Mainz-Hessian War

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The Mainz-Hessian War of 1427 was the last and decisive military conflict in the two centuries-long dispute between the Archdiocese of Mainz and the Landgraves of Hesse over territorial hegemony in today's Hesse. The decisive victories of Landgrave Ludwig I over the Mainz military leader Gottfried von Leiningen in July near Fritzlar and over Archbishop Konrad von Dhaun in August near Fulda meant the end of Mainz's ambitions in Upper and Lower Hesse . The Peace of Frankfurt, which was concluded on December 8, 1427, sealed this result under constitutional law.

prehistory

Between Hesse and Mainz there were already multiple causes for disputes - including the villages on Reinhardswald , the area of ​​the monasteries Lippoldsberg and Helmarshausen and the rights to the city and office of Wetter - and from 1425 onwards mutual interference in the affairs of the Fulda Abbey and controversial pledges resulted on the reign of Count Heinrich VII and Wolrad I. von Waldeck the hostilities were on the verge of a feud . Attempts to mediate by other princes were unsuccessful, and finally open war broke out.

Fulda

The prince abbey of Fulda was heavily in debt in the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. In this situation, and since Abbot Johann I was ailing, the collegiate chapter, probably at the instigation of the new Archbishop of Mainz, Konrad III. von Dhaun , in 1419 Hermann II of Buchenau as coadjutor and administrator . This led to a serious argument within a short time. Abbot Johann continued to insist on his rights, but was attacked by Hermann von Buchenau at Neuhof Castle in 1420 and expelled to the village of Ottershausen (?). The clerical shepherds of the abbey, Archbishop Konrad III, whom he called for help. von Mainz and Bishop Johann II von Würzburg ignored his statements, subordinated the abbey to itself and appointed Eberhard von Buchenau, a relative of the coadjutor, as their senior bailiff in Fulda. Since the Buchenau and the Fulda bishopric closely leaned on Mainz, also to secure the Fulda independence from Hesse, the Mainz interference in Fulda posed a serious threat to the landgrave's policy, also because Hermann von Buchenau important Fulda and Buchonian castles and castles to the archbishop Cities pawned. In 1425 he finally expelled Abbot Johann from the principality, and he then sought refuge with the Hessian Landgrave Ludwig I.

Waldeck

Count Heinrich VII von Waldeck, who, as a Mainz feudal man in June 1400 , had drawn the eternal hostility of the House of Braunschweig-Lüneburg through the murder of Duke Friedrich von Braunschweig and Lüneburg , had in 1424, together with his son Wolrad I, the Landgrave Ludwig pledged half of his county for 22,000 guilders for life. The landgrave had already paid the sum and received the corresponding homage from the castle and feudal men, citizens and peasants, but then Wolrad and his mother Margaretha von Nassau-Wiesbaden met Archbishop Konrad von Mainz and Archbishop Dietrich II from Cologne Moers , who was also the administrator of the Diocese of Paderborn and thus had considerable interests in the border area between Hesse, Waldeck and Paderborn, took a dramatic turnaround. Citing a promise made earlier to the Archbishop of Mainz, Heinrich and Wolrad revoked their contract with Landgrave Ludwig in 1426, pledged half of their county to the Archbishop for 18,000 guilders, and opened their castles to him and the Archbishop of Cologne. This change of course triggered the feud that was soon declared open. Archbishop Konrad offered the landgrave to reimburse him for the deposit of 22,000 guilders paid on Waldeck, but Ludwig refused.

Course of war

In the early summer of 1427, Count Gottfried von Leiningen, a nephew of the archbishop, gathered a sizeable army of knights in Fritzlar , the heavily fortified capital of the archbishopric in the middle of the landgrave of Lower Hesse , which had been there for months, had to be fed and plundered the surrounding Hessian area. Landgrave Ludwig responded to this challenge by strengthening his own army of knights with foot soldiers and, for his part, devastating fields and gardens in Mainz and Fritzlar from Gudensberg . On July 21, after Ludwig had rejected the Mainz offer to refund the Waldeck deposit, the archbishop sent the feud letter to the Landgrave, and Gottfried von Leiningen immediately began a desolation campaign from Fritzlar with 600 horsemen and additional foot troops from Fritzlar into the Hessian cities Gudensberg, Felsberg and Melsungen . The villages of Geismar , Haddamar , Heimarshausen , Werkel , Wehren , Lohne and Balhorn were looted and burned down. On July 23, just as the Mainz people were plundering and burning the nearby village of Udenborn , Landgrave Ludwig's relief army moved between Obermöllrich and Zennern over the Eder and pushed between the city of Fritzlar and the Mainz knights, pushing them into the open field on the Großenengliser Platte of today's Kalbsburg and the villages of Udenborn and Großenenglis a few kilometers south of Fritzlar, and inflicted a heavy defeat on them there. After further defeats in pursuit battles, Leiningen and the rest of his squad fled first to Jesberg Castle in Mainz and then to Fulda . 140 Mainz knights were taken prisoner in Hesse.

Archbishop Konrad had already gathered a second army near Fulda to occupy the area of ​​the bishopric and the city of Fulda. However, the city and abbey of Fulda refused to admit the Mainz residents or even to give them protection within the city walls when the Hessian troops approached, as the archbishop had repeatedly interfered in their internal affairs. Landgrave Ludwig marched to Fulda, occupied the city on August 3rd, drove out the coadjutor and the Mainz-Würzburg governor and reinstated Abbot Johann von Merlau. When the archbishop refused to open the Fulda castles that were occupied by his people, the battle broke out again on August 10, 1427 on the Münsterfeld west of Fulda, which again ended with a victory for the landgrave. The archbishop managed to escape, but more than 300 of his knights were captured. Ludwig I gave the captured banner of the Archbishop to the Elisabeth Church in Marburg .

Peace treaty

After negotiations from December 6th to 8th in Frankfurt am Main , Archbishop Konrad made peace with Landgrave Ludwig on December 8th, 1427. The Peace of Frankfurt sealed the end of the long dispute over supremacy in Hesse. Kurmainz paid 44,000 guilders in compensation for war damage and had to fief almost all of his possessions in Lower and Central Hesse from the landgrave ; Fritzlar, Naumburg , Amöneburg and Neustadt were excluded . The city of Fritzlar finally lost its leading position in northern Hesse to the landgrave's residence in Kassel . Landgrave Ludwig returned the pledge on Waldeck against reimbursement of the pledge sum, but in return became pledge holder of the Fulda, Hünfeld , Lauterbach , Fischberg , Brückenau , Schildeck , Rockenstuhl and Geisa cities and castles pledged to the Archbishop .

literature

  • Karl E. Demandt: History of the State of Hesse , Johannes Stauda Verlag Kassel, 1981, p. 196 ff.
  • Werner Ide, From Adorf to Zwesten: Local history paperback for the Fritzlar-Homberg district , A. Bernecker, Melsungen, 1972, p. 110.
  • Author collective: Schöne Heimat Fritzlar-Homberg (2nd edition), Verlagshaus Hans Meister KG Kassel, Fritzlar 1971, p. 14ff.
  • Eduard Brauns: Hiking and travel guide through North Hesse and Waldeck . A. Bernecker Verlag Melsungen, p. 19
  • Eckhard G. Franz (Ed.): Die Chronik Hessens , Chronik Verlag, Dortmund, 1991, p. 96