Cologne Diocesan Feud

The Cologne Diocesan Feud (German: Kölner Stiftsfehde, or Stiftsfehde zu Köln), also called the Neuss War (Neusser Krieg) or Burgundian War (Burgundischer Krieg), was a conflict, which began in 1473, between the Archbishop of Cologne, Ruprecht of the Palatinate and the Landstände of his archbishopric that began in 1473. As a result of the involvement of Charles the Bold of Burgundy and, eventually, the Holy Roman Empire the matter at times assumed a European dimension. It finally ended when Ruprecht died in 1480.

The background was that, after the death of Dietrich II of Moers (), the estates in the secular dominion ("Archbishopric") of the Archbishop of Cologne banded together to form so-called "hereditary estate agreements" (Erblandesvereinigungen). The Erblandesvereinigung in the Diocese itself also joined the ecclesiastical territory of Vest Recklinghausen. In the Duchy of Westphalia the estates agreed their own Erblandesvereinigung. These agreements had henceforth to be sworn by new archbishops in their role as territorial rulers. The Erblandesvereinigung envisaged that, in this case of important fiscal and public policy issues, the sovereign had to seek the permission of estates or Landstände. Although Ruprecht came from the centre of the cathedral chapter, it was not long before he ignored the Erblandesvereinigung he had sworn. Instead he hired mercenaries from the Palatinate, with whom he intended to recapture the estates enfeoffed by previous archbishops. When he let a dispute occur over the raising of a poll and hearth tax on the town of Zons, which was enfeoffed to the cathedral chapter, the conflict broke out openly. He also tried to take the town of Neuss by force. The Landstände saw the actions of the Archbishop as an infraction of Erblandesvereinigung, relied on their right to opposition and deposed Ruprecht. In his place, in the spring of 1473, they elected Hermann of Hesse as the administrator (Stiftsverweser) of the Diocese. The estates had strong support from the cities of Cologne and Neuss.

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