Stalag XX-B was a German prisoner-of-war camp in World War II , operated in Wielbark (present-day district of Malbork , Poland ). It housed Polish, British, French , Belgian, Serbian, Soviet, Italian, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian POWs.
123-508: The camp was founded in Recklinghausen on December 16, 1939, then relocated to Licze on December 20, 1939, and afterwards to Wielbark on February 1, 1940. Two subcamps were formed in Gdańsk , in the districts of Biskupia Górka and VII Dwór , and there were also up to about a thousand forced labour subcamps in the region. The first prisoners of Stalag XX-B were Polish troops captured during
246-520: A Catholic candidate, ensuring that future emperors would remain in the so-called Old Faith. The possibility of one of those electors shifting to the Protestant side, and of that elector producing an heir to perpetuate this shift, would change the balance in the electoral college in favor of the Protestants. The conversion of the ecclesiastic see to a dynastic realm ruled by a Protestant prince challenged
369-502: A Protestant emperor; he remained at least nominally a Catholic throughout his life, although reportedly he refused last rites on his deathbed. Other historians maintain that while Ferdinand was a practicing Catholic, unlike his brother he considered religion to be outside the political sphere. Charles' abdication had far-reaching consequences in imperial diplomatic relations with France and the Netherlands, particularly in his allotment of
492-497: A brief fight. When the citizens of Cologne heard the news, there was a great public exultation. Two days after his marriage, Gebhard invested his brother Karl with the duties of Statthalter (governor) and charged him with the rule of Bonn. He and Agnes then traveled to Zweibrücken and, from there, to the territory of Dillingen, near Solms-Braunfels , where the Count, a staunch supporter, would help him to raise funds and troops to hold
615-614: A castle." In early 1588, Gebhardt's supporters once more acquired Bonn; one of Walsingham's observers in the Palatinate, in Heidelberg, reported that the Prince of Taxis had been slain outside of Bonn, with 300 Spanish soldiers. By Spring 1588, Gebhard had run out of options. In 1583, he had refused the settlement offered to him after the conferences at Frankfurt and in Westphalia, counting on
738-495: A disinfection station, which were only organized in 1942. By 1941 a theatre had been built. In the fall of 1941, Soviet and Serbian POWs were brought to the camp. In early 1942, there were 23,470 POWs in the camp. By January 1944, the number had grown to nearly 30,000, mainly due to an arrival of Italian POWs, and in August 1944 the camp reached a record 35,361 POWs. The Polish resistance secretly organized transports of POWs who escaped
861-459: A few mixed cities and towns where Catholics and Lutherans had lived together. It also protected the authority of the princely families, the knights, and some of the cities to determine what religious uniformity meant in their territories. Ferdinand inserted this at the last minute, on his own authority. After 1555, the Peace of Augsburg became the legitimating legal document governing the co-existence of
984-567: A local conflict expanded in scale: Ernst's election guaranteed the military, diplomatic, and financial interest of the Wittelsbach family in the Electorate of Cologne 's local affairs. After the deaths of Louis VI, Elector Palatine in 1583 and William the Silent in 1584, the conflict shifted gears again, as the two evenly matched combatants sought outside assistance to break the stalemate. Finally,
1107-565: A major assault, and the resources of Spain's Army of the Netherlands quickly changed the balance in favor of Ernst. In 1586, Ernst's allies had secured Vest Recklinghausen, even though they had failed to catch the elusive Schenck, and they had reduced Neuss to a pile of rubble, proving their overwhelming fire-power. In 1587, they encircled and took the fortified towns in the Oberstift , recapturing Bonn, Godesberg, and Linz am Rhein, and dozens of smaller fortified towns, villages, and farmsteads throughout
1230-669: A navy to supply it, Philip could not focus his attention on the English and the French. His own diplomats had sought to present his case as one of pressing concern to all Protestant princes: in November 1583, one of his advisers, Dr. Wenceslaus Zuleger, wrote to Francis Walsingham: "I assure you if the Elector of Cologne is not assisted, you will see that the war in the Low Countries will shortly spread over
1353-634: A position he held until his death. In 1576, by papal nomination, he also became provost of the Cathedral in Augsburg. Similar to his opponent, these positions brought him influence and wealth; they had little to do with his priestly character. If the election had been left to the papacy, Ernst would have been the choice, but the Pope was not a member of the Cathedral Chapter and Gebhard had the support of several of
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#17328547113841476-501: A private house in Rosenthal, outside of Bonn. After the ceremony, the couple processed to the Elector's palace in Bonn, and held a great feast. Unbeknownst to them, while they celebrated their marriage, Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1554–1586), who was also a member of the Cathedral Chapter, and his soldiers approached the fortified Kaiserswerth , across the river, and took the castle after
1599-599: A reformation of the Church's doctrines, considered infallible and sacrosanct by Catholic teaching, accentuated controversy and competition in many of the territories of the Holy Roman Empire and quickly devolved into armed factions that exacerbated existing social, political, and territorial grievances. These tensions were embodied in such alliances as the Protestant Schmalkaldic League , through which many of
1722-547: A relatively young man, heirs would be expected. Gebhard and his young wife presented the very real possibility of successfully converting a rich, diplomatically important, and strategically placed ecclesiastical territory of a prince-prelate into a dynastic territory that carried with it one of the coveted offices of imperial elector. Pope Gregory XIII excommunicated him in March 1583, and the Chapter deposed him, by electing in his place
1845-415: A religious procession. Regardless, in late 1579 or early 1580, she attracted Gebhard's notice. He sought her out, and they started a liaison. Two of her brothers, Ernst and Hoyer Christoph, soon visited Gebhard at the archbishop's residence to discuss a marriage. "Gebhard's Catholic belief, which was by no means based on his innermost conviction, started to waver when he had to decide whether to renounce
1968-486: A steady stream of theologians, jurists, books, and ideas. The Calvinist barons and counts understood the danger of Spanish intervention: it meant the aggressive introduction of the Counter-Reformation in their territories. France, in the person of Henry III , was equally interested, since the encirclement of his Kingdom by Habsburgs was cause for concern. Another sizable portion of the electorate's populace adhered to
2091-522: Is served by Intercity and EuroCity services, and the South Station (Recklinghausen Südbahnhof). There are two Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines - S 2 to Dortmund via Herne - Castrop-Rauxel and S 9 to Hagen via Gladbeck - Bottrop - Essen - Velbert - Wuppertal. The current mayor of Recklinghausen is Christoph Tesche of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The most recent mayoral election
2214-487: The Augsburg Interim ) through which he sought to find some common ground for religious peace. This effort alienated both Protestant and Catholic princes and the papacy; even Charles, whose decree it was, was unhappy with the political and diplomatic dimensions of what amounted to half of a religious settlement. The 1551–52 sessions convened by Pope Julius III at the supposedly ecumenical Council of Trent solved none of
2337-634: The Duchy of Westphalia , at Arensberg castle. In both territories, Gebhard set in motion as much of the Reformation as he could, although his soldiers indulged in a bout of iconoclasm and plundering. Initially, despite a few setbacks, military action seemed to go in Gebhard's favor, until October 1583, when the Elector Palatine died, and Casimir disbanded his army and returned to his brother's court as guardian for
2460-625: The Seneschal's War ( Truchsessischer Krieg ) or the Seneschal Upheaval ( Truchsessischer Wirren ) and occasionally the Sewer War , the conflict tested the principle of ecclesiastical reservation , which had been included in the religious Peace of Augsburg (1555). This principle excluded, or "reserved", the ecclesiastical territories of the Holy Roman Empire from the application of cuius regio, eius religio , or "whose rule, his religion", as
2583-651: The "darkness of the papacy to the Light" of the Word of God. The conversion of the Archbishop of Cologne to Protestantism triggered religious and political repercussions throughout the Holy Roman Empire. His conversion had widespread implications for the future of the Holy Roman Empire's electoral process established by the Golden Bull of 1356 . In this process, seven Imperial Electors —the four secular electors of Bohemia , Brandenburg ,
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#17328547113842706-438: The 16th century; this principle was discussed at length by the various delegates, who finally reached agreement on the specifics of its wording after examining the problem and the proposed solution from every possible angle. The second principle covered the special status of the ecclesiastical states, called the ecclesiastical reservation , or reservatum ecclesiasticum . If the prelate of an ecclesiastic state changed his religion,
2829-517: The 22nd-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia. First mentioned in 1017 as Ricoldinchuson , in 1150 the city was the center of the surrounding Vest Recklinghausen . In 1236, Recklinghausen received town privileges . There is record of Jews in the city as early as 1305. As part of the County of Vest , ownership of Recklinghausen changed several times in the 15th and 16th century, and in 1576,
2952-475: The 29-year-old canon, Ernst of Bavaria, brother of the pious William V, Duke of Bavaria . Ernst's election ensured the involvement of the powerful House of Wittelsbach in the coming contest. The war had three phases. Initially it was a localized feud between supporters of Gebhard and those of the Catholic core of the Cathedral Chapter. With the election of Ernst of Bavaria as a competing archbishop, what had been
3075-693: The Cathedral Chapter enlisted external support from the Wittelsbachs in Bavaria and from the Pope. Diplomats shuttled from court to court through the Rhineland, bearing pleas to Gebhard to consider the outcome of a conversion, and how it would destroy the Electorate. These diplomats assured him of support for his cause should he convert and hold the Electorate and threats to destroy him if he did convert. The magistrates of Cologne vehemently opposed any possible conversion and
3198-721: The Catholic Church alone is the one true Church , while Protestants insisted that the Church Christ founded was invisible and not tied to any single religious institution on earth. Regarding justification, the Lutherans insisted that it occurred by faith alone , while the Catholics upheld the traditional Catholic doctrine that justification involves both faith and active charity. The Schmalkaldic League called its own ecumenical council in 1537, and set forward several precepts of faith. When
3321-494: The Catholic faction in the Cathedral Chapter. Furthermore, Gebhard adhered not to the teachings of Martin Luther, but to those of John Calvin , a form of religious observation not approved by the Augsburg conventions of 1555. Finally, he made no move to resign from his position as Prince-elector. Affairs became further complicated when, on 2 February 1583, also known as Candlemas , Gebhard married Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben in
3444-497: The Catholic, and all the Protestant, canons in the Chapter. In December 1577, he was chosen Elector and Archbishop of Cologne after a spirited contest with the papacy's candidate, Ernst: Gebhard won the election by two votes. Although it was not required of him, Gebhard agreed to undergo priestly ordination; he was duly consecrated in March 1578, and swore to uphold the Council of Trent's decrees. Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben (1551–1637)
3567-541: The Duke of Parma approached and surrounded the city; by some irony, Agnes' cousin, Karl von Mansfeld and his troops were a part of the Spanish force assembled against Neuss. Parma had an impressive force at his command; in addition to Mansfeld's 2000 troops, he had another 6000 or so foot and Tercios , 2000 well-mounted, experienced Italian, Spanish, and German soldiers, and some 45 cannons, which he distributed on
3690-475: The Dutch Revolt. The protraction of the Spanish and Dutch war—80 years of bitter fighting interrupted by periodic truces while both sides gathered resources—lay in the kind of war it was: enemies lived in fortified towns defended by Italian-style bastions, which meant the towns had to be taken and then fortified and maintained. For both Gebhard and Ernst, as for the Spanish commanders in the nearby Lowlands, winning
3813-513: The Dutch. On the other side of the feud, to hold the territory, Gebhard needed the full support of his military brother and the very able Neuenahr. To push Ernst out, he needed additional support, which he had requested from Delft and from England. It was clearly in the interests of England and the Dutch to offer assistance; if the Dutch could not tie up the Spanish army in Flanders, and if that army needed
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3936-465: The Elector's temporal possessions. The Electorate was ruled by an archbishop prince-elector of the empire. As an archbishop, he was responsible for the spiritual leadership of one of the richest sees in the Empire, and entitled to draw on its wealth. As a prince-prelate, he stood in the highest social category of the Empire, with specific and expansive legal, economic, and juridical rights. As an Elector, he
4059-565: The Electorate. This outcome consolidated Wittelsbach authority in north-west Germany and encouraged a Catholic revival in the states along the lower Rhine . More broadly, the conflict set a precedent for foreign intervention in German religious and dynastic matters, which would be widely followed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). Prior to the 16th century, the Catholic Church had been
4182-636: The French king and for Parma himself. He was a skilled and charismatic soldier, and his men would do anything for him; reportedly, he could sleep in his saddle, and seemed indomitable in the field. Unfortunately, Schenck was little more than a land-pirate, a free-booter, and rascal, and ultimately he did Gebhard more harm than good, as his behavior in Westphalia and at the Battle of Werl demonstrated. In late February 1586, Friedrich Cloedt , whom Gebhard had placed in command of Neuss, and Martin Schenck went to Westphalia at
4305-649: The German invasion of Poland , which started World War II in September 1939. Faced with frequent escapes from the camp and its subcamps, the Germans gradually deported the Polish POWs to other camps. Polish POWs recalled miserable living conditions and harassment by German guards. On April 1, 1940, there were some 2,200 POWs in Stalag XX-B and its subcamps. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands , Belgium and France ,
4428-611: The German Architecture Award is home of "Die Liegende Nr 5", a famous sculpture by Henry Moore . At the Lohtor in front of a memorial for the victims of World War I, there is a large sculpture made of more than 30,000 bricks by Per Kirkeby . Recklinghausen hosts the annual Ruhrfestspiele (Ruhr Festival), a cultural festival with an international reputation. Every year there is a cultural programme with many national and international theatrical productions starting on 1 May. In 2008
4551-493: The Germans brought British, French, Belgian and Dutch POWs to the camp. In July 1940, Stalag XX-B still lacked basic infrastructure and had only overcrowded tents and dugouts for the POWs and a few barracks for the guards, all surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. An administration block including a hospital was erected in the latter part of 1940, mainly by prisoner labour . In the second half of 1941, there were still no showers nor
4674-625: The Lutheran and Catholic faiths in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire, and it served to ameliorate many of the tensions between followers of the so-called Old Faith and the followers of Luther, but it had two fundamental flaws. First, Ferdinand had rushed the article on ecclesiastical reservation through the debate; it had not undergone the scrutiny and discussion that attended the widespread acceptance and support of cuius regio, eius religio . Consequently, its wording did not cover all, or even most, potential legal scenarios. The Declaratio Ferdinandei
4797-661: The Lutheran princes agreed to protect each other from encroachment on their territories and local authority; in retaliation, the princes that remained loyal to the Catholic Church formed the Holy League . By the mid-1530s, the German-speaking states of the Holy Roman Empire had devolved into armed factions determined by family ties, geographic needs, religious loyalties, and dynastic aspirations. The religious issue both accentuated and masked these secular conflicts. Princes and clergy alike understood that institutional abuses hindered
4920-530: The Lutheran princes. Unfortunately for him, he had converted to another branch of the Reformed faith; such cautious Lutheran princes as Augustus I, Elector of Saxony , balked at extending their military support to Calvinists and the Elector Palatine was unable to persuade them to join the cause. Gebhard had three primary supporters. His brother, Karl, had married Eleonore, Countess of Hohenzollern (1551–after 1598), and Gebhard could hope that this family alliance with
5043-542: The Netherlands with almost 1000 cavalry, where Prince William gave them a haven in Delft . There, Gebhard solicited the impecunious William for troops and money. After William's assassination in July 1584, Gebhard wrote to Queen Elizabeth requesting assistance. Elizabeth responded toward the end of 1585, directing him to contact Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester , her deputy with the rebellious Dutch, and recently commissioned as
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5166-570: The Netherlands, Naples , Milan , and Spain's possessions in the Americas , went to his son, Philip . His brother, Ferdinand, who had negotiated the treaty in the previous year, was already in possession of the Austrian lands and was also the obvious candidate to succeed Charles as Holy Roman Emperor. Charles' choices were appropriate. Philip was culturally Spanish: he was born in Valladolid and raised in
5289-558: The POWs working in agriculture. POWs were sent out to labour in farms, sawmills, factories, goodsyards and cutting ice on the river Nogat . The Germans dissolved the camp in January 1945, and the POWs were marched west. The march lasted three and a half months, during which the POWs struggled with cold, hunger, exhaustion, diseases, etc., and were even subjected to forced labor to clear cluttered roads and railroads after Allied bombings. There were days when POWs ate nothing, and some died during
5412-401: The Palatinate , and Saxony ; and the three ecclesiastical electors of Mainz , Trier , and Cologne —selected an emperor. The presence of at least three inherently Catholic electors, who collectively governed some of the most prosperous ecclesiastical territories in the Empire, guaranteed the delicate balance of Catholics and Protestants in the voting; only one other elector needed to vote for
5535-811: The RAF on 15 January 1945; and South Recklinghausen ( Recklinghausen Süd ) was captured by the US 137th Infantry on 1 April 1945. Recklinghausen is home to a museum of icons , which includes more than 1,000 Orthodox works from Russia , Greece and the Balkan countries, as well as early Coptic Christian art from Egypt . The icon museum – the largest outside the Orthodox world – was founded in 1956 and reopened after renovation in February 2006 for its 50th anniversary. The Ruhrfestspielhaus (Ruhr Festival Theatre), whose remodeling in 2001 won
5658-639: The Recklinghausen Bürgermeisterei, and Erkenschwick followed in 1821. During World War II , in December 1939, the Stalag XX-B prisoner-of-war camp was founded in the city, however, it was relocated after a few days, and from 1941 to 1943, a forced labour camp was operated in the city. As a target of the Oil Campaign of World War II , oil production at Recklinghausen/Forstezung was bombed by
5781-437: The Reformation as harshly there as did Philip, and Charles had even tolerated a high level of local autonomy. An ardent Catholic and rigidly autocratic prince, Philip pursued an aggressive political, economic, and religious policy toward the Dutch, resulting in their rebellion shortly after he became king. Philip's militant response meant the occupation of much of the upper provinces by troops of, or hired by, Habsburg Spain and
5904-603: The Rhine River, as his capital and residence; by 1580, both his residence and the capital were located in Bonn. Although the city of Cologne obtained its status as a free imperial city in 1478, the Archbishop of Cologne retained judicial rights in the city; he acted as a Vogt , or reeve , and reserved the right of blood justice , or Blutgericht ; only he could impose the so-called blood punishments, which included capital punishments, but also physical punishments that drew blood. Regardless of his position as judge, he could not enter
6027-458: The Southern, or Spanish Netherlands . Complexities of enfeoffment and dynastic appanage magnified a localized feud into one including supporters from the Electorate of the Palatinate and Dutch, Scots, and English mercenaries on the Protestant side, and Bavarian and papal mercenaries on the Catholic side. The conflict coincided with the Dutch Revolt, 1568–1648, encouraging the participation of
6150-535: The Spanish camp that the Protestants had roasted two Spanish soldiers alive on the Catholic Holy day, a desecration which fanned their enthusiasm for the impending battle. The following day, Parma's artillery pounded at the walls for 3 hours with iron cannonballs weighing 30–50 pounds; in total, his artillery fired more than 2700 rounds. The Spanish made several attempts to storm the city, each repelled by Cloedt's 1600 soldiers. The ninth assault breached
6273-425: The Spanish court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. Ferdinand was familiar with, and to, the other princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Although he too had been born in Spain, he had administered his brother's affairs in the Empire since 1531. Some historians maintain Ferdinand had also been touched by the reformed philosophies, and was probably the closest the Holy Roman Empire ever came to
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#17328547113846396-427: The Spanish kingdom to Philip. In France, the kings and their ministers grew increasingly uneasy about Habsburg encirclement and sought allies against Habsburg hegemony from among the border German territories; they were even prepared to ally with some of the Protestant kings. In the Netherlands, Philip's ascension in Spain raised particular problems; for the sake of harmony, order, and prosperity, Charles had not oppressed
6519-409: The bastions, sappers tunneled under the thick walls and blew up the fortifications from below. The Catholic Archbishop's forces still could not break through the remains of the fortifications, so they crawled through the garderobe sluices (hence the name, Sewer War ). Upon taking the fortress, they killed every defender except four, a Captain of the Guard who could prove he was a citizen of Cologne,
6642-573: The bishop's mitre and stay faithful to the woman he loved, or to renounce his love and remain a member of the church hierarchy." While he considered this, rumors of his possible conversion flew throughout the Electorate. The mere possibility of Gebhard's conversion caused consternation in the Electorate, in the Empire, and in such European states as England and France. Gebhard considered his options, and listened to his advisers, chief among them his brother Karl, Truchsess von Waldburg (1548–1593), and Adolf, Count von Neuenahr (1545–1589). His opponents in
6765-407: The bishop, his uncle, petitioned the Duke of Bavaria to remonstrate with him about it, which apparently led to some improvement in his behavior. In 1561, he became a deacon at Cologne Cathedral (1561–77), a canon of St. Gereon, the basilica in Cologne (1562–67), a canon in Strassburg (1567–1601), in Ellwangen (1567–83), and in Würzburg (1569–70). In 1571, he became deacon of Strassburg Cathedral,
6888-405: The camp to the port city of Gdynia , from where they were further evacuated by sea to neutral Sweden . Most of the POWs were not housed in the main camp, but were deployed in up to about a thousand forced labour subcamps in the region. There were sizable subcamps at shipyards in Gdynia and Elbląg , and at least seven subcamps within Malbork itself, however, most were located in rural areas with
7011-422: The city and placed young Friedrich Cloedt in command of a garrison of 1600 men, mostly Germans and Dutch soldiers. The town's fortifications were substantial; 100 years earlier it had resisted a lengthy siege by Charles the Bold (1433–1477) of Burgundy, and between the fortifications, the natural defenses of rivers, and the garrison, it could withstand all but the most determined assaults. In July 1586,
7134-501: The city of Cologne except under special circumstances, and between the city council and the elector-archbishop, a politically and diplomatically precarious and usually adversarial relationship developed over the centuries. (See also History of Cologne for more details.) The position of archbishop was usually held by a scion of nobility, and not necessarily a priest; this widespread practice allowed younger sons of noble houses to find prestigious and financially secure positions without
7257-435: The commander-in-chief of her army in the Netherlands. Elizabeth had her own problems with adherents of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots , and the Spanish . By late 1585, although Ernst's brother had made significant inroads into the Electorate of Cologne , both sides had reached an impasse. Sizable portions of the population subscribed to the Calvinist doctrine; to support them, Calvinist Switzerland and Strassburg furnished
7380-430: The conference, Ferdinand cajoled, persuaded, and threatened the various representatives into agreement on three important principles. The principle of cuius regio, eius religio provided for internal religious unity within a state: The religion of the prince became the religion of the state and all its inhabitants. Those inhabitants who could not conform to the prince's religion were allowed to leave, an innovative idea in
7503-399: The constant ebb and flow of Spanish men and provisions over the Spanish road from northern Italy, through the Burgundian lands, into and from Flanders. As an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire , the Electorate of Cologne ( German : Kurfürstentum Köln or Kurköln ) included the temporal possessions of the Archbishop of Cologne ( German : Erzbistum Köln ):
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#17328547113847626-608: The countryside. Throughout, soldiers from both parties marauded and plundered throughout the countryside, searching either for important officials, booty, or other valuables. On 12 November 1587, one of Walsingham's informants wrote, the "soldiers of Vartendonc (Martin Schenck) go out daily on excursions, doing very great harm in all places, for they have free passage every where. The other evening they went with 180 horse to above Bonn, between Orchel and Linz (am Rhein), to make prisoner Count Salatin d'Issemburg (Salentin von Isenburg), but their design did not succeed, as he withdrew into
7749-419: The defenders escaped to the citadel, and could not be dislodged. Claude de Berlaymont , also known as Haultpenne after the name of his castle, collected his own force of 4000 and besieged Schenck and Cloedt in Werl. Attacked from the outside by Haultpenne, and from the inside by the soldiers in the citadel, Schenck and Cloedt broke out of the city with their soldiers on 3 March. Unable to break through
7872-565: The delegates met in Regensburg in 1540–41, representatives agreed on the doctrine of faith and justification, but could not agree on sacraments, confession, absolution, and the definition of the church. Catholic and Lutheran adherents seemed further apart than ever; in only a few towns and cities were Lutherans and Catholics able to live together in even a semblance of harmony. By 1548, political disagreements overlapped with religious issues, making any kind of agreement seem remote. In 1548 Charles declared an interreligio imperialis (also known as
7995-489: The eastern regions of the electorate, and a short time later, Minden . With their help, Ernst could hold Bonn. Support from the city of Cologne itself was also secure. To oust Gebhard, though, Ernst ultimately had to appeal for aid to Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who commanded Spanish forces in the Netherlands, namely the Army of Flanders . Parma was more than willing to help. The Electorate, strategically important to Spain, offered another land route by which to approach
8118-414: The ecclesiastical principality into a secular, dynastic duchy. A faction in the Cathedral Chapter elected another archbishop, Ernst of Bavaria . Initially, troops of the competing archbishops of Cologne fought over control of sections of the territory. Several of the barons and counts holding territory with feudal obligations to the Elector also held territory in nearby provinces: Westphalia, Liege, and
8241-399: The empire; he also had contacts in important canonic establishments at Salzburg, Trier, Würzburg, and Münster that could exert collateral pressure. Ernst had been a canon at Cologne since 1570. He had the support of the neighboring Duke of Jülich and several allies within the Cathedral Chapter. Although supported by both the papacy and his influential father, a 1571 effort to secure for him
8364-409: The entire county was pawned to the Elector of Cologne . In 1582–83, again in 1586, and again in 1587, the city was plundered by partisan armies during the Cologne War , a feud over religious parity in Electorate of Cologne and electoral influence in the Holy Roman Empire. Recklinghausen was also the site of more than 100 witchcraft trials (1514–1710). The trial activity reached a climax twice: In
8487-413: The evangelical (Lutheran) and Reformed traditions. Other confessions had acquired popular, if not legal, legitimacy in the intervening decades and by 1555, the reforms proposed by Luther were no longer the only possibilities of religious expression: Anabaptists , such as the Frisian Menno Simons (1492–1559) and his followers; the followers of John Calvin , who were particularly strong in the southwest and
8610-441: The extension of parity to Protestants in the archdiocese. His Protestant supporters told Gebhard that he could marry the woman and keep the Electorate, converting it into a dynastic duchy. Throughout the Electorate, and on its borders, his supporters and opponents gathered their troops, armed their garrisons, stockpiled foodstuffs, and prepared for war. On 19 December 1582, Gebhard announced his conversion, from, as he phrased it,
8733-458: The fray of his own accord a few months earlier. The Catholics offered Gebhard a great sum of money, which he refused, demanding instead, the restoration of his state. When further negotiations among the Electors and the Emperor at Frankfurt am Main , then at Mühlhausen , failed to reach an agreement settling the dispute, the Pope arranged for the support of several thousand Spanish troops in early 1584. The election of Ernst of Bavaria expanded
8856-415: The head of 500 foot and 500 horse. After plundering Vest Recklinghausen , on 1 March they captured Werl through trickery. They loaded a train of wagons with soldiers and covered them with salt. When the wagons of salt were seen outside the city gates, they were immediately admitted, salt being a valued commodity. The "salted soldiers" then over-powered the guard and captured the town. Some of
8979-475: The hostages were the Bürgermeister Johann von Pappen and several other high-ranking officials; although von Pappen died during the retreat, the remaining hostages were released after the payment of a high ransom. Schenck retreated to Venlo and Cloedt returned to the city of Neuss. To some extent, the difficulties both Gebhard and Ernst faced in winning the war were the same the Spanish had in subduing
9102-559: The intervention of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma , who had at his command the Spanish Army of Flanders , threw the balance of power in favor of the Catholic side. By 1588, Spanish forces had pushed Gebhard from the Electorate. In 1588 he took refuge in Strassburg, and the remaining Protestant strongholds of the Electorate fell to Parma's forces in 1589. Although Gebhard had gathered some troops around him, he hoped to recruit support from
9225-456: The invasion of the enemy; for if we lost Bonn, they would be in the greatest danger, while if God permits us to keep it, we hope, by his grace, that Antichrist and his agents will be foiled in their damnable attempts against those who call upon the true God." Godesburg , a fortress a few kilometers from the Elector's capital city of Bonn, was taken by storm in late 1583 after a brutal month-long siege; when Bavarian cannonades failed to break
9348-425: The larger religious issues but simply restated Catholic teaching and condemned Protestant teaching as heresies. Charles' interim solution failed. He ordered a general Diet in Augsburg at which the various states would discuss the religious problem and its solution. He himself did not attend, and delegated authority to his brother, Ferdinand , to "act and settle" disputes of territory, religion, and local power. At
9471-417: The lines, they retreated into the city once more, but several of their soldiers did not make it into the city, and plundered the neighboring villages; 250 local residents were killed. On 8 March, Schenck and Cloedt loaded their wagons, this time with booty, took 30 magistrates as hostages, and attacked Haultpenne's force, killing about 500 of them, and losing 200 of their own. Included in
9594-402: The local feud into a more German-wide phenomenon. The pope committed 55,000 crowns to pay soldiers to fight for Ernst, and another 40,000 directly into the coffers of the new archbishop. Under the command of his brother, Ernst's forces pushed their way into Westphalia, threatening Gebhard and Agnes at their stronghold at Arensburg. Gebhard and Agnes escaped to the rebellious provinces of
9717-413: The location and wealth of the cathedral, this could amount to substantial annual income. In the Electorate, the Chapter included 24 canons of various social ranks; they each had a place in the choir, based on their rank, which in turn was usually derived from the social standing of their families. When his nephew, Arnold, died without issue, Salentin von Isenburg-Grenzau (1532–1610) resigned from
9840-625: The machinery of war, which meant extensive economic resources for soldiers to build and operate the siege works, and a political and military will to keep the machinery of war operating. The Spanish faced another problem, distance, which gave them a distinct interest in intervening in the Cologne affair: the Electorate lay on the Rhine River, and the Spanish road . Gebhard's supporter, Adolf von Neuenahr, surrounded Neuss in March 1586, and persuaded Ernst's small garrison to capitulate. He refortified and restocked
9963-520: The march. Recklinghausen Recklinghausen ( German pronunciation: [ˌʁɛklɪŋˈhaʊzn̩] ; Westphalian : Riäkelhusen ) is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district . It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south. Recklinghausen is the 60th-largest city in Germany and
10086-401: The men and women living in that state did not have to do so. Instead, the prelate was expected to resign from his post, although this was not spelled out in the agreement. The third principle, known as Ferdinand's Declaration , exempted knights and some of the cities from the requirement of religious uniformity, if the reformed religion had been practiced there since the mid-1520s, allowing for
10209-471: The mid–1580s, the Duke of Parma's forces, encouraged by the Wittelsbachs and the Catholics in Cologne, had secured garrisons throughout the northern territories of the Electorate. By 1590, these garrisons gave Spain access to the northern provinces and Philip felt comfortable enough with his military access to the provinces, and with their isolation from possible support by German Protestants, to direct more of his attention to France, and less to his problems with
10332-456: The new duke, his 10-year-old nephew. In November 1583, from his castle Arensberg in Westphalia, he wrote to Francis Walsingham , adviser and spymaster to Queen Elizabeth : "Our needs are pressing, and you [Walsingham] and the Queen's other virtuous counsellors we believe can aid us; moreover, since God has called us to a knowledge of Himself, we have heard from our counsellors that you love and further
10455-442: The northwest; and the followers of Huldrych Zwingli were excluded from considerations and protections under the Peace of Augsburg. According to the Augsburg agreement, their religious beliefs remained heretical. In 1556, amid great pomp, and leaning on the shoulder of one of his favorites (the 24-year-old William, Count of Nassau and Orange ), Charles gave away his lands and his offices. The Spanish Empire , which included Spain,
10578-467: The office of coadjutor of the electorate of Cologne had failed once Salentin had agreed to abide by the Trentine proceedings ; as the coadjutor bishop, Ernst would have been well-positioned to present himself as Salentin's logical successor. Since then, however, he had advanced in other sees, becoming bishop of Liège , Freising , and Hildesheim , important strongholds of Counter-Reformation Catholicism. He
10701-425: The office of Elector (September 1577) and, in December, married Antonia Wilhelmine d'Arenburg, sister of Charles d'Ligne, Prince of Arenberg . Salentin's resignation required the election of a new archbishop and prince-elector from among the Cathedral Chapter. Two candidates emerged. Gebhard (1547–1601) was the second son of William, Truchsess of Waldburg, known as William the younger, and Johanna von Fürstenberg . He
10824-464: The office prior to his marriage. Furthermore, the reason for his marriage—to perpetuate his house—differed considerably from Gebhard's. The House of Waldburg was in no apparent danger of extinction; Gebhard was one of six brothers, and only one other had chosen an ecclesiastical career. Unlike his abdicating predecessors, when Gebhard converted, he proclaimed the Reformation in the city of Cologne itself, angering Cologne's Catholic leadership and alienating
10947-494: The old faith, supported by Wittelsbach-funded Jesuits. The supporters of both sides committed atrocities of their own: in the city of Cologne, the mere rumor of Gebhard's approaching army caused rioters to murder several people suspected of sympathizing with the Protestant cause. Ernst depended on his brother and the Catholic barons in the Cathedral Chapter to hold the territory he acquired. In 1585, Münster , Paderborn , and Osnabrück succumbed to Ferdinand's energetic pursuit in
11070-465: The outer wall. The Spanish and Italian forces entered the town from opposite ends and met in the middle. Cloedt, gravely injured (his leg was reportedly almost ripped off and he had five other serious wounds), had been carried into the town. Parma's troops discovered Cloedt, being nursed by his wife and his sister. Although Parma was inclined to honor the garrison commander with a soldier's death by sword, Ernst demanded his immediate execution. The dying man
11193-503: The parish of Recklinghausen and the parishes Ahsen , Datteln , Flaesheim , Hamm-Bossendorf , Henrichenburg , Herten , Horneburg, Oer , Suderwich , Waltrop and Westerholt . In 1803-1811 became the capital of a sovereign Principality of the Dukes of Arenberg who retain the title. c. 1815 , the Vest was made a Bürgermeisterei , with the town becoming the seat. In 1819, Herten joined
11316-484: The power-hungry Hohenzollerns would help his cause. Another long-time ally and supporter Adolf, Count von Neuenahr, was a successful and cunning military commander whose army secured the northern part of the territory. Finally, John Casimir (1543–1592), the brother of the Elector Palatine, had expressed his support, and made a great show of force in the southern part of the Electorate. In the first months after Gebhard's conversion, two competing armies rampaged throughout
11439-462: The practices of the faithful, but they disagreed on the solution to the problem. The Protestants believed a reform of doctrine was needed (especially regarding the Church's teachings on justification, indulgences, Purgatory , and the Papacy ) while those that remained Catholic wished to reform the morals of the clergy only, without sacrificing Catholic doctrine. Pope Paul III convened a council to examine
11562-433: The presence of a Calvinist electorate almost on the Dutch border could delay their efforts to bring the rebellious Dutch back to the Spanish rule and the Catholic confession. Philip II and his generals could be convinced to support Ernst's cause for such considerations. Indeed, the process of intervention had started earlier. In 1581, Philip's forces, paid for by papal gold, had taken Aachen , which Protestants had seized; by
11685-600: The primary means of determining the religion of a territory. It stipulated instead that if an ecclesiastical prince converted to Protestantism, he would resign from his position rather than force the conversion of his subjects. In December 1582, Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg , the Prince-elector of Cologne, converted to Protestantism . The principle of ecclesiastical reservation required his resignation. Instead, he declared religious parity for his subjects and, in 1583, married Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben , intending to convert
11808-455: The principle of ecclesiastical reservation , which was intended to preserve the ecclesiastical electorates from this very possibility. The difficulties of such a conversion had been faced before: Hermann von Wied , a previous prince-elector and archbishop in Cologne, had also converted to Protestantism, but had resigned from his office. Similarly, Gebhard's predecessor, Salentin von Isenburg-Grenzau had indeed married in 1577, but had resigned from
11931-550: The problem in 1537 and instituted several internal, institutional reforms intended to obviate some of the most flagrant prebendary abuses, simony , and nepotism ; despite efforts by both the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Roman Pontiff , unification of the two strands of belief foundered on different concepts of "Church" and the principle of justification . Catholics clung to the traditional teaching that
12054-802: The programme included the play Speed the Plow starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum as one of the major productions. The main theatrical stage is the Ruhrfestspielhaus but other theatres in and around Recklinghausen participate. The two major motorways crossing the area of the city are the A2 and the A43 . The city is connected to the larger waterways by the Rhein-Herne-Kanal . Recklinghausen has two railway stations. The Central Station ( Recklinghausen Hauptbahnhof ), which
12177-419: The rebellious Dutch provinces and the Spanish. In 1586, the conflict expanded further, with the direct involvement of Spanish troops and Italian mercenaries on the Catholic side, and financial and diplomatic support from Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England on the Protestant side. The war concluded with the victory of the Catholic archbishop Ernst, who expelled the Protestant archbishop Gebhard from
12300-601: The rebellious northern Provinces of the Netherlands. Although the Spanish road from Spain's holdings on the Mediterranean shores led to its territories in what is today Belgium, it was a long, arduous march, complicated by the provisioning of troops and the potentially hostile populations of the territories through which it passed. An alternative route on the Rhine promised better access to the Habsburg Netherlands. Furthermore,
12423-418: The redoubt across the river and on the heights a short distance from the city walls. According to the protocols of war generally accepted in 1586, Parma requested the capitulation of the city prior to the cannonade. Cloedt declined to capitulate, politely. The next day, being the feast of St. James , and the patron day for the Spanish, the bombardment was not initiated, although mendacious reports circulated in
12546-553: The requirements of priesthood. The archbishop and prince-elector was chosen by the cathedral chapter , the members of which also served as his advisers. As members of a cathedral chapter, they participated in the Mass , or sang the Mass; in addition, they performed other duties as needed. They were not required to be priests but they could, if they wished, take Holy orders . As prebendaries , they received stipends from cathedral income; depending on
12669-590: The service of God." On the same day, Gebhard wrote also to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, presenting his case: "Verily, the Roman Antichrist moves every stone to oppress us and our churches...." Two days later, he wrote a more lengthy letter to the Queen: "We therefore humbly pray your Majesty to lend us 10,000 angelots , and to send it speedily, that we may preserve our churches this winter from
12792-513: The so-called Oberstift (the southern part of the Electorate), the northern section, called the Niederstift , the fiefdom of Vest Recklinghausen and the Duchy of Westphalia , plus several small uncontiguous territories separated from the Electorate by the neighboring Duchies of Cleves, Berg, Julich and Mark . Encircled by the electoral territory, Cologne was part of the archdiocese but not among
12915-463: The sole official Christian faith in the Holy Roman Empire . Martin Luther 's initial agenda called for the reform of the Church's doctrines and practices, but after his excommunication from the Church his ideas became embodied in an altogether separate religious movement, Lutheranism . Initially dismissed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V as an inconsequential argument between monks, the idea of
13038-477: The son of an important Cologne politician, the commander, and his wife. The 5 mi (8 km) of road between Godesberg and Bonn was filled with so many troops that it looked like a military camp. At the same time, in one of the few set battles of the war, Gebhard's supporters won at Aalst ( French : Alost ) over the Catholic forces of the Frederick of Saxe-Lauenburg, who had raised his own army and had entered
13161-518: The southern portion of the Electoral territory in the destruction of the so-called Oberstift . Villages, abbeys and convents and several towns, were plundered and burned, by both sides; Linz am Rhein and Ahrweiler avoided destruction by swearing loyalty to Salentin. In the summer of 1583, Gebhard and Agnes took refuge, first at Vest in Vest Recklinghausen , a fief of the Electorate, and then in
13284-519: The spread of Lutheranism and Calvinism in the northern provinces. Also a younger son, Gebhard had prepared for an ecclesiastical career with a broad, Humanist education; apart from his native German, he had learned several languages (including Latin, Italian, French), and studied history and theology. After studying at the universities of Dillingen , Ingolstadt , Perugia , Louvain , and elsewhere, he began his ecclesiastical career in 1560 at Augsburg . His conduct at Augsburg caused some scandal;
13407-539: The streets and trapped by the rampaging soldiers. Contemporary accounts refer to children, women, and old men, their clothes smoldering, or in flames, trying to escape the conflagration, only to be trapped by the enraged Spanish; if they escaped the flames and the Spanish, they were cornered by the enraged Italians. Parma wrote to King Philip that over 4000 lay dead in the ditches (moats). English observers confirmed this report, and elaborated that only eight buildings remained standing. Parma had gone to Neuss prepared for
13530-648: The support of the other Protestant electors. When their support did not materialize, he pursued diplomatic options with the French, the Dutch, and the English; these also were of limited help. After the destruction of Neuss in 1586, and the loss of most of the southern part of the Electorate in 1587, Rheinberg and its environs were the only territories of the Electorate he could claim, and much of this slipped from his grasp in 1588. He had exhausted his diplomatic, financial, and military possibilities. His health problems (referred to as Gelenkenschmerz , or joint pain) prohibited him from riding, which limited his ability to travel. In
13653-460: The territory; Adolf, Count von Neuenahr returned to the Electorate to prepare for its defense. Gebhard clearly intended to transform an important ecclesiastical territory into a secular, dynastic duchy. This problematic conversion would then bring the principle of cuius regio, eius religio into play in the Electorate. Under this principle, all of Gebhard's subjects would be required to convert to his faith: his rule, his religion . Furthermore, as
13776-467: The time period of 1580/81 and again in 1588/89. The last person to be convicted of witchcraft was Anna Spickermann; after spending 16 months in prison, she was sentenced to death by sword and burned afterward. c. 1600 , the administration of the Vest Recklinghausen was divided into two parts, with the eastern part administered by Recklinghausen. The town of Recklinghausen including
13899-612: The town in which Martin Luther had been born. The family's estates were located in Saxony, but Agnes' sister lived in the city of Cologne, married to the Freiherr (or Baron ), Peter von Kriechingen. Although a member of the Gerresheim cloister, Agnes was free during her days to go where she wished. Reports differ on how she came to Gebhard's notice. Some say he saw her on one of her visits to her sister in Cologne. Others claim he noticed her during
14022-503: The war meant not only mobilizing enough men to encircle a seemingly endless cycle of enemy artillery fortresses, but also maintaining the army one had and defending all one's own possessions as they were acquired. The Cologne War, similar to the Dutch Revolt in that respect, was also a war of sieges, not of assembled armies facing one another on the field of battle, nor of maneuver, feint, and parry that characterized wars two centuries earlier and later. These wars required men who could operate
14145-645: The whole of Germany." The support Gebhard received, in the form of troops from the Earl of Leicester, and from the Dutch, in the form of the mercenary Martin Schenck , had mixed results. Leicester's troops, professional and well-led, performed well but their usefulness was limited: Elizabeth's instructions to help Gebhard had not come with financial support and Leicester had sold his own plate and had exhausted his own personal credit while trying to field an army. Martin Schenck had seen considerable service in Spain's Army of Flanders, for
14268-641: Was a Protestant canoness at the cloister in Gerresheim , today a district of Düsseldorf . Her family was a cadet line of the old House of Mansfeld which, by the mid-16th century, had lost much of its affluence, but not its influence. The Mansfeld-Eisleben line retained significant authority in its district; several of Agnes' cousins and uncles had signed the Book of Concord , and the family exercised considerable influence in Reformation affairs. She had been raised in Eisleben ,
14391-404: Was a career cleric, not necessarily qualified to be an archbishop on the basis of his theological erudition, but by his family connections. His membership in several chapters extended the family influence, and his status as a prebendary gave him a portion of revenues from several cathedrals. He had been educated by Jesuits and the papacy considered collaboration with his family as a means to limit
14514-612: Was a conflict between Protestant and Catholic factions that devastated the Electorate of Cologne , a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire , within present-day North Rhine-Westphalia , in Germany. The war occurred within the context of the Protestant Reformation in Germany and the subsequent Counter-Reformation , and concurrently with the Dutch Revolt and the French Wars of Religion . Also called
14637-495: Was descended from the Jacobin line of the House of Waldburg ; his uncle was a cardinal, and his family had significant imperial contacts. The second candidate, Ernst of Bavaria (1554–1612), was the third son of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria . As a member of the powerful House of Wittelsbach , Ernst could marshal support from his extensive family connections throughout the Catholic houses of
14760-438: Was hanged from the window, with several other officers in his force. Parma made no effort to restrain his soldiers. On their rampage through the city, Italian and Spanish soldiers slaughtered the rest of the garrison, even the men who tried to surrender. Once their blood-lust was satiated, they began to plunder. Civilians who had taken refuge in the churches were initially ignored, but when the fire started, they were forced into
14883-676: Was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: The Recklinghausen city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: Recklinghausen is twinned with: Cologne War [REDACTED] Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg , Prince-Elector, Cologne 1578–1588 [REDACTED] House of Neuenahr-Alpen [REDACTED] House of Waldburg [REDACTED] House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken The Cologne War ( German : Kölner Krieg , Kölnischer Krieg , Truchsessischer Krieg ; 1583–1588)
15006-420: Was not debated in plenary session at all; using his authority to "act and settle," Ferdinand had added it at the last minute, responding to lobbying by princely families and knights. While these specific failings came back to haunt the Empire in subsequent decades, perhaps the greatest weakness of the Peace of Augsburg was its failure to take into account the growing diversity of religious expression emerging in
15129-466: Was one of the men who elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among a group of imperial candidates. The Electorate obtained its name from the city, and Cologne had served as the capital of the archbishopric until 1288. After that, the archbishop and Prince-elector used the smaller cities of Bonn , 30 kilometers (19 mi) south of Cologne, and Brühl , 12 km (7.5 mi) south of Cologne, on
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