Steding war
The Stedinger War was a crusade by the Archdiocese of Bremen against the residents of the state of Stedingen in 1233 and 1234.
prehistory
Count Heinrich I von Hoya defeated the Stedingers in a battle near Hilgermissen in 1211 or 1213 . Heinrich I supported the Bremen Archbishop Waldemar . Waldemar had tried to force the Stedinger farmers to submit a tithe. So the farmers gathered in Horn and attacked Hoya Castle , which was under construction . When they had overcome their wall, the Hoyas knights carried out a flank attack, so that the farmers had to retreat to Wienbergen . In the absence of adequate armament, they suffered considerable losses and fled. After that, however, neither Waldemar nor Gerhard I could enforce the tithe obligation.
history
In 1229 there was a first feud between Archbishop Gerhard II and the Stedians. An archbishop's army under the leadership of Hermann zur Lippe , a brother of the archbishop, advanced into the Stedingerland, but was defeated on December 25, 1229 in the battle of Hasbergen , during which Hermann was also killed. Thereupon Gerhard II called a provincial synod in Bremen in March 1230 . At this synod of Lent in Bremen , the Stedingers were declared heretics . They were accused of opposing the church, burning monasteries and churches, abusing hosts and conducting surveys of spirits and fortune tellers. Gerhard II sought support from Pope Gregory IX. and called for the conversion, fight and extermination of the Stedinger.
The real reason for his resentment, however, was an uprising by the Stedinger, who protested against tax payments that they were supposed to pay, even though they were supposed to be exempt from all taxes due to the reclamation of the Wesermarsch .
The citizens of Bremen were granted generous rights and benefits when participating in the war. Citizens should be exempted from duties and taxes. The merchants were offered an exemption from army succession and a third of the booty.
With these commitments not only the financial aid of the city was secured, but also the use of ships and the supply of the troops. Another incentive was provided by the Pope, who declared in 1233 that every participant in the campaign against the Stedinger was entitled to the same indulgences as were intended for the march to the Holy Land. The North German bishops and the Dominicans were asked to go on a crusade .
The allies, under the command of Henry I of Brabant , formed an army of up to 4,000 knights (the sources report very different numbers). The Stedinger offered just as many fighters. The leaders of the Stedinger army were Thammo von Huntorp, Detmar tom Dyk (tom Dieke) and Bolko von Bardenfleth.
The Stedinger were able to repel the first attacks of the feudal armies. In 1233, however, Osterstade was subdued, and in 1234 the archbishop and the allied noble rulers achieved the decisive victory in the battle of Altenesch .
The land gains on the left bank of the Weser were shared among the winners. Bremen's political position was strengthened through its participation in the Stedinger War.
reception
The crusade against the Stedinger was more of a marginal issue in historical studies. The topic was hardly dealt with in school lessons either . There were exceptions under National Socialism and in the GDR . To mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Altenesch, August Hinrichs wrote the open-air play De Stedinge , which was performed several times between 1935 and 1937. For example, in the history of the GDR and by individual authors, the Stedinger group was stylized as a “ peasant republic ”.
See also
literature
Specialist literature
- Jens Schmeyers: The Stedinger Peasant Wars . True events and historical considerations. In memory of the Battle of Altenesch on May 27, 1234 . Stedinger Verlag: Lemwerder 2004, ISBN 3-927697-38-9
- Bernd Ulrich Hucker : The problem of rule and freedom in the regional communities and aristocratic rule of the Middle Ages in the Niederweser area ; Münster (Westphalia) 1978.
- Ders .: The political preparation of the wars of subjugation against the Stedinger and the acquisition of the Grafschaft Bruchhausen by the House of Oldenburg , in: Oldenburger Jahrbuch , 86, 1986, pp. 1–32.
- Heinrich Schmidt: On the history of the Stedinger : In: Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 60/62, S. 27f., State Archive Bremen, Bremen 1982/83.
- Keyword: Stedinger uprising around 1204-1234 , in: Dictionary of German military history , 2 volumes, Berlin (GDR) 1985, vol. 2, p. 948.
- Rolf Köhn: “Better to be dead than a slave!” The Stedinger uprising in German literature (1836–1975) , 2 parts. In: Oldenburger Jahrbuch , Volume 80, 1980, pp. 1-57, as well as Vol. 81, 1981, pp. 83-144.
- Rolf Köhn: The hereticization of the Stedinger by the Bremen Synod of Lent . In: Bremisches Jahrbuch , Vol. 57, Bremen 1979, pp. 15 to 85.
- Bruno Gloger: Kreuzzug gegen die Stedinger 1233/34 , 2nd, revised edition Berlin ( Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften ) 1980 ( Illustrated historical booklets vol. 22, ZDB-ID 5515506).
Fiction
Alphabetical order
- Gerhard Beutel: The Stedinger's fist , Berlin 1975.
- Friedrich Kühlken : The Stedinger's fight for freedom . 3. Edition. Langensalza / Berlin / Leipzig undated [approx. 1938].
- Helmuth Miethke : The palace medic , 2nd edition. Berlin (children's book publisher), 1980.
- Olivia Moore: Meerweibchenuhr and winter trip on the Ollen, fantastic story about the Stedinger Land .
- Georg Ruseler : Die Stedinger (drama), 4th edition. Varel 1891.
- Georg Ruseler: The fight for the Lechtenburg . Wilhelmshaven 1920.
- Arnold Schloenbach: The Stedinger freedom fight . A patriotic poem in 18 songs, Bremen 1864.
- Arnold Schloenbach: The Stedinger . In: The Gazebo . Issue 45–47, 1854, pp. 533-536; 549-554; 561-567 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
- Bernhard Winter : De Stedinge want to commemorate . Low German texts. Edo Dieckmann, Oldenburg 1933.
Web links
- Heimatverein-Altenesch
- Chronicle , private website
Individual evidence
- ^ Kurt Asendorf: The memorable battle near Hilgermissen in 1211, in: Heimatland , 1979, pp. 208-210
- ↑ The Battle of Hilgermissen