Reiser unrest

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Reisersche unrest is an uprising of the Lübeck citizens against the advice of the city in 1599 after its leader Heinrich Reiser called.

background

In 1598 the Swedish King Sigismund III. Wasa Lübeck won as an ally against his adversary in the dispute over the Swedish throne, Duke Karl von Södermanland . In exchange for the promise of monetary payments and privileges, the Lübeck council had begun to detain merchant ships sailing under the duke's flag in the port of Lübeck. When the Duke began to gain the upper hand in the battle for the throne in autumn 1598, he had numerous Lübeck ships confiscated in return , which caused considerable damage to Lübeck's Baltic trade . Since the Lower Saxony Reichskreis had sided with Karl, Lübeck was politically isolated, which led to further losses.

Duke Karl was aware that there was a simmering conflict in Lübeck between the council and the citizens , who saw their interests increasingly ignored. In order to take advantage of this contrast in his favor, he wrote to the citizens on October 30, 1598, in which he asked whether the order to detain his ships had been made with their knowledge and approval.

course

The letter caused outrage among members of the citizenry, as they felt that the foreign policy decisions that the council had made over their heads had ignored them and had their rights violated. After an official threatening letter from the Lower Saxon Reich Circle against the city of Lübeck was issued later, the citizenship opposed the council.

The citizenship formed a committee on October 11, 1599 to clarify the facts, headed by the lawyer Heinrich Reiser, after whom the events were later named. Almost all guilds and merchants' colleges were represented in the fifty-man committee . On November 28th, he submitted a detailed complaint to the Council, which not only concerned the dispute with Sweden, but also contained a number of more far-reaching political demands. The main points were:

In addition, among other things, a more effective organization of defense measures and weapons exercises as well as public court hearings were called for.

The first mayor Gotthard V. von Hoeveln represented the conservative position in this dispute with the mayor Dietrich von Broemse . To the troublemaker Dr. Not to upgrade Reiser too much, von Hoeveln left it to his second mayor, Alexander Lüneburg , to conduct the negotiations.

The reform of the citizens' oath became the main point of contention between the citizens and the council. According to the council, the wording required obedience to the honorable council of that city . The citizens, however, were of the opinion that the words demanded obedience to the honorable council and this city , so the council did not have sole governance. In an attempt to find out the true facts, it was found that the wording of the oath was not clearly regulated. Only after violent disputes that lasted for months, Mayor Alexander Lüneburg declared on behalf of the council on November 28th, 1600 that the oath required by the citizens from now on was binding.

After the most serious questions had been resolved, all other demands of the citizens were met by June 14, 1605 , which ended the Reiser unrest.

literature

  • Matthias Crumbtinger : Truthful and credible directory report and watch history from the Lübische Hendelln manuscript 1609 (Ms Lub 2 ° 70 digitized , Lübeck City Library )
  • Jürgen Asch: Council and citizenship in Lübeck 1598-1669: The constitutional disputes in the 17th century and their social background. Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild 1961 (= publications on the history of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck 17), plus dissertation Hamburg 1961
  • Antjekathrin Graßmann (Ed.): Lübeckische Geschichte. 2nd revised edition. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 1989, ISBN 3-7950-3202-4 .