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Hildesheim Diocesan Feud

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The Hildesheim Diocesan Feud ( German : Hildesheimer Stiftsfehde ) or Great Diocesan Feud , sometimes referred to as a "chapter feud", was a conflict that broke out in 1519 between the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim ( Hochstift Hildesheim ) and the principalities of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Calenberg that were ruled by the House of Welf . Originally just a local conflict between the Hildesheim prince-bishop John IV of Saxe-Lauenburg and his own prince-bishopric's nobility ( Stiftsadel ), it developed into a major dispute between various Lower Saxon territorial princes. The cause was the attempt by Prince-Bishop John to redeem the pledged estates and their tax revenue from the nobles in his temporalities , the prince-bishopric ( Hochstift , or simply das Stift). The diocesan feud ended with the Treaty of Quedlinburg in 1523.

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54-453: Due to his prince-bishopric's poor financial circumstances the Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim asked for the return of several estates pledged (or mortgaged) to the nobles within the prince-bishopric. As these estates were an important source of income, a small number of nobles and knights refused, however, to give up their mortgaged property to the prince-bishop. In parallel there were attempts by

108-519: A Kreis (district) and are called kreisfreie Gemeinden , and when they do also not belong to any other Land they are also called Stadtstaaten (plural of Stadtstaat ), i.e. city-states ( Berlin and Hamburg ). These large municipalities (cities, in German Städte , plural of Stadt ) may be further divided into local offices named Ortsämter (plural of Ortsamt ), each of them possibly grouping several suburbs (or small townships in rural areas) of

162-758: A geographical region in Iceland but the name lives on in the names of two public libraries in Iceland that were established during the amt era. The Amts libraries in Akureyri and Stykkishólmur which were established as the designated archives for the North and East Amt and the West Amt respectively. Ambacht can be seen as the Dutch equivalent to amt . Ambachten existed in Holland , Zeeland and Flanders up to about 1800. From 1662 to 1919,

216-460: A good relationship with Wolfenbüttel, saw the situation entirely reversed at a political level. The ruling imposed by Charles V provided for the surrender of all conquered territory and release of all the prisoners, and thus ruled very much against the Hildesheim side. Because it was ignored by the bishop and his allies, the emperor's decision was followed in 1522 by the imposition of an imperial ban ,

270-623: A huge ransom in 1193. Henry died at Brunswick in 1195. Henry the Lion's son, Otto of Brunswick, was elected King of the Romans and crowned Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV after years of further conflicts with the Hohenstaufen emperors. He incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215. Otto was forced to abdicate the imperial throne by the Hohenstaufen Frederick II . He

324-690: A noble house in Germany. Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria , from 1120 to 1126, was the first of the three dukes of the Welf dynasty called Henry. His wife Wulfhild was the heiress of the house of Billung , possessing the territory around Lüneburg in Lower Saxony. Their son, Henry the Proud , was the son-in-law and heir of Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor and became also Duke of Saxony on Lothair's death. Lothair left his territory around Brunswick , inherited from his mother of

378-581: A result of increasing tensions with the townsfolk of Brunswick , the Brunswick Line moved their residence to Wolfenbüttel Castle , thus the name Wolfenbüttel became the unofficial name of this principality. With Ivan VI of Russia the Brunswick line even had a short intermezzo on the Russian imperial throne in 1740. Not until 1754 was the residence moved back to Brunswick, into the new Brunswick Palace . In 1814

432-726: A role in the Investiture Controversy . Since the Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, partisans of the Pope came to be known in Italy as Guelphs ( Guelfi ). The first genealogy of the Welfs is the Genealogia Welforum , composed shortly before 1126. A much more detailed history of the dynasty, the Historia Welforum , was composed around 1170. It is the earliest history of

486-436: A small group of nobles from the Hildesheim prince-bishopric around the knights of von Saldern . Between 1519 and 1523 there was a succession of heavy battles and smaller skirmishes, in the course of which many towns and villages were devastated. After futile sieges of the defences of Calenberg and Hildesheim by troops from Hildesheim or Brunswick, as well as numerous trails of devastation and plundering by both sides against

540-549: A time when anti-Catholic sentiment ran high in much of Northern Europe and Great Britain. Sophia died shortly before her first cousin once removed, Anne, Queen of Great Britain , the last sovereign of the House of Stuart . Sophia's son George I succeeded Queen Anne and formed a personal union from 1714 between the British crown and the Electorate of Hanover, which lasted until well after

594-404: Is Queen Frederica's nephew Ernst August , the third and present husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco . In 1129, after Henry the Proud's defeat against Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor , his sister Sophia was given a seat at Regensburg . From c.  1150 until his death in 1167, Welf VI's son, Welf VII, was associated to his father, but predeceased him. After Welf VI's death, Altdorf

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648-566: Is often described as the "last medieval feud ". The alliance partners on the side of the Hildesheim prince-bishop were the town of Hildesheim, Henry the Middle of Lüneburg and the counts of Schaumburg , Diepholz , and Hoya . On the opposing side were Henry the Younger ( Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ), his brother, Prince-Bishop Francis of Minden (Prince-Bishopric of Minden), his uncle Eric of Calenberg (Principality of Calenberg), and

702-541: Is used to offer decentralized services of the municipality within local administrative offices for the residents in neighbouring suburbs. The Ortsteil itself may also be confusingly translated as a "municipality", but it is incorrect because it belongs to a city which is the only effective municipality ( Gemeinde ). The amt (plural, amter ; translated as "county") was an administrative unit of Denmark (and, historically, of Denmark-Norway ). The counties were established by royal decree in 1662 as replacements for

756-651: The Bishop of Minden and Count of Schaumburg and set up his own army. On 28 May 1388, battle was joined at Winsen an der Aller; it ended in victory for Henry . According to the provisions of the Treaty of Hanover from the year 1373, after the death of Wensceslas, the Principality passed to the House of Welf. In 1389, an inheritance agreement between the Welfs and the Ascanians was concluded,

810-525: The Brunonids , to his daughter Gertrud. Her husband Henry the Proud became then the favoured candidate in the imperial election against Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen . Henry lost the election, as the other princes feared his power and temperament, and was dispossessed of his duchies by Conrad III. Henry's brother Welf VI (1115–1191), Margrave of Tuscany, later left his Swabian territories around Ravensburg,

864-599: The House of Luneburg residing at Celle Castle . In 1635 it was given to George , younger brother of Prince Ernest II of Lüneburg , who chose Hanover as his residence. New territory was added in 1665, and in 1705 the Principality of Luneburg was taken over by the Hanoverians. In 1692 Duke Ernest Augustus from the Calenberg-Hanover Line acquired the right to be a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire as

918-670: The Prince-Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg . Colloquially the Electorate was known as the Electorate of Hanover . In 1814 it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Hanover . Religion-driven politics placed Ernest Augustus's wife Sophia of the Palatinate in the line of succession to the British crown by the Act of Settlement 1701 , written to ensure a Protestant succession to the thrones of Scotland and England at

972-425: The amter were composed of a number of municipalities ( kommuner ). The reform granted the counties wider areas of responsibility, most notably running the national health service and the gymnasium secondary schools. The municipal reform of 1 January 2007 abolished the amter and replaced them with five administrative regions , now mainly charged with running the national health service. In contrast to

1026-416: The amter , the regions hold no authority to levy taxes. The reform re-delegated all other areas of responsibility to either the municipalities or the state. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 270 to 98. In Germany an Amt was a medieval administrative district covering a manorial estate or the land owned by a castle or village. It

1080-598: The 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Moselle area was closely related to the imperial family of the Carolingians . The (Younger) House of Welf is the older branch of the House of Este , a dynasty whose earliest known members lived in Veneto and Lombardy in the late 9th/early 10th century, sometimes called Welf-Este. The first member was Welf I, Duke of Bavaria , also known as Welf IV. He inherited

1134-474: The British throne was inherited by an elder brother's only daughter, Queen Victoria . Her offspring belong to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha : in 1917 the name was changed to the House of Windsor . The Kingdom of Hanover was lost in 1866 by Ernest Augustus's son George V of Hanover , Austria's ally during the Austro-Prussian War , when it was annexed by Prussia after Austria's defeat and became

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1188-624: The Hohenstaufen Emperor in 1185 and returned to his much diminished lands around Brunswick without recovering his two duchies. Bavaria had been given to Otto I, Duke of Bavaria , and the Duchy of Saxony was divided between the Archbishop of Cologne, the House of Ascania and others. Diminished lands did not prevent him from imprisoning Richard I on his return from the Third Crusade , and demanding

1242-640: The Hohenstaufen dynasty, tried to get along with him, but when Henry refused to assist him once more in an Italian war campaign, conflict became inevitable. Dispossessed of his duchies after the Battle of Legnano in 1176 by Emperor Frederick I and the other princes of the German Empire eager to claim parts of his vast territories, he was exiled to the court of his father-in-law Henry II in Normandy in 1180. He returned to Germany three years later. Henry made his peace with

1296-649: The House of Welf to redeem the land around Everstein pledged to the prince-bishopric that revealed differences between the Lüneburg line of the Welfs under Henry the Middle , the Welf lines in Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Calenberg and the Prince-Bishopric of Minden . To wit, in 1513, Henry the Middle received from Prince-Bishop John IV a large bill ( Pfandsumme , i.e. pawned sum) for Everstein and thus set himself against

1350-536: The Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim was left with just 4 of its original 22 districts ( Ämter ) as well as the towns of Hildesheim and Peine , the so-called Kleines Stift ("small prince-bishopric") of some 90 villages. The ecclesiastical boundary of the diocese remained unchanged. The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was awarded the Ämter of Winzenburg, Wohldenberg, Steinbrück, Lutter, Wohlenstein, Schladen, Liebenburg, Wiedelah, Vienenburg and Westerhof with

1404-602: The Prussian province of Hanover. The Welfs went into exile at Gmunden , Austria, where they built Cumberland Castle . The senior line of the dynasty had ruled the much smaller principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , created the sovereign Duchy of Brunswick in 1814. This line became extinct in 1884. Although the Duchy should have been inherited by the Duke of Cumberland , son of the last king of Hanover, Prussian suspicions of his loyalty led

1458-555: The Wolfenbüttel side) until the so-called 'field peace' ( Feldfrieden ) of 15 October 1521. Hildesheim had won militarily, but lost politically. After long negotiations the territorial changes resulting from the conflict were firmly established at the Treaty of Quedlinburg (also known as the Quedlinburg Recess ) of 13 May 1523. The main import of these changes were significant gains for the princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, whilst

1512-431: The abbeys of Lamspringe, Heiningen, Dorstadt, Wöltingerode , Ringelheim and Riechenberg, as well as the towns of Alfeld, Bockenem, Lamspringe and Salzgitter. The Principality of Calenberg received the houses, i.e.fortified seats, and Ämter of Hunnesrück with Markoldendorf, Aerzen, Lauenstein, Grohnde, Hallerburg, Poppenburg, Ruthe and Coldingen, the towns of Dassel, Bodenwerder, Gronau, Elze, Sarstedt, half of Hameln and

1566-544: The abbeys of Marienau, Escherde, Wittenburg, Wülfinghausen and Derneburg. Hildesheim immediately began a legal fight for the return of its Großes Stift ("large prince-bishopric"). This finally ended in 1643 in the Main Treaty of Hildesheim ( Hildesheimer Hauptrezess ) with a revision of the Treaty of Quedlinburg and return of most of the territories. Exceptions were the Ämter of Aerzen, Grohnde, Coldingen-Lauenberg, Lutter am Barenberge, Westerhof and Lindau, which remained with

1620-502: The civilian population, the two sides finally met on 28 June 1519 at the Battle of Soltau (near the village of Langeloh ). The Hildesheim army scored an emphatic victory against the Brunswick-Welf troops, killing some 3,500 men and capturing one of their leaders, Eric of Calenberg, as well as many of the nobles. This signalled the end of the opening phase of the war. However, an appeal to the newly elected emperor, Charles V , who had

1674-757: The duchy's throne to remain vacant until 1913, when the Duke of Cumberland's son, Ernst August , married the daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II and was allowed to inherit it. His rule there was short-lived, as the monarchy came to an end following the First World War in 1918. The Welf dynasty continues to exist. The last member sitting on a European throne was Frederica of Hanover , Queen of Greece († 1981), mother of Queen Sofia of Spain and King Constantine II of Greece . Frederica's brother Prince George William of Hanover married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark , sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . The House's head

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1728-512: The end of the Napoleonic Wars more than a century later, through the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of a new successor kingdom. The British royal family became known as the House of Hanover . The "Electorate of Hanover" (the core duchy) was enlarged with the addition of other lands and became the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814 at the Congress of Vienna . During the first half of

1782-421: The estates, which was to supervise the treaty. However, 1373–1388 would be the only period in which a Brunswick-Luneburg land was not ruled by a Welf: In the wake of his death, Elector Wenceslas appointed Bernard, his brother-in-law, as co-regent involved him in the government. But his younger brother Henry did not agree with this ruling, and after vain attempts to reach an agreement, the fight flared up again in

1836-472: The execution of which was assigned to the princes of Wolfenbüttel and Calenberg. Whilst Henry of Lüneburg had already gone into exile in France in 1520 having transferred the reins of power to his sons and in doing so keeping the Principality of Lüneburg out of the subsequent conflict, there were renewed military clashes between the Hildesheim prince-bishop and his opponents that were not finally resolved (in favour of

1890-457: The former fiefs ( Len ). The amter were originally composed of market towns ( købstæder ) and parishes , and held only small areas of responsibility. There were some changes to the borders of these counties over time, most notably when Roskilde County ( da ) was merged into Roskilde County ( da ) in 1808, and when Skanderborg County ( da ) was periodically merged into Århus County Skanderborg County ( da ). After Southern Jutland

1944-402: The hospital services of the købstader without paying taxes for them, it became evident that reform was necessary. In 1958, interior minister Søren Olesen set in motion administrative reforms that would culminate in 1970. The municipal reform of 1 April 1970 reduced the number of counties to fourteen and eliminated the administrative distinction between (rural) parish and town. From then on,

1998-457: The interests of the other Welf lines. Henry the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel sought a reason to attack the neighbouring Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim and found one in the disputes between the prince-bishop and the prince-bishopric nobility. As a result, in 1516 an alliance was formed between Henry the Younger and a small group of nobles from the prince-bishopric of Hildesheim. In 1519 the smouldering conflict flared up into open warfare which

2052-455: The municipality named Ortsteile (plural of Ortsteil ), named from small villages or hamlets or localities. The Ortsteil (suburb or township) may have been a former parish, but today it is meant only for civil purpose and essentially used for planning within the municipality; the Ortsamt (sometimes just named informally but confusingly as an Amt , or informally translated as an "urban district")

2106-619: The nineteenth century, the Kingdom was ruled as personal union by the British crown from its creation under George III of the United Kingdom, the last elector of Hanover until the death of William IV in 1837. At that point, the crown of Hanover went to William's younger brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale under the Salic law requiring the next male heir to inherit, whereas

2160-590: The original possessions of the Elder House of Welf , to his nephew Emperor Frederick I , and thus to the House of Hohenstaufen. The next duke of the Welf dynasty Henry the Lion (1129/1131–1195) recovered his father's two duchies, Saxony in 1142, Bavaria in 1156 and thus ruled vast parts of Germany. In 1168 he married Matilda (1156–1189), the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine , and sister of Richard I of England , gaining ever more influence. His first cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor of

2214-552: The other above-mentioned units, is subordinate to a Kreis ( district ) and is a collection of municipalities. The amt is lower than district-level government but higher than municipal government, and may be described as a supra-municipality or "municipal confederation". Normally, it consists of very small municipalities ( Gemeinden , plural of Gemeinde ). Larger municipalities do not belong to an Amt and are called amtsfreie Gemeinden (independent municipalities); some of these municipalities might also not be governed by or linked with

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2268-516: The principalities of Calenberg and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Prince-bishop John IV gave up the prince-bishopric in 1527 and later became canon of the Diocese of Ratzeburg . He died in 1547 in Lübeck . House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph ) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in

2322-572: The principality became the Duchy of Brunswick , ruled by the senior branch of the House of Welf. In 1432 the estates gained by the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel between the Deister and Leine split away as the Principality of Calenberg . In 1495 it was expanded around Göttingen and in 1584 went back to the Wolfenbüttel Line. In 1634, as a result of inheritance distributions, it went to

2376-572: The property of the Elder House of Welf when his maternal uncle Welf III , Duke of Carinthia and Verona, the last male Welf of the Elder House, died in 1055. Welf IV was the son of Welf III's sister Kunigunde of Altdorf and her husband Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan . In 1070, Welf IV became Duke of Bavaria . Welf II, Duke of Bavaria married Countess Matilda of Tuscany , who died childless and left him her possessions, including Tuscany , Ferrara , Modena , Mantua , and Reggio , which played

2430-415: The spring of 1388. Elector Wenceslas had to assemble an army without the help of Bernard, supported by the town of Lüneburg. From Winsen an der Aller , he wanted to attack Celle , which was held by Henry and his mother. During the preparations Elector Wenceslas fell seriously ill and died shortly thereafter. According to legend, he was poisoned. Lüneburg continued the preparations, formed an alliance with

2484-438: The style of the subordinate principality. By 1705, the subordinate principalities had taken their final form as the Electorate of Hanover and the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , and these would become the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1269 the Principality of Brunswick was formed following the first division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1432, as

2538-604: The term is roughly equivalent to a British or U.S. county . The Amt (plural: Ämter ) is unique to the German Bundesländer (federal states) of Schleswig-Holstein , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg . Other German states had this division in the past. Some states have similar administrative units called Samtgemeinde ( Lower Saxony ), Verbandsgemeinde ( Rhineland-Palatinate ) or Verwaltungsgemeinschaft ( Baden-Württemberg , Bavaria , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , Thuringia ). An Amt , as well as

2592-428: The treaty of 1374 was abolished, and the Principality was secured for the Welfs. [REDACTED] Some direct ancestors (fathers and sons) of the present generation are: Amt (country subdivision) Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe . Its size and functions differ by country and

2646-468: Was annexed to the Holy Roman Empire . Beatrice of Swabia 1212 no children Maria of Brabant 19 May 1214 Maastricht no children After their death, rule of the Principality was to revert to the Ascanians. In order to underpin the agreement, in 1374 Albert of Saxe-Lüneburg married Catharina, the widow of Magnus II. The treaty also envisaged the creation of a statutory body representing

2700-437: Was generally named after the ruler's residence, e.g., the rulers of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel originally lived in Wolfenbüttel. Whenever a branch of the family died out in the male line, the territory was given to another line, as the duchy remained enfeoffed to the family as a whole rather than its individual members. All members of the House of Welf, male or female, bore the title Duke/Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg in addition to

2754-525: Was headed by an Amtmann , usually a lesser nobleman or cleric, appointed by a territorial lord to administer and dispense justice within the Amt . While Iceland was a territory of the Danish-Norwegian realm, amts (singular: amt ; plural: ömt ) were established in the country on top of the existing counties . From 1684 to 1770, Iceland as whole was a single amt in the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway but

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2808-543: Was returned to Denmark after the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites , four new counties were created in the area. During the 20th century, the powers of the counties were expanded, when they were granted responsibility for the hospital service. The købstæder , which by this time had been separated from the counties and were overseen by the Interior Ministry , assumed the same responsibility. As the population became increasingly urbanized, and many rural communities came to rely on

2862-550: Was the only Welf to become Holy Roman Emperor. Henry the Lion's grandson Otto the Child became duke of a part of Saxony in 1235, the new Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and died there in 1252. The duchy was divided several times during the High Middle Ages amongst various lines of the House of Welf. The subordinate states had the legal status of principalities within the duchy, which remained as an undivided imperial fief . Each state

2916-482: Was then split into two amts: North and East Amt ( Norður- og Austuramt ) and South and West Amt ( Suður- og Vesturamt ). The latter was in 1787 split into a West Amt ( Vesturamt ) and South Amt ( Suðuramt ). Iceland was thus divided into three amts until 1872, when the South and West amts were again merged. Amts were abolished in 1904, when Iceland gained home rule from Denmark. Amts are not used to denote

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