Casimir Treaty
The Casimir Treaty was a contract concluded in 1521 between the Count of Henneberg - Schleusingen and the Landgrave of Hesse through the mediation of Margrave Kasimir von Brandenburg-Kulmbach in Worms .
In the main, it regulated the transition of the Schmalkalden rule to the sole ownership of the surviving ruling house in the event of the childless death of the other. This case occurred with the death of Count Georg Ernst von Henneberg-Schleusingen in 1583, as a result of which the Schmalkalden rule passed into sole possession of Hesse.
history
background
After the death of Count Heinrich VIII. , Son of Count Berthold VII. , In 1347 the Henneberg-Schleusingen estate was divided between Heinrich's widow Jutta von Brandenburg and his brother Johann I von Henneberg-Schleusingen, with the prince widow u. a. the Schmalkalden (with city and department Schmalkalden and the centering Brotterode), the Bailiwick Herrenbreitungen , half fortress Sharp Castle and half the centering Benshausen received. In a second division of the estate among the three daughters of Heinrich VIII and Jutta von Brandenburg, these areas came to Sophie von Henneberg († 1372) and her husband, the Nuremberg burgrave Albrecht († 1361). The repurchase of the territories that came to Burgrave Albrecht by Elisabeth von Henneberg-Schleusingen born von Leuchtenberg († 1361), the widow of Count Johann I von Henneberg-Schleusingen, was only able to succeed in 1360 because Johann's maternal cousin, Landgrave Heinrich II of Hesse († 1376) contributed half of the purchase price and for it received the ideal half in the areas. This established the Hessian-Henneberg condominium over the rule of Schmalkalden, the Vogtei Herrenbreitungen, half of the fortress Scharfenburg and half of Benshausen.
In the period that followed, there were several disputes between the Landgraviate of Hesse and the County of Henneberg-Schleusingen over the management of the condominium. Another point of contention was the far-away Hennberg fiefs around Dornberg Castle and Gross-Gerau near Darmstadt, which were lent to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen . The dispute began when, after the death of the last Count von Katzenelnbogen in 1479, his land was passed on to her husband, Landgrave Heinrich III, via her heir Anna von Katzenelnbogen . came from Hessen and he did not feel obliged to receive the fiefdoms of Dornberg and Gross-Gerau , which had now fallen back de jure to Henneberg , from Henneberg as a fiefdom, and simply took possession of them as an allod .
The Casimir Treaty
After violent disputes about the collection of the wine tariff from the Hessian side in the jointly administered area around Schmalkalden, the "Casimir Treaty" between the Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous of Hesse and the Count Count was concluded on April 10, 1521 in Worms with the mediation of Margrave Kasimir von Brandenburg-Kulmbach William VI. completed by Henneberg-Schleusingen.
This said that the county of Henneberg -Schleusingen waived its feudal claims to Schloss Dornberg and the neighboring Groß-Gerau in favor of Hesse and should receive the remaining half of the city and office of Schmalkalden in the event of the extinction of one of the two princely houses . In the case of the extinction of the House of Hesse, Groß-Gerau and Dornberg also fall back to Henneberg. On the other hand, the landgrave is only allowed to raise the disputed customs duties in the common areas until Michaelis 1521, in addition he cedes a quarter of his property in Barchfeld and a quarter of the feudal estate in Solz to Henneberg.
Further contracts
The Casimir Treaty was followed in 1527 by a contract for the acceptance of the appellation and the exercise of the patronage right by Hesse over the city and the office of Schmalkalden. In 1531 an agreement was reached on the collection of state taxes in the jointly administered areas. In 1567 the keep over Schmalkalden, Scharfenburg and Barchfeld was renewed. Furthermore, provisions were made about the hereditary homage to be paid in the city and court of Schmalkalden and the three offices of Herrenbreitungen, Benshausen, Brotterode and the municipality of Barchfeld.
The Casimir Treaty was supplemented and updated again in 1573. As a result, Hessen-Kassel, which arose from the division of the Landgraviate of Hessen in 1567, and Henneberg-Schleusingen united their administrations in the common territory.
Entry into the contract case in 1583
In 1583 the last Count of Henneberg, Georg Ernst, was dying. Between the heirs, the Landgraves of Hessen-Kassel, and the Ernestine dukes of Saxony, a dispute broke out over the Henneberg area, since in 1554 the Ernestines with the Kahla Treaty in the event of the Henneberg extinction the claim to the entire Henneberg exclusive possession had secured.
A point of contention was that the Bailiwick of Herrenbreitungen was not part of the "Casimir Treaty" of 1521, but had been part of the Landgraviate of Hesse since 1360. The dispute could be resolved with the conclusion of the Salzung Treaty in 1583, whereby the Vogtei Herrenbreitungen was awarded to the House of Hessen-Kassel.
Shortly afterwards Georg Ernst von Henneberg died and the agreements of the Casimirian and Salzunger Treaties came into force. Since then, the city and office of Schmalkalden, as well as the offices of Herrenbreitungen, Brotterode and half of Benshausen, as well as the town of Barchfeld, belonged to the completely Hessian rule of Schmalkalden .