Battle of Göllheim

Coordinates: 49°35′33″N 8°02′39″E / 49.59250°N 8.04417°E / 49.59250; 8.04417
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Battle of Göllheim
Part of the fight for the rule over the Holy Roman Empire

Death of Adolf of Nassau, Simon Meister, 1829
Date2 July 1298
Location
Göllheim near Worms
49°35′33″N 8°02′39″E / 49.59250°N 8.04417°E / 49.59250; 8.04417
Result Habsburg victory
Belligerents
Duchy of Austria
Kingdom of Bohemia		 County of Nassau
Electoral Palatinate
Commanders and leaders
Albert I of Habsburg Adolf of Nassau †
Battle of Göllheim is located in Germany
Battle of Göllheim
class=notpageimage|
Location within Germany

The Battle of Göllheim was fought on 2 July 1298 between the forces of duke

Albert I of Habsburg (German: Albrecht) and king Adolf of Nassau following the unilateral decision of the prince electors, without any formal election, to dethrone Adolf and proclaim Albert as king. Adolf died in the battle.[1][2][3]

Background

After the death of

prince electors
an excuse not to elect him. The electors did not want a strong king, and Albert, as the son of former king Rudolph I, controlled one of the strongest domestic power bases in the empire, while Adolf was simply a somewhat insignificant Count from the House of Nassau.

Accordingly, at the next

Meissen from the Wettins
.

As he was regarded as having repeatedly abused his royal prerogatives, the Electors deposed Adolf without any formal electoral process. As a result, Adolf chose to defend his rights as king, and went on campaign against the Habsburgs.[1][4]

Before this, and following a request of the Elector

Archbishop of Mainz, Albert had already begun to move to the Rhine and engage Adolf, who had his own strong army. Albert evaded Adolf's army, which was trying to stop him marching west, near Ulm and again near Breisach. Albert then advanced north through the Upper Rhine valley towards Mainz. Albert's army included contingents from the Habsburg territories, Hungary, Switzerland and those of Henry II, Prince-Bishop of Constance. They met outside the fortified city of Alzey and invested the castle. On arrival, Albert received the news of Adolf's deposition on 23 June 1298.[3]

Adolf approached from the imperial city of Worms, in order to relieve Alzey Castle. His forces consisted of contingents from the Taunus, Adolf's home region, the Electoral Palatinate, Franconia, Lower Bavaria, Alsace and St. Gallen.[2]

Battle

The King's Cross at the battlefield

Albert initially avoided a collision, but then on July 2, 1298 deployed his troops in a strategically favorable position on the Hasenbühl, a hill near Göllheim. Göllheim community is located 20 km (12 mi) south of Alzey between Kaiserslautern and Worms, near the Donnersberg massif.[5]

Raugrave named Georg. Thereupon a large part of Adolf's army dissolved and fled, others continued to fight until they learnt about Adolf's death. According to Geissel's monograph, 3,000 battle horses perished on the losing side, while the winners fared not much better.[6]

The result of the battle was generally considered as a judgment of God. Nevertheless, Albert insisted on a formal election by the electors, which took place in Frankfurt on July 27, 1298. As the kingship returned to the Habsburgs, the conflicts of interest between the electors and the king continued.[1][2]

Adolf's widow, Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg, saw her husband's coffin transferred from Rosenthal Abbey to Speyer Cathedral by emperor Henry VII in 1309. There he was buried alongside his rival Albert, who had been murdered in 1308 by his own nephew Johann. Imagina had a memorial cross erected on the battlefield near Göllheim, which was designed in the early Gothic style. In the 19th century a chapel was built around it, and it has been preserved to this day.[3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Fred Weinmann. "Auf dem Hasenbühl verlor König Adolph Krone und Leben". Suehnekreuz. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-3-406-50958-2
    .
  3. ^ a b c Fred Weinmann. "Adolf von Nassau". Deutsche Biographie. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  4. ^ Andreas Marchetti. "DIE ABSETZUNG VON KÖNIG ADOLF VON NASSAU 1298" (PDF). Archive. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  5. ISBN 978-1-60126-387-2
    .
  6. ^ Johannes ¬von Geissel (1835). Die Schlacht am Hasenbühl und das Königskreuz zu Göllheim: eine historische Monographie. Kranzbühler.
  7. ^ "Königskreuz". kreuzstein. Retrieved 17 April 2020.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Göllheim.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Göllheim&oldid=1154576235"