Mainz collegiate feud

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The Mainzer Erzstiftsfehde , also known as the Baden-Pfälzischer War of 1461 / 1462 was a military conflict over the seat of the Archbishop of Mainz .

occasion

In 1459, the cathedral custodian Diether von Isenburg was elected the new Archbishop of Mainz with a narrow majority against Adolf von Nassau . Diether once the so-called anti-Palatinate alliance had to certify to which it already in 1458 due to a dispute with the Palatine I. Friedrich had come. Diether forged an alliance and took to the field against the Count Palatine, but lost the decisive battle of Pfeddersheim in July 1460.

Since Diether was only able to achieve his papal confirmation with great difficulty and against high servitien money (20,000  fl ), he opposed the political, legal and financial demands of the emperor and pope. Pope Pius II then ran his replacement by Adolf von Nassau, who was defeated in the 1459 election. He banned Diether on August 21, 1461 and declared him deposed, justifying this with Diether's opposition to the church and Emperor Friedrich III. , Diether's reform efforts and his demands for the abolition of the papal annates . Adolf von Nassau was appointed the new Archbishop of Mainz by the Pope and was enthroned on October 1, 1461. However, the city of Mainz continued to support Diether, who refused to vacate the Erzstuhl.

course

Adolf allied himself with the Archbishop of Trier Johann II. Von Baden , the Bishop Georg von Metz , the Speyer Bishop Johannes II. Nix von Hoheneck and the Count Ulrich V. von Württemberg . Margrave Karl I of Baden initially tried to mediate between the quarreling camps, but then took Adolf's side at the side of his brother, Bishop Georg von Metz , which led to the Badisch-Palatinate War, in an attempt to seize the diocese by force to take.

Diether's side was the city council of Mainz, his brother Ludwig and Elector Friedrich von der Pfalz , originally an enemy of Diether. For his help Friedrich received the cities of Lorsch , Heppenheim and Bensheim .

First, the people of Baden devastated the Palatinate possessions to the left of the Rhine, then they moved alongside the Speyer and Württemberger to the right bank of the Rhine, where they also raged in the Palatinate possessions. In the summer of 1462 the alliance around Adolf von Nassau believed rumors that Count Palatine Friedrich was staying with his troops in Bavaria to assist the Duke in a feud against the Margrave of Ansbach . Assuming that the Palatinate was open, the people of Baden and Württemberg marched into the Palatinate with 8,000 men from Bretten . They scorched and plundered from Speyer across the Rhine and as far as Seckenheim . However, since Friedrich I was not staying in Bavaria, Adolf's troops in the forest near Seckenheim were surprised and crushed by Friedrich I and the Counts of Leiningen and Katzenelnbogen , as the mounted vanguard of the Alliance felt safe and had moved far away from the infantry . Margrave Karl I and his brother, Bishop Georg von Metz, were wounded and taken prisoner. This phase of the war ended with the capture of Count Ulrich V. von Württemberg by Hans von Gemmingen soon afterwards . The victory in the battle of Seckenheim earned Friedrich the nickname “the victorious”. The name of the Friedrichsfeld settlement , which was later built on the same site and is now part of Mannheim , recalls those events.

Friedrich I had the prisoners brought to his Heidelberg castle and chained there until the ransom money demanded of him had been paid. Margrave Karl had to pay 25,000 guilders , gave Sponheim as a pledge and declared Pforzheim a Palatinate fief . His release cost the Metz bishop 45,000 guilders. For Friedrich, however, the victory meant, above all, the sustainable securing of his position as elector .

The penal feud was not over yet. Further fighting cost many victims and caused devastation everywhere, and the city of Mainz itself suffered severe damage. On the night of October 28, 1462, Adolf von Nassau, through betrayal of the citizens of Mainz, managed to penetrate the city with 500 men through the Gautor and take possession of it after 12 hours of street fighting. 400 people lost their lives, and Adolf's people looted and pillaged the city, including the Dominican monastery . As a "punishment" for supporting Diether, Adolf withdrew the city's privileges of freedom and thus its status as a Free City ; the city came under the rule of a vice cathedral to be installed by the archbishop . The next day the citizens were called together on the Dietmarkt . All 800 citizens who appeared were driven from the city; about 400 of them were let in again a little later and were allowed to stay in Mainz.

The End

The collegiate feud itself could only be settled after several attempts to mediate in October 1463. Diether von Isenburg renounced and recognized Adolf as his successor in the Treaty of Zeilsheim . He himself was compensated with a considerable sum of money and a small principality created from Mainz property, which consisted of the cities of Höchst , Steinheim and Dieburg .

The alliances of the two opponents around the ore chair had, however, been bought at dearly with prescriptions on their own and archaeological property. A number of castles and towns passed into Palatinate, Hessian and, for a short time, Saxon ownership. Debt regulation remained a dominant topic in the Erzstift for the next few years.

After Adolf's death in 1475, Diether von Isenburg was re-elected Archbishop of Mainz by the Mainz Cathedral Chapter and confirmed by Pope Sixtus IV . Diether ruled without further conflicts until his death in 1482.

Further information

During this conflict, the art of printing was first used for domestic political purposes, because Diether and Adolf had posters and leaflets printed by Johannes Fust and Peter Schöffer . The family relationships between the main opponents are also interesting: Adolf II's niece, Maria von Nassau-Wiesbaden, was the wife of Diether's brother, Count Ludwig II. Von Isenburg-Büdingen.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Mainz in the 1460s  - Collection of images, videos and audio files