33 Elbansicht des Schlosses Hartenfels mit dem Neuen Saalbau View of Hartenfels Castle from the Elbe river with the New Hall Building Torgau became a control center, especially in matters of religious policy in the empire. The statement that “Wittenberg was the intellectual centre, Torgau the political centre of the Lutheran Reformation”1 is a correct reflection of the current consensus in research.2 However, this view requires further differentiation with regard to the “political centre” and must be underpinned with sources from government and administrative practice.3 “Main residence” or “secondary residence”? In view of the importance of Dresden for Wettin Saxony as a whole, it seems plausible that the term “secondary residence”, which can be found in the relevant handbook of German residences, applied to Torgau until the Treaty of Leipzig in 1485.4 However, the salient question5 here is whether, during the reign of Frederick the Wise, Torgau should continue to be characterised as a “secondary residence”, or instead as the “main residence” or even as the “capital” of the Ernestine part of the territory.6 The confirmed instances of the electoral court encampment being established in Torgau in the era of Frederick the Wise7 are currently difficult to classify, even if the average lengths of stay of 23 to 27.5 weeks per year calculated for the first 30 years of the period covered by Frederick’s and John’s respective reigns appear to indicate a preference for Torgau over other residences. After 1517, however, Torgau was only rarely used as a court encampment until the death of Frederick the Wise. Electoral prince John Frederick spent the first eight years of his life almost exclusively in his native town (1503–1511),8 which could be interpreted as an indication that, until 1513, Torgau was not a secondary residence, but rather the “co-regent residence” of Duke John and his family. John’s weddings in Torgau in 1500 and 1513 and the burial of his first wife Sophie, Duchess of Mecklenburg in the Torgau parish church in 1503 also plead in favour of this. However, the reorganisation (translator’s note: Mutschierung [from Middle High German muotscharunge ‘division’] is the term used when a prince alternates with another prince in governing an indivisible province or dominion) of Ernestine territory in 1513 and John’s relocation to Weimar9 meant that Torgau lost its status as a co-regent’s residence around 1513/14. Not only did the Duke leave Torgau, but with him his son John Frederick, and probably also their counsellors and servants, whose number totalled 156 in John’s early years in Weimar alone.10 However, the chancellery, which had been housed in Torgau’s castle since the Treaty of Leipzig, remained in place even after 1513. In addition to the numerous documents issued by the Torgau chancellery itself, an insight into administrative practice is provided in particular by Frederick and John’s court council regulations of 2 March 1499, which remained authoritative until John Frederick’s reforms of 153611 to 1546.12 These were based on the regulations issued two years earlier by King Maximilian I, and stipulated that four counsellors were to be permanently present at the main court in order to take care of daily business. These court counsellors decided by majority vote, but were obliged to obtain the Elector’s approval on important issues. The chancellery, on the other hand, constituted only a registry authority without any decision-making powers of its own. For these reasons alone, the Elector’s personal presence in Torgau was always necessary. These observations are supported by newly edited sources. Several documents issued in Torgau by the brothers Frederick and John together or by John alone in the “reorganisation year” of 1513 have been recovered (translator’s note: German: “Mutschierungsjahr”, referring to a shift in the governing party of an indivisible province or dominion alternates).13 On 7 February 1514, the brothers drew up one more joint document in Torgau,14 then did so less and less frequently.15 From mid-1517 until his brother’s death, John was no longer present as an issuer of documents in Torgau.16 Although the edition of letters and records regarding church politics only takes into account part of the chancellery’s output, this discontinuation of joint government activities from Torgau correlates with the establishment of John’s own court in Weimar. On
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