Lüneburg Sate
The Lüneburg Sate (German: Lüneburger Sate) or Treaty of Lüneburg (Sate is Low German for settlement or treaty) was a territorial agreement between the territorial lord (Landesherr; i.e. the Guelphic Prince of Lüneburg) and the estates (Landesstände) in the Principality of Lüneburg established in 1392.
The treaty established a legal body whose function was to secure the rights of its members. To this end, a court, called the Satekollegium, was formed. Membership of the rulers in this body was in return for the granting of a loan to the sum of 50,000 Mark löt in bonds and was tied to the duration of the loan so that the Lüneburg Sate was in effect a mortgage contract. Besides the actual Sate letter, the treaty included three other letters, which described in detail the rights of the individual estates. The Lüneburg Sate entered into force in 1392, but ended de facto after the Sate War in 1396. It was formally rescinded in 1519.
Sources
- Michael Reinbold: Die Lüneburger Sate. Ein Beitrag zur Verfassungsgeschichte Niedersachsens im späten Mittelalter. Lax, Hildesheim, 1987. ISBN 3-7848-3656-9
- Wilhelm Havemann: Geschichte der Lande Braunschweig und Lüneburg, Vol. 2, Nachdruck. Hirschheydt, Hanover, 1974/75, ISBN 3-7777-0843-7 (Original edition: Verlag der Dietrich'schen Buchhandlung, Göttingen, 1853–1857)
- Ernst Schubert (publ.): Politik, Verfassung, Wirtschaft vom 9. bis zum ausgehenden 15. Jahrhundert ISBN 3-7752-5900-7
- Klaus Friedland: Die Sate der braunschweigisch-lüneburgischen Landsstände von 1392 (Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte, Vol. 91, 1954)