Upper Lusatia
Encyclopedia
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, a small eastern part belongs to Poland, the northern part to Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
. In Saxony, Upper Lusatia comprises roughly the districts of Bautzen
Bautzen (district)
Bautzen is a district in the Free State of Saxony in Germany including the former districts of Bischofswerda and Kamenz. It is bounded by the Czech Republic, the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, the district-free city Dresden and the districts of Meißen and Görlitz...
(Budyšin) and Görlitz
Görlitz (district)
Görlitz is a district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after its capital city Görlitz. It borders the district of Bautzen, the state Brandenburg, Poland and the Czech Republic.- History :...
(Zgorzelec), in Brandenburg the southern part of district Oberspreewald-Lausitz
Oberspreewald-Lausitz
Oberspreewald-Lausitz is a Kreis in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Dahme-Spreewald, Spree-Neiße, the districts Kamenz and Riesa-Großenhain in Saxony, and the district Elbe-Elster....
. Since 1945, the Polish part of Upper Lusatia between the rivers Kwisa
Kwisa
The Kwisa is a river in south-western Poland, a left tributary of the Bóbr, which itself is a left tributary of the Oder river.It rises in the Izera Mountains, part of the Western Sudetes range, where it runs along the border with the Czech Republic...
in the East and the Lusatian Neisse
Lusatian Neisse
The Lusatian Neisse is a long river in Central Europe. The river has its source in the Jizera Mountains near Nová Ves nad Nisou, Czech Republic, reaching the tripoint with Poland and Germany at Zittau after , and later forms the Polish-German border on a length of...
river in the west belongs administratively to the Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...
, only a small part around Łęknica, together with the Polish part of Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia is a historical region stretching from the southeast of the Brandenburg state of Germany to the southwest of the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Important towns beside the historic capital Lübben include Calau, Cottbus, Guben , Luckau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg and Żary...
, to Lubusz Voivodeship
Lubusz Voivodeship
- Administrative division :Lubusz Voivodeship is divided into 14 counties : 2 city counties and 12 land counties. These are further divided into 83 gminas....
. The western part of Upper Lusatia again forms its own subregion, Western Lusatia.
The historical capital of Upper Lusatia is Bautzen
Bautzen
Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...
, the largest city in the region is Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
- Zgorzelec
Zgorzelec
Zgorzelec is a town in south-western Poland with 33,278 inhabitants . It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship . It is the seat of Zgorzelec County, and also of the smaller district of Gmina Zgorzelec...
, shared between Germany and Poland since 1945. The name Upper Lusatia is recorded since the end of the 15th century and stems from the northern neighbor Lower Lusatia. Originally the region was only called Lusatia, derived from the Slavic tribe of the Lusici who lived there, or later land Budissin, which then adopted the name of Upper Lusatia. The region was also referred to as Milsko in pre-15th century chronicles and modern Polish historiography. Both Lusatias are home of the West Slavic people, the Sorbs
Sorbs
Sorbs are a Western Slavic people of Central Europe living predominantly in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland. In Germany they live in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony. They speak the Sorbian languages - closely related to Polish and Czech - officially recognized and...
, as well as Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and Silesians
Silesians
Silesians , are the inhabitants of Silesia in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. A small diaspora community also exists in Karnes County, Texas in the USA....
.
Geography and nature
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
Upper Lusatia is shaped by the uniform Lusatian granite massif, only the north and northeast, the plain Oberlausitzer Heide- und Teichlandschaft (Upper Lusatian Heath and Lakelands) is Pleistocene formed. The UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
has declared this area a Biosphere Reserve in 1996, in particular for the protection of otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
s. The middle part is hilly, while the south of the is characterized by the Lusatian Mountains
Lusatian Mountains
The Lusatian Mountains are a mountain range of the Western Sudetes, located on the southeastern border of Germany with the Czech Republic east of the Elbe river, a continuation of the Ore Mountains range west of the Elbe valley...
, the westernmost range of the Sudetes.
The highest elevations of the German part of Upper Lusatia are in the Zittau Mountains, part of the Lusatian Mountains, which, however, are mostly in the neighbouring Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n region of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. The most important mountains of Upper Lusatia are: Lausche (793 m) Hochwald (749 m), Landeskrone (420 m), Löbauer Berg (448 m), Kottmar (583 m), Czorneboh (561 m), Bieleboh (499 m) and Valtenberg (587 m). The highest point of historic Upper Lusatia, 1123m, is about 500 meters to the east of the summit on the slopes of Smrk
Smrk (Jizera)
Smrk is the highest mountain in the Jizera Mountains of the Czech Republic at . "The King of the Jizera mountains" lies south of Nové Město pod Smrkem...
(German: Tafelfichte), the border triangle of Upper Lusatia, Silesia and Bohemia.
All major rivers in the Upper Lusatia flow from south to north. In the west, the Pulsnitz river at Königsbrück
Königsbrück
Königsbrück is a town in the Bautzen district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated west of Kamenz, and northeast of the Saxon capital Dresden...
formerly formed the border with Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
. The Spree
Spree
The Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...
river takes its source in the far south of the country and flows through Bautzen. The Lusatian Neisse (Polish: Nysa Luzycka) today forms the German-Polish border
Oder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
. The river arises from the Czech Jizera Mountains
Jizera Mountains
Jizera Mountains , or Izera Mountains, are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The major part is formed from granite, with some areas formed from basalt. The mountains got their name from the Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of Smrk...
, enters Upper Lusatia near Zittau
Zittau
Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....
, flows through Görlitz/Zgorzelec and leaves the country in Bad Muskau
Bad Muskau
Bad Muskau is a spa town in the historic Upper Lusatia region in Germany at the border with Poland. It is part of the Görlitz district in the State of Saxony....
to Lower Lusatia. Most of the smaller rivers are called Wasser (water), often in combination with a flown through village.
The eastern border of historical Upper Lusatia was marked by the Kwisa river, who flows past Lubań
Luban
Lubań is a town in southwest Poland north of the Jizera Mountains on the Kwisa river, with 22,137 inhabitants . Situated within the historic Upper Lusatia region, it today belongs to the Lower Silesian Voivodeship...
and continues north towards Silesia into the Bobr
Bóbr
Bóbr is a river which runs through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a left tributary of the Oder River, with a length of and a basin area of .The Bóbr originates in the Rýchory mountains in the southeast of the Karkonosze range, where the source is...
river. Especially the middle hills between Kamenz
Kamenz
Kamenz is a Lusatian town in eastern Saxony, Germany, with a population of 18,243, and is part of the Bautzen district. The town is located about northeast of Dresden and about northwest of Bautzen....
and Löbau
Lobau
The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...
, were well suited for agriculture and are still very profitable.
In the 19th century in the northern part of Upper Lusatia, in the east on both sides of the Neisse river and around Hoyerswerda
Hoyerswerda
Hoyerswerda is the largest city in the district of Bautzen in the German state of Saxony. It is located in Lusatia, a region where many people speak the Sorbian languages in addition to German.-Geography:...
large quantities of brown coal
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
were found. Especially the digging in open pits has destroyed large parts of the old cultural landscape. Currently the Nochten pit south of Weißwasser
Weißwasser
Weißwasser is a town in Upper Lusatia in eastern Saxony, Germany.Weißwasser is the third largest town in the Görlitz district after Görlitz and Zittau. The town's landmark is its water tower.- History :...
(Běła Woda) and Turów
Turów
Turów may refer to several places in Poland:*Turów, Gmina Głogów in Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Turów, Gmina Pęcław in Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Turów, a former village in Gmina Bogatynia, Lower Silesian Voivodeship...
in the Polish part are still active. Many of the old coal mines have been restored since the 1970s, especially after 1990, when particular attention was paid to revitalize the landscape. The newly formed lakes are already named and advertised as the "Lusatian Lakeland
Lausitzer Seenland
The Lausitzer Seenland is a chain of artificial lakes in Germany, situated across the north-eastern part of Saxony and the southern part of Brandenburg...
".
Natural regions
Today, Upper Lusatia is grouped into eight natural regions or landscapes:- The Zittau Mountains (southeastern tip of Upper Lusatia)
- The East Lusatian Hill Country and River Neisse region (on the Neisse from Görlitz to Zittau, north of the Zittau Mountains)
- The Lusatian Highlands (southern Upper Lusatia to Czechia)
- The Northwest Lusatian Highlands (northwest from Bischofswerda to Kamenz)
- The Lausitzer Gefilde region (around Bautzen and Löbau north of the Highlands)
- The Upper Lusatian Heath and Lakelands (east of Kamenz to Niesky)
- The Ruhland-Königsbrück Heath in the northwest (northwest of Kamenz, west of Hoyerswerda)
- The Muskau Heath in the northeast (around Bad Muskau and Weisswasser, Poland, in the east)
Inhabitants
Sorbian languages
The Sorbian languages are classified under the Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. They are the native languages of the Sorbs, a Slavic minority in the Lusatia region of eastern Germany. Historically the language has also been known as Wendish or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code...
. But also the German population is not culturally homogeneous, the cultural borders can be quite well identified by the different dialect groups. While in the region around Bautzen a pretty good High German is spoken, in the south the Upper Lusatian dialect (Oberlausitzisch), an old Franconian dialect, is common. In the east Silesian is still partially spoken. The greatest density of population can be found in the German-Polish twin city of Görlitz-Zgorzelec. Currently 91,000 inhabitants, 33,000 in the Polish part, live here.
In the German part of Upper Lusatia, the population declines since almost 20 years. Young people leave the region because the unemployment in Eastern Saxony is particularly high. This and the low birth rate lead to severe aging of the population. In the absence of available jobs only little influx of foreigners is noticeable.
The Polish part of Upper lusatia is, apart from Zgorzelec, Lubań and Bogatynia, only sparsely populated. The area belongs to the structurally weak regions of Poland. Only the coal-fired power plant Turów offers a larger scale of industrial jobs.
History
The hunters of the Middle Stone AgeMiddle Stone Age
The Middle Stone Age was a period of African Prehistory between Early Stone Age and Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50-25,000 years ago. The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 550-500,000...
(until about 8000 BC) only crossed through the area. Even the oldest agricultural cultures (4500 BC to 3300 BC) left behind only little evidence of settlement. In the early Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
(11th century BC to 9th century BC) people of the Lusatian culture entered the previously uninhabited region from Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and the Neisse (Łužiska Nysa). Archeological evidence documents a path between the settlement areas around Bautzen (Budyšin) and Zittau
Zittau
Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....
(Žitawa). A fortified hill from the 10th century BC, the Schafsberg near Löbau
Lobau
The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...
(Lubij), played a special role. Another significant settlement was on the cliff above the Spree river, where in the course of history Bautzens Ortenburg was built, dominant and administrative center of what would become Upper Lusatia.
Slavs settled in the region since 7th century. In the area between today's cities of Kamenz (Kamjenc) and Löbau the tribe of the Milceni
Milceni
The Milceni or Milzeni were a West Slavic tribe, who settled in the present-day Upper Lusatia region. They were first mentioned in the middle of the 9th century AD by the Bavarian Geographer, who wrote of 30 civitates which possibly had fortifications. They were gradually conquered by Germans...
was located. Their center was a fortified town at the site of today's Ortenburg in Bautzen. Another early Slavic settlement was situated in the valley of the Neisse river. The rural Sorbian population erected numerous hill forts, which were tribal centers as well as the residences of Slavic nobility.
Middle ages
The independent development of the Slavic tribes was interrupted in the 10th century by the expansion of the German state. With the raids of 921/922 and 928/929 Henry I initiated a period of military subjugation of the Sorbs. In 932 the Milceni were forced to pay tribute. After Henry's death in 936 the Milceni became independent, but were subdued again in 939 by king Otto I. As a result, the area of the Milceni, despite persistent militant struggles, became part of the OstmarkSaxon Eastern March
The Saxon Eastern March or Ostmark was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" or "ostmark" comes from the Latin term marchia Orientalis and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern frontier of the Duchy of Saxony or...
under Margrave Gero
Gero
Gero I , called the Great , ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg, which he expanded into a vast territory named after him: the marca Geronis. During the mid-10th century, he was the leader of the Saxon Drang nach Osten.-Succession and early conflicts:Gero was the son of Count...
and after 965 of the Margraviate of Meissen. All the major wall ring castles in the border areas were strengthened and prepared as starting points for further conquests. In place of the Milceni castles German Burgwards appeared (first mentioned 1006), such as the Ortenburg in Bautzen, or the castles in Göda and Doberschau. In the year 1002 the city of Bautzen was first mentioned by Thietmar of Merseburg. Until the second half of the 10th century the fights continued, and in 990 the Milceni were finally subdued by Margrave Ekkehard I
Ekkehard I
Ekkehard I , called Major , was a monk of the Abbey of Saint Gall. He was of noble birth, of the Jonschwyl family in Toggenburg, and was educated in the monastery of St. Gall; after joining the Benedictine Order, he was appointed director of the inner school there...
of Meissen
Meissen
Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...
(Mišno). The church of Upper Lusatia was assigned to the diocese of Meissen in 968. In 1007, the diocese received the first donation in Milceni land, the castles Ostrusna (probably Ostritz) and Godobi (Göda). In 1091, a further donation to the church was made. Emperor Henry IV transferred to the church five other villages in the Milsca area (Milzenerland), four of them south of Göda.
Soon the German feudal rule was threatened by the ascending Polish kingdom and its western expansion. In 1002 Bolesław I Chrobry conquered both Upper and Lower Lusatia and forced German king Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
to enfeoff him with the Gau Milsca. After several volatile and bitter feuds both parties signed the peace of Bautzen
Peace of Bautzen
The Peace of Bautzen or the Peace of Budziszyn was a treaty concluded on January 30, 1018 between the Ottonian Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and the Piast ruler of Poland Boleslaw I which ended a series of Polish-German wars over the control of Lusatia and Upper Lusatia as well as Bohemia,...
on 30 January 1018, which assigned Milsca land (Upper Lusatia) and Lusatia land (Mark Lausitz, today Lower Lusatia) to Poland. After Konrad II's victory over Polish King Mieszko II in 1031 Upper Lusatia again came under the rule of the Meissen Margraves.
In 1076 Henry IV gave Budissin land to duke Vratislav II of Bohemia as a imperial fief. The son-in-law of Vratislav, count Wiprecht I of Groitzsch, ruled it independently from 1084 to 1108 from the Ortenburg. For 1144 it is documented that the province Zagost, the area southeast of Görlitz around Seidenberg, was a part of Budissin land. Also in this region diocese of Meissen was equipped with possession. Upper Lusatia reached the Queis, the border to Silesia, and its largest expansion to the east already in the 12th Century.
In 1156 German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa signed an alliance with Bohemian duke Vladislav II. He not only promised him the royal crown bur also the investiture with castle and country Budissin, which both became reality two years later. Therewith the first Bohemian period in the history of Upper Lusatia, with far-reaching consequences for the development of the country, began.
In the first century of Bohemian rule all major towns of Upper Lusatia, and all major religious institutions of the country - apart from the older Bautzen - were established. Bishop Bruno II from 1213 to 1218 established the monastery St. Petri in Bautzen, which was richly endowed by king Přemysl Otakar I and his successors; Queen Kunigunda in 1234 donated the Cistercian monastery of St. Marienthal, which was subjected to the diocese of Prague in 1244, and Bernhard Kamenz in 1248 founded the second Cistercian monastery of St. Marienstern in Kamenz.
The forest clearance since about 1100, mainly by Sorbian peasants, expanded the cultivated land. New places in the area around Hoyerswerda arose. The country's expansion intensified in the middle of the 12th century under the Czech kings, which was almost carried out as a competition with the bishops of Meißen. German farmers, who cleared the large forest areas and created many new villages, were brought into the country. Often Sorbian hamlets where also extended by German settlers. The new German farmers were legally better off than the old-established population. The majority of the Sorbians peasants were serfs and had to perform drudgery. The new (mostly German) villages could manage their affairs also relatively autonomous. When Sorbian peasants were involved in the Landesausbau (development of the country), they enjoyed the same rights as the German colonists.
Due to immigration from the west of the Elbe river over time a separate Upper Lusatian nobility emerged. This nobility controlled the land on behalf of the king or the markgraves and in return received the country as a fief. The country itself belonged to the King.
In 1241 the boundary between the possessions of the bishopric of Meissen and the possessions of the crown of Bohemia in Upper Lusatia were agreed by contract.
Between 1253 (death of king Wenceslas I.) and 1262 the Ascaniar possessed the country of Budissin. Neither the exact date of the acquisition nor the legal form of ownership - feud, marriage or pledge rule - can be established with certainty. With the establishment of land vogts as deputy of the ruler the Ascanias created the most important office in Upper Lusatia. In principle, the powers of the burggraves and judges from Bohemians time were united in one hand and even expanded. The land vogt was the deputy of the ruler and the country's highest official, he decided in feudal matters, stood before the Supreme Court and was military commander in chief. The land vogts remained in power until after the Thirty Years' War, although the administrative practice changed frequently.
During the reign of the house of Ascania the division of Upper Lusatia into the countries of Bautzen (Budissin) and Görlitz by margrave Otto IV of Brandenburg in 1268 was the most important event. Although the autonomy of the duchy of Görlitz ended in 1329, (later shortly revived between 1377 to 1396), it permanently divided the noble country and the municipal administration. The land of Görlitz henceforth own meetings nobility took place, which also remained the case after the reunification of the two countries. Goerlitz the center of the eastern part of the country rapidly gained importance and became economically the strongest city of Upper Lusatia.
After the extinction of the Askanias of Brandenburg in 1319 the princes of the neighboring territories, including the Bohemian King John from the house of Luxembourg, claimed Upper Lusatia for themselves. The king of Bohemia received the land of Bautzen in 1319 from German emperor Louis IV, the country's eastern, the country of Görlitz, as a dowry fell to Silesian duke Henry I of Jauer (with the exception of the area around Lauban). In 1329 he ceded it to the Bohemian king. In the same year Johann incorporated "terra et civitas goerlic" in the Bohemian crown, which tied Upper Lusatia closely and permanently with the Kingdom of Bohemia, without affecting Upper Lusatias internal order.
Lusatian League
In 1346 the five royal cities of Upper Lusatia (Bautzen, Görlitz, Löbau, Kamenz and Lauban) and the still Bohemian town of Zittau founded the Lusatian League (Sechstädtebund). The united forces of the cities should secure the public peace and override the noble robber barons. This was also in the sense of the sovereign, why emperor Charles IV supported the cities with numerous privileges. The six municipalities in the subsequent period were able to prevail successfully against the nobility. With their increased economic prosperity they gained political influence. They were able to purchase numerous villages in the following 200 years and a significant proportion of the country fell under the direct rule of the city councils. In addition, within the framework of the so-called Weichbild they enforced their jurisdiction over large parts of chivalry and their possessions.As the Hussite revolution erupted in the beginning of the 15th century in Bohemia, Upper Lusatia took up an adverse stance over the Czech Reformation. In alliance with emperor Sigismund and Lower Lusatia the Lusatian League waged war against the armies of the Hussites. Kamenz, Reichenbach, Löbau, Zittau and Lauban were conquered by the Hussites and devastated. Only the two largest cities, Bautzen and Görlitz, could stand up to the sieges. The war eased the links of Upper Lusatia to the Bohemian crown, and because of the weakness of the kingdom the internal affairs of the margraviate were regulated largely without royal interference. During this time the Upper Lusatian Landtag (diet) developed into the main instrument of the estates freedom.
In 1469 the Upper Lusatian estates seceded from Bohemian King George of Poděbrady because of his utraquist confession, which the pope condemned as heretical. Upper Lusatia rendered homage to his antiking, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, who ruled over Moravia, Silesia and both Lusatias, but could never conquer Bohemia itself. Until the Peace of Olmütz (1479) the Lusatian league took part in the war for the Bohemian crown. Matthias tried to manage his country more efficient. In Silesia, he therefore installed an Oberlandeshauptmann (Upper Governor), to whom both Lusatias were subjected. This was considered a threat to the autonomy of Upper Lusatia.
With the death of Matthias Corvinus Upper Lusatia in 1490 became again part of the Bohemian kingdom. The hated land vogt Georg von Stein was immediately expelled from Bautzens Ortenburg after the death of his lord.
At the of the 15th century the political system of the margraviate was largely stabilized. Deputy of the absent sovereign was the land vogt, who traditionally descended from the nobility of Bohemia. Before 1620, only one Upper Lusatian noble was land vogt. In Bautzen and Görlitz moreover two Amtshauptmänner existed. These three officers, with several secretaries, formed the entire royal administration.
Center of the country was the Landtag. Ever since the 15th century prelates, nobles and cities could, without the consent of the king's, assembe and take decisions. Thus, the Landtag was, next to the king, the legislative body of Upper Lusatia. The power of the cities had the effect that there were only two voting estates:
- the estates of the country, consisting of the gents, the four monasteries of St. Marienstern, St. Marienthal, the Magdalene convent in Lauban, the cathedral foundation in Bautzen, and chivalry
- the six cities of the Lusatian League
The cities had extensive judicial powers over the subjects of many knights and over the nobles themselves. The supreme court was the court of the land and the cities, which was formed together by both estates. A decision was final and couldn't be changed at the royal courts in Prague.
Protestant Reformation
Only a few years after Luther wrote the ninety-five theses his reformative ideas spread all over Upper Lusatia. In Görlitz, Bautzen and Zittau, the first Protestant sermons were preached in 1520 and 1521, although the nobility, the city counils and the king tried to prevent its spread. In Görlitz and Bautzen the municipal authorities however soon conceded the pressure of the population and officially adopted the Protestant reformation in 1523 and 1524, but only in small cautious steps. In particular, St. Petri in Bautzen resisted successfully and remained Catholic. Overall, it took decades until the Lutheran doctrine of was finally enforced in most parishes. This was because in Upper Lusatia not the sovereign introduced the Reformation but the councils of the cities and the noble lords.Habsburg rule (1526–1635)
| Emperor Ferdinand I | 1526–1564 |
| Emperor Maximilian II | 1564–1576 |
| Emperor Rudolf II | 1576–1611 |
| Kaiser Matthias | 1611–1619 |
| King Friedrich I | 1619–1620/21 |
| Emperor Ferdinand II | 1620/21–1635 |
1635–1815
The Margraviate of Upper Lusatia was transferred by the Peace of Prague (1635)Peace of Prague (1635)
The Peace of Prague of 30 May 1635 was a treaty between the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II and the Electorate of Saxony representing most of the Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire...
to the Electorate of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
until 1806, when the electorate was elevated to the Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
.
1815–1945
According to the Final Act of the 1815 Congress of ViennaCongress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia passed from the Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
to the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. The new demarcation line ran from Ruhland
Ruhland
Ruhland is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 12 km southwest of Senftenberg....
in the northwest to the Bohemian border at Seidenberg
Zawidów
Zawidów is a town in Zgorzelec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, close to the Czech border. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany...
(Zawidów) in the southeast. The Upper Lusatian territory north of it, i.e. the districts of Hoyerswerda
Hoyerswerda
Hoyerswerda is the largest city in the district of Bautzen in the German state of Saxony. It is located in Lusatia, a region where many people speak the Sorbian languages in addition to German.-Geography:...
, Rothenburg, Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
and Lauban
Luban
Lubań is a town in southwest Poland north of the Jizera Mountains on the Kwisa river, with 22,137 inhabitants . Situated within the historic Upper Lusatia region, it today belongs to the Lower Silesian Voivodeship...
(Lubań), was attached to the Prussian Silesia Province.
Though this area had never been affiliated with historic Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
before, it is still referred to as "Silesian Upper Lusatia" (Schlesische Oberlausitz), e.g. by the local body of the Evangelical Church.
Literature
- Kito LorencKito LorencKito Lorenc , grandson of the Sorbian writer Jakub Lorenc-Zalěski, is a Sorbian-German writer, lyric poet and translator....
: "Die wendische Schiffahrt (The Wendish Voyage)", Domowina-Verlag 2004, ISBN 3-7420-1988-0
Sources
- Joachim Bahlcke (ed.): Geschichte der Oberlausitz. Herrschaft, Gesellschaft und Kultur vom Mittelalter bis zum Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. 2. durchgesehene Auflage, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2004, ISBN 978-3-935693-46-2.
- Karlheinz Blaschke: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Oberlausitz. Oettel, Görlitz 2000, ISBN 3-932693-59-0.
- Frank Nürnberger (ed.): Oberlausitz. Schöne Heimat. Oberlausitzer Verlag, Spitzkunnersdorf 2004, ISBN 3-933827-42-6.
- Tino Fröde: Privilegien und Statuten der Oberlausitzer Sechsstädte – Ein Streifzug durch die Organisation des städtischen Lebens in Zittau, Bautzen, Görlitz, Löbau, Kamenz und Lauban in der frühen Neuzeit. Spitzkunnersdorf : Oberlausitzer Verlag, 2008. ISBN 978-3-933827-88-3