| Sack of Magdeburg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSwedish phase of theThirty Years' War | |||||||||
 Sack of Magdeburg, 1632 engraving by D. Manasser, putting the blame on the citizens' disobedience | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Holy Roman Empire Catholic League | Magdeburg | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Count of Tilly Graf zu Pappenheim | Dietrich von Falkenberg † Christian William (POW) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 24,000 during the siege 40,000 during the sack | 2,400 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 25,000 defenders and inhabitants | ||||||||
  Magdeburg Magdeburg (Germany) Show map of Germany | |||||||||
TheSack of Magdeburg, also calledMagdeburg's Wedding (German:Magdeburger Hochzeit) orMagdeburg's Sacrifice (Magdeburgs Opfergang), was the destruction of theProtestant city ofMagdeburg on 20 May 1631 by theImperial Army and the forces of theCatholic League, resulting in the deaths of around 20,000, including both defenders and non-combatants. The event is considered the worstmassacre of theThirty Years' War. 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.
The archbishopric of Magdeburg was established as anecclesiastical principality in 968,[2] and the town and surrounding area were ruled by the archbishop.
The citizens of Magdeburg had turnedProtestant in 1524[3] and joined theSchmalkaldic League against the religious policies of the Catholic emperorCharles V in 1531.[4] During theSchmalkaldic War of 1546/47, theLower Saxon city became a refuge for Protestant scholars, which earned it the epithetHerrgotts Kanzlei (German for 'Lord's Chancellery'),[5] but also anImperial ban that lasted until 1562.[6] The citizens refused to acknowledge Emperor Charles'sAugsburg Interim and were besieged by Imperial troops underMaurice, Elector of Saxony in 1550/51.[7]
The Roman Catholic archdiocese had de facto turned void since 1557, when the last papally confirmed prince-archbishop, the LutheranSigismund of Brandenburg, came of age and ascended to the see.[2][8]
Openly LutheranChristian William of Brandenburg, elected to be archbishop in 1598, was denied recognition by the imperial authorities.[9] From about 1600, he styled himselfAdministrator of Magdeburg,[9] as did other Protestant German notables assigned to govern principalities that werede jure property of the Catholic church.[10]
During theThirty Years' War, Administrator Christian William entered into an alliance with Denmark.[9] In 1626, he led an army from Lower Saxony into theBattle of Dessau Bridge. AfterWallenstein won this battle, Christian William fled abroad.[11]: 164 In 1629, he fled to the court of KingGustavus Adolphus of Sweden.[9]
As a result of these developments, in January 1628, the Magdeburgcathedral chapter deposed Christian William and electedAugustus of Wettin, 13-year-old son ofJohn George I, Elector of Saxony, as Administrator. Augustus did not assume office immediately due to his father's unwillingness to provoke the emperor.[12]
In March 1629, EmperorFerdinand II passed theEdict of Restitution. It was specifically aimed at restoring the situation of the 1555Peace of Augsburg in ecclesiastical territories that had since strayed from "legal" Catholic faith and rule.[13]Bremen and Magdeburg were the biggest examples of territories to be restituted.
The city's councillors had been emboldened by KingGustavus Adolphus's landing in Pomerania on 6 July 1630.[14]: 128 TheSwedish king was a Lutheran Christian, and many of Magdeburg's residents were convinced that he would aid them in their struggle against the Roman CatholicHabsburg emperor,Ferdinand II. However, not all Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire had immediately embraced Adolphus;[15]: 107 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.[14]: 129 [16]
In November 1630, King Gustavus sent ex-AdministratorChristian William back to Magdeburg, along withDietrich von Falkenberg to direct the city's military affairs. Backed by the Lutheran clergy, Falkenberg had the suburbs fortified and additional troops recruited.[11]: 167
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.[15]: 107 The city was besieged from 20 March 1631 and Tilly put his subordinate Imperial Field MarshalGottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, 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 severalsconces of the city's fortification and Tilly demanded capitulation.[17]
After two months of siege and despite the Swedish victory in theBattle ofFrankfurt an der Oder 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 toplunder it. The defence of the city was further weakened and demoralised when commander Dietrich von Falkenberg was shot dead by Catholic Imperial troops.[15]: 108
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 savethe 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.[1]
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[1] and torture.[15]: 109
When civilians ran out of things to give the soldiers, the misery really began.
For then the soldiers began to beat, frighten and threaten to shoot, skewer, hang, etc., the people.
Of the 25,000 inhabitants, only 5,000 survived, at least 1,000 of these having fled intoMagdeburg Cathedral and 600 into thePremonstratensian monastery.[1] 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 theElbe River to prevent disease.
A census conducted in 1632 listed only 449 inhabitants. Much of the city remained rubble until at least 1720.[1]
I believe that over twenty thousand souls were lost. It is certain that no more terrible work and divine punishment has been seen since the destruction of Jerusalem.[a] All of our soldiers became rich.God with us.
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.[15]: 112
DukeMaximilian of Bavaria, president of theCatholic 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."[b][19]: 49
PopeUrban VIII wrote a congratulatory letter to Tilly on 18 June, saying: "You have washed your victorious hands in the blood of sinners."[c][20]: 48
The Imperial treatment of defeated Magdeburg helped persuade many rulers to stand against the Holy Roman Emperor.[15]: 113
The devastations were so great thatMagdeburgisieren (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.[21]: 561–562
The massacre was forcefully described byFriedrich Schiller in his 1792 workHistory of the Thirty Years' War[22] and perpetuated in a poem byGoethe.[23] A scene ofBrecht's playMother Courage and Her Children, written in 1939, also refers to the event.[24]
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AdministratorChristian William of Brandenburg was badly injured and taken prisoner. He later converted to Catholicism and was released. He received an annual sum of 12,000thaler from the revenues of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg under thePeace of Prague.
After the sack, theArchbishopric of Magdeburg went toArchduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, youngest son of Emperor Ferdinand II, as the new Catholic administrator. ThePeace of Prague (1635) confirmed his rule over the city, but three years later, Swedish troops expelled the Habsburg army and restoredAugustus 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 generalLennart Torstenson. He was then able to begin the reconstruction of the city.
TheArchbishopric of Magdeburg wassecularized and ultimately fell toBrandenburg-Prussia upon Augustus' death in 1680.
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