Description
Book SynopsisVolume 36 of the Regesta of Emperor Friedrich III, edited by Petra Heinicker (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities), focuses on the relationship between the imperial ruler and Westphalia. The Friedrich documents from the archives and libraries of the North Rhine-Westphalian administrative districts of Arnsberg, Detmold and Münster are made accessible in 170 regesta. The volume offers key sources on the conflict between Kurköln and Soest/Kleve, which culminated in the Soest feud that spread far beyond the region. Other documents shed light on the Munster pin feud and the major imperial undertakings in the late years of the Habsburg reign, of which the fight against Duke Charles of Burgundy took place in the immediate vicinity of Westphalia. In addition, the Regesta give an insight into the measures taken by Frederick III. to regulate the Westphalian courts. The Archbishop of Cologne was particularly interested in controlling these courts, also known as Feme. The documents also shed light on the relationship of the Habsburgs to the cities in Westphalia, including Münster, Soest and the imperial city of Dortmund, as well as to some of the wealthy families in Westphalia and on the Lower Rhine. The volume lists privileges for the Saffenberg family, the Quad von Landskron family, the Counts of Tecklenburg, the Bronckhorst family and last but not least for Frederick III''s first court judge, Gumprecht von Neuenahr. The Westphalia volume closes one of the few remaining gaps in the development of the Friedrich documents in the northern half of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, after the last volumes on Lower Saxony (2018) and Schleswig-Holstein/Scandinavia (2016) had been published.
