Battle of Flarchheim
| date | January 27, 1080 |
|---|---|
| place | near Flarchheim , Thuringia |
| output | ambiguous |
The Battle of Flarchheim was the second military clash between King Heinrich IV on the one hand and the anti-king Rudolf von Rheinfelden on the other on Monday, January 27, 1080 , not far from the town of Flarchheim, south of Mühlhausen , Thuringia .
prehistory
In February 1076 had Pope Gregory VII. The excommunication over Henry IV pronounced., The prince on the Assembly to Trebur followed in October of the decision that the king was deposed if he does not solve this spell within a year. The walk to Canossa in January 1077 brought about the lifting of the ban, but did not prevent Heinrich's opponent from electing Rudolf von Rheinfelden as the opposing king on March 15 and having him anointed on March 26. In June Heinrich imposed an imperial ban on his opponent and began to campaign against him. After the previous battle at Mellrichstadt on August 7, 1078, the opponents met again at Flarchheim.
The course of the battle
King Heinrich IV had taken the strategic offensive against Rudolf and marched with his armed forces from southern Germany towards Saxony . Rudolf went to meet him and on January 27, 1080 in Thuringia stood for battle. The armies of both parties consisted only of knights , according to the report of the monk Berthold von Reichenau, a Bohemian army of Duke Vratislav with a strength of 3,255 men is said to have stood on Heinrich's side .
Rudolf posted his forces on a hill behind a stream. His intention was to attack Heinrich's army as soon as it had crossed the brook and then, in disarray, would climb the hill. Heinrich IV recognized this intention and avoided Rudolf's positions. The actual battle is said to have started after three in the afternoon. A violent snowstorm and great cold affected the fighting severely, so that the battle broke up into mass individual battles of the knights until nightfall separated the fighters. No actual tactical decision was made. Rudolf claimed victory for himself because he stayed on the battlefield until midnight and Heinrich withdrew the next morning. While the Bohemian army is said to have been almost wiped out, Rudolf's side allegedly had only 38 dead, including two nobles. This mild outcome was also due to Otto von Northeim's participation .
However, Duke Vratislav, who was fighting on the side of Henry, captured Rudolf's golden lance , which morally devalued the success of the battle for Rudolf. Henry IV instructed that in future the Holy Lance should be carried before the Dukes of Bohemia on ceremonial occasions .
The other events
In October 1080 the two opponents then fought the third and decisive battle at Hohenmölsen on the White Elster .
literature
- Sources on the history of Emperor Heinrich IV . (Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages. Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe, Vol. 12). Scientific book club, Darmstadt 1968. Contains u. a .: Bruno von Merseburg: Brunonis Saxonicum bellum. Brunos Sachsenkrieg (translated by Franz-Josef Schmale , pp. 191–405, on Flarchheim in particular pp. 379–383) and Carmen de bello saxonico . The song from the Saxon war (translated by Franz-Josef Schmale, pp. 142–189).
- Berthold and Bernold's chronicles . (Selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Freiherr vom Stein memorial edition, vol. 14). Wissenschaftliche Buchgemeinschaft, Darmstadt 2002. (Contains inter alia: Bertholdchronik (Second version), pp. 35–277, on Flarchheim in particular p. 273).