Lueneburg sate

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Coat of arms of the Principality of Lüneburg

The Lüneburg Sate ( Sate is Low German for "contract") was a power contract between the sovereigns and the state estates of the Principality of Lüneburg .

Through him a legal community was founded, whose task was to secure the rights of its members. For this purpose a court instance, the so-called Satekollegium, was set up. The membership of the sovereigns in this legal community took place in return for the granting of a loan of 50,000 marks in Pfandbriefe and was bound to the duration of the loan, so that the Lüneburg Sate constituted a lien agreement . In addition to the actual Satebrief, the contract also comprised three other letters in which the rights of the individual stands are discussed in detail. The Lüneburg Sate came into force in 1392, de facto ended after the Sate War in 1396, and was formally dissolved in 1519.

prehistory

When 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 of Braunschweig would have been entitled to inheritance. However, Emperor Charles 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 of the Lüneburg Succession . Only after the battle of Winsen in 1388, in which Wenzel lost his life, the Wittenbergers renounced their claims and the principality was secured to the Guelphs.

The War of the Lüneburg Succession had led to a great deal of power among the estates in the principality. In order to secure the support of the cities and the lower nobility , both the Guelphs and the Ascanians had been forced to guarantee the estates extensive privileges and to pledge numerous justice and castles to them. Although the dukes of Celle emerged victorious from the conflict, they were faced with massive financial problems. When the dukes approached the city of Lüneburg with a new financial request, an extensive contract was concluded in September 1392 in return for a loan of 50,000 marks, in which the estates were granted numerous privileges and the dukes accepted the jurisdiction of one of the stands formed body submitted.

The contract

Basic Letters

For the content of these three basic letters , see the main articles, Prelate Letter , General Letter and City Letter .

The three basic letters consisted of the prelate letter , which was addressed to the clergy of the state, the city letter , which was addressed to the cities in the Principality of Lüneburg, and the general letter , which was addressed to all subjects of the dukes of Celle, especially the lower nobility. In them, the three estates were guaranteed extensive privileges and the rights and obligations of the sovereigns were addressed. The three letters of privilege formed one of the legal bases for the judgments of the Satekollegium. They retained their legal validity regardless of the continued existence of the Lüneburg Sate and in some cases remained the basis of numerous court decisions until the 18th century.

The Satebrief

The Satebrief was divided into 43 articles and was addressed to the privileged residents of the Principality of Lüneburg, d. H. the clergy, the knighthood and the townspeople. It was a mortgage bond , which in the articles concerning the sovereigns would have become ineffective if a loan of 50,000 marks had been repaid.

In the introductory first article, an ethical and moral framework was constructed as a carrier of ideas for the Sate . Thus the dukes expressed their will to promote harmony and peace in the principality and to strive for mutual trust between sovereignty and residents. Articles 2 to 41 dealt with the aims and character of the Sate and the creation of a judicial instance, whose staffing, competencies and procedural rules were discussed in detail. Finally, in Articles 42 and 43, the will of the dukes was once again emphasized to fulfill their obligations; Witnesses and the date of the agreement were also given.

Characterization of the Sate

The Sate represented an amalgamation of the sovereigns, the Lüneburg knighthood and the city bourgeoisie to form a legal community. Any clergy, knightly and city citizen of the Principality of Lüneburg was entitled to join, the sovereigns, all owners of heirloom and sovereign castles as well as everyone from the Sate were required to join was explicitly requested to join. The rulers' obligation to join was tied to the loan of 50,000 marks, which expired when the loan was repaid. The rights of the sat members consisted primarily in the protection of their privileges, i. H. the securitized and customary rights, through the sate community, the obligations to support the legal community in its tasks.

Satate College

The Sate College was a judicial instance whose task it was to determine violations of the rights of the Sat members and to punish them. For this purpose, two general satellite days and two regional satellite days should take place in Lüneburg and Hanover every year.

The Satekollegium consisted of a total of 16 members, including eight representatives of the knighthood and eight representatives of the cities of Lüneburg (four members), Uelzen (two members) and Hanover (two members). The elections to the college were supposed to take place every two years; all councilors and members of the Lüneburg knighthood were entitled to vote .

The Satekollegium was responsible for all violations of the rights and privileges of its members committed on the territory of the Principality of Lüneburg. Expressly excluded from this were simple debt claims as well as violations of the law, which fell within the competence of existing inheritance and go courts as well as the municipal and spiritual courts.

In principle, lawsuits could be submitted by any satellite member. If the complaints were admitted, they were forwarded to the ducal court . Only if there was no decision there within a period of four weeks was the Sate College entrusted with the judgment.

In addition to the privileges set out in the three basic letters, the basis for reaching a judgment was, among others, the Sachsenspiegel and the Schwabenspiegel . If a sentence was passed, the condemned person had four weeks to fulfill the sentence, otherwise he fell to eight .

If the lawsuit was directed against the sovereigns, the consent of four satellite people was required in order for the lawsuit to be brought. Subsequently, the dukes received an atonement , which they had 14 days to fulfill. If this did not happen, the Sate College passed a judgment. Should the dukes fail to comply with this judgment within eight weeks, they were threatened with the so-called total execution. H. the loss of all material goods and the termination of the obedience of all subjects.

As soon as the dukes complied with the verdict or repaid the granted credit of 50,000 marks (and thus no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the Sate), they received their property back and the subjects' duty of obedience came into force again.

Finances

In the Satebrief it was originally stipulated that the costs incurred by the Satan would be financed through an allocation to all Satemembers. In an additional agreement made on the first general Satetag, this was changed to the effect that only the municipal authorities were responsible for the financing.

The Lüneburg Sate in the years 1392 to 1396

As early as September 1392, the first elections to the Sate College took place. At the same time, the dukes of Celle issued so-called bidding letters in which the knights and the citizens of the cities were invited to join the Sate. While the cities complied with this request, only some of the castle owners declared their accession. Four castle owners opposed the request from the beginning, and other castle owners who came into possession of lordly or inherited castles between 1393 and 1396 and who would have been obliged to accede according to the statutes of the Sate, did not join the contract either. In addition, contrary to the provisions of the Basic Letters, the dukes of Celle had two more castles built, the owners of which also did not join the Sate.

March 1393 saw the first general Satetag in Lüneburg , where 16 complaints were dealt with. In addition, numerous additions to the Satebrief were decided; the distribution of the costs incurred by the Sate was reorganized and regulations on the court seal of the Sate were made.

In the following years up to 1396 a total of 67 complaints were brought before the Sate College . Only eight judgments have been handed down, but there was basically the possibility of an oral pronouncement of the judgment, so that there is no reliable knowledge of the actual number of judgments by the college.

Members of the knighthood as well as the urban bourgeoisie appeared as plaintiffs , in some cases the dukes of Celle also filed a lawsuit before the Satekollegium. The main subject of the lawsuits were complaints about the presumption of foreign sovereignty and rights of use , in addition, several lawsuits were filed for robbery and theft .

At the instigation of Lüneburg, King Wenzel confirmed the Lüneburg Sate in September 1393 and described it as a treaty of great peacemaking value . In the following month, the royal court ruled, which also confirmed the legal validity of the sate.

The dukes of Celle tried repeatedly in the following years to weaken the position of the Sate. As early as the spring of 1393, they filed a lawsuit against the city of Lüneburg , which concerned the deposit of 50,000 marks on which the Sate was based . An arbitration committee decided the case in favor of the Celle dukes, but the judgment initially had no fundamental significance for the continued existence of the Sate.

Since 1393, the Sate concluded several alliance agreements with foreign territorial lords, which were supposed to guarantee the security and continued existence of the Sate. The dukes saw this as a violation of the Satebrief, in which it was stated that the Sate should not cause harm to the principality .

Another point of conflict was the financing of the costs incurred by the alliance . The provision of riders to protect the satellite people turned out to be cost-intensive. Originally a target strength of 140 men was planned for the federal government, but in 1394 it already had 322 men under arms. To finance these additional burdens, a new tax was issued in 1394 , which led to renewed disputes with the dukes of Celle. These denied the sate community the right to such a measure and imposed a payment ban on their subjects.

The Sate War

In 1396 there was a final break. After he had secured the aid of Sweden and Mecklenburg by concluding a protection and fraternization agreement , Duke Heinrich , who was soon joined by his brother Bernhard , took possession of the city of Uelzen and forced it to withdraw from the Sate and to take an oath of homage to the dukes of Lüneburg. This was followed by an attempt to cut Lüneburg off from all trade routes and to bring it to its knees by means of a total economic blockade . Barriers were erected in the Ilmenau, Lüneburg ships were confiscated and sunk, and Lüneburg trade travelers were deliberately looted. In March 1396 there were first negotiations between representatives of the city of Lüneburg and the dukes, but these were broken off without result.

At the same time as the dukes' disputes with Lüneburg, a request was issued to all members of the Sata to renounce it, otherwise the loss of life and limb was threatened. Although only a few towns in Wendland and a few knights followed this request, the dukes had succeeded in splitting the estates . During a negotiation in April 1396, Duke Heinrich stabbed the Harburg Vogt Dietrich v. Mandelsloh after his refusal to declare his exit from the Satelica. Lüneburg then concluded a special agreement with Hanover and was assured of military support for the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck at a Hanseatic day in Wismar .

In May 1396 the smoldering conflict developed into open military clashes. In the course of the clashes there were numerous battles throughout the Lüneburg region. The troop contingent provided by the Hanseatic cities under the leadership of Lübeck councilor Reyner von Calven succeeded in taking the ducal fortress in Harburg , the Lüneburg troops liberated Uelzen, which was still occupied by ducal troops, and Hanover razed a fortress of the Guelphs in the immediate vicinity of the city of Hanover .

When a military superiority of their opponents became apparent, the dukes of Celle offered the opposing party peace negotiations. On August 19, a three-week ceasefire came into force, which was followed shortly thereafter on August 29 by a peace agreement initially limited to three years . An arbitration commission was set up to investigate the events and negotiate a peace treaty.

At the beginning of October there was a first day trip on which both parties submitted their complaints . Both sides accused each other of the most serious violations of applicable law and tried to assert claims for damages suffered. The first results came in June 1397 when the dukes and the cities of Hamburg and Lübeck agreed to renounce mutual claims. In addition, it was agreed with the city of Hanover to transfer the disputes to an arbitration tribunal under the direction of the Bishop of Minden .

At the end of October, on a third day trip, a contractual agreement was reached between the city of Lüneburg and the dukes of Celle. In it, both sides declared their waiver of claims against the other side, and the Harburg , Bleckede and Lüdershausen festivals were given to the cities of Lüneburg, Lübeck, Hanover and Hamburg for a period of ten years for a payment of 19,200 marks. The Lüneburg Sate itself was not mentioned in the contract, so Lüneburg's demands for restitution had failed.

The Lüneburg Sate after the Sate War until its formal abolition in 1519

Even if there was no contractual restitution of the Lüneburg Sate, Lüneburg in particular initially upheld its claim to the continued validity of the Sate letters. In 1398 Uelzen revoked his forced resignation in 1396, but remained the only fallen Satemember which the Satan rejoined. In the following years there were several alliances between the cities of Lüneburg, Hanover and Uelzen, which explicitly referred to the Lüneburg Sate in their alliance agreements , whereby a commitment by the contractual partners to the continued existence of the Sate was to be expressed.

The Satekollegium initially continued to exist after 1396, but activities have not been documented since that time. In 1398 the last member of the Lüneburg knighthood resigned from the college, since then it consisted only of those ordained by the cities of Lüneburg, Hanover and Uelzen. In Lüneburg, elections to the Satekollegium took place in the following decades, the last one being documented for the year 1423.

Even if the Lüneburg Sate had become politically insignificant, Lüneburg maintained its claim to the continuing validity of the Sate contracts. Up until the 16th century, every new citizen of the city had to take an oath of homage to the Sate. Only in 1519 did the Lüneburg Sate formally come to an end. In a peace treaty, Lüneburg was again assured of the existing privileges, in return Lüneburg declared its consent to the final lifting of the Sate. At a specially convened general state parliament in September 1519, the three estates resolved to repeal the Sate, and on September 26, 1519, the sovereign dissolution of the Lüneburg Sate took place.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Schubert: Politics, Constitution, Economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th Century , p. 755 ff.
  2. a b Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate. Lax, Hildesheim 1987, p. 15.
  3. ^ A b Ernst Schubert: Politics, Constitution, Economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th Century , p. 771 ff.
  4. Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate. A contribution to the constitutional history of Lower Saxony in the late Middle Ages. Lax, Hildesheim 1987, p. 224. ISBN 3-7848-3656-9 .
  5. The article count is based on the transcription by Heinrich Sudendorf (document book on the history of the dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Volume 7, Hanover 1859–1880), the original letter does not contain a count.
  6. a b c d e f g h i Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate . Hildesheim 1987, p. 78 ff.
  7. The judgments were either served in writing or orally on a court day.
  8. a b Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate . Hildesheim 1987, p. 100.
  9. a b c d e f g h i j Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate. Hildesheim 1987, p. 144 ff.
  10. ^ Elmar Peter: Lüneburg - history of a thousand year old city. P. 161.
  11. ^ A b Ernst Schubert: Politics, Constitution, Economy from the 9th to the end of the 15th Century , p. 777 ff.
  12. Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate . Hildesheim 1987.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Reinicke (ed.): Lüneburg Chronicles. Stuttgart 1931, p. 102.
  14. William Havemann: history of land Brunswick and Lüneburg. Göttingen 1853, Volume 2, p. 548.
  15. The Arbitration Commission was made up of four external representatives from both parties.
  16. a b c d e f g h i Michael Reinbold: The Lüneburg Sate. Hildesheim 1987, p. 182 ff.
  17. For the cities of Hanover and Uelzen, corresponding oaths of homage cannot be proven.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 17th, 2009 .