Bautzen	Görlitz	Kamenz
Lauban (Lubań)	Löbau	Zittau

The Lusatian League was a historical alliance

Alliance

An alliance is an agreement or friendship between two or more parties, made in order to advance common goals and to secure common interests.See also military alliance and business alliance.-International relations:...

 of six towns in the Bohemian

Kingdom of Bohemia

The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...

, later Saxon

Electorate of Saxony

The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...

 region of Upper Lusatia

Upper Lusatia

Upper Lusatia is a region a biggest part of which belongs to Saxony, a small eastern part belongs to Poland, the northern part to Brandenburg. In Saxony, Upper Lusatia comprises roughly the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz , in Brandenburg the southern part of district Oberspreewald-Lausitz...

, that existed from 1346 until 1815. The member towns were Bautzen

Bautzen

Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...

 (Budyšin), Görlitz

Görlitz

Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...

 (Zhorjelc), Kamenz

Kamenz

Kamenz is a Lusatian town in eastern Saxony, Germany, with a population of 18,243, and is part of the Bautzen district. The town is located about northeast of Dresden and about northwest of Bautzen....

 (Kamjenc), Lauban

Luban

Lubań is a town in southwest Poland north of the Jizera Mountains on the Kwisa river, with 22,137 inhabitants . Situated within the historic Upper Lusatia region, it today belongs to the Lower Silesian Voivodeship...

, Löbau

Lobau

The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...

 (Lubij) and Zittau

Zittau

Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....

 (Žitawa). Five of the towns are located in present-day Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, while former Lauban today belongs to Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and is known as Lubań.

Founding

In order to protect peace and order in Upper Lusatia, the six towns of Bautzen, Görlitz, Kamenz, Lauban, Löbau, and Zittau joined into a contract of protection on August 21, 1346. In its beginnings, the pact was chiefly intended to protect against knights-errant

Knight-errant

A knight-errant is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicates how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures to prove himself as a knight, such as in a pas d'armes.The first known appearance of the term...

 and other wandering warriors. Over the next centuries, the city union would influence the history of Upper Lusatia very powerfully, and last longer than any other city union in Germany. The union of the cities caused a considerable increase in their political influence and visibility. It is possible that the founding of the union was helped by the Bohemian king Charles IV of Luxembourg

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....

, then ruler of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 as King of the Romans

King of the Romans

King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...

, as a counterbalance to the power of the landed gentry.

Status of cities within the league

Unlike other civil arrangements in Upper Lusatia at the time, there was no dominant town in the league, although before the 12th century the town of Bautzen served as the ancestral seat of the Milceni

Milceni

The Milceni or Milzeni were a West Slavic tribe, who settled in the present-day Upper Lusatia region. They were first mentioned in the middle of the 9th century AD by the Bavarian Geographer, who wrote of 30 civitates which possibly had fortifications. They were gradually conquered by Germans...

, an ancient West Slavic tribe. Even though Bautzen served as the administrative center and was often called the capital of the league and Görlitz was for several centuries both the most populous and the economically strongest town, the differences between the individual towns were never so large that one town dominated the league outright. Even so, there was a nominal division of the league's six towns into "large towns," which were Bautzen, Görlitz, and Zittau, and "small towns," which included the other three towns of Kamenz, Lauban and Löbau. Still, in principle, all six towns within the league had equal standing.

Even so, there were internal conflicts within the league. Because Bautzen served as the administrative center and capital of the league, it had the first voice in the local council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

, as well as several other rights and privileges. Bautzen reserved signatory power

Power of attorney

A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...

 for the league concerning legal documents, and reserved the right to open all of the league's official mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

. Bautzen's other special privilege as administrative center was that is was the seat of the king's representative

Bailiff

A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...

 to the league, combining military, administrative, and royal power within the town. This caused conflicts with Görlitz, especially as Görlitz had quickly and unequivocally established itself as the economic

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 center of the league. Görlitz achieved this position of economic superiority by being more easily reached by local traffic, and expolited the advantages it gained. As time went on, Görlitz exercised more and more power within the league, even as Bautzen remained the league's administrative center.

Meanwhile, in the beginning years of the league, Zittau also hosted a representative of the king, in addition to Bautzen. The city lost its representative in 1412. However, the power granted by hosting a royal representative made the town quite wealthy, so much so that at times, Zittau was the second wealthiest town in the league, pushing Bautzen down into third place within the league. The other three towns, Löbau, Lauban, and Kamenz were economically weaker, and therefore less interested in their place within the league. When there was conflict within the cities of the league, Kamenz sided more often with Bautzen, and Lauban with Görlitz, in accordance to their geographical locations. Löbau was the weakest city in terms of military or economic power, but it laid in the middle of the region, and conciliatory councils between Bautzen and Görlitz were often held there.

Nicknames

Because the cities stayed together quite well despite their economic competition with each other, this allowed the league to last a long time. Despite this, there were naturally still times of disagreement and discord within the league. In these times of disagreement, the cities had nicknames for each other's residents. The residents of Görlitz were referred to as "hat-turners," people from Zittau were called "cow-pushers," people from Bautzen were named "cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

-snatchers," residents of Kamenz were called "snifflers," Lauban residents were labeled "onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

-eaters," and the denizens of Löbau were named "cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

-painters."

However, not all inter-town communication was negative. The towns had positive reputations as well. People from Zittau were referred to as educated, people from Görlitz were known to be honest

Honesty

Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft....

, people from Bautzen were called well-meaning, Lauban residents were known for being industrious, and Löbau residents enjoyed a reputation for being good with money.

History

The height of the league's power and influence occurred in its first 200 years of existence. In this time period, the league was the most powerful political force in Upper Lusatia, and was able to outstrip the local gentry in terms of power. In 1547, the fallout of the Schmalkald War, when the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...

 fought against the Protestant Schmalkaldic League

Schmalkaldic League

The Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...

, weakened the Lusatian League considerably. The league of six towns sided with Schmalkald because as city leagues, they shared the same form of government. The emperor punished the league of six towns severely for this. Indeed, even though the towns were able to again consolidate their position, their political power was never as strong again.

Legal System

Primarily, the legal system in the league was in the hands of the king's representative to Upper Lusatia. He led a court

Court

A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

 named the "Voigtsding." There the gentry, farmers, and townspeople all appeared, although clergy were exempt to proceedings there. As time progressed, the league managed to have certain aspects of the legal system spilt. This was first accomplished by establishing a separate court for townspeople, and eventually a court for farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

s within each municipal area. Knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

s and gentry

Gentry

Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....

 could be tried in municipal courts as well. The courts also heard cases involving crimes which took place on country routes outside of the cities.

Breakup of the league

After the Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

 in 1815, Lusatia was partitioned. Görlitz and Lauban were ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

, ending the six town league after almost 500 years of existence. The remaining four cities remained in a "four-city league," but this ended in 1868.

Second Founding

On June 21, 1991, the 770-year anniversary of the founding of Löbau, the league was revived. However, there were now seven cities, as the eastern part of Görlitz, on the east side of the Neisse River

Lusatian Neisse

The Lusatian Neisse is a long river in Central Europe. The river has its source in the Jizera Mountains near Nová Ves nad Nisou, Czech Republic, reaching the tripoint with Poland and Germany at Zittau after , and later forms the Polish-German border on a length of...

, became the stand-alone Polish city of Zgorzelec

Zgorzelec

Zgorzelec is a town in south-western Poland with 33,278 inhabitants . It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship . It is the seat of Zgorzelec County, and also of the smaller district of Gmina Zgorzelec...

. The league no longer has any political power to speak of, and functions largely as a tourism promotion board.