City fire of Einbeck
The city fire of Einbeck was a major fire that destroyed the medieval buildings in the city of Einbeck in the former Principality of Grubenhagen on July 26, 1540 , unless they were made of stone. The reconstruction in the following decades still shapes the appearance of the old town streets around the market square and the silhouette of the city through the tower of the market church, which was completed again in 1543 .
Contemporary historical context
The events in Einbeck took place against the background of major political-religious conflicts. Here, Duke Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, as part of Charles V, and the Schmalkaldic League as a defensive alliance for pro-Lutheran cities and territories faced each other. Landgrave Philipp von Hessen was one of the most important actors in the Schmalkaldic League.
Einbeck formally introduced the Reformation in 1529 . On December 19, 1531, the city, invited by Braunschweig, joined the Schmalkaldic League together with Goslar and Göttingen . Einbeck had only regional importance in the alliance, which is reflected in the fact that the city was usually represented at the deliberations.
In the following years the conflict between Henry the Younger and the Schmalkaldic League escalated further; For example, in 1539 Heinrich was charged with the kidnapping and alleged murder of the Goslar Syndicus Conrad Dellinghausen († 1530), a native of Einbeck, before the Reich Chamber of Commerce . This accusation gave contemporaries the impression that Duke Heinrich was pursuing his political goals in a questionable manner.
Millennium-Summer 1540
1540 is known in climate history as an extremely dry year or "great solar year", which is also known as the millennium summer. Between March and September it should have hardly rained, so that, for example, you could cross the Rhine on foot in some places . This extreme year is very well documented in historical sources; an example from Zurich :
“The bright weather and the heat began on the 29th Hornung and lasted until the 19th month of autumn , i.e. 29 weeks within which it did not rain 6 times and then never for half a day or a night. Ripe cherries were eaten at the end of May, pears and barley were available for sale on June 18, around the 24th they were in the middle of the harvest, sweet grapes were eaten at the beginning of July, and at the beginning of autumn they were in the middle of autumn. Meadows and forests were yellow with the heat, and the earth threw great crevices here and there; In many places the grapes withered on the vines, many forests began to burn, wells and streams and all forest water dried up completely. The water was brought to the cattle for miles, the mills mostly stood idle ... There was an abundance of grain and a wonderful amount of the most delicious wine ... "
The Swedish barrel in Würzburg is a reminder of the legendary vintage 1540 ; but the disastrous consequences of the drought far outweighed the pleasing aspects.
Murder Burner Year
In 1540 there were 33 city fires in Germany. This number was only reached again at the height of the Thirty Years' War . Many of these fires (Einbeck, Pausa , Triptis , Nordhausen , Hadamar , Erfurt ) were considered anti-Protestant arson so that 1540 went down in history as the “murder burner year”. With his polemical work Wider Hans Worst, Martin Luther made a significant contribution to solidifying this interpretation.
From today's perspective, the question of guilt is not as clear as it appeared to Luther. Torture was the usual means of convicting suspects at the time. Duke Heinrich emphasized in his defense of 1541 addressed to the emperor that the tortured had been given his name suggestively during the interrogations . It was not only pro-Lutheran cities that burned in 1540: "But that in Mentz / Magdeburg / Halberstadt / also in my country / in terrible places / is public on the day and irreparable."
The city fire
The fact that the fire broke out at several points at the same time in Einbeck indicates arson , but this is not mandatory. The event was immediately exploited in the conflict between the Schmalkaldic League and Duke Heinrich the Younger.
Regarding the cause of the fire, the Hildesheim canon canon Johann Oldecop claimed that fiery clouds had appeared over Einbeck, from which God's punitive lightning had struck the city. The farmers came from all the villages in the area and tried, together with the citizens, to save what could be saved, "would like to talk about Bodden and Brupannen , boxes and Kledere and bring them to the Stat ..." but in vain. So that every Einbecker had to be clear that God was at work here and not the blind coincidence “bleff unvorbrant de Pulvertorn” in the city fortifications . In six hours the city burned to the ground, leaving not so much wood left to cook a dish of fish.
The Hanoverian mayor Anton von Berckhusen, on the other hand, took over the Mordbrenner theory in his chronicle and provided alleged evidence for it: "The Church of St. Alexandri remained intact with just a few priestly houses." The Einbeck church was part of Duke Heinrich and he spared his property want.
procedure
- July 26th: On the evening of St. Anne's Day at six o'clock, a fire broke out in several places in the city at the same time. The powder stored there exploded in the town hall . Most of the archive material was destroyed as a result. The fire could not be stopped with the means at the time. The whole city burned to the ground by midnight, which provides a contemporary description:
- “So that all monasteries, that Sanct Alexander and all Kerken bynnen Eymbeck, Thorne [towers], Huse, Schunen, all breve [letters, ie documents] and the gates to found uthgebrandt. Darto ock vele people with a lot of cattle in sodan fire and have come to death, so listen closely to the fire up the Huessteden and cellars found syn. "
- July 27th: Aid deliveries arrived from Göttingen, Northeim and Hildesheim .
- July 28: A drunken shepherd was arrested in Einbeck who testified under torture that the Einbeck patrician Heinrich Diek had paid him for the arson.
- July 29th: Philipp von Hessen warned the city of Goslar by letter that they too could become the target of arsonists.
- July 31: The Einbeck council reported to Braunschweig that “about a hundred minschen” had died. In the case of Philip of Hesse and in later sources, over 400 deaths were the result.
- August 3: The Braunschweig Council sent the Einbeckern an extensive delivery of food (butter, bacon, cheese, bread, fish) and equipment (hoes, shovels, troughs, buckets) and money.
- September 4th: Heinrich Diek, meanwhile arrested and tortured, accused Duke Heinrich the Younger of having commissioned the arson. His further fate, possible revocation and the circumstances of his execution are not entirely clear. His body is said to have been exhibited in a cage at the so-called Diekturm at Benser Tor. The original of the cage is now in the old town hall.
- September 18: Anton Corvinus forwarded the interrogation protocol with Diek's confession to Philipp von Hessen.
- December 28, 1540 to January 16, 1541: The representatives of the Schmalkaldic League met in Naumburg (Einbeck was absent without excuse) and coordinated their action against Heinrich the Younger. They decided on voluntary financial aid for Einbeck. Strasbourg, for example, approved 600 guilders .
Archaeological traces
As in Einbeck, as in other historical cities, half-timbered houses burned down again and again and such minor damage was not necessarily mentioned in the sources, it is difficult to clearly link a layer of fire to the event of July 26, 1540. The excavation findings on Petersilienwasser Street (1996 to 2005) are of particular importance here:
- A coin find in house no.3 on the last rammed earth floor, under the unrelated fire rubble, has final coins from 1538.
- The residents of No. 12a had apparently all died so that no one would search for excavations and any non-combustible objects as they fell from the collapsing house were left in situ . The plot was no longer built over, a layer of humus formed over the fire rubble.
- At 24 Hohen Munsterstrasse, the walls of a booth were no more than 50 cm high; this booth consisted of a hall and a separate room with a tiled stove .
For the urban area as a whole, it can be stated that the fire rubble, above all reddish half-timbered loam, was searched intensively for anything useful, that is, there are few finds; then it was leveled and the new buildings built on this layer.
Visible traces in the cityscape
At residential buildings
Tiedexer Strasse
The timber stored in the courtyard in front of the Benser Tor was not affected by the city fire. These woods could be dendrochronologically dated to the felling years 1539 and 1540 and were a sought-after material for the reconstruction of the city, e.g. B. Tiedexer Strasse No. 22. Overall, Tiedexer Strasse, as the “best residential area”, must have been a major construction site in 1540 and 1541 that employed several construction workers. Six house scaffolds are inscribed and dated to 1541: No. 6, 10, 12, 20, 22 and 26.
Market street
A massive fire gable wall from the 15th century remained on Marktstrasse, which was part of the predecessor building of No. 14 (perhaps Junker Exchange) and towers over the current houses.
Marketplace
A secondary bar with a fragmentary Latin inscription ("dant gemit [...] ort Anbec [...] vi mortui") at market no. 17 probably alludes to the Einbecker (mortui) who died in the town fire .
To churches
There were three large churches in Einbeck's old town. The Neustadt Church of St. Marien , which was demolished in the 20th century, was hit hardest , because here the tower collapsed onto the nave.
Market Church of St. Jacobi
After the town fire, the tower of the market church was quickly repaired because of its military importance as an observation post. The ensemble of tower dome, roof structure, belfry and tower watchman's room dates from this time ; the latter is dated to 1543. The steep church roof that still exists today (with a slope of around 50 degrees) was rebuilt after the city fire. The north wall of the nave, which today causes static problems due to its inclination, was probably not built professionally after the fire.
Cathedral Church of St. Alexandri
The above-mentioned theory, according to which the minster church of St. Alexandri was spared by the arsonists, is refuted by the fact that the roof structure over the nave of the minster church could be dendrochronologically dated to the year 1542. Since the income from the pilgrimage ceased to exist after the Reformation, the cathedral church received its current roof structure - originally just a hastily built, inexpensive provisional structure that was supposed to protect the vaults that were preserved in the city fire from the weather.
Effects
In the time after the city fire, there was a military clash between the Schmalkaldic League and Duke Heinrich, who suffered a severe defeat in 1542. Einbeck tried to get as much profit as possible from this situation. In September the Schmalkaldic League met in Braunschweig; the Einbecker delegation requested:
- Transfer of the Amelungsborn monastery along with the inner-city courtyard;
- Transfer of the domain Hasekenhausen to the Winzenburg office ;
- Transfer of the bells of the Gandersheim clus to Einbeck, presumably to cast guns from them;
- Timber deliveries that Einbeck allegedly paid for Heinrich the Younger but did not receive.
The economically very attractive takeover of Amelungsborn by the city of Einbeck was rejected; the federal government agreed to the other demands.
After the defeat of the Schmalkaldic League in the Battle of Mühlberg , Einbeck felt the negative consequences of membership. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1547 Einbeck was sentenced to pay the emperor a fine of unknown amount.
Above all, however, Heinrich the Younger had a free hand to retaliate for the accusation of murderous burning. After a few skirmishes, Einbeck was forced to make a shameful peace with the Duke on January 20, 1550 (Gandersheim Treaty): Einbeck had to pay a fine for demolishing Hasekenhausen and collecting the Gandersheim bells as well as other damage to ducal property. The city had large quantities of Einbecker beer , its main product, to deliver to the Duke every year . Heinrich Diek's bones were no longer allowed to be displayed at the Benser Tor.
Quote
Martin Luther to Duke Heinrich the Younger:
"But it doesn't help, Heintz, [...] this innocent, innocent blood shed in Einbeck and elsewhere by your murderous fire, screams to heaven so strongly that you and your companions will soon (God willing) scream into the abyss of hell shall! "(Against Hans Worst, March 1541)
literature
- Andreas Heege : Einbeck 1540: Arson! The Einbeck city fire of 1540 - archaeological findings and political background. Einbeck 2005, ISBN 3-9807130-3-2 . (on-line)
- Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany, architectural monuments in Lower Saxony. Volume 7.3). Michael Imhof Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7319-0511-0 .
- Heinrich Ludolph Harland: History of the city of Einbeck. Volume 2, Einbeck 1857, pp. 108-140. (on-line)
- Klinckhardt: Heinrich Dieck, alleged murder burner in the city of Einbeck in 1540. In: New patriotic archive, or contributions to the general knowledge of the Kingdom of Hanover as it was and is. Hannover 1824, pp. 142-169. (on-line)
Web links
- Horst Hülse: The inscriptions of the city of Einbeck.
- Andreas Heege: July 26, 1540, 6 pm - 10 pm: Martin Luther, "Hans Worst" and the city fire of Einbeck. Short version (lecture) of the above Box.
Individual evidence
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 296-297 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 32 .
- ↑ The millennium summer of 1540: When Europe died of thirst. July 4, 2014, accessed January 15, 2018 .
- ^ Supplementary Information. (PDF) Retrieved January 17, 2018 (Source 140: Memories of the City and Landscape of Zurich).
- ↑ Cornel Zwierlein: The tamed Prometheus: Fire and security between early modern times and modern times . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, p. 104 (city fires in 1540: Stettin-Altdamm, Arnswalde, Biesenthal, Dippoldiswalde, Greußen, Husum, Marktredwitz, Neustettin, Nordhausen, Nossen / Meißen, Pausa / Plauen, Stettin-Pölitz, Sonthofen, Stargard, Triptis, Velburg, Wangen, Wehlau, Weiden , Wolkenstein, Bingen, Erkelenz, Freudenberg, Hadamar, Herbstein, Jever, Peckelsheim, Rhoden, Vörden, Tübingen, Leutkirch, Einbeck, Großenhain.).
- ↑ Cornel Zwierlein: The tamed Prometheus . 2011, p. 106 .
- ↑ Cornel Zwierlein: The tamed Prometheus . 2011, p. 107 .
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 114-115 .
- ^ HL Harland: History of the city of Einbeck . tape 2 , 1857, pp. 109 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 10 .
- ↑ Cornel Zwierlein: The tamed Prometheus . 2011, p. 107 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 32 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 10 (source in the Göttingen city archive).
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 32 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 15-16 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 20.24 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 15 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 16 .
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 447 .
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 393-394 .
- ↑ Horst Hülse: The inscriptions of the city of Einbeck. Retrieved January 14, 2018 .
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 278 .
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 245 .
- ^ Thomas Kellmann: City of Einbeck . 2017, p. 255 .
- ↑ Andreas Heege: Einbeck 1540 . 2005, p. 38 .