War of the Lüneburg Succession

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The coat of arms of the Principality of Lüneburg.

The War of the Lüneburg Succession was a conflict that broke out in 1370 over the succession in the Principality of Lüneburg . After Wilhelm II of Lüneburg died in 1369 without male descendants, the older Lüneburg house became extinct . According to the Guelph House Laws, Duke Magnus II. Torquatus from Brunswick would have been entitled to inheritance, but Emperor Karl IV. Considered the imperial fiefdom to have reverted to the Reich and enfeoffed Albrecht von Sachsen-Wittenberg and his uncle Wenzel with the principality, which triggered the war.

The city of Lüneburg supported the Wittenbergers, took the opportunity to evade the direct reach of the duke and on February 1, 1371 destroyed the ducal castle on the Kalkberg . This forced the duke to move his residence to Celle . An attempt on October 21, 1371 to defeat Lüneburg militarily on Ursulatag and to secure the old ducal rights, failed. In the military conflicts in the following years, neither the Brunswick nor the Wittenbergers were able to enforce their claims, and it was not until the Peace of Hanover in 1373 that the war ended, at least for the time being.

According to the agreements made there, the Guelphs and the Wittenbergers were to take turns in the reign. This contract was additionally secured by the marriage of the two eldest sons of Magnus Torquatus , who died in 1373 , Friedrich and Bernhard I , with the two daughters of Wenceslas and the marriage of Magnus' widow to Albrecht von Sachsen-Wittenberg. However, the younger brother of Friedrich and Bernhard, Heinrich der Milde , rejected the agreements and carried on the war. After the battle of Winsen and the death of Wenceslas in 1388, rule in the principality was granted to the Welfenhaus in accordance with the provisions of the Hanover Treaty of 1374. In 1389 there was a hereditary brotherhood agreement between the Guelphs and the Ascanians, with which the agreement of 1374 was repealed and the principality was finally secured to the Guelphs.

The War of Succession

Prehistory of the War of Succession

In 1355, Duke Wilhelm of Lüneburg married his daughter Mechtild to her cousin Ludwig, the heir to the throne in the Principality of Braunschweig , and named him his heir and successor in Lüneburg . In the event that Ludwig died before him, Wilhelm retained the right to choose a successor from among his brothers. In the same year, however , Emperor Karl IV. Assured the Ascanian dukes of Wittenberg the succession of the sonless Wilhelm in Lüneburg in the form of a contingent mortgage. Charles IV contested the female inheritance law and considered the fief to have reverted to the Reich in the event of Wilhelm's death. Wilhelm's appeal to the duke's deed of 1235 , in which the cognatic succession was assured, led to further negotiations between the duke and the emperor, but these did not come to a conclusion. The assumption that Wilhelm would have originally supported the contingency loan of Albrecht von Sachsen-Wittenberg , which is represented in older research , is viewed as unfounded in more recent research, as there would be no references to this in the documents. When Ludwig died in 1367, Wilhelm appointed his brother Magnus II as his successor and made him his co-regent in the same year. When Wilhelm died two years later, the Wittenbergers reaffirmed their claims to the principality and Emperor Karl IV enfeoffed the dukes Albrecht and his uncle Rudolf, who died shortly afterwards, and Wenzel with Lüneburg.

From the death of Wilhelm to the Ursulanacht in Lüneburg

Emperor Karl IV enfeoffs Albrecht of Saxony-Wittenberg with the principality of Lüneburg. Illustration from the Lüneburg Sachsenspiegel manuscript from 1442.

When Wilhelm died in 1369, Magnus was on Denmark's side in the war against the Hanseatic seaside cities of Rostock, Lübeck, Wismar and Stralsund. Since Lüneburg had a close connection to these cities through its membership in the Hanseatic League, there were initial tensions with the new sovereign. These were intensified when Magnus demanded the confiscation of the salt works , which were in the possession of his war opponents. Tensions intensified in the following months: Magnus extorted high payments from Lüneburg, forced the city to renounce its traditional privileges and began to strengthen the occupation of the castle on the Kalkberg and the fortifications. The monastery church was partially demolished in order to have a clear field of fire on the city. As early as March and June, Charles IV asked Lüneburg to pay homage to the Dukes of Wittenberg. In December he repeated this demand under threat of severe penalties. After obtaining a legal opinion, which established Lüneburg's obligation to pay homage, Lüneburg complied with the demand in January 1371 and took the oath of homage to Albrecht von Sachsen-Wittenberg and Wenzel von Sachsen-Wittenberg . In return, the Wittenberger Lüneburg assured extensive privileges. The dukes confirm the jurisdiction, the self-administration rights of the salt works and the sovereignty of coins. The city also got the Kalkberg and the Burgmannensiedlung at the foot of the mountain as its own as well as the right to grind the ducal castle on the Kalkberg. At the beginning of February 1370, the citizens of Lüneburg succeeded in taking the castle, which at that time was still occupied by Magnus soldiers, using a trick.

Hanover, too, had meanwhile decided to pay homage, which followed a similar pattern; after obtaining a legal opinion, the oath of homage took place . The city received extensive privileges and the right to demolish the ducal castle in Lauenrode . In addition to Lüneburg and Hanover, the Lords of Mandelsloh in particular sided with the Wittenberg dukes. The small towns and Weichbilder as well as most of the Lüneburg nobility, however, stuck to Magnus . In October he succeeded in putting together an army of 700 knights and squires in Celle . On Ursulanacht, the night of October 20th to 21st, the attempt was made to take Lüneburg. After the ducal troops had succeeded in overcoming the city walls, fighting broke out in the streets between the Lüneburg vigilantes and the duke's men. Several times the fighting was interrupted by pauses in negotiations, but finally continued until the surrender of the ducal troops. A total of 54 ducal fighters and 27 members of the vigilante group, including several mayors and Sülfmeister , were killed in the battle . Some of the captured knights were accused of robbery knighthood and executed, most of them released for a ransom.

Atonement of Hanover 1373

In the following years the Lüneburg region was devastated by numerous battles and campaigns. However, these were only partly due to the conflict of succession - in addition there were nobility feuds and looting by robber barons. Besides the Ascanians and the Guelphs, foreign cities and princes were increasingly involved as allies. So Magnus entered into a military alliance with the Danish king. In 1373 the emperor tried to mediate at a specially arranged conference in Pirna . However, since Magnus had not appeared, the imperial ban was only renewed against him and the fighting continued. In 1373 Duke Magnus was killed in a battle near Leveste am Deister on July 25, 1373. After his death there was a comparison between Wenzel and his nephew Albrecht on the one hand and the widow of Magnus II and her sons on the other hand, the atonement of Hanover . According to the treaty, the estates of the principality were to pay homage to both the Guelphs and the Ascanians and the government was to be alternately provided by the houses: First, the land was to belong undivided to the two Ascanians from Wittenberg and, after their death, to the sons of the fallen Duke Magnus II. pass over. After their death, the rule in the principality was to pass back to the Ascanians. In order to secure the agreement, in 1374 Albrecht von Sachsen-Lüneburg married Katharina, the widow of Magnus II. The two sons, who were still underage, were also married in 1386 to members of the Ascan family. Friedrich von Braunschweig-Lüneburg married Anna von Sachsen-Wittenberg , Bernhard von Braunschweig-Lüneburg married Margarete von Sachsen , both were daughters of Wenzel . The contract also provided for the formation of a permanent body to monitor the contract.

The death of Wenceslas and the Ascanian renunciation of the principality of Lüneburg

By winning the battle on Strietfield in 1388 in Winsen, Duke Heinrich I secured the Principality of Lüneburg to the Welfenhaus.

The noble feuds and looting by robber barons continued in the following years. In 1385 Ricklingen Castle was besieged , where the Lords of Mandelsloh were staying. When a slingshot threw a heavy chunk at Duke Albrecht's troops, it was hit, which resulted in his death on June 28, 1385. As a result of Albrecht's death, Elector Wenzel appointed his son-in-law Bernhard as co-regent and participated in the government. But his younger brother Heinrich I did not agree with this regulation, and after unsuccessful attempts at an agreement, the struggle flared up again in the spring of 1388. Elector Wenzel had to assemble an army alone in Bernhard's absence, with the support of the city of Lüneburg. From Winsen an der Aller he wanted to attack Celle , which was held by Heinrich and his mother. During the preparations, however, Elector Wenzel fell seriously ill and died shortly afterwards. According to legend, he was poisoned. Lüneburg continued the preparations, allied itself with the Bishop of Minden and the Count of Schaumburg and raised its own army. On May 28, 1388 there was a battle in Winsen an der Aller, which ended with Henry I's victory . According to the provisions of the Treaty of Hanover from 1373, the rule after the death of Wenceslas was now to the Welfenhaus. In 1389 there was a hereditary brotherhood agreement between the Guelphs and the Ascanians, with which the agreement of 1374 was repealed and the principality was finally secured to the Guelphs.

Aftermath of the War of Succession

The Guelphs had secured the principality of Lüneburg for their house, but they were heavily in debt and had pledged a large part of the ducal offices and castles. By razing the castle on the Kalkberg and securing extensive privileges, Lüneburg secured its independence from the duke and in the following centuries achieved an almost imperial status . The indebtedness also led to the conclusion of the Lüneburg Sate , a contract in which the dukes guaranteed the estates extensive privileges and submitted to an estate jurisdiction.

literature

  • Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 755-782.
  • Elmar Peter: Lüneburg. History of a 1000 year old city. , 1999, ISBN 3922616151 , pp. 148-155
  • Otto Hoffmann: The Lüneburg succession dispute. Diss. Halle 1896.
  • Günter Will : The Ursula Night in Lüneburg on October 21, 1371 . In: Lüneburger Blätter 1970/71, Heft 21/22, pp. 7-20.

Web links

Commons : War of the Lüneburg Succession  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; here p. 755
  2. ↑ On the background of the War of Succession see: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; here pp. 755–759, Paul Zimmermann :  Wilhelm, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, pp. 730-733.
  3. ↑ On the disputes with Lüneburg see: Elmar Peter: Lüneburg. History of a millennial city. , 1999, ISBN 3922616151 , pp. 148-155
  4. ^ For the homage to Hanover see: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; here pp. 759–763
  5. ↑ On the battle in the Ursulanacht see: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; here pp. 759–763, Elmar Peter: Lüneburg. History of a millennial city. , 1999, ISBN 3922616151 , pp. 148-155
  6. ↑ On the military conflicts after 1371 and the Peace of Atonement in Hanover see: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; here pp. 763–766
  7. ↑ On the disputes after Albrecht's death, see: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; Here: pp. 767–769
  8. ↑ For the hereditary brotherhood treaty of 1389 see: Gudrun Pischke: Die Landesteilungen der Welfen in the Middle Ages . Lax, Hildesheim 1987, ISBN 3-7848-3654-2 , p. 92
  9. ↑ See also: Dirk Böttcher, Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar Röhrbein, Hugo Thielen: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon: from the beginnings to the present , Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-706-9 , p. 384.
  10. ↑ On the consequences of the War of Succession see: Ernst Schubert : History of Lower Saxony from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. In: Ernst Schubert (Ed.): History of Lower Saxony. Volume 2. Part 1. Politics, constitution, economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-7752-5900-7 , pp. 3-904; Pp. 769-777