The Wars of the Two Churfursts Part 1

Looking for an occasional opportunity to get our 15mm Horse and Musket period figures into battle, my friend and I decided to invent a series of actions between Brandenburg and Bavaria which would allow us to use the many battalions and squadrons that we have collected over the years.

It isn't hard to think up a potted history of the conflict and if you can forgive the obvious mistaken reference or incomplete biographies of some of the cast of characters well it is a hobby after all, not serious history.  We enjoy a game once a month or so if luck and weather allow so this works well for us.  Originally we used a set of home rules called No Brainer rules for the WSS/GNW but we are now trying out the DBAHXT 3.0 version as both feature what we refer to as 'battalion on a base' gaming where each stand is a particular battalion with proper cuffs, turnbacks (where sartorially allowed) and button/lace combinations which matter deeply to the soldiers.

We begin the general history with an overview and a first battle report:

The Wars of the Two Churfursts

(Hohenzollern versus Wittelsbach)

Chapter 1

Even during the ten years he served the Emperor’s pleasure by keeping his army in the wars against the Turks, Maximilian II Emanuel, Churfurst of Bavaria, was constantly looking at opportunities to expand his patrimony and to raise his state to a larger and more respected role within the Empire and Europe.  Such an opportunity came about with the death of George Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. 

As early as the mid 1690’s Max Emanuel had negotiated a succession plan that called for the incorporation of this territory into Bavaria upon the occasion of the death of the final son of John Frederick’s first marriage (to the Margravine Joanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach).  It had been ruled by the Imperial Diet that John Frederick’s second wife and her sons did not have inheritance rights due to other inheritance commitments within Baden.

George Frederick II – Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach

This dispensation had been embodied in the many articles of the Treat of Ryswick in 1697 which ended the War of the League of Augsburg and returned Philippsburg, Freiburg and the Breisach to the control of the Empire but left the issue over the potential succession of the Spanish throne still unresolved.  With this dispensation in hand and with his son Electoral Prince Joseph Ferdinand as a possible claimant to the throne of Spain, Max Emanuel believed that his plans for Bavaria and the house of Wittlesbach were moving in the proper direction.  Unfortunately the untimely death of Joseph Ferdinand of smallpox at age six in 1699 eliminated this opportunity for Bavaria and moved Max Emanuel more closely into the influence of France as the Emperor and the Imperial States continued to bicker over the status of all the states and free cities within the Empire.

The importance of Brandenburg-Ansbach and it patchwork of dependencies is that it was located just south of Franconia and was surrounded by parts of Bavaria already (see map below).  By adding these disjointed territories to Bavaria proper, Max Emanuel hoped to provide for a greater ability to defend his scattered border on the river Main and also increased the possibility that further Frei Stadte and Ecclesiastical properties might fall to him over time.  Since these territories were so far removed from the territories controlled by the cadet branch of the Hohenzollern line in Brandenburg and Prussia it was felt unlikely that they would intervene in the arrangement of the succession.

During the War of the Palatinian Succession (1695 to 1697) George Frederick II fought from 1695 to 1697 as a volunteer in the Imperial Army. During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702 he succeeded in taking the fortress Bersello in Modena. He was killed at the Battle of Kittensee in 1703, and as he was unmarried Max Emanuel requested the proper revision of Brandenburg-Ansbach to Bavaria.  It was at this point that the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick III, who had recently celebrated his coronation as Frederick I King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg, tried to stop the revision and have the matter brought before an Imperial Tribunal for resolution in favor of his branch of the house of Brandenburg.

Frederick III, known as Frederick I King in Prussia since 1701.

As the death of the Margrave George Frederik II occurred during the War of the Spanish Succession, Max Emanuel was already at war with the Emperor and had moved much of the Bavarian army towards France so as to better cooperate with Louis XIV’s armies so that the immediate occupation of the Duchy of Brandenburg -Ansbach on which he resolved was not completed and several towns and citadels held out for the Brandenburg cause.  It was based on this fact that Frederick I, King in Prussia, created an army under the command of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was assembled in Brandenburg, then moved down to Bamberg on the Regnitz River. 

 Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau from a later portrait.

From here the King in Prussia provided his defense for his action to the Diet at Frankfort and asked for a Reichskommission to be established to adjudicate the dispute.  In the commission were members from each of the Churfurst holdings as well as a member from the Franconian Circle (Frankischekreis) who represented local interests.  Max Emanuel was unhappy with the constitution of this commission but was unable to secure the membership any other Kreis as his status under the Empire was complicated by his alliance with the French King.

While the Reichskommission proceeded to review the relevant documentation, the Bavarian occupation of most of the Duchy led Frederick I to authorize the ‘Dessauer’ to march and recover his territory.  The march commenced in April of 1703 and followed the Regnitz southwesterly to Forcheim where Dessau waited a full month before a further advance down the Rednitz towards Nurnberg.  It was while breaking camp at Erlangen, where he had occupied the Seehof estate of the Turn and Taxis family that he learned that the Bavarians army had moved into the area and was advancing from the west near Neustadt-an-die-Aische (or Aisch as it is now recognized).  This would be the first clash on the War of the Churfursts and the actual combat will be detailed in Chapter 2.