Treaty of Kaaden

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Duke Ulrich of Württemberg
Ferdinand I.

The Treaty of Kaaden (also known as the Kaaden Treaty or Peace Agreement of Kaaden ) was signed on June 29, 1534 in Kaaden between the later Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I and Duke Ulrich von Württemberg . In it, Ulrich was again allowed to rule over Württemberg after his reconquest . However, the house was Habsburg that this is one of Austria's only in the form After fief happened so that Ulrich against Austria loan charge remained.

prehistory

Duke Ulrich von Württemberg stabbed the knight Hans von Hutten to death in 1515 for personal motives . Emperor Maximilian I therefore imposed in 1516, the imperial ban on him. Before the situation could escalate militarily, however, the emperor died.

In 1519 Ulrich attacked the free imperial city of Reutlingen , which formed an enclave in the territory of the duke. Bavaria then took action against the duke with the support of the Swabian Federation and expelled him from his duchy. In 1520, the Swabian Federation transferred the power of rule in Württemberg to Archduke Ferdinand . After the expulsion, Ulrich stayed in his neighboring seat on the left bank of the Rhine, Mömpelgard , and tried several times to regain possession of the duchy.

The Habsburg occupation of the duchy was viewed extremely critically by the imperial estates , as it represented a significant upgrade of the Habsburg position in the west of the empire. This dispute was overshadowed by the denominational question - Duke Ulrich began to turn to the Reformation around 1523.

Ulrich was supported in the restitution of his duchy by the Hessian Landgrave Philip I , one of the most powerful and influential Protestant princes of his time, who was distantly related to Ulrich. The end of the Swabian Confederation in February 1534 made it possible to find a military solution to the Württemberg question . Within two weeks, the Hessian landgrave conquered the duchy with troops from the Schmalkaldic League . After the battle of Lauffen on May 13, 1534, the Habsburg rule in Württemberg collapsed completely.

The contract

Archbishop Albrecht of Magdeburg and Mainz and Duke Georg of Saxony tried to act as mediators after the hostilities and to end the conflict.

As early as June 29, 1534, a peace treaty was concluded in Kaaden near Eger , which was intended to achieve a compromise between the two warring parties. Ulrich was regent of Württemberg again, but the treaty limited his newly regained rights considerably. Ulrich, like the Elector of Saxony, had to recognize Ferdinand's controversial election as German King . Ferdinand also formally retained the title of Duke of Württemberg, but passed the duchy on to Ulrich as an after-fief. This fiefdom relationship represented a considerable degradation of Ulrich's prince dignity. Ferdinand still reserved the right to withdraw the fiefdom again if the duke or his descendants should take action against the House of Austria. In addition, the treaty secured Ferdinand the right, after the male line in the House of Württemberg died out, to determine the new occupation of the duchy alone.

The treaty expressly forbade introducing the teachings of the Swiss reformers or those of the Anabaptists into the duchy. In the treaty, Lutheranism was clearly preferred to the other Protestant currents. In addition, Ferdinand asked Ulrich to make a formal request for forgiveness and mercy.

Effects and further course

With Ulrich's return from exile, the Reformation began in Württemberg in 1534. It represented a considerable strengthening of the Protestant party in the German southwest. In 1536 Ulrich joined the Schmalkaldic League, which meant an important expansion of the sphere of influence of the federal government.

The Württemberg Reformation tried to mediate between the Zwinglian and Lutheran orientation of the Reformation. This made it easier for the southern German imperial cities to join the Schmalkaldic League. As a large Protestant area, Württemberg subsequently assumed a kind of protective function over the Protestant imperial cities that were particularly numerous in this area.

Ferdinand later withdrew this fiefdom due to Ulrich's participation in the Schmalkaldic War . The ownership of Württemberg was finally regulated in his favor in 1552 under Duke Christoph von Württemberg .

Duke Friedrich I bought the conversion of Württemberg back into an imperial fief in 1599. However, the Habsburgs were granted a claim to the land in the event that the House of Württemberg should die out in the male line. This never happened, however, until the Peace of Pressburg in 1805 ended Austrian claims.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Helga Schnabel-Schüle: The Reformation 1495–1555. 2006, p. 186.
  2. ↑ a b c Helga Schnabel-Schüle: The Reformation 1495–1555. 2006, p. 187.
  3. ↑ a b c d e History of the Duchy of Württemberg
  4. ↑ a b Peter Blickle: The Reformation in the Empire. Year ?, p. 208.
  5. ↑ a b Helga Schnabel-Schüle: The Reformation 1495–1555. 2006, p. 188.