, ISBN 3-921564-06-9
  2. ↑ Joachim Daebel: The Reformation in the county Moers 1527-1581 Publisher: Neukirchener Verlag mbH, Neukirchen, 2011, p 219, ISBN 978-3-7887-2592-1
  3. ↑ Joachim Daebel: The Reformation in the County of Moers 1527-1581 Publisher: Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2011, p. 220, ISBN 978-3-7887-2592-1
  4. ^ A b Karl Hirschberg: Historical journey through the county of Moers Publisher: Steiger, Moers, 1975, p. 63
  5. ^ Karl Hirschberg: Historical journey through the county of Moers Verlag: Steiger, Moers, 1975, p. 64
  6. ↑ a b c Joachim Daebel: The Reformation in the County of Moers 1527-1581 Publisher: Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2011, p. 221, ISBN 978-3-7887-2592-1
  7. ^ Karl Hirschberg: Historical journey through the county of Moers Publisher: Steiger, Moers, 1975, p. 68
  8. ↑ a b Joachim Daebel: The Reformation in the Grafschaft Moers 1527-1581 Publisher: Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2011, p. 222, ISBN 978-3-7887-2592-1
  9. ↑ Joachim Daebel: The Reformation in the Grafschaft Moers 1527-1581 Publisher: Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2011, p. 222 ff, ISBN 978-3-7887-2592-1 .
  10. ↑ Joachim Daebel: The Reformation in the Grafschaft Moers 1527-1581 Publisher: Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2011, p. 223, ISBN 978-3-7887-2592-1 .
  11. ↑ Joachim Daebel: The Reformation 1527-1581 in the county Moers Publisher: Neukirchener Verlag mbH, Neukirchen, 2011, pp 221-224.
  12. ^ Karl Hirschberg: Historical journey through the county of Moers Publisher: Steiger, Moers, 1975, p. 72.
  13. ^ Heidemarie Wünsch: Agnes von Mansfeld , accessed on January 7, 2015.
  14. ↑ Carl Dietma: Veedelsgeschichten: "Greuliche Mörderei bei Junkersdorf". In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger. November 7, 2011, accessed November 14, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Peter Claus Hartmann : Bavaria's way into the present. From tribal duchy to free state today. 3. Edition. Pustet, Regensburg 2012, p. 225.