Societies with the symbols of the Shield of St. George ( German: Sankt Jörgenschild , also St. Jergenschild and St. Georgenschild ) are temporary corporate associations of higher and lower nobility, as well as prelates (as representatives of spiritual territories) in medieval Germany, created to protect their own class interests and directed both against major territorial princes, imperial cities , and against other classes. Their creation was a reaction to the changing socio-political conditions, to the general gradual ousting of chivalry from public life. Shield societies were spread mainly in southern Germany, in the former duchy of Swabia in the period of the 15th-16th centuries.
History
The first such association arose in 1406 as a result of the Appenzell War , when the local nobility saw in the actions of the insurgents an attempt on their basic rights, and was able to consolidate against the peasants and artisans demanding greater freedoms.
Also, the Swabian nobles founded their Shield community in the first third of the 15th century. Caspar von Klingenberg ( Caspar von Klingenberg , † 1439) became its head.
The goal of both these first and subsequent unions of the Shield was to preserve the Zemstvo world and maintain the situation of the public status quo: not only among the members of the association, but also in relations with the outside world. The main means of achieving this goal was litigation, but often blood feuds and military actions were also used. The need for mutual support led ultimately to the formation of knightly cantons: first Danube , Hegau - Allgäu (plus Lake Constance ) and Neckar - Black Forest , and later also Kochersky and Krayhgaussky . Probably, the main advantage of the Union of St. George's Shield was its organizational structure, which allowed, on the one hand, the higher nobility to receive support from the more numerous lower nobility, without entering into special contractual relations with each of its representatives, and on the other hand, small knighthood could effectively protect your rights and resolve disputes.
The political potential of this kind of unions, representing, among other things, considerable military power, in the XV century, tried to attract to their side kings, princes and cities. The most successful in this sense was the founding of the Swabian Union in 1488, the organizational structure of which was largely based on the Union of the Shield of St. George; and part of the members of the Union of the Shield at first belonged to the most active members of the Swabian Union. At the same time, the symbolism of the Union of the Shield was partially adopted.
Since the 40s of the XVI century, the interests of the higher and lower nobility again dispersed: while during the imperial reform, the higher nobility and the prelates received the status of imperial estates , simple knights, to avoid complete subordination to the sovereign princes, were forced to unite subordinate to the emperor.
Literature
- Herbert Obenaus: Sankt Jörgenschild. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters (LexMA). Band 7, LexMA-Verlag, München 1995, ISBN 3-7608-8907-7 , Sp. 1170.
- Karl Heinz Burmeister: Sankt Jörgenschild im Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz
- Herbert Obenaus: Recht und Verfassung der Gesellschaften mit St. Jörgenschild in Schwaben. Untersuchungen über Adel, Einung, Schiedsgericht and Fehde im fünfzehnten Jahrhundert (= Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte. Nr. 7, ZDB-ID 121375-1). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1961.
- Klaus Schubring: Ein Adelsbund als Schiedsrichter. Der St. Georgenschild im Hegau und die Roßhaupter Fehde 1436/37, in: Schriften des Vereins für Geschichte des Bodensees und seiner Umgebung, 96. Jg. 1978, S. 7-29