Grünberger Alliance
The Grünberger Allianz , also Grünberger Bund , Grünberger Union , Grünberger Einung (Czech Jednota zelenohorská or Zelenohorská jednota ) was a Bohemian Catholic aristocratic union for the overthrow of the utraquist King George of Podebrady . It existed from 1465 to 1471.
history
On November 28, 1465, on the initiative of Zdenko von Sternberg, 16 influential Bohemian aristocrats gathered in the Black Hall of Grünberg Castle and wrote a decree accusing Georg von Podiebrad of violating state rights and, in particular, preferring the utraquist lower nobility and cities . Among the signatories were Jost II von Rosenberg , Johann II von Rosenberg , Johann Zajíc von Hasenburg , Ulrich von Hasenburg, Bohuslav the Younger von Schwanberg , Wilhelm I von Ileburg , Heinrich II von Plauen , Heinrich III. von Plauen, Diepold von Riesenberg , Jaroslav von Sternberg , Johann von Sternberg, Heinrich von Neuhaus , Burian I. von Guttenstein, Linhart von Guttenstein and Dobrohoscht von Ronsperg. The alliance led unsuccessful negotiations with the Polish king Casimir IV , whom they wanted to win for the Bohemian royal crown.
Pope Paul II , who declared the king a heretic in 1464 and summoned him unsuccessfully to the papal tribunal on August 2, 1465, excommunicated him on December 23, 1466, declared that he had lost his royal dignity and demanded his removal. As a result, on April 14, 1467 in the Black Hall of Grünberg an assistance agreement with Emperor Friedrich III. closed. On April 20, 1467, Pope Paul II appointed the leader of the Alliance, Zdenko von Sternberg, to lead the Catholics in the crusade against the heretical king. On April 21, 1467, Georg von Podiebrad replied to the Alliance's declaration of war and ordered the occupation of Zdenko von Sternberg's castles because of disturbance of the national peace. The alliance's fighting against George of Podebrady began on April 23, 1467.
The cities of Pilsen and Breslau , the margraviate of Lusatia , several Moravian cities and - under papal pressure - the Olomouc Bishop Protasius von Boskowitz and Černahora subsequently joined the alliance. At the Nuremberg Reichstag on July 14, 1467, representatives of the Alliance tried to win over German imperial princes for military support. Only Louis IX. Troops from Bavaria sent to Bohemia, they destroyed Baireck Castle and suffered a defeat on September 22nd, 1467 in the Battle of Neuern . After the declaration of war, Johann II von Rosenberg switched to the king's side. After defeats against the troops of the Alliance, he conducted negotiations with Zdenko von Sternberg in Linz in 1468 . After Charles I of Burgundy and Frederick II of Brandenburg had shown no interest in the Bohemian royal crown, the Alliance finally succeeded in 1468 in winning the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus for it. On March 31, 1468 he declared war on Bohemia and in the same year was able to take Trebitsch , Olomouc and Brno as well as other parts of Moravia . The Hungarian army was encircled by the royal troops when approaching Kuttenberg on February 28, 1469 near Wilimow . In order to avoid a certain defeat in battle, Matthias Corvinus accepted an offer from his former father-in-law Georg von Podiebrad during a one-on-one conversation in Úhrov and vowed to stop the fighting and to act as a mediator between Podebrady and the Pope. After another meeting with Poděbrady in Uhelná Příbram , Corvinus withdrew with his troops from Bohemia. Corvinus broke the given promise a little later and was elected King of Bohemia in Olomouc on May 9, 1469 at the suggestion of the Grünberger Alliance. Subsequently, most of the Silesian duchies also paid homage to the opposing king. In June 1469 Georg von Podiebrad refused to hand over the crown, but he renounced the right of inheritance of the crown and on June 5, 1469 had the Polish king's son Vladislav elected by the state parliament as his successor. At that time the power of Georg von Podebrady was limited to Bohemia and the County of Glatz . The neighboring countries of Silesia, Moravia and Lusatia were largely in the hands of Matthias Corvinus.
On August 20, 1469, Pope Paul II renewed the excommunication of Georg von Podiebrad and threatened his followers with the interdict . In 1470 Corvinus tried again to advance to Bohemia via Kuttenberg and Kolín , but was pushed back again. The costly battles, which brought little advantage to both sides, led to preparations for armistice negotiations in 1471. This was done with the sudden death of Georg von Podiebrad on March 22, 1471.
Albrecht the Courageous then made claims to the Bohemian crown and occupied Prague on April 24th. On May 27, 1471, the election of the Catholic Vladislav II as King of Bohemia was confirmed by the state parliament in Kuttenberg after Duke Albrecht had previously withdrawn his claims there. Matthias Corvinus did not give up his claims to the crown and demanded the crown from the Pope in return for his efforts in the fight against the heretic king. With the support of parts of the alliance, the Olomouc bishop Protasius von Boskowitz and Černahora as well as the cities of Budweis and Pilsen , Corvinus was crowned on May 28, 1471 in Iglau by the papal legate Roverella - but without crown insignia. The solemn coronation of Vladislav II with the Wenceslas crown took place on August 22, 1471 in Prague.
While the Grünberg Alliance disintegrated in the following years, the dispute over the Bohemian crown continued until 1479. After both sides were unable to achieve decisive success in fighting, the conflict was settled after lengthy negotiations in the Peace of Olomouc .
literature
- Jörg K. Hoensch : History of Bohemia , CH Beck 1997, p. 160 ff.
- Richard Georg Plaschka / Horst Haselsteiner: Nationalism, State Power, Resistance: Aspects of National and Social Development in East Central and Southeastern Europe , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1985, p. 23 ff.