page_title: Fortifications of Frankfurt
section_title: Landwehr
hierarchical_section_title: Fortifications of Frankfurt / Late-medieval city expansion / Landwehr
caption_attribution_description: English: Frankfurt on the Main: View of the city as seen from the southwest Deutsch: Frankfurt am Main: Stadtansicht von Südwesten
context_page_description: The fortifications of Frankfurt were a system of military defences of the German city of Frankfurt am Main which existed from the Middle Ages into the 19th century. Around 1000 the first city wall was built. It enclosed the area of what is now the Königspfalz in modern Frankfurt. In the twelfth century the settlement expanded into what is now Altstadt. For its protection an additional wall, the Staufenmauer, was erected. Starting in 1333, the Neustadt suburb developed north of the Altstadt and was encompassed by an additional wall with five gates. In the fifteenth century, a "landwehr border" was created around the entire territory of the Free City of Frankfurt. Beginning in 1628, the medieval city wall was developed to form a bastion fortress under the municipal architect Johann Dilich.
  After its defeat in the Kronberg Feud in 1389, Frankfurt consistently avoided military conflicts and relied on its diplomatic relationships throughout the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. For this reason, the city's fortifications, during the nearly eight centuries of their existence, have only had to stand a siege once – during the Second Schmalkaldic War, in July 1552.
context_section_description: By the mid-fourteenth century, at the time of the second city expansion, Frankfurt had a sizeable rural district. In 1372, the city became a free imperial city after paying Emperor Charles IV 8,800 guilder; it bought the Frankfurt City Forest, a 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) area of the imperial forest for a further 8,800 guilders.
  In early 1393 plans to mark the border of the city's territory with a ditch and a thick hedge – a traditional form of demarcation known as a landwehr (land defence) – were developed. In 1396 and 1397 the landwehr was constructed from the Riederhöfe to the Knoblauchshof. Two wooden observation towers were also built. These actions caused local ill feeling and the city council obtained a privilege from King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia on 13 January 1398. This permitted the city to construct moats, landwehrs and towers in and around Frankfurt and Sachsenhausen at their own discretion. The landwehr encompassed the city at a distance of three to four kilometres, approximately marking the political boundaries of the city. The ditch was outermost, with the hedge nearest the city. Later, a second ditch was dug along the western part of the landwehr.
  The area between the city wall and the landwehr consisted mainly of agricultural land. Directly in front of the city, there were vegetable plots and vineyards. These were farmed according to the flurzwang rules – similar to a medieval three-field crop rotation system. Between were small woods and meadows such as the Knoblauchsfeld and the Friedberger Feld; the latter was important for the water supply of the city. A wooden water supply pipe connected the Friedberger Feld to the Friedberger Tor from 1607.  A circle of fortified farmyards surrounded the city.
  In 1414 parts of the landwehr were rebuilt in stone. These measures attracted the attention and displeasure of Werner von Falkenstein, archbishop of the Trier, lord of Königstein and count of Castle Hayn. The city council referred to the privilege obtained from Wenceslaus and asked him for help. Subsequently they also asked Sigismund, the German king and future Holy Roman Emperor, for assistance. Sigismund personally examined one of the towers and confirmed Frankfurt's privileges. Notwithstanding, the archbishop ordered the destruction of part of the landwehr and a tower in 1416. King Sigismund, who was in London at time of the destruction, urged the archbishop to behave peacefully, and asked the city council to wait for his return to Germany to make a decision. After Werner's death in 1418 the city council ordered the reconstruction and completion of the Landwehr, which took place between 1420 and 1429. Between 1434 and 1435 an additional tower was constructed; and another between 1470 and 1471.
  During the 15th century Frankfurt acquired several villages and the Landwehr was extended accordingly to enclose them. Fearing resistance to this, especially from Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg, they asked for confirmation of their landwehr privilege and on occasion organised large parties to dig extensions of the Landwehr in secret and under armed guard. Only the five largest arterial roads allowed passage through the landwehr, each protected by towers. In the 16th century, the effectiveness of the landwehr was repeatedly put to the test. In 1517, during the autumn fair, Franz von Sickingen ambushed a convoy of merchant vehicles within the landwehr, stealing seven trading vehicles from Frankfurt.
caption: Frankfurt, seen from south-west, with its medieval fortification and the minor improvements of 1552. Chalcography, created approximately 1617/18, before 1619, by Matthäus Merian the Elder.
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