Salt War of 1611 (Bavaria, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden)




The Cathedral Chapter of Salzburg, in order to secure the independence of the Princebishopric, located between the Duchy of Bavaria and the (Habsburg) Austrian lands, in 1606 passed a statute barring members of both the Wittelsbach and Habsburg family from being elected Archbishop of Salzburg. Duke Maximilian of Bavaria (in 1609 founder-president of the Catholic or Holy League, a league Salzburg did not join) successfully appealed to Pope Paul V. (1605-1621) and the statute was abolished.
When Emperor Rudolf II. permitted Duke Maximilian to charge double import dues from all goods imported into Bavaria - this severely hampered salt export from Salzburg into and through Bavaria, Princebishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1587-1612) ordered Salzburg troops (c. 1000 men) to occupy the territory of the abbey of Berchtesgaden (October 1611). Duke Maximilian responded by sending his army, 24,000 men, into the Princebishopric; the city of Salzburg was occupied a few days later.
Princebishop Wolf-Dietrich was imprisoned and in 1612 formally deposed. Bavarian troops remained in the country until 1612.



EXTERNAL
FILES 		Salzkrieg gegen Bayern, from Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau by Christoph Brandhuber
DOCUMENTS List of Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, from Regnal Chronologies, scroll down
REFERENCE Friederike Zaisberger, Geschichte Salzburgs (History of Salzburg), Wien : Oldenbourg 1998, pp.88-89
Andreas Kraus, Geschichte Bayerns von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (History of Bavaria, from the Beginnings to the Present Days), München : Beck 1988, 805 pp. - does not mention the event



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on April 20th 2004, last revised on November 19th 2004

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