Waldshut War

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Waldshut War
date July 26, 1468 to August 27, 1468
place Waldshut ; County of Hauenstein ; Landgraviate of Klettgau
output Victory of the Confederates
consequences Payment of war indemnity
Peace treaty Waldshut direction from August 27, 1468
Parties to the conflict

Coat of arms of the archduchy of Austria.svg Duke Siegmund of Austria-Tyrol
DEU Waldshut-Tiengen COA.svg town of Waldshut
Klettgauer, Breisgauer and Hegauer knights and estates

Confederation of the VIII. Places


Commander

Coat of arms of the archduchy of Austria.svg Werner von rails

Troop strength
in Waldshut: 800 a total of 16,000
losses

approx. 200 dead

The Waldshuterkrieg (also Schaffhausen war ) was part of the armed conflicts in the year 1468 between the nobility in Sundgau , Breisgau , Klettgau and Hegau and the Austrian foothills under the Habsburg Duke Siegmund of Austria-Tyrol on the one hand and the eight places of the old Confederation , as well as some of these facing places on the other hand. The focus of the fighting was Waldshut , which was besieged and partially destroyed.

prehistory

In the second half of the 15th century there were more and more clashes between noble followers of the Habsburgs and the cities in southern Germany. The nobles had often sunk to robber barons and more and more often attacked the town merchants. The confederates tried to use these differences to expand their power north of the Rhine . They concluded protective alliances with the cities of Schaffhausen (1454), Rottweil (1463) and Mulhouse (1466). Two events escalated the conflict.

Schaffhausen center of conflict

On June 1, 1454, the city of Schaffhausen concluded an alliance for 25 years with the federal towns of Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Schwyz, Zug and Glarus after Bilgeri von Heudorf wanted to subjugate Schaffhausen again to the Habsburgs. Bilgeri continued his feud against Schaffhausen. The escalation occurred in 1467 when Bilgeri von Heudorf captured the Schaffhausen mayor Hans am Stad near Anselfingen and only released him after paying a ransom of 1,800 guilders. The Confederates put troops to reinforce Schaffhausen, and a group of Unterwaldner, under their captain Kaspar Koller, undertook a raid through the Klettgau.

The focus of conflict in Mulhouse

On June 17, 1466, the city of Mulhouse concluded an alliance with Bern and Solothurn for a period of 25 years. Mülhausen, strongly oppressed by the nobility in an undeclared guerrilla war, wanted a military decision and went on the offensive, trusting its alliance. Mülhaus troops attacked the aristocratic villages of Rixheim and Sausheim in April 1468 . The front Austrian estates wanted to punish this attack, marched on May 15, 1468 with 4,000 men before Mulhouse and devastated its surroundings. On June 18, war was declared by Bern, Solothurn and Freiburg im Üechtland on Duke Siegmund - the declarations of war by the other federal towns soon followed.

Sundgau Train

On June 25th, the Bernese and Solothurners invaded Sundgau from Basel, moved via Blotzheim , Bartenheim and Habsheim towards Mulhouse and left a trail of destruction. This first column was followed by the Zürcher and Schwyzer. The troops from central Switzerland moved through the villages on the left bank of the Rhine to Mulhouse. On July 6th, the three columns of the Swiss met between Thann and Mülhausen on the Ochsenfeld and awaited the front Austrian troops for an open field battle - but they did not face. After the Habsburgs and their allies in Sundgau did not accept an open field battle on the Ochsenfeld, the Confederates tried to take the city of Thann . At the same time, a troop of 1,000 men was sent to Schaffhausen via Wehr and Tiengen . On July 16, 1468 the Confederates withdrew from the Sundgau via Basel, and so the Sundgau march or Mülhaus war ended and the war shifted to the east.

The warring parties

The Habsburgs, the nobility and the imperial estates

About 800 men were available to defend the town of Waldshut. Werner vonbahnen (1410–1496) was in charge of the defense. Wilhelm Herter von Hertneck and Bilgeri von Heudorf were also among the defenders . The local nobility had fled to Waldshut when the Confederates first invaded the Klettgau. The Austrian cities of Breisach , Neuenburg am Rhein and Freiburg im Breisgau had sent auxiliary troops.

Waldshut was surrounded by a circular wall with five towers, which was preceded by a deep moat and partly by the Rhine.

The knighthood of Breisgau occupied the Upper Rhine between Rheinfelden and Laufenburg, and contingents from Breisgau in western Austria occupied the Black Forest to prevent the Black Forests from joining the Confederates. Duke Siegmund also deployed Bohemian troops here. There is no reliable information about the total number of units deployed by Siegmund in the Waldshut War, but it clearly exceeded that of the defenders lying directly in Waldshut.

Margrave Karl I of Baden feared that the Confederates could attack the Margraviate of Baden-Hachberg, which had reverted to the ancestral home in 1415, from Mulhouse, and also provided troops to occupy the other forest towns . Count Ulrich V of Württemberg also prepared after the rumor got around that the Confederates wanted to besiege Villingen . The Bavarian Duke Ludwig the Rich had offered Duke Siegmund help and mediation.

A major incursion and the occupation of the Black Forest would have called on the southern German princes, who showed little desire for active help when the border town of Waldshut was threatened.

The confederates and the places facing them

Arrival of the reinforced Bernese troops in front of the besieged town of Waldshut

The alliances with Mulhouse and Schaffhausen had only been entered into by a number of places in the old Confederation of VIII Villages. In the war against Duke Siegmund, however, all eight towns and a number of towns facing it went to war, and even the Abbot of St. Gallen provided troops. The confederates did not have a commander-in-chief, but rather the council of captains had to make the decisions. The captains of the various places were also in correspondence with their hometowns and some had to obtain permits from them again. However, the captain of the people of Zurich was the first captain to call the deliberations.

The people of Zurich were led by Eberhard Ottikon. One of the captains in the Zurich contingent was the future mayor and military leader Hans Waldmann . The chronicler Petermann Etterlin was among the Lucerne troops. The Bernese were led by Petermann von Wabern , Niklaus von Scharnachthal and Niklaus von Diesbach .

The siege army did not reach the total number of 16,000 men until the end of the siege, after new influxes had been requested and arrived from their hometowns. The raids in the Black Forest and the protection of the siege against relief absorbed part of the forces.

On the Rhine in front of Waldshut, Bern had two ships and Lucerne one ship, from which the city was shelled.

course

While the main power of the Confederates was still in the Sundgau, they also sent 2,000 reinforcements to Schaffhausen. From there they marched under the Zurich captain Felix Keller from June 27, 1468, plundering through the Klettgau and took Erzingen on June 29 .

Incursion into the Black Forest

On July 6, the Confederates' next raid into the Black Forest took place, with the St. Blasien monastery being the target because of its loyalty to the Habsburgs . In Bürglen and Indlekofen , goods belonging to the monastery were looted. At Remetschwiel they met the Last , which was defended by farmers from Hauenstein . After they had taken this line of defense with the two columns from Schaffhausen and from Sundgau on July 7, the route to St. Blasien was open to them. In houses them Abbot came Christoph von Greuth counter and could cause the invaders to reverse a payment of 1,500 guilders. On their way back they burned Waldkirch and occupied Tiengen - a fief of the Constance monastery to Bilgeri von Heudorf - with 600 men. The Austrian Hofmeister Jakob Trapp asked the city of Freiburg from Sankt Blasien for further immigration and expressed the fear that the whole forest would become Swiss.

The siege of Waldshut

On July 19, significant units of the Confederate troops from the Sundgau train were assembled on the Rafzerfeld . On July 20, the Swiss decided at a meeting in Lucerne, with the votes of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus and Schaffhausen, the campaign to Waldshut. The first to arrive on July 22nd were the Lucerne residents with those from Glarus, Schwyz and Zug on the southern bank of the Rhine in front of Waldshut and the Zürcher and Schaffhausers moved from Tiengen - where they had been since July 20th - to Waldshut. The remaining troops and especially the large main rifles of the people of Zurich and Bern for bombarding the city walls gradually came, so that the city's first cannonade is expected for July 29th. During the siege, around 280 heavy stone balls are said to have been shot at the city and its fortifications, as well as 248 smaller ones from mortars . The town's mills were also destroyed by the bombardment, which the residents made up for by building and operating treadmills . Since the besiegers had also diverted the water inflows to the city and scooping water from the Rhine was dangerous because of the enemy fire, a well was dug near the Rhine gate.

The ducal court master Jakob Trapp organized two attempts to supply the city with ammunition and provisions. On the night of August 3rd to 4th, a force of 1,200 men was deployed from Laufenburg , who moved on the left bank of the Rhine to Full and tried to get into the city from there across the Rhine. Although the federal siege ring was only weakly manned, the attempt largely failed - only 200 men reached the city with some supplies. The second attempt on the same route from August 8th to 9th failed completely because the Swiss had meanwhile increased their team to 400 men. Even the occupation of the city did not remain passive and made several failures in which the besiegers suffered losses.

The Landvogt, Thuringia III. von Hallwyl , had set up his headquarters in Laufenburg, and a fortified position between Albbruck and Dogern had been occupied by 1,300 men. Sigismund had gathered around 1,500 Bohemian troops in the area of ​​St. Blasien, but they never really intervened in the battle.

Due to the news about the troops from the front of Austria and rumors about a larger influx under Duke Siegmund, the Confederates requested further influx from their hometowns on August 10th, which also came and now brought the total number of the siege army to 16,000 men.

The supply situation in the city deteriorated increasingly; the city fortifications were badly damaged by the constant bombardment and the Habsburgs and the nobility were not ready or able to make a decisive advance to liberate the city.

On August 17th, the Confederates planned the storming of the city on August 19th. At the same time, however, peace negotiations were already underway. The storm was postponed, with serious differences between Zurich and Bern in the Swiss camp.

On August 21, Lucerne, with the support of Schwyz, Glarus and Appenzell, made a raid to Bonndorf in the Black Forest , which was burned down. During the retreat, this troop was attacked by Siegmund's units and was only able to bring their booty (including 400 head of cattle) into the camp with the help of Zurich and Zug. On August 24th there was still fighting at the Albbrucker Schanze.

Why the Confederates didn't storm Waldshut

The interests of the Zurich merchants reached as far as Waldshut, and there were also family connections. Formally, the people of Zurich argued that a storm on the city would only be possible with high losses. Politically, Zurich was not interested in giving the Bernese influence in this region through the conquered city of Waldshut. Zurich was supported by the eastern and central Swiss locations; Bern through Solothurn and Lucerne. The rivalries in the federal camp brought the siege to an end.

The legend of deceiving the besiegers

The vernacular explained the hesitant behavior of the Confederates with a trick that the besieged supposedly used: the demonstration of a fattened ram by the Waldshut crew on the city walls in order to hide the catastrophic food situation. In another variant of the legend, the young journeymen even threw the goat over the wall into the federal camp in order to let them mockingly participate in the abundance. This has deceived the besiegers and achieved readiness to break off the siege. The main features of this legend can be found in stories from different areas. The happy end of the siege is celebrated annually in August with the Waldshut Chilbi . For this purpose, a buck will be baptized and later the buck will be raffled.

The peace treaty and its consequences

Pledging of Breisgau, Sundgau and Alsace by Duke Sigmund of Austria to Duke Charles of Burgundy on May 9, 1469

In particular the city of Basel, through its mayor Peter Rot and the prince-bishops of Basel, Johann V. von Venningen , and Konstanz, Hermann III. von Breitenlandenberg , tried to mediate peace between the Confederates and the Habsburgs. Councilors of Duke Ludwig of Bavaria and Margrave Rudolf von Hachberg-Sausenberg - for whom Hans von Flachslanden sat at the table - tried to mediate. On August 14, 1468, the mediators contacted the federal captains, and on August 16, the peace negotiations began in Dogern , where the peace treaty (the so-called Waldshut direction) was signed on August 27 . In this contract, Duke Siegmund of Austria-Tyrol undertook to pay war compensation of 10,000 guilders by June 24, 1469. The Confederates Waldshut and the Upper Austrian Black Forest served as security . The Waldshut War resulted in almost no territorial changes. The only exception was the dominion of Wessenberg south of the Rhine with the villages of Hottwil and Mandach , which was conquered by Bern and the Landvogtei Schenkenberg added.

The siege was lifted on August 28th. Duke Siegmund borrowed 50,000 guilders from the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold , in the Treaty of Saint-Omer , for which he pledged the Austrian foothills in Breisgau and Upper Alsace. Initially, a commission headed by Margrave Rudolf von Hachberg-Sausenberg took over the administration and prepared a report on the condition of the pledged lands. The Burgundian appointed Peter von Hagenbach as bailiff, who took office in November. Siegmund paid the Confederates war compensation on June 23, 1469. The mayor of Schaffhausen had to wait until 1476 for the repayment of his ransom of 1,800 guilders, which he was also entitled to under the contract. Emperor Friedrich III. , A cousin of Duke Siegmund declared peace on 26 May 1469 invalid and imposed on 31 August, the imperial ban on the Confederates. However, neither of these had any consequences.

Waldshut himself had suffered considerable damage from the siege, on the other hand, Emperor Friedrich III renewed . on November 21, 1468 the privileges of the city, and on February 24, 1469 it was also granted the right to a water tariff on all imports via the rivers Aare , Reuss and Limmat . Duke Siegmund issued the city a so-called indemnity letter on September 8, 1468, d. In other words, he wanted to compensate her for the damage caused by the siege, which he fulfilled by lending the right to the road toll, so that the city soon recovered economically.

The French King Louis XI. tried to win both the Confederates and Duke Siegmund for an alliance against Burgundy, and brokered a peace between the two - the Eternal Direction . After Charles the Bold fell in the Battle of Nancy in 1477 , Duke Siegmund took possession of the pledged foreland again without paying back the 50,000 guilders.

Commemoration

The defenders of the city also included the young journeymen , whose association is the oldest guild in Germany that still exists today - the 1468 Waldshut bachelors . The end of the siege is celebrated annually on the third Sunday in August with the Waldshut Chilbi . To commemorate the commander of the defenders, a street in Waldshut was named after Werner von Schienen.

See also

literature

  • Heinrich Hansjakob: The Waldshut War of the year 1468. For four hundred years of memory examined and presented. With documented enclosures. 1st ed. Waldshut 1868, 2nd ed. Ibid. 1901 ( online in the Google book search ).
  • Max A. Meier: The Waldshuterkrieg of 1468. An overall representation. Dissertation, Basel 1937
  • Max A. Meier: The Peace of Waldshut and the Politics on the Upper Rhine up to the Treaty of St. Omer . In Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, Volume 90, 1937, pp. 321–384.
  • Johann von Müller : The stories of the Swiss Confederation fourth part. Except for the times of the Burgundian War. 2nd edition, Leipzig 1822, pp. 200–205 ( online in the Google book search ).
  • Christian Ruch: Waldshut War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Joseph Ruch: History of the city of Waldshut. Waldshut 1966, pp. 59-81.
  • Rudolf Thommen : A Contribution to the History of the Waldshut War . In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Volume 21 (1923), pp. 157–162, doi: 10.5169 / seals-113341 .
  • Heinrich Witte : The Mülhauser War 1467 to 1468. In: Yearbook for Swiss History, Volume 11 (1886), pp. 259–332 retro.seals.ch
  • A. Baumhauer: The Confederates before Waldshut. In: Vom Jura zum Schwarzwald, 1st year (1926), pp. 61–65 e-periodica.ch
  • Alfred Joos: Hans Waldmann with the Confederates in front of Waldshut. In: Vom Jura zum Schwarzwald, 6th year (1931), pp. 41–44 e-periodica.ch

swell

Web links

Individual references / comments

  1. ↑ at the end of the siege; there were further influxes during the siege
  2. ↑ s. Christian Wurstisen : Bassler Chronik , p. 432
  3. ↑ s. the text of the contract from Aegidius Tschudi , Johann Rudolf Iselin (Ed.): Chronicon Helveticum , Volume 2, Basel 1736, pp. 578-580 ( online in Google Book Search )
  4. ↑ s. Tschudi p. 678
  5. ↑ The wording of the contract is printed by: Anton Philipp von Segesser (editor): Official collection of the older federal farewells, Volume 2 The federal farewells from the period from 1421 to 1477, Meyer, Luzern 1863, no. 559, p. 354– 355 ( online at Düsseldorf University Library ). According to Max A. Meier: Der Waldshuterkrieg von 1468. Eine Gesamtdarstellung, Dissertation, Basel 1937, p. 3, footnote 1, the alliance duration of only five years stated there is based on a typographical or printing error.
  6. ↑ Contribution to Werner von Schienen and his Schrotzburg on www.burgen-und-ruinen.de; accessed on August 21, 2014
  7. ↑ s. Hansjakob p. 25
  8. ↑ s. Meier p. 51, footnote 3
  9. ↑ Annelies Hüssy: Wabern, Petermann von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  10. ^ Ulrich Moser: Diesbach, Niklaus von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  11. ↑ Bürglen entry on Discover regional studies online - leobw
  12. ↑ Remetschwiel entry on discover regional studies online - leobw
  13. ↑ s. Heinrich Schreiber : Document book of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Volume II, Section II, p. 504 online at Freiburg University Library
  14. ↑ s. Hansjakob p. 22
  15. ↑ Waldkirch entry on Discover regional studies online - leobw
  16. ↑ Tiengen remained occupied by the Schaffhausen family until Bilgeri von Heudorf's death in 1476 and was then returned to the Konstanz Monastery.
  17. ↑ s. Heinrich Schreiber : Document book of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Volume II, Section II, p. 511 ( online at Freiburg University Library )
  18. ↑ s. Heinrich Schreiber : History of the city and university of Freiburg im Breisgau. IV. Delivery. History of the city of Freiburg, III. Theil, Freiburg 1857, pp. 134–135 ( online at Freiburg University Library )
  19. ↑ Hansjakob p. 30
  20. ↑ Ruch p. 68
  21. ↑ s. Hansjakob p. 35–36 and Aegidius Tschudi , Johann Rudolf Iselin (ed.): Chronicon Helveticum , Volume 2, Basel 1736, p. 689 ( online in Google Book Search )
  22. ↑ A similar story is reported from Limburg an der Lahn . Legendary stories . In: Nassauische Neue Presse from February 24, 2014; accessed August 30, 2014 ; August Friedrich Ernst Langbein (1757–1835) also took up the subject in his poem The Siege , with a tailor slipping into a goat skin. Reprinted on Die Deutsche Gedichtebibliothek ; Langbein's poem is based on a story from Calabria published in 1723; s. The tailor making himself a billy goat . In: Hilarius Sempiternus: The increased kurtzweilige Polyhistor , 1723, pp. 16-17 ; the subject was also included in the history of Karlstejn Castle in Bohemia, which was besieged by the Prague Hussites in 1422; s. Zacharias Theobald: Hussite War , Breslau 1750, p. 299
  23. ↑ see the text of the contract with Anton Philipp von Segesser (editor): Official Collection of the Older Confederate Farewells, Volume 2 The Confederate Farewells from 1421 to 1477, Meyer, Lucerne 1863, No. 43, pp. 900–903 ( online at the UB Düsseldorf )
  24. ↑ Anton Philipp von Segesser (editor): Official collection of the older federal farewells, Volume 2 The federal farewells from the period from 1421 to 1477, Meyer, Lucerne 1863, No. 44, p. 903 ( online at the Düsseldorf University Library )
  25. ^ Heinrich Witte: On the history of the Burgundian rule on the Upper Rhine from 1469 to the beginning of 1473 . In: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, Volume 40, 1886, pp. 129-169 Internet Archive