Soziale Konflikte in Hermannstadt um die Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts
Social Conflicts in Sibiu around the Middle of the 17th Century

Summary/Abstract: This study deals with the social unrest in the city of Sibiu, in the years 1645/46. The cause that accentuated the contradictions within the population of Sibiu in the middle of the 17th century was the moral decay of the ruling classes. This manifested itself in particular with the divorce of the young Coloman Gotzmeister, son of the former Saxon comes. The population of Sibiu watched closely the manifestations of immorality within the patrician families. The discontent of the people was directed especially against the parish priest Rihelius and mayor Reußner. The disturbances broke out violently in August 1645, when the young prince Gh. Rakoczi II came to Sibiu and ordered Gotzmeister's imprisonment. After the prince's departure, the people freed Gotzmeister, captured his ex-wife, who was sentenced to death by drowning. Also, mayor Reußner was replaced. The city's poor in alliance with the craftsmen take over the town's leadership. The bourgeois opposition in alliance with the patricians succeed in restoring their rule.

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