Rhenish Association of Cities
A Rheinischer Städtebund came about twice in history. The first and more important city league emerged in the middle of the 13th century , the second was a forerunner of the South German city league towards the end of the 14th century . In both cases, the cities of Mainz and Worms were the constituent centers, and other important - mainly southwest German - cities followed.
Many see the Rheinischer Städtebund as a forerunner of other municipal associations, for example the German Association of Cities .
First Rhenish Association of Cities
The first Rheinische Städtebund existed from July 13th 1254 to 1257 and comprised 59 cities and later also territorial princes.
The initiative for the establishment of the Rhenish City Association came from the Mainz citizen Arnold Walpod (Walpode is an abbreviation of "Messenger of violence", which means that Arnold possessed police violence), as well as from the Mainz city treasurer Arnold von Thurn and von Worms . These two cities signed a bilateral treaty as early as February 1254, which was followed by a union with the cities of Oppenheim and Bingen in the spring of 1254 . In July 1254 the union was closed on the day of Mainz by Cologne , Worms, Speyer , Strasbourg , Basel and other unnamed cities.
The motive for the foundation was the insecurity in the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the interregnum . The Rheinische Städtebund was based on the Mainzer Landfrieden of 1235. It turned against feuds and established regulations for conflict cases. A peace treaty for a limited period of 10 years was concluded. The main purpose of the covenant was the “restoration of peace and justice and the maintenance of peace and justice”. The treaty also stipulated "that the sworn peace must apply to everyone within the covenant, for rich and poor, religious and secular clergy, lay people as well as Jews ". A war fleet on the Rhine was supposed to protect shipping. Furthermore, the cities wanted to create a counterweight to the sovereigns. They called for the abolition of the 30 or so Rhine tariffs , which severely hindered trade.
The Rheinische Städtebund had a federal assembly that should meet quarterly and its own Rhine fleet. After the founding assembly in Mainz, the second federal assembly took place on October 6, 1254 in Worms. Further meetings were held on June 29, 1255 and New Year's Eve, 1255. The federal assemblies of May 26 and August 15, 1256 were no longer attended by the princes, so that the covenant began to decline.
A special feature compared to other city federations was the increasing membership of sovereigns . He gave this association a more prominent position compared to other leagues, on the other hand, the aristocratic membership increased the potential for conflict.
Since most cities at that time only had between 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants, the cities remained too weak to represent a major power factor.
Members included Mainz , Worms , Speyer , Basel , Strasbourg , Freiburg im Breisgau , Zurich , Alsfeld , Oppenheim , Bingen , Frankfurt , Cologne , Aachen , Wetzlar , Duisburg , Würzburg ( "accession" ), Mühlhausen and Friedberg , but also far distant cities like Bremen , Lübeck , Nuremberg and Regensburg as well as smaller cities like Schriesheim and Grünberg . Even if there were 16 Westphalian cities among the 59 member cities of this Rhenish city federation, i.e. almost a third of the members, the sometimes used designation “ Rheinisch-Westfälischer Städtebund ” is misleading for this federation.
Second Rheinischer Städtebund
On March 20, 1381, a second Rheinischer Städtebund was formed, to which the cities of Frankfurt, Mainz, Worms, Speyer and Strasbourg belong, among others. In the same year, however, this union joined forces with the Swabian League to form the South German Association of Cities , which was defeated by Count Eberhard II of Württemberg in the Battle of Döffingen in 1388 and had to be dissolved in 1389 with the Peace of Eger .
literature
- Erich Bielfeldt: The Rhenish Confederation of 1254. A first attempt at an imperial reform. Pilger-Druckerei, Speyer 1937 (Kiel, Univ., Diss., 1936).
- Eva-Marie Distler: City federations in the German late Middle Ages. A legal historical investigation into the concept, constitution and function. (Studies on European Legal History, Vol. 207). Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-465-04001-9 , (Simultaneously Frankfurt am Main, Univ. Diss., 2004/2005).
- Friedrich Ebrard: King Wenzel's first attempt to get closer to the Swabian-Rhenish city union 1384-1385. A historical investigation. Strasbourg 1877.
- Ludwig Quidde: The Swabian-Rhenish League of Cities in 1384 until the Heidelberg stables were completed. Stuttgart 1884.
- Karl Anton Schaab : History of the large Rhenish city union . 2 volumes. Kupferberg, Mainz 1843–1845 (digitized version: vol. 1 , vol. 2 ).
- Alexander Thon: Cities against castles. Actual and alleged sieges of castles on the Middle Rhine by the Rhenish Federation 1254–1257. In: Yearbook for West German State History. Vol. 34, 2008, ISSN 0170-2025 , pp. 17-42.
Web links
Tobias Jaecker: The foundation of the Rhenish Federation in Mainz in 1254 ; knowledgeable article on http://www.regionalgeschichte.net/
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tobias Jaecker: The foundation of the Rhenish Federation 1254 in Mainz ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on http://www.regionalgeschichte.net/
