The Sack of Magdeburg, also called Magdeburg's Wedding () or Magdeburg's Sacrifice (), was the destruction of the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
city of
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
on 20 May 1631 by the
Imperial Army and the forces of the
Catholic League, resulting in the deaths of around 20,000, including both defenders and non-combatants. The event is considered the worst
massacre
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
of the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
. Magdeburg, then one of the largest cities in Germany, having well over 25,000 inhabitants in 1630, did not recover its importance until well into the 18th century.
Background
Archbishopric of Magdeburg
The archbishopric of Magdeburg was established as an
ecclesiastical principality in 968, and the town and surrounding area were ruled by the archbishop.
Protestant Reformation
The citizens of Magdeburg had turned
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
in 1524 and joined the
Schmalkaldic League against the religious policies of the Catholic emperor
Charles V in 1531. During the
Schmalkaldic War
The Schmalkaldic War (; July 1546May 1547) was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forc ...
of 1546/47, the
Lower Saxon city became a refuge for Protestant scholars, which earned it the epithet , but also an
Imperial ban that lasted until 1562. The citizens refused to acknowledge Emperor Charles's
Augsburg Interim and were besieged by Imperial troops under
Maurice, Elector of Saxony
Maurice (21 March 1521 – 9 July 1553) was Duke (1541–47) and later Elector (1547–53) of Saxony. His clever manipulation of alliances and disputes gained the Albertine branch of the Wettin dynasty extensive lands and the electoral dignit ...
in 1550/51.
Protestant archbishops and Administrators
The Roman Catholic archdiocese had de facto turned void since 1557, when the last papally confirmed prince-archbishop, the Lutheran
Sigismund of Brandenburg
Sigismund of Brandenburg (1538–1566) was Prince-Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt.
Life
Sigismund was born on 11 December 1538 in Cölln; the son of the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim II (15 ...
, came of age and ascended to the see.
Openly Lutheran
Christian William of Brandenburg
Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg (28 August 1587 – 1 January 1665) was a titular Margrave of Brandenburg, and from 1598 to 1631 Archbishop of Diocese of Magdeburg, Magdeburg.
Life
Christian Wilhelm was a son of Elector Joachim Frederick, ...
, elected to be archbishop in 1598, was denied recognition by the imperial authorities. From about 1600, he styled himself
Administrator of Magdeburg, as did other Protestant German notables assigned to govern principalities that were ''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...
'' property of the Catholic church.
Alliance with the Danish king
During the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, Administrator Christian William entered into an alliance with Denmark. In 1626, he led an army from Lower Saxony into the
Battle of Dessau Bridge. After
Wallenstein won this battle, Christian William fled abroad. In 1629, he fled to the court of King
.
As a result of these developments, in January 1628, the Magdeburg
cathedral chapter
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
deposed Christian William and elected
Augustus of Wettin, 13-year-old son of
John George I, Elector of Saxony, as Administrator. Augustus did not assume office immediately due to his father's unwillingness to provoke the emperor.
Edict of Restitution
In March 1629, Emperor
Ferdinand II passed the
Edict of Restitution. It was specifically aimed at restoring the situation of the 1555
Peace of Augsburg in ecclesiastical territories that had since strayed from "legal" Catholic faith and rule.
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
and Magdeburg were the biggest examples of territories to be restituted.
Alliance with the Swedish king
The city's councillors had been emboldened by King
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...
's landing in Pomerania on 6 July 1630. The
Swedish Empire, Swedish king was a Lutheran Christian, and many of Magdeburg's residents were convinced that he would aid them in their struggle against the Roman Catholic
Habsburg emperor,
Ferdinand II. However, not all Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire had immediately embraced Adolphus; some believed his chief motive for entering the war was to take northern German ports, which would allow him to control commerce in the Baltic Sea.
In November 1630, King Gustavus sent ex-Administrator
Christian William back to Magdeburg, along with
Dietrich von Falkenberg to direct the city's military affairs. Backed by the Lutheran clergy, Falkenberg had the suburbs fortified and additional troops recruited.
Magdeburg besieged
When the Magdeburg citizens refused to pay a tribute demanded by the emperor, Imperial forces under the command of a Flemish mercenary,
Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly laid siege to the city within a matter of months. The city was besieged from 20 March 1631 and Tilly put his subordinate Imperial Field Marshal , a Catholic convert, in command while he campaigned elsewhere. During fierce fighting, Imperial troops numbering 24,000, roughly the same number as Magdeburg's entire population, conquered several
sconces of the city's fortification and Tilly demanded capitulation.
Assault and sacking
After two months of siege and despite the Swedish victory in the
Battle of on 13 April 1631, Pappenheim finally persuaded Tilly, who had brought reinforcements, to storm the city on 20 May with 40,000 men under the personal command of Pappenheim. The Magdeburg citizens had hoped in vain for a Swedish relief attack. On the last day of the siege, the councillors decided it was time to sue for peace, but word of their decision did not reach Tilly in time.
In the early morning of 20 May, the attack began with heavy artillery fire. Soon afterward, Pappenheim and Tilly launched infantry attacks. The fortifications were breached and Imperial forces were able to overpower the defenders to open the Kröcken Gate, which allowed the entire army to enter the city to
plunder it. The defence of the city was further weakened and demoralised when commander Dietrich von Falkenberg was shot dead by Catholic Imperial troops.
Sacking and arson
There are written reports of the attackers setting fire to single houses to dislodge persistent defenders. That the fire then spread all over the city appears to have been unintended. By ten o'clock most of the city was on fire. General Tilly sent some soldiers to save
the cathedral, where 1,000 survivors had fled. Most of the victims in the sack suffocated or burned to death. The wind fanned the flames, further spreading the fire, in the end destroying 1,700 of the city's 1,900 buildings.
Out of control
Whilst Magdeburg was razed by the fire, many Imperial soldiers supposedly went out of control. The invading soldiers had not received payment for their service and demanded valuables from every household they encountered. There were reports of rapes and torture.
Of the 25,000 inhabitants, only 5,000 survived, at least 1,000 of these having fled into
Magdeburg Cathedral
Magdeburg Cathedral (), officially called the Cathedral of Saints Maurice and Catherine (), is a Protestant Church in Germany, Lutheran cathedral in Germany and the oldest Gothic architecture, Gothic cathedral in the country. It is the proto-cat ...
and 600 into the
Premonstratensian monastery. Tilly finally ordered an end to the looting on 24 May, and a Catholic mass was celebrated at the cathedral on the next day. For another fourteen days, charred bodies were dumped in the
Elbe
The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
River to prevent disease.
Aftermath
A census conducted in 1632 listed only 449 inhabitants. Much of the city remained rubble until at least 1720.
Reactions
After Magdeburg's capitulation to the Imperial forces, there were disputes between residents who had favoured resistance to the emperor and those who had opposed it. King Gustavus Adolphus joined the argument, claiming the citizens of Magdeburg had not been willing to pay the necessary funds for their defence.
Duke
Maximilian of Bavaria, president of the
Catholic League, concluded a congratulatory letter to Tilly on 1 June with the wish that "the enemies, powers and forces opposing Catholicism, the only religion offering salvation, would finally be ruined."
Pope
Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...
wrote a congratulatory letter to Tilly on 18 June, saying: "You have washed your victorious hands in the blood of sinners."
The Imperial treatment of defeated Magdeburg helped persuade many rulers to stand against the Holy Roman Emperor.
Notoriety
The devastations were so great that (or "magdeburgization") became a common term signifying total destruction, rape and pillaging for decades. The terms "Magdeburg justice", "Magdeburg mercy" and "Magdeburg quarter" also arose as a result of the sack, used originally by Protestants when executing Roman Catholics who begged for quarter.
The massacre was forcefully described by
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
He was born i ...
in his 1792 work ''History of the Thirty Years' War'' and perpetuated in a poem by
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
. A scene of
Brecht's play ''
Mother Courage and Her Children'', written in 1939, also refers to the event.
Political consequences
Administrator
Christian William of Brandenburg
Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg (28 August 1587 – 1 January 1665) was a titular Margrave of Brandenburg, and from 1598 to 1631 Archbishop of Diocese of Magdeburg, Magdeburg.
Life
Christian Wilhelm was a son of Elector Joachim Frederick, ...
was badly injured and taken prisoner. He later converted to Catholicism and was released. He received an annual sum of 12,000
thaler from the revenues of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg under the
Peace of Prague.
After the sack, the
Archbishopric of Magdeburg went to
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, youngest son of Emperor Ferdinand II, as the new Catholic administrator. The
Peace of Prague (1635) confirmed his rule over the city, but three years later, Swedish troops expelled the Habsburg army and restored
Augustus of Wettin (first elected in 1628) as Administrator as of October 1638. Augustus finally took full control of Magdeburg in December 1642 after a neutrality treaty was concluded with the Swedish general
Lennart Torstenson
Lennart Torstensson (17 August 1603 – 7 April 1651), Swedish List of Swedish field marshals, Field Marshal and later Governor-General of Pomerania, Västergötland, Dalsland, Värmland and Halland. He adapted the use of artillery on the battlef ...
. He was then able to begin the reconstruction of the city.
The
Archbishopric of Magdeburg was
secularized and ultimately fell to
Brandenburg-Prussia upon Augustus' death in 1680.
Explanatory notes
Citations
General and cited references
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Further reading
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External links
Sack of Magdeburg() on Filbrun
on History of War
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magdeburg 1631
1631 in the Holy Roman Empire
Military history of Saxony-Anhalt
Magdeburg 1631
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
Sieges of the Thirty Years' War
Catholic League (German)
Conflicts in 1631
History of Magdeburg
Looting in Germany
Arson in Germany
Massacres in Germany
Sieges involving the Holy Roman Empire
Wartime sexual violence in Europe
Residential building arson attacks in Europe
Urban fires in Europe
Massacres in the 1630s
17th-century fires
Battles of the Thirty Years' War involving the Holy Roman Empire