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| Hanseatic Civil War | |||||||
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| Part of Forty Years' War | |||||||
 The Siege of Bremen would be one of the most deadly confrontations of the Hanseatic Civil War. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Supported by:  Irish Presbyterians |
 United Kingdom | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Red Hugh O'Donnell † |
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The Hanseatic Civil War (1596-1607) was a major conflict centered in the Hanseatic League during the Forty Years' War. Instigated by religious differences within the league following the Imperial Elections of 1595-96, the conflict divided the Hansa between its Catholic and Jungist components, and ultimately lead to the country's dissolution by the conflict's end.
The national government of the Hanseatic League, led by Simon II Burkhart, supported the Jungist faith, which was a majority in key territories such as Hamburg-Lübeck. Conversely the western third of the nation was largely Catholic, and had been the center of the Northern Papacy in the aftermath of the Kerpen War decades prior, and this section would form a Catholic alliance known as the League of Meppen. This rebellion inspired the largely Catholic Holstein and Schleswig regions to likewise rise in revolt, crowning Christian I as their leader. The conflict quickly attracted attention from neighboring nations, with Poland-Lithuania launching an invasion of the Hansa's eastern territories, and nations such as England sending large expeditionary forces to northern Germany. In 1602 the Danish king George II would invade Holstein, beginning the Danish Intervention in the Forty Years' War, and the Hanseatic Civil War.
Neither religion would succeed in uniting the Hanseatic League once more, and in 1607 the nation was formerly dissolved. The largest portion of the nation, comprised of much of the Jungist section, would form the Hanover Republic, while numerous other breakaway states formed. Schleswig-Holstein would be subjugated by the Danish, although Denmark was repulsed from the rest of Germany. The civil war would not be the end of religious conflict, with Denmark's withdraw later inspiring Sweden to intervene.
Background
At the onset of the Frankfurt crisis in late 1595, the Hanseatic League had entered a period of decline largely brought on by religious tension. As the early reformation progressed, much of the core territory of the Hansa adopted Jungism, and later, especially after the Great Peasants’ War in the 1520s, Anabaptist teachings were introduced. In addition to “mainstream” Anabaptism prevalent in the Rätian Union championed by figures such as Benedikt Nietzche, Starckism emerged natively in Hanseatic territory, growing to become a major sect in urban areas such as Lübeck and Bremen, and in the northwest territory of the League. Despite this, the Hanseatic League remained catholic nationally, and instituted a series of inquisitions against non-Catholic communities.
The Kerpen War of the 1540s greatly changed this dynamic by bringing religious tension to a head. Radical Catholic Henry von Kerpen seized control over several principalities in northwest Germany, using this as a powerbase against numerous states of both Catholic and Protestant allegiances, including several within the Hanseatic League. Rather than condemn Kerpen, Pope Paschal III instead supported him, going as far as to excommunicate Peter Burkhart of Hamburg-Lübeck for his resistance to the Catholic crusaders. This strongly galvanized the Hanseatic League, with large portions of its population adopting Jungism openly, while allegiance to the Roman papacy faltered. Hanseatic Catholics instead supported the creation of the Northern Catholic Church as a schism from the Pope in Rome. The first conclave of the German Papacy would take place in Hamburg in 1545, while Bremen became the seat of the first northern pope, Zephyrinus II.
Nonetheless, the Kerpen War had a pronounced effect on the western half of the Hansa, with formerly Protestant majority areas like Münster, Paderborn, and Osnabrück being forcefully converted to Catholicism, either by Kerpen or his northern Papal successors. This trend continued into the Forty Years’ War, and by 1595 most of northwest Germany was officially Catholic, while states within the Hansa such as Pomerania and Lüneburg becoming officially Jungist states. As the Imperial Elections of 1595-96 began, Simon II of Hamburg-Lübeck was excommunicated for his role in attempted voter suppression in Frankfurt, again flaring up religious tensions. During the holiday season of 1595 violence broke out in cities such as Bremen, with a Catholic mass being interrupted by protestors. Likewise a Catholic mob from the city of Kiel raided the nearby village of Ralsdorf.
The government of the Hansa, paralyzed by its laws that required votes among the Aldermen to be unanimous, was unable to react to the violence accordingly. Emergency powers were seized by Simon Burkhart dubiously, who began mobilizing soldiers to restore order. In April 1596 several states in the western half of the nation resigned from the Tagfahrt in protest and refused to comply with this order, although it was initially unclear if this would become a declaration of secession or a vote of no confidence against the Grand Syndic. The Catholics also benefited from the fact that a large concentration of imperial soldiers, largely Catholic themselves, was stationed in Hanseatic territory along major borders and in certain strategic locations, and the majority of the Imperial Army in the region came to their aid after the ascension of Frederick V as emperor.
Overview
Early rebellion
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On 1 May 1596, a detachment of imperial soldiers stationed in Schleswig was sent south at the suggestion of the Archbishop of Bremen, in order to reinforce the campaign against the Duke of Hesse. Unaware of these soldiers’ intentions as they marched through Holstein, Simon Burkhart interpreted this march as an invasion force, and dispatched a largely mercenary force under Peter Melander to intercept and capture this force. While crossing at Rendsburg Bridge, the imperial detachment came under fire by Melander’s army, causing half the imperialists to rout and flee north, and capturing some 300 men. When news of this reached the rest of the nation protests ensued. Frederick V and Catholic officials condemned Burkhart and a replacement of the government was suggested. Catholic representatives in the Hansa largely complied and disavowed Burkhart, while others found the Emperor’s suggestion to infringe on the Hansa’s government insulting. The largely Catholic region of Holstein began forming militias, and Melander would be harassed all along his march back south by guerrilla fighters, the most prominent of which being Laurentius Surius.
Despite these dire responses the Jungist side in the Hanseatic League was still strong, with the eastern two thirds of the nation largely supporting Burkhart, and his own territory in the core of the nation accounting for a major portion of the population and the nation’s army. Melander’s army was doubled with levies from Lübeck, and he took Ratzeburg and the bishopric territories of eastern Hamburg-Lübeck with relative ease by the end of the month. Similarly Pomerania laid siege to Kolberg, although this prompted outcry from both the Duchy of Livonia and Poland-Lithuania, although the latter was soon distracted by war with Sweden. The Catholic states of the Hansa, namely the Archbishopric of Bremen, the bishoprics of Verden, Osnabrück, and Münster, the County of Calenberg, would form an alliance known as the League of Meppen, along with foreign parties such as the County of Oldenburg, which was illegal under Hanseatic law, and began creating a central army in the spring of 1596. Ernst Staphylus, a Jungist-to-Catholic convert and mercenary leader, was appointed the head of the league in its formative days, and under his command the League began raiding Jungist towns in the western Hansa.
Major battles in this period were scarce, as both sides still claimed to be legitimate followers of Hanseatic laws, and both sides continued to build up their local support and alliances. The presence of the Duchy of Hesse to the south and the ongoing campaign against them distracted the Meppen army, which was persuaded by Frederick V to continually put pressure on the Hessians. With the approach into Hesse protected by the Lippe River and the fortress at Dortmund, Staphylus was hesitant to commit forces. An alliance with Paderborn at the end of the year would make an invasion of Hesse more feasible, although by that time the war within the Hansa had escalated.
In November the local nobles of Holstein and Hanseatic Schleswig, in response to a year of pillaging and conscription by a Jungist government non-representative of the local population, elected Christian Rantzau as ruler, breaking off the northern half of Hamburg-Lübeck in rebellion. Holstein looked for support from other nearby nations, especially Denmark, but the Danish were hesitant due to desiring the territory for themselves and their religious differences. The Holsteiners would find better success with the United Kingdom, who promised them financial aid and naval support, and with the English and Scottish. Although a relatively small territory, Holstein was able to raise some 8,000 men, most of which being untrained peasantry, while Burkhart’s army included some 3,000 levies, 4,500 professional soldiers, and 5,000 mercenaries. Holstein also hoped to count on Catholic peasants in the northern Hansa to rise up in support, while Burkhart hoped to court the support of Dithmarschen, a practically theocratic Anabaptist, but staunchly independent-minded, republic of the Hansa.
As Holstein prepared its defense, Laurentius Surius would be tasked with leading irregular forces around Burkhart territory, inciting rebellion, harassing government soldiers, and raiding Jungist settlements. To this end, Surius engaged with Melander’s army on multiple occasions, most notably at Nortorf, where the Jungist army was routed. After this battle, in March 1597 a rebellion broke out in the city of Kiel against the Jungist occupiers. This would prove to be Rantzau’s first true test, and he marched with Holstein’s main army toward the city. This would prove well coordinated, as in mid March Staphylus laid siege to the city of Bremen itself with some 8,000 men, including 1,000 men from the Lowlands. A Lotharingian fleet would accompany this, causing havoc along River Wesser.
This proved a major crisis for the Hanseatic League, with all of the nation’s remaining military being tasked with defense. The Hanseatic fleet was divided between the Baltic and the Atlantic, and ships were immediately called from the coast of Livonia and Poland back to the Hansa, while ships in the Hanseatic Baltic were sent around Jutland. The fleet stationed in the Atlantic, primarily around Hamburg, accounted for some 80 ships, and was tasked with countering the Lotharingian attack at sea. However, at the Battle of the Jade Bay, with 59 ships themselves, the Lotharingians achieved a decisive victory, with 12 Hanseatic ships being sunk and two ships captured. Half of the remaining fleet fled to Ritzebüttel, which soon found itself besieged by Catholic Bremeners and Lotharingia, trapping the survivors inside the city.
On land, the Jungists tasked the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg with repulsing the Meppen League, and Duke Augustus marched with 10,000 men to relieve the city of Bremen. Additionally the Hansa received the support of Jungists in Magdeburg and the Rätian Union, who dispatched an expedition force by boat down river. This force would meet resistance at the city of Verden, and Augustus diverted his army south to assault the city concurrently, hoping to also draw attention away from Bremen. Elsewhere, a group of about 900 men from Stade launched a daring raid through the Archbishopric of Bremen, leading to any Catholic resistance in the region fleeing to Bremervörde.
The assault on Verden began on 9 May, with the Jungist reinforcements by river landing on the southern approach to the city. The march into the city by land was more guarded due to an attack there being expected, and the army of Duke Augustus suffered heavy casualties in a frontal assault from the northeast while under cannon fire. Nonetheless, the charge succeeded in breaking through the first line of defenses on the outskirts of the city, and when paired with the surprise attack from the south, the city center was quickly surrounded. After heavy fighting the city was taken by the following morning, and intense looting was carried out by the conquerors. This brutal reprisal shocked the rest of the Hansa, but Augustus’ situation was also highly desperate, and he likely intended to send a message to the Catholic rebels as well.
Instead of attacking Bremen directly, Augustus instead turned north and pillaged the Archbishopric, aiding in the sack of Bremervörde at the end of the month, and arriving at Ritzebüttel in time to save the city’s garrison. By the time of the Battle of Ritzebüttel on 13 July, thousands of civilians and the majority of the Hanseatic fleet and its crew had succumbed to the siege, gaining Augustus little in the way of reinforcements. Nonetheless, the campaign placed the Archbishopric firmly under the control of the Jungists, with the Archbishop himself having been captured. After being nearly denounced by the Hanseatic government for delaying in the relief of Bremen, Augustus marched on the city proper. The Jungist army would launch a daring charge against besiegers on the northern bank, capturing the entrance to the city, but the Duke would be killed in the process. Command fell to Paul Behrens, who had been tasked with finding a crossing.
During the Siege of Ritzebüttel the arrival of 200 Irish Presbyterians had been instrumental in keeping the city from Catholic hands. Although in need of troops of their own in the hopes of launching a rebellion against the Scots, the Irish rebels hoped that by aiding Jungist nations on the continent they would gain valuable allies when the time came. With 97 men remaining under Red Hugh O'Donnell, this detachment would be dispatched by Behrens along with 800 of his own men would be tasked with securing a beachhead on the other end of a pontoon bridge constructed at the end of July. Additionally some 3,000 reinforcements would pass through Verden and march into Oldenburg from neutral Hoya, defeating a small Catholic detachment at the Battle of Syke on 3 August, which damaged supply lines and communication into Bremen.
Finally on 20 August 1597, the five-month siege of Bremen was lifted with a Catholic retreat. Although there were attempts by Behrens to pursue the Catholic army, this proved untenable, with a series of small skirmishes throughout the fall ending inconclusively. The de facto border between the Catholics and Jungists in the Hanseatic League would become the River Wesser, with neither side able to launch a full invasion across.
Fall of Kiel
Christian Rantzau’s advance on the city of Kiel caused rebel activity to skyrocket, and on 3 April the city’s governors were forced to flee the city. Nonetheless, a Catholic detachment would remain in the city despite the retreat, leading to fighting within the city for the rest of the week. Rogue Catholic commander Leonhard Reinhold would personally lead the command of 300 Catholic militia and estranged imperial soldiers in a fortified position in the center of the city. The Holstein invasion was matched by a counterattack by Melander, but his army was harassed by Holstein skirmishers all throughout the approach into the city. His advance would culminate in a formal battle in the outskirts of the city on 8 June, which ended in a victory for Rantzau’s army. With Melander sent into a retreat toward Lübeck, the city of Kiel fell to the Holsteiners and was swiftly fortified.
After Kiel Christian Rantzau was crowned Christian I, although he adopted the title of Lord Defender rather than king, became a hero of the Catholic cause, and his state began to receive aid from countless states in northern Europe. The attacks against Holstein and other states, or more specifically the perceived trampling of church lands such as the Archbishopric of Bremen, prompted the Pope to call an informal crusade action against the Hansa similar to the actions of inquisitors during the Henrician Civil War, although initially this had little effect. The Polish campaign would continue for almost another year, until a truce in the spring of 1598 left the easternmost territories of the Hanseatic League in Polish hands. In the meantime a battle began diplomatically to court the Russians, with Simon Burkhart hoping to incite a Russian invasion of Poland-Lithuania, while the Polish sought to persuade the Russians into an invasion of Sweden through Finland.
The fall of Kiel left the Hanseatic government in a panic, as the Holsteiners seemingly possessed a clear route to Lübeck only 80 kilometers away. However, Christian believed he did not have enough men and supplies to launch such a siege without exposing the rest of his territory. As a result a standstill occurred for most of 1598, with little skirmishes held across southern Holstein. Simon Burkhart organized a defensive strategy, stockpiling supplies and men in the region rather than pressing the offensive. He would also oversee the construction of the fort of Glückstadt, which later emerged as a major town decades later. Under pressure from the rest of the Hanseatic League for recent defeats, Simon Burkhart abdicated on 1 May 1598 in favor of his brother Andreas – his son Paul having died that spring – but informally the Burkharts were also forced to concede leadership to a group of other nobles, most notably Magnus II of Lauenburg and John Albert II of Mecklenburg. Peter Melander would exit Hanseatic service in May, instead traveling to Hesse, and instead a mercenary leader named Thomas Stalkoper was selected as general. Stalkoper had been the former dean of the Bishop of Ratzeburg, but after converting to Jungism lead the successful campaign to convert the bishopric and oust the Catholic leadership, and for this he was elected the bishopric’s first Jungist administrator.
Christian I would be persuaded by his allies, most notably the English, to break the stalemate by launching an attack toward Hamburg to wrest control of the Elbe. He would be supported by the Royal Navy and a detachment of English soldiers, while an assault of the Wesser was also planned to take place as a diversion. This plan was delayed by Catholic forces in northwest Germany instead mounting an attack on Hesse from the north. Instead only 3,000 soldiers under Staphylus would be spared for an attack, which crossed into Calenberg in February 1599. Christian I meanwhile marched south toward the Elbe before besieging the fortress at Glückstadt. On 17 March the decisive Battle of Otterndorf off the coast of Holstein ended in a Hanseatic defeat, and allowed 2,000 Englishmen under Sir Geoffrey Vere to land in the vicinity. Glückstadt fell on 29 March, before Hanseatic forces could respond.
Magnus II was dispatched from Hamburg to counter the invasion, while Stalkoper was sent as a diversion toward Kiel. To the Hansa’s surprise, Stalkoper advanced much further than ordered and defeated Christian I at the Battle of Neumünster. This placed him in the vicinity of Kiel, and allowed him to capture several territories nominally part of Ratzeburg, which the Hansa promptly awarded to him. Magnus II retook Glückstadt on 9 May, and a Holsteiner retreat began north practically to the original Holstein border. To make matters worse, one of Christian’s trusted generals Laurentius Surius would be captured by Stalkoper and executed later that month. In the south the attack by Staphylus took the Hansa by surprise, with the area around Hannover being pillaged. The Catholic forces would achieve a minor victory at the Battle of Walsrode, but after receiving news of the events in the north, Staphylus instead retreated south out of Hanseatic territory.
The Hanseatic advance into the Jutland Peninsula was delayed by the end of the Polish truce, and a 15,000-man invasion of Pomerania on 8 July 1599. Despite possessing an early advantage, the Polish were also stalled by the ambitions of the king elsewhere, namely an unpopular scheme to invade Sweden by sea. With the conquest of Danzig and other cities from the Hansa, a major building product was launched despite protests from various nobles. The Polish king became confident that he would receive Spanish help and be able to finally cripple the country’s main rival. By mid 1599 seven medium size ships were built, with tonnage ranging from 200 to 400 tons. They were manned mostly by local Kashubian fishermen, while marine infantry consisted of English mercenaries, employed by the Polish King. Spanish aid had also failed to materialize, except for a handful of advisors and dignitaries.
Sweden would declare war on Poland later that year, beginning a four year conflict against the Polish primarily concentrated in the northeast Baltic. Despite this the Polish invasion of the Hansa continued, capturing Stolp in August and Kolberg in October. Stalkoper would be called off from his invasion of Holstein to lead a counterattack in the east, arriving in the beginning of November with additional reinforcements.
Danish Intervention
The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway had a vested interest in Germany prior to the Forty Years' War, with the Danish kings historically seeking influence in the north in competition with the Hanseatic League. The disruption of the Hansa in the early days of the war only helped to further Danish influence over trade. Denmark’s economy was largely dependent on Baltic trade and tolls extracted from traffic in the Øresund, which had contributed to George II of Denmark becoming one of Europe’s richest monarchs, and he used these funds previously to bankroll campaigns in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the British Isles. Through his marriage to Elizabeth I of England, George II had been recognized as King of England, before being expelled from the kingdom in 1594 in favor of Stephen III and later his daughter, Jane. With the English marriage to William III of the United Kingdom, and England’s growing influence over Hesse after the defeat of Joktan, Denmark was forced to intervene to curb the growing power of its primary rival. The Danish invasion would begin in 1602, and quickly merged into the wider Hanseatic Civil War.
Footnotes
