Status of Cities Within The League
Unlike other civil arrangements in Upper Lusatia at the time, there was no dominant town in the league, although before the 12th century the town of Bautzen served as the ancestral seat of the Milceni, an ancient West Slavic tribe. Even though Bautzen served as the administrative center and was often called the capital of the league and Görlitz was for several centuries both the most populous and the economically strongest town, the differences between the individual towns were never so large that one town dominated the league outright. Even so, there was a nominal division of the league's six towns into "large towns," which were Bautzen, Görlitz, and Zittau, and "small towns," which included the other three towns of Kamenz, Lauban and Löbau. Still, in principle, all six towns within the league had equal standing.
Even so, there were internal conflicts within the league. Because Bautzen served as the administrative center and capital of the league, it had the first voice in the local council, as well as several other rights and privileges. Bautzen reserved signatory power for the league concerning legal documents, and reserved the right to open all of the league's official mail. Bautzen's other special privilege as administrative center was that is was the seat of the king's representative to the league, combining military, administrative, and royal power within the town. This caused conflicts with Görlitz, especially as Görlitz had quickly and unequivocally established itself as the economic center of the league. Görlitz achieved this position of economic superiority by being more easily reached by local traffic, and expolited the advantages it gained. As time went on, Görlitz exercised more and more power within the league, even as Bautzen remained the league's administrative center.
Meanwhile, in the beginning years of the league, Zittau also hosted a representative of the king, in addition to Bautzen. The city lost its representative in 1412. However, the power granted by hosting a royal representative made the town quite wealthy, so much so that at times, Zittau was the second wealthiest town in the league, pushing Bautzen down into third place within the league. The other three towns, Löbau, Lauban, and Kamenz were economically weaker, and therefore less interested in their place within the league. When there was conflict within the cities of the league, Kamenz sided more often with Bautzen, and Lauban with Görlitz, in accordance to their geographical locations. Löbau was the weakest city in terms of military or economic power, but it laid in the middle of the region, and conciliatory councils between Bautzen and Görlitz were often held there.
Read more about this topic: Lusatian League
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