Treaty of Perleberg
The Treaty of Perleberg was signed as a peace treaty in 1420 between the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg on the one hand and the two Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck . It marked the end of the armed conflict over territorial issues that had begun in 1401.
The contract was concluded on August 23, 1420 in the town of Perleberg in Westprignitz . Since the high Middle Ages, the two Hanseatic cities had been relieved by the dukes of the already poor duchy, weakened by real divisions, to secure the roads and trade routes between Hamburg and Lübeck, but also the connections via the Elbe crossings to the south, such as the old salt road via the city of Mölln to Lüneburg , Locations and parts of the area acquired by purchase or taken as a pledge. With the construction of the Stecknitz Canal , completed in 1398, the need for safety was increased. The real division into two lines was abolished by inheritance in 1401 under Duke Erich IV of Saxony-Lauenburg . The Vogt Otto von Ritzerau , who was appointed by Lübeck in Bergedorf, was forcibly expelled from the lien property by Duke Erich IV in 1401. At this time Lübeck was weakened by internal unrest and was only able to recapture the pledge in 1420 with the help of Hamburg. Erich's successor, Duke Erich V, tried to revise the pledges of his ancestors of the Mölln-Bergedorf line by all political means, but was defeated by the two cities militarily. The Peace of Perleberg was negotiated by Lübeck's mayor Jordan Pleskow, who was an important foreign politician for the Hanseatic League, and Hamburg's mayor Hein Hoyer . On the Lauenburg side stood next to Duke Erich his brothers Bernhard II and Otto . As a result, the Vierlande , Bergedorf , Geesthacht and half of the Sachsenwald fell to the two cities. However, the last appeals against this were finally rejected by the imperial court on January 21, 1672 in favor of the two Hanseatic cities. The demarcation as a result of the conclusion of the contract remained, if one disregards the Sachsenwald, essentially unchanged until the Greater Hamburg Act in 1937. A copy of the contract is in the archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck .
literature
- Emil Ferdinand Fehling : Lübeck Council Line. Lübeck 1925. No. 425 Jordan Pleskow .
- E. Schulze: The Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg and the Luebian territorial policy. Neumünster 1957
