Magdeburg

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Capital of thePrussianProvince of Saxony, situated on the Elbe; pop. 241,000; it is noted for its industries, particularly the production of sugar, its trade, and its commerce. From 968 until 1552 it was the seat of anarchbishopric.

History

The town was one of the oldest emporia of the German trade for the Wends who dwelt on the right bank of the Elbe. In 805 it is first mentioned in history. In 806Charlemagne built a fortress on the eastern bank of the river opposite Magdeburg. The oldest church is also credited to the epoch. Magdeburg first played an important part in the history ofGermany during the reign of Otto the Great (936-73). His consort Editha had a particularlove for the town and often lived there. The emperor also continually returned to it. On 21 September, 937, Otto founded aBenedictinemonastery at Magdeburg, which was dedicated to Sts. Peter, Maurice, and theHoly Innocents. The firstabbots andmonks came from St. Maximin's atTrier. Later on Otto conceived the plan of establishing anarchbishopric at Magdeburg, thus making it a missionary centre for the Wends on the eastern bank of the Elbe. He succeeded in carrying out hisidea after various changes and difficulties. The glory of thearchbishopric increased rapidly, the town also became more important. The so-called Magdeburg Rights were also adopted by many towns in eastern and northeasternGermany in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (inPomerania,Schleswig, andPrussia). The local tribunal of Magdeburg was the superior court for these towns. Magdeburg was also a member of the Hanseatic league of towns, and as such was first mentioned in 1295. The town had an active maritime commerce on the west (towardsFlanders), with the countries of the Baltic Sea, and maintained traffic and communication with the interior (for example Brunswick).

TheReformation found speedy adherents in Magdeburg whereLuther had been a schoolboy. The newdoctrine was introduced 17 July, 1524, and the town became a stronghold ofProtestantism, beingknow amongProtestants as "The Lord God's Chancellery". In 1526 it joined the Alliance of Torgau, and in 1531 the Smalkaldic League, and was repeatedly outlawed by the emperor. Because it would not accept the "Interim" (1548), it was, by the emperor's commands, besieged (1550-51) by the Margrave Maurice of Saxony; it defended itselfbravely and retained its religious liberty when peace was declared. Here Flacius Illyricus and his companions wrote their bitterest pamphlets and the great work onchurch history, "The Magdeburg Centuries", in which they tried to prove that theCatholicChurch had become the kingdom ofAnti-Christ. The town met with a terrible fate during theThirty Years' War.

The Elector Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg, who had been administrator of thearchbishopric since 1598, exercised a policy which was hostile to the emperor, and on this account he was deposed by thecathedral chapter in 1628, the latter having remained strictly neutral. He now hoped to regain possession of the country, by means of an alliance with Gustavus Adolphus, and succeeded in forming the alliance 1 August, 1630, with the help of the Evangelicalclergy and part of the citizens. Gustavus Adolphus sent his equerry, Colonel. Diedrich von Falkenburg to defend the town against the emperor's army. On 15 December,Tilly, commander-in-chief of the imperial army, ordered Field Marshal Pappenheim to advance upon the town.Tilly himself followed in March. The help which was expected fromSweden, however, was not forthcoming; Falkenburg had 2400 soldiers, andTilly 24,000. In spite of this the town did not surrender. It was besieged on the morning of 20 March, 1631. Falkenburg was killed. The bloodshed and pillage were frightful; and the misery was only increased by the fire which broke out from some fifty or sixty houses, and which continued to spread on account of the strong north-east wind which was blowing, so that in twelve hours the whole town was in ashes with the exception of thecathedral, theconvent of theBlessed Virgin, theparish churches where the fire had been extinguished, and some two hundred small houses. Most of the inhabitants (about 30,000) were smothered in the cellars and granaries where they had taken refuge.

Much has been written about the question as to who was responsible for the fire. There was formerly aProtestant tradition thatTilly was responsible for the destruction of the town. It istrue that Pappenheim for tactical reasons caused two houses to be set on fire, and it is possible that the soldiers ignited more, in carrying out the order. But for Pappenheim and his soldiers to have deliberately planned to reduce the town to ashes, as has been suggested, would have been downright folly, for it robbed the imperialists of all the profits of the siege. As opposed to this, Karl Witrich's theory gained many adherents; he held that Falkenburg and his faction set fire to the town to prevent its falling into the hands of the Papists. Von Zwiedineck Sudenhorst is also of this opinion in Ullstein's "Weltgeschichte Pflug", edited by von Harttung (1500-1650, 481 sqq.). This is not absolutely authentic. Recently the opinion has been emphasized that unfortunate circumstances, such as the springing up of the northeast wind, contributed towards it. After 1680 the town belonged toPrussian Brandenburg. In 1806, General v. Kleist in a cowardly manner surrendered the fortress to the French, and it belonged toWestphalia until 1814. Since that time it has belonged toPrussia.

The archbishopric

After thewars of the years 940 and 954, when theSlavs, as far as the Oder, had been brought into subjection to German rule, Otto the Great, in 955, set to work to establish anarchbishopric in Magdeburg, for the newly acquired territory. He wished to transfer the capital of thediocese from Halberstadt to Magdeburg, and make it an archdiocese. But this was strenuously opposed by theArchbishop ofMainz who was themetropolitan of Halberstadt. When, in 962,John XII sanctioned the establishment of anarchbishopric, Otto seemed to have abandoned his plan of a transfer. The estates belonging to theconvents mentioned above (founded in 937) were converted into a mensa for the newarchbishopric, and themonks transferred to the Berge Convent. Thearchiepiscopal church madeSt. Maurice its patron, and in addition received new donations and grants from Otto. The followingbishoprics were made suffragans: Havelberg,Brandenburg, Merseburg, Zeitz, andMeissen. Then, on 20 April, 967, thearchbishopric wassolemnly established at the Synod ofRavenna in the presence of thepope and the emperor. The firstarchbishop was Adelbert, a formermonk of St. Maximin's atTrier, afterwards missionarybishop to the Russians, andAbbot of Weissenburg in Alsace. He was elected in the autumn of 968, received thepallium atRome, and at the end of the year wassolemnlyenthroned in Magdeburg.

The Diocese of Magdeburg itself was small; it comprised the Slavonic districts of Serimunt, Nudizi, Neletici, Nizizi, and half of northern Thuringia, which Halberstadt resigned. Posen was added to the suffraganbishoprics later on (from 970 until the twelfth century, when it fell to Gnesen), also Lebus, and, for a time, Kammin. Thecathedralschool especially gained in importance under Adalbert's efficient administration. Thescholasticus Othrich was considered the most learned man of his times. Many eminent men were educated at Magdeburg. Othrich was chosenarchbishop after Adalbert's death (981). Gisiler of Merseburg by bribery andfraud obtained possession of the See of Magdeburg, and also succeeded temporarily in grasping the Bishopric of Merseburg (until 1004). Among successors worthy of mention are: thezealous Gero (1012-23); Werner (1063-78), who was killed in battle withHenry IV (seeCONFLICT OF INVESTITURES);St. Norbert, prominent in the twelfth century (1126-34), the founder of thePremonstratensian order; Wichman (1152-92) was more important as a sovereign and prince of the Holy Roman Empire than as abishop; Albrecht II (1205-32) quarrelled with the EmperorOtto II (1198-1215), because he had pronounced thepope's ban against the latter and this unfortunatewar greatly damaged thearchbishopric. In 1208 he began to build the presentcathedral, which was onlyconsecrated in 1263, and never entirely finished; Günther I (1277-79) hardly escaped a seriouswar with the Margrave Otto of Brandenburg, who was incensed because his brother Erich had not been electedarchbishop. And the Brandenburegers actually succeeded in forcing Günther and Bernhard (1279-1281) to resign and in making Ericharchbishop (1283-1295). Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1513-45), on account of his insecure position, as well as being crippled by a perpetual lack of funds, gave some occasion for the spread ofLutheranism in hisdiocese, although himself opposing theReformation. It is nottrue that he became aLutheran and wished to retain hissee as a secular principality, and just asuntrue that in the Kalbe Parliament in 1541 he consented to the introduction of theReformation in order to have hisdebts paid. His successors were thezealousCatholics JohnAlbert of Brandenburg (1545-1550), who however could accomplish very little, and Frederick IV of Brandenburg, who died in 1552.

Administrators who were secular princes now took the place of thearchbishop, and they, as well as the majority of thecathedral chapter and the inhabitants of thediocese, had become Evangelical. They belonged to the House of Brandenburg. Christian Wilhelm (see above) was takenprisoner in 1631, and went over to theCatholicChurch inVienna. At the time of the Peace of Prague, this country fell to the share of Prince August of Saxony, and after his death (1680) it was publicly assigned by the Peace ofWestphalia to Brandenburg-Prussia (1648), to which it has since belonged, with the exception of the interval of French rule (1807-1814). At the time of the secularization (1803) there remained only theconvent of St. Agnes in the Neustadt Magdeburg, Marienstuhl near Egeln and Mariendorf, and themonastery at Althaldensleben.Catholicparishes took their places. Before the reign of Frederick the Great (1740) noCatholics were admitted to Magdeburg. In modern times the League of St. Boniface has established missionparishes in the suburbs of Magdeburg as well as in other places.

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