Battle of Lauffen

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Battle of Lauffen
date May 13, 1534
place near Lauffen am Neckar
output Hessian victory
consequences Power was regained in Württemberg by Duke Ulrich, supported by Landgrave Philipp von Hessen
Parties to the conflict

Habsburg

Protestant Landgraviate of Hesse

Commander

Governor Palatine Philipp , Dietrich Spät

Landgrave Philip I of Hesse

Troop strength
10,500 25,000
losses

2,000

unknown

The battle of Lauffen on May 13, 1534 near Lauffen am Neckar between Austrian and Hessian troops ended the Austrian governorship over Württemberg with the victory of the Hessians and helped Duke Ulrich von Württemberg, who had previously been expelled by the Habsburgs, to regain power over his duchy with support from Hesse .

prehistory

Duke Ulrich of Württemberg was after his attack on the free city of Reutlingen in 1519 by the troops of the Swabian League expelled from Württemberg, and Wurtemberg was built by Emperor Charles V under governorship of Catholic Habsburg asked. In exile, Duke Ulrich turned to the Reformation as early as around 1523 , and in 1527 he found refuge with Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, who was also Protestant, in Kassel and Marburg .

The Hessian parade

On April 23, 1534, Landgrave Philipp I and Duke Ulrich rode out of Kassel with the knighthood of Lower Hesse to take the lead in an army that was gathering in southern Hesse, which eventually numbered around 20,000 men on foot and around 4,000 horsemen. Philipp himself was in command. The cavalry consisted of 1500 Hessian knights and their followers, commanded by their marshal Hermann von der Malsburg , and 2500 soldiers under Jost von Steinberg . The infantry consisted of a 5100-strong regiment of Dutch mercenaries under Hans von Bellersheim , who was also the supreme witness master , and two regiments of Oberland mercenaries with a total of 11,000 men who had been recruited in Strasbourg by the mercenary leader, Count Wilhelm von Fürstenberg , who had been recruited by the landgrave ; Heinrich von Fleckenstein commanded one regiment, Claudius (von) Walhey the other. In addition, there were a few flags from Count Georg I of Württemberg zu Mömpelgard , Duke Ulrich's brother, four from Sebastian Schertlin , and five from Count Salis . Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, as the chief field captain, was in command of all foot troops; Hans Ludwig von Landenberg was Fürstenberg's lieutenant.

The army marched through the Odenwald against the Austrian governor in Württemberg, Count Palatine Philipp von Pfalz-Neuburg .

The Austrian preparations

Count Palatine Philipp moved with his troops from Knittlingen to Lauffen before May 10, 1534 and moved into camps in the Wiesental and Seugberg mountains there ( 49 ° 4 ′  N , 9 ° 9 ′  E ). He suspected that the Hessian troops in Neckarsulm would advance in his direction via Heilbronn and Sontheim and therefore moved towards the enemy in the direction of Heilbronn. However, the Hessian troops failed to advance south, instead crossed the Neckar to the west and turned to the Zabergäu . Count Palatine Philipp therefore had his troops set across the Neckar and met the Hessians on May 12, 1534, first near Nordheim , where a battle broke out in which he was wounded by a shot in the right foot. In this battle, 20,000 Hessian soldiers and 5,000 horsemen met 10,000 Austrian soldiers with 500 horsemen. The battle was undecided.

After Count Palatine Philip was wounded, Dietrich Spät , a confidante of Sabina of Bavaria , who was in opposition to her husband, Duke Ulrich, became commander-in-chief of the Austrian troops . Late he immediately had some defensive entrenchments built between Nordheim and Lauffen, but could not prevent the Austrian troops from withdrawing. This retreat seems to have taken place less for tactical reasons, rather the Austrian captains are said not to have recognized Spät as commanders and to have returned to Lauffen after the battle near Nordheim, "where they enjoyed the wine" and wherever their troops were still going to them Night followed. The Austrians camped in the Forchenwäldchen ( 49 ° 3 ′ 57 ″  N , 9 ° 9 ′ 47 ″  E ) in the Neckar valley below the Seugberge ( 49 ° 4 ′  N , 9 ° 9 ′  E ), but failed to do so again like a few days to be occupied beforehand. The Hessians followed them that same night and took up the advantageous position on the Seugberg mountains above the Austrian camp.

battle

Illustration from Zimmermann's Die Geschichte Würtembergs (1837)

The battle of Lauffen on May 13, 1534 began with the gunfire of the Hessians, who were in a tactically advantageous position, at the Austrian camp. The Austrians then retreated to a hill in the direction of Kirchheim am Neckar and opened fire on the Hessians who were advancing into the valley. The main force of the Hessian soldiers, however, also turned to the Zabergrund and the Kirchheimer Höhe and thus cut off the way back for the Austrians. The Austrians then tried in great haste to withdraw from the looming clutches, which the two foremost groups managed to do. The rearmost bunch of some divisions of old mercenaries , country folk and entourage was wiped out by the Hessian cavalry. The Austrians lost their camp and a large part of their ammunition and 2,000 deaths.

Effects

The battle of Lauffen was decisive for the history of Württemberg because it ushered in the end of the Austrian governorship and the restitution of the previous rule under Duke Ulrich. The Treaty of Kaaden confirmed Ulrich's ownership of the land on June 29, 1534, which is further understood as the establishment of a political balance within the German states. After his return, Ulrich initiated the Reformation in Württemberg.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dutch Landsknechte were recruited from Northern Germany, Oberland from Bavaria, Swabia and Austria.
  2. ↑ Johannes Volker Wagner: Count Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, 1491-1549, and the political-intellectual powers of his time. Hiersemann, Saarbrücken, 1966
  3. ↑ Also Claude de Walhey, lord of the village of Walhey east of Nancy .
  4. ^ A b Ludwig Friedrich Heyd: Ulrich, Herzog zu Württemberg, second volume. Fues, Tübingen, 1841, pp. 451-454
  5. ↑ The Battle of Lauffen 1534
  6. ^ Karl Pfaff: History of the Princely House and Land Wirtemberg; Second part, Metzler, Stuttgart, 1839, pp. 712-713

Coordinates: 49 ° 3 '36 "  N , 9 ° 7' 48"  E