The Eltz Feud (german: Eltzer Fehde) was a 14th-century

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one par ...

that arose between rulers of the

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

region on the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

and certain members of the knightly class who were acting independently and failing to support their sovereign princes. It came about as a result of attempts in 1331 by the Archbishop of Trier and Elector Baldwin of Luxembourg to re-incorporate the imperial

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minist ...

or knights of the castles of Ehrenburg, Eltz, Schöneck and Waldeck as

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

s into the administrative district of Trier and to subordinate them to a unified, sovereign state administrative structure. Their distance from the power of the imperial government and a weak predecessor of Archbishop Baldwin had allowed the knights to acquire autonomy and rights supposedly under the law of custom, even though they were already vassals and fief holders of the Archbishop. In order to bring law and order to the land, a '' Landfrieden'' agreement was sworn in the late 1420s between Archbishop Balduin and the more powerful territorial lords. This measure was designed to curb private feuds and the operations of

jungle law "The law of the jungle" (also called jungle law) is an expression that has come to describe a scenario where "anything goes". The '' Oxford English Dictionary'' defines the Law of the Jungle as "''the code of survival in jungle life'', now usua ...

(''Faustrecht''), to counter the practice of disrupting trade by travelling merchants and the movement of goods through arbitrary tolls and illegal seizures, and to prevent the use of imprisonment and seizing of hostages in order to enforce a claim. In 1317 the Bacharach Landfriede was signed and, in 1333, the Lauterer Landfriede. In 1331 a "conduct agreement" was also signed between Bishop Baldwin and the Count of Sponheim to protect travelling merchants in the Hunsrück-Nahe region and it obliged the lower regional nobility to comply with a new regulatory policy. Baldwin decided to reinforce his electoral sovereignty by building the counter-castles of

Rauschenburg The Rauschenburg, also called Rauschenburg Castle (german: Burg Rauschenberg), is the medieval ruin of a hill castle, located at around 250 metres above sea level, above the Ehrbach stream in the parish of Mermuth in the county of Rhein-Hun ...

and Trutzeltz (also ''Baldeneltz''), from where he controlled and prevented the knights from joining forces with one another. Baldwin's goal was not their destruction, but their recognition of the state's laws and sovereignty. In 1336/37 the feud was probably ended on his terms and atoned for. In the documents about this feud, appear the names of the brothers, Henry the Elder and Henry the Younger of Ehrenberg, John of Eltz, Conrad the Red of Schoneck, Rudolph, William, Winand and John, called Boos von Waldeck, and Hertwin Winningen. To get his opponents to take their obligations to the Electorate of Trier more seriously, the Lord of Eltz was made a hereditary count of the electoral castle of Trutzeltz and the Lord of Schoneck likewise at Rauschenburg. An agreement of atonement was concluded with John of Eltz in late 1337. He appears to have been the instigator and spokesman of the resistance to Archbishop Baldwin - which is probably why this dispute is called the "Eltz Feud". Primitive cannons known as pots-de-fer are known to have been used at the siege of Eltz Castle, which is the first recorded instance of artillery being used in Germany.

References

Literature

* Julia Eulenstein: ''Rebellion der „Übermütigen“? Die Eltzer Fehde Balduins von Trier, 1331–1337.'' In: ''Kurtrierisches Jahrbuch.'' Vol. 46, 2006, , pp. 79–115. * Julia Eulenstein: ''Umkämpftes „Land“ – Die Fehdeführung Balduins von Trier (1307–1354) entlang der Mosel.'' In: Olaf Wagener (ed.): ''Die Burgen an der Mosel'' (= Freundeskreis Bleidenberg: ''Akten der internationalen wissenschaftlichen Tagung.'' 2). Görres, Koblenz, 2007, , pp. 190–204. * Dietmar Flach: ''Stadtrecht und Landesherrschaft in Kurtrier unter Erzbischof Balduin.'' In: Franz-Josef Heyen (ed.): ''Balduin von Luxemburg. Erzbischof von Trier – Kurfürst des Reiches. 1285–1345. Festschrift aus Anlass des 700. Geburtsjahres'' (= ''Quellen und Abhandlungen zur mittelrheinischen Kirchengeschichte.'' Vol. 53). Verlag der Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, Mainz 1985, pp. 317–340
(digitalised)
* In gleicher Ausgabe: Marlene Nikolay-Panter: ''Landfriedensschutz unter Balduin von Trier.'' pp. 341–355. *

Johannes Mötsch Johannes Mötsch (born 8 July 1949 in Bonn) is a German archivist and historian. Life Johannes Mötsch studied History and Latin Philology from 1970 to 1978 at the Universität Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (germa ...

: ''Die Balduineen. Aufbau, Entstehung und Inhalt der Urkundensammlung des Erzbischofs Balduin von Trier'' (= ''Veröffentlichungen der Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz.'' Vol. 33). Selbstverlag der Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz, Koblenz, 1980, , (Also: Bonn, university, dissertation, 1978). {{DEFAULTSORT:Eltz Feud 14th century in the Holy Roman Empire Feuds in Germany History of the Rhineland 1330s in the Holy Roman Empire 1331 in Europe 1332 in Europe 1333 in Europe 1334 in Europe 1335 in Europe 1336 in Europe 1337 in Europe Conflicts in 1331 Conflicts in 1332 Conflicts in 1333 Conflicts in 1334 Conflicts in 1335 Conflicts in 1336 Conflicts in 1337