Vogtland War
The Vogtland War lasted from 1354 to 1357 . The bailiffs of Weida , Gera and Plauen lost most of their property to Emperor Charles IV and the Wettins .
prehistory
The dynasty of the bailiffs, which gave the Vogtland its name, went back to the bailiffs von Weida and formed the side branches of the bailiffs von Plauen , the bailiffs von Gera and the Reuss von Greiz . The bailiffs had risen from imperial officials to sovereigns under the Hohenstaufen dynasty and, as " bailiffs " of the Quedlinburg monastery over its Gera lands, had taken over the official designation as a family name and title, for the first time Heinrich II der Reich von Weida, Gera, Plauen and Greiz in 1209. The Roman-German King Rudolf I recognized them as rulers and King Ludwig IV (Ludwig the Bavarian) confirmed this in 1329 in the " Vogtland Golden Bull ". Thus the bailiffs were considered to be imperial and were only subordinate to the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire .
Until the middle of the 13th century, the heads of the entire bailiff's family acted uniformly and expanded their terra advocatorum (the territory of the bailiffs) considerably. In 1350 the land of the four Vogtslinien extended to Ronneburg , Gera and Schmölln in the north, in the east to behind Werdau , in the south to today's border with the Czech Republic and in the west to Lobenstein . It was surrounded by powerful rulers. In the north by the Margraves of Meissen (and Landgraves of Thuringia), in the southeast by the Kings of Bohemia and in the southwest by the Burgraves of Nuremberg .
In the 14th century, however, the bailiffs fell victim to the expansive efforts of their neighbors, the margraves of Meissen and the kings of Bohemia: the bailiffs made alliances with the two neighbors, some of which were aimed at each other. The bailiffs of Plauen placed themselves under the suzerainty of the Bohemian kings and thus under the protection of King Johann , while the bailiffs of Weida and the bailiffs of Gera joined the Wettiners.
The war
In 1347 Charles I, the later Roman-German Emperor Charles IV , became King of Bohemia. Above all, he pursued a policy of strengthening the household power of his family, the Luxembourgers. The Wettins also wanted to enlarge their territory. When Landgrave Friedrich der Strenge complained in 1354 that the bailiffs would support robber barons, this gave rise to a joint reprisal. At the request of Charles IV, Erfurt and other Thuringian cities such as Mühlhausen and Nordhausen also took part in this action . At least sixty castles are said to have been destroyed in the Vogtland during the war. Sometimes they were, such as B. in Elsterberg , also razed , although they were previously declared an "open house". The bailiffs had little to counter the act of violence, also because of the increasing debts. The cities will have hoped for better protection of their trade routes from the larger powers. It remains to be investigated whether the robber baron system had actually spread more strongly among the ministerials of the bailiffs than in neighboring countries - and improved after the conquest by them - or whether it was mainly a pretext in the overall political context.
Effects
As a result of the war, the Plauen bailiffs lost almost all of their property. The cities of Mylau and Reichenbach of the younger line fell to the Bohemian king, who justified his claim with a deed of donation from King Frederick II from 1212. In addition, they had to recognize the Wettins as rulers of the rest of the property. Heinrich IV. From the older line had to sell his property. Adorf, Auma, Gattendorf, Hirschberg, Markneukirchen, Mühltroff, Neuberg (Podhradí), Pausa, Sachsgrün, Schönberg, Triptis, Voigtsberg and Ziegenrück went to the Wettins. Heinrich IV himself was expelled and in the end only had a free house in Dresden.
The Gera bailiffs also had to recognize the Wettins as masters. The Weida bailiffs lost their city of Hof and the Regnitzland to the lords of Nuremberg. Although they had been owed to the Nuremberg people since 1318 , they had not had much influence so far. In 1354 the Weidaer had to renew their feudal oath. In 1373 Heinrich von Weida finally sold Hof and the Regnitzland to the Nuremberg burgraves.
The governors increasingly sank into political insignificance. Her title was also slowly dying out. From the middle of the 14th century they could only be addressed as “gentlemen”.
literature
- "Historikus Vogtland", November – December 2007 edition, [1]
- Carl Wenck: The Wettins in the XIVth Century, in particular Margrave Wilhelm and King Wenzel, plus an excursus: The Vogtland War , Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877