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LUBECK
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LUBECK , a See also:state and See also:city (Freie and Hansestadt Lubeck) of See also:Germany. The principality of Lubeck, lying See also:north of the state, is a constituent of the See also:grand-duchy of See also:Oldenburg (q.v.). The state is situated on an See also:arm of the Baltic between See also:Holstein and See also:Mecklenburg-See also:Schwerin. It consists of the city of Lubeck, the See also:town of See also:Travemunde, 49 villages and the See also:country districts, embraces 115 sq. m. of territory, and had a See also:population in 1907 of 109, 265, of which 93,978 were included in the city and its immediate suburbs. The state lies in the lowlands of the Baltic, is diversified by gently swelling hills, and watered by the See also:Trave and its tributaries, the Wakenitz and the Stecknitz. The See also:soil is fertile, and, with the exception of See also:forest See also:land (14% of the whole See also:area), is mostly devoted to See also:market gardening. See also:Trade is centred in the city of Lubeck. The constitution of the See also:free state is republican, and, by the fundamental See also:law of 1875, amended in 1905 and again in 1907, consists of two assemblies. (1) The See also:Senate of fourteen members, of whom eight must belong to the learned professions, and six of these again must be jurists, while of the remaining six, five must be merchants. The Senate represents the See also:sovereignty of the state and is presided over by the Oberburgermeister, who during his two years' See also:term of See also:office bears the See also:title of " magnificence." (2) The See also:House of Burgesses (Btirgerschaft), of 120 members, elected by free See also:suffrage and exercising its See also:powers partly in its collective capacity and partly through a See also:committee of See also:thirty members. Purely commercial matters are dealt with by the chamber of See also:commerce, composed of a praeses, eighteen members and a secretary. This See also:body controls the See also:exchange and appoints brokers, See also:shipping agents and underwriters. The executive is in the hands of the Senate, but the House of Burgesses has the right of initiating legislation, including that relative to See also:foreign See also:treaties; the See also:sanction of both See also:chambers is required to the passing of any new law. Lubeck has a See also:court of first instance (Amtsgericht) and a high court of See also:justice (Landgericht); from the latter appeals See also:lie to the Hanseatic court of See also:appeal (Oberlandesgericht) at See also:Hamburg, and from this again to the supreme court of the See also:empire (Reichsgericht) in See also:Leipzig. The See also:people are nearly all See also:Lutherans, and See also:education is compulsory between the ages of six and fourteen.
The estimated See also:revenue for the See also:year 1908–1909 amounted to about !65o,000, and the See also:expenditure to a like sum. The public See also:debt amounted, in 1go8, to about £2,518,000. Lubeck has one See also:vote in the federal See also:council (Bundesrat) of the See also:German Empire, and sends one representative to the imperial See also:parliament (Reichstag).
See also:History of the Constitution.—At the first rise of the town justice was administered to the inhabitants by the See also:Vogt (advocatus) of the See also:count of Holstein. Simultaneously with its See also:incorporation by See also: Meanwhile, the number of magistrates (consules) had increased, ranging from twenty to See also:forty and upwards. The council appointed its own See also:officers in the various branches of the See also:administration.
In the See also:face of so much self See also:government the Vogt presently disappeared altogether. There were three classes of inhabitants, full freemen, See also:half freemen and guests or foreigners. People of Slav origin being considered unfree, all intermarriage with them tainted the See also:blood; hence nearly all surnames point to Saxon, especially Westphalian, and even Flemish descent. The magistracy was for two centuries almost exclusively in the hands of the See also:merchant See also:aristocracy, who formed the companies of traders or " nations," such as the See also:Bergen fahrer, Novgorodfahrer, Rig¢ fahrer and See also:Stockholm-fahrer. From the beginning, however, tradesmen and handicraftsmen had settled in the town, all of them freemen of German parentage and with See also:property and houses of their own. Though not eligible for the council, they shared to a certain extent in the self-government through the aldermen of each See also:corporation or gild, of which some appear as See also:early as the statutes of 1240. Naturally, there arose much See also:jealousy between the See also:gilds and the aristocratic companies, which exclusively ruled the See also:republic. After an See also:attempt to upset the merchants had been suppressed in 1384, the gilds succeeded, under more favourable circumstances, in 1408. The old patrician council See also:left the city to appeal to the Hansa and to the imperial authorities, while a new council with democratic tendencies, elected chiefly from the gilds, took their See also:place. In 1416, however, owing to the pressure brought to See also:bear by the Hansa, by the See also:emperor See also:Sigismund and by See also:Eric, See also: The aristocratic government was again expelled under the dictatorship of Jurgen See also:Wullenweber (c. 1492–1537), till the old See also:order was re-established in 1535. In the constitution of 1669, under the pressure of a large public debt, the See also:great companies yielded a specified See also:share in the See also:financial administration to the leading gilds of tradesmen. Nevertheless, the seven great companies continued to choose the magistrates by co-optation among themselves. Three of the four burgomasters and two of the senators, however, had henceforth to be graduates in law. The constitution, set aside only during the See also:French occupation, has subsequently been slowly reformed. From 1813 the popular representatives had some share in the management of the finances. But the reform committee of 1814, whose See also:object was to obtain an See also:extension of the See also:franchise, had made little progress, when the events of 1848 led to the See also:establishment of a representative See also:assembly of 120 members, elected by universal suffrage, which obtained a place beside the senatorial government. The republic has given up its own military contingent, its coinage and its postal dues to the German Empire; but it has preserved its municipal self-government and its own territory, the inhabitants of which enjoy equal See also:political privileges with the citizens. The City of Lubeck.—Lubeck, the See also:capital of the free state, was formerly the See also:head of the Hanseatic See also:League. It is situated on a See also:gentle See also:ridge between the See also:rivers Trave and Wakenitz, ro m. S.W. of the mouth of the former in the See also:bay of Lubeck, 40 M. by See also:rail N.E. of Hamburg, at the junction of lines to See also:Eutin, Birchen, Travemunde and See also:Strassburg (in Mecklenburg-Schwerin) and consists of an _ inner town and three suburbs. The former ramparts between the Trave and the old town ditch have been converted into promenades. The city proper retains much of its See also:ancient grandeur, despite the tendency to modernize streets and private houses. Foremost among its buildings must be mentioned its five See also:chief churches, stately See also:Gothic edifices in glazed See also:brick, with lofty See also:spires and replete with See also:medieval See also:works of See also:art—pictures, stained See also:glass and tombs. Of them, the Marienkirche, built in the 13th century, is one of the finest specimens of early Gothic in Germany. The See also:cathedral, or Domkirche, founded in 1173, contains some curious sarcophagi and a magnificent See also:altar-piece in one of the chapels, while the churches of St See also: The river is kept open in See also:winter by See also:ice-breakers. A See also:harbour was made in 1899-1900 on the Wakenitz Canal for boats engaged in inland See also:traffic, especially on the Elbe and Elbe-Trave Canal. Lubeck trades principally with Denmark, See also:Sweden, See also:Finland, See also:Russia, the eastern provinces of See also:Prussia, Great See also:Britain and the See also:United States. The imports amounted in value to about £4,850,000 in 1906 and the exports to over £10,000,000. The chief articles of import are See also:coal, See also:grain, See also:timber, See also:copper, See also:steel and wine, and the exports are manufactured goods principally to Russia and Scandivania. The See also:industries are growing, the chief being breweries and distilleries, saw-See also:mills and planing-mills, See also:shipbuilding, See also:fish-curing, the manufacture of machinery, engines, bricks, See also:resin, preserves, enamelled and See also:tin goods, cigars, See also:furniture, See also:soap and See also:leather. Pop. (1885) 55,399; (1905) 91,541. History.—Old Lubeck stood on the left See also:bank of the Trave, where it is joined by the river Schwartau, and was destroyed in 1138. Five years later Count See also:Adolphus II. of Holstein founded new Lubeck, a few See also:miles farther up, on the See also:peninsula Buku, where the Trave is joined on the right by the Wakenitz, the emissary of the See also:lake of Ratzeburg. An excellent harbour, sheltered against pirates, it became almost at once a competitor for the commerce of the Baltic. Its See also:foundation coincided with the beginning of the advance of the See also:Low German tribes of See also:Flanders, See also:Friesland and See also:Westphalia along the See also:southern shores of the Baltic—the second great See also:emigration of the colonizing Saxon See also:element. In 1140 Wagria, in 1142 the country of the Polabes (Ratzeburg and See also:Lauenburg), had been annexed by the Holtsaetas (the Transalbingian See also:Saxons). From 1166 onwards there was a Saxon count at Schwerin. Frisian and Saxon merchants from See also:Soest, See also:Bardowiek and other localities in See also:Lower Germany, who already navigated the Baltic and had their factory in See also:Gotland, settled in the new town, where Wendish speech and customs never entered. About 1157 Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, forced his See also:vassal, the count of Holstein, to give up Lubeck to him; and in 1163 he removed thither the episcopal see of Oldenburg (See also:Stargard), See also:founding at the same See also:time the dioceses of Ratzeburg and Schwerin. He issued the first See also:charter to the citizens, and constituted them a free Saxon community having their own See also:magistrate, an See also:advantage over all other towns of his dominions. He invited traders of the north to visit his new market free of toll and See also:custom, providing his subjects were promised similar privileges in return. From the beginning the king of Denmark granted them a See also:settlement for their See also:herring See also:fishery on the See also:coast of Schoonen. Adopting the statutes of Soest in Westphalia as their See also:code, Saxon merchants exclusively ruled the city. In concurrence with the duke's Vogt (advocatus) they recognized only one right of judicature within the town, to which nobles as well as artisans had to submit. Under these circumstances the population See also:grew rapidly in wealth and See also:influence by land and sea, so that, when Henry was attainted by the emperor, See also:Frederick I., who came in See also:person to besiege Lubeck in 118r, this potentate," in See also:consideration of its revenues and its situation on the frontier of the Empire," fixed by charter, dated the 19th of See also:September 1188, the limits, and enlarged the liberties, of the free town. In the year 1201 Lubeck was conquered by Waldemar II. of Denmark. But in 1223 it regained its See also:liberty, after the king had been taken See also:captive by the count of Schwerin. In 1226 it was made a free city of the Empire by Frederick II.,and its inhabitants took See also:part with the enemies of the Danish king in the victory of Barnhovede in See also:July 1227. The citizens repelled the encroachments of their neighbours in Holstein and in Mecklenburg. On the other See also:hand their town, being the See also:principal emporium of the Baltic by the middle of the 13th century, acted as the See also:firm ally of the See also:Teutonic knights in See also:Livonia. Emigrants founded new cities and new See also:sees of Low German speech among See also:alien and See also:pagan races; and thus in the course of a century the commerce of Lubeck had supplanted that of Westphalia. In connexion with the Germans at See also:Visby, the capital of Gotland, and at See also:Riga, where they had a house from 1231, the people of Lubeck with their armed vessels scoured the sea between the Trave and the See also:Neva. They were encouraged by papal bulls in their contest for the rights of property in wrecks and for the See also:protection of shipping against pirates and slave-hunters. Before the See also:close of the century the statutes of Lubeck were adopted by most Baltic towns having a German population, and Visby protested in vain against the city on the Trave having become the court of appeal for nearly all these cities, and even for the German settlement'in See also:Russian See also:Novgorod. In course of time more than a See also:hundred places were embraced in this relation, the last vestiges of which did not disappear until the beginning of the 18th century. From about 1299 Lubeck presided over a league of cities, See also:Wismar, See also:Rostock, See also:Stralsund, Greifswald and some smaller ones, and this Hansa of towns became See also:heir to a Hansa of traders simultaneously on the eastern and the western sea, after Lubeck and her confederates had been admitted to the same privileges with See also:Cologne, See also:Dortmund and Soest at See also:Bruges and in the steelyards of See also:London, See also:Lynn and See also:Boston. The See also:union held its own, chiefly along the maritime outskirts of the Empire, rather against the will of king and emperor, but nevertheless See also:Rudolph of See also:Habsburg and several of his successors issued new charters to Lubeck. As early as 1241 Lubeck, Hamburg and Soest had combined to secure their highways against robber knights. Treaties to enforce the public See also:peace were concluded in 1291 and 1338 with the See also:dukes of See also:Brunswick, Mecklenburg and See also:Pomerania, and the count of Holstein. Though the great federal armament against Waldemar IV., the destroyer of Visby, was decreed by the city representatives assembled at Cologne in 1367, Lubeck was the leading spirit in the See also:war which ended with the surrender of See also:Copenhagen and the peace concluded at Stralsund on the 24th of May 1370. Her burgomaster, Brun Warendorp, who commanded the combined See also:naval and land forces, died on the See also: The often changing masters of Holstein and Lauenburg abstracted much of the valuable landed property of the city and of the See also:chapter of Lubeck. Towards the end of
the 18th century there were signs of improvement. Though the Danes temporarily occupied the town in 18o1, it preserved its freedom and gained some of the chapter lands when the imperial constitution of Germany was broken up by the See also:act of See also:February 1803, while trade and commerce prospered for a few years. But in See also:November 18o6, when See also:Blucher, retiring from the See also:catastrophe of See also:Jena, had to capitulate in the vicinity of Lubeck, the town was sacked by the French. See also:Napoleon annexed it to his empire in See also:December 181o. But it See also:rose against the French in See also: See also:Hoffmann, Geschichte der Freien and Hansestadt Lubeck (Lubeck, 1889–1892) and Chronik von Lubeck (Lubeck, 1908); Die Freie and Hansestadt Lubeck, published by Die geographische Gesellschaft in Lubeck (Lubeck, 1891) ; C. W. See also:Pauli, Lubecksche Zustande -See also:im Mittel-alter (Lubeck, 1846–1878) ; J. See also:Geffcken, Lubeck in der Milte See also:des z6",* Jahrhunderts (Lubeck, 19o5); P. See also:Hasse, Die Anfange Lubecks (Lubeck, 1893); H. Bodeker, Geschichle der Freien and Hansestadt Lubeck (Lubeck, 1898); A. Holm, Lubeck, die Freie and Hansestadt (See also:Bielefeld, 'goo) ; G. See also:Waitz, Lubeck unter Jurgen Wullenweber (See also:Berlin, 1855–1856) ; Klug, Geschichte Lubecks w¢hrend der Vereinigung mit dem franzosischen Kaiserreich (Lubeck, 1857); F. Frensdorff, Die Stadt- and Gerichtsverfassung Lubecks im See also:r2. and 13. Jahrhundert (Lubeck, 1861) ; the Urkundenbuch der Stadt Lubeck (Lubeck, 1843–1904); the Liibecker Chroniken (Leipzig, 1884–1903); and the Zeitschrift des Vereins See also:fur lubeckische Geschichte (Lubeck, 186o fol.). (R. P.; P. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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