Calendar unrest in Riga

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As calendar unrest in Riga ( Latvian Kalendāra nemieri Rīgā ), uprising protests of the citizens of Riga in the years 1584–1589 against the introduction of the Gregorian calendar are called.

The new calendar was in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. has been prescribed. In October of the same year the first Catholic countries took it over by omitting ten days in the date series; the rest took over the reform over the next few years. Most Protestant territories did not follow until 1700, the last Orthodox countries even not until 1918.

In 1581 Riga, which had embraced the Lutheran Reformation very early on, submitted to the Polish-Lithuanian King Stephan Báthory after Russian attacks during the Livonian War . In consideration of the new political situation, the city council ordered the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in October 1584. This made the old Julian calendar both a denominational and a patriotic symbol. A large part of the population refused to obey the order. At Christmas of the new calendar calculation, the Lutheran churches remained empty, the craftsmen worked in their workshops, and the Jacob's Church , which was forcibly handed over to the Catholics, was devastated by an angry crowd. Ten days later, on the Julian Christmas date, as well as at the Julian New Year, devotions and celebrations were held demonstratively. In the period that followed, there were even executions because of the calendar issue. It was not until June 1589 that the unrest ended under military pressure. At the Diet of 1591, through the mediation of the Protestant city syndic David Hilchen, a contract was signed that confirmed the maintenance of the Julian calendar and some of the old freedoms of the city of Riga. After the Swedish conquest in 1621 , the Church of St. James became Lutheran again.

Due to the incorporation into the Russian Empire in the middle of the 18th century, the Gregorian calendar was finally introduced in February 1918.

literature

  • Gert von Pistohlkors (ed.): German history in Eastern Europe. Baltic countries. Siedler, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-88680-214-0 , p. 185.
  • Anna Ziemlewska: "Rozruchy kalendarzowe" w Rydze (1584–1589). In: Zapiski Historyczne. 71/1 (2006), ISSN  0044-1791 , pp. 107–124 (German: "Die Kalenderunruhen" in Riga [1584–1589] ).

Web links

  • KH von Busse: Herrmann's von Bevern handwritten extracts from Johann Reckmann's chronicle of the city of Riga from 1574–1589. In: Friedrich Georg von Bunge (Ed.): Archives for the history of Liv, Esth and Curland. With the support of the Estonian Literary Society. Volume IV. Kluge, Dorpat 1845, OCLC 247925613 , pp. 273–290, here 274 ( digitized in the Google book search) (is cited in the PDF by P. Teuthorn, p. 2, note 2).
  • P [eter] T [euthorn]: The calendar unrest in Riga (1583–1589). In: teuthorn.net. Genealogy feature section, July 9, 2011
  • Peter Teuthorn: A schoolmaster in the second half of the 16th century. Supplements to Stephanus Teuthorn Frankenhusanus. 2011 ( teu-net.de PDF; 2.8 MB; password: TeuNet), accessed on November 23, 2016 (p. 4–6: The calendar unrest in Riga, etc.).
  • Hilchen, David in the German biography . Articles from ADB and NDB with different information on the calendar unrest