Hildesheim collegiate feud

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The Hildesheimer pin feud refers to a 1519 broken feud between the Bishopric of Hildesheim and the Guelph principalities Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Calenberg . Originally it was a purely local conflict between the Hildesheim prince-bishop Johann IV. Von Sachsen-Lauenburg and the Hildesheimer Stiftsadel , but developed into a dispute between Lower Saxony territorial princes . The reason for this was the redemption of pledged lands sought by the Hildesheim bishop and his tax demands on the nobility. The collegiate feud ended with the Quedlinburg Recess in 1523.

background

The Hochstift around 1500 (before the Stifts feud)

Due to the poor financial situation, the Hildesheim prince-bishop demanded the return of some goods pledged to the nobility, which represented an important source of income for the nobility. A small part of the nobility and knighthood refused to return their pledges to the prince-bishop. At the same time, the Guelph House made efforts to redeem the areas around Everstein pledged to the Hochstift , whereby differences between the Lüneburg line of the Guelph House under Heinrich the Middle , the Guelph lines in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Calenberg and the Hochstift Minden became apparent. In 1513, Heinrich the Middle received a large deposit from Prince-Bishop Johann IV. For Everstein and thus opposed the interests of the other Guelph lines.

Alliance between the Hildesheim nobility and Heinrich the Younger

Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was looking for a reason to attack the neighboring Principality of Hildesheim and found it in the disputes between the bishop and the nobility. So in 1516 an alliance was formed between a small group of Hildesheim monastery nobility and Heinrich the Younger from Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. In 1519, the smoldering conflict turned into open war, often referred to as the “last medieval feud ”.

Allies were on the one hand the Hildesheim prince-bishop, the city of Hildesheim, Heinrich the Middle of Lüneburg and the Counts of Schaumburg , Diepholz and Hoya . On the other side stood Heinrich the Younger ( Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel ), his brother Bishop Franz von Minden , his uncle Erich von Calenberg (Principality of Calenberg) and a small group of Hildesheim collegiate nobles around the Knights of Saldern .

Siege of the fortress of Calenberg 1519, drawing by Johannes Krabbe from 1591
Information boards near the former battlefield in Soltau-Wiedingen

Battle of Soltau and shift to the realm political level

Between the years 1519 and 1523 there were repeated major battles and smaller skirmishes in which many cities and villages were badly devastated. After unsuccessful sieges of the fortresses in Calenberg and Hildesheim by Hildesheim and Brunswick troops as well as numerous devastations and raids on both sides against the civilian population, the battle of Soltau (near the village of Langeloh ) took place on June 28, 1519 . The Hildesheimer defeated the Braunschweig-Welfischen troops, killed 3,500 men and captured their opponent Erich von Calenberg as well as many nobles, which meant the temporary end of the conflict.

With the invocation of the newly elected Emperor Charles V , who had good relations with the Wolfenbüttlers, a turn of events took place on a political level. The arbitration award imposed by Charles V provided for the surrender of all conquered areas and the prisoners and was thus primarily directed against the Hildesheim side. The arbitration award was followed by the imposition of the eight in 1522, which the Wolfenbüttler and Calenberg princes were entrusted with executing , as ignored by the bishop and his allies . While Heinrich von Lüneburg had already gone into exile in France in 1520, had handed the government over to his sons and thus kept the Principality of Lüneburg out of further entanglements, there were renewed military conflicts between the Hildesheim prince-bishop and his opponents, which only began with the so-called The field peace of October 15, 1521 finally ended in favor of the Wolfenbüttler side. Hildesheim had won militarily, but lost politically.

Quedlinburg Recess

Areas of the small and large bishopric Hildesheim

In the Quedlinburg Recess of May 13, 1523, after long negotiations, the territorial changes that had arisen in the course of the conflict were laid down. For the princes of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in particular, this meant a great gain, while the Hildesheim Monastery of the original 22 offices only had four offices ( Peine , Steuerwald, Marienburg and the Dompropstei ) and the cities of Hildesheim and Peine , the so-called Small Monastery , for example 90 villages.

The Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel received the offices of Winzenburg , Wohldenberg , Steinbrück , Lutter , Wohlenstein , Schladen , Liebenburg , Wiedelah , Vienenburg and Westerhof with the monasteries Lamspringe , Heiningen , Dorstadt , Wöltingerode , Ringelheim and Riechenberg as well as the cities of Alfeld, Bockenem, Lamspringe Salzgitter .

The principality of Calenberg received the houses and offices of Hunnesrück with Markoldendorf, Aerzen , Lauenstein, Grohnde, Hallerburg, Poppenburg, Ruthe and Coldingen, the cities of Dassel, Bodenwerder, Gronau, Elze, Sarstedt, as well as half of Hameln and the monasteries Marienau , Escherde , Wittenburg , Wülfinghausen and Derneburg .

The Hildesheimers immediately started a legal dispute over the return of the large monastery . This only ended in 1643 in the Hildesheim main recess with a revision of the Quedlinburg recess and the return of the areas. Exceptions were the offices of Aerzen, Grohnde, Coldingen-Lauenberg, Lutter am Barenberge, Westerhof and Lindau, which remained with the principalities of Calenberg and Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel.

Prince-Bishop Johann IV renounced the diocese in 1527, later became canon in Ratzeburg and died in Lübeck in 1547 .

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Schnath : From the Saxon tribe to the state of Lower Saxony. In: Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education (Hrsg.): Land Lower Saxony. Tradition and present. Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, Hanover 1976, pp. 11–89, here p. 55.