Peter von Hagenbach
{{short description|German military and civil commander (1420–1474)}}
File:Deutsche Geschichte5-310.jpg
File:Blason Hagenbach.svg of Hagenbach]]
Peter von Hagenbach (c. 1420 – May 9, 1474), also Pierre de Hagenbach, Pietro di Hagenbach, Pierre d'Archambaud, or Pierre d'Aquenbacq, was a Burgundian knight from Alsace, German military and civil commander, and convicted war criminal. The trial of Hagenbach was the first known trial of a war crime in history.
Biography
He was born into an Alsatian-Burgundian family, originally from Hagenbach, where they owned a castle.{{cn|date=January 2021}}
He was instated as bailiff of Upper Alsace by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, to administer the territories and rights on the Upper Rhine which had been mortgaged by Duke Sigmund of Further Austria for 50,000 florins in the Treaty of St. Omer in 1469. There he coined the term {{lang|de|Landsknecht}}{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}—from German, {{lang|de|Land}} ("land, country") + {{lang|de|Knecht}} ("servant"). It was originally intended to indicate soldiers of the lowlands of the Holy Roman Empire as opposed to the Swiss mercenaries. As early as 1500 the misleading spelling {{lang|de|Lanzknecht}} became common because of the phonetic and visual similarity between {{lang|de|Land(e)s}} ("of the land/territory") and {{lang|de|Lanze}} ("lance").
Following a rebellion by towns of the Upper Rhine against his tyranny, Hagenbach was put on trial for the atrocities committed during the occupation of Breisach. His trial, which was held by an ad hoc tribunal of the Holy Roman Empire in 1474, was the first "international" recognition of commanders' obligations to act lawfully.{{cite journal |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/57jq2x.htm |title=The evolution of individual criminal responsibility under international law |date=September 30, 1999 |journal=International Review of the Red Cross |issue=835 |first=Edoardo |last=Greppi |volume=81 |pages=531–553 |doi=10.1017/S1560775500059782 |access-date=November 21, 2023}}{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Linda |url=https://hls.harvard.edu/today/exhibit-highlights-the-first-international-war-crimes-tribunal/ |title=Exhibit highlights the first international war crimes tribunal |date=April 1, 2006 |magazine=Harvard Law Bulletin |access-date=November 21, 2023}} He was convicted of crimes, specifically murder, war rape, and perjury, among other crimes, that "he as a knight was deemed to have a duty to prevent". He defended himself by arguing that he was only following orders from the Duke of Burgundy, to whom the Holy Roman Empire had given Breisach.{{cite journal |journal=Georgia State University Law Review |volume=22 |issue=3 |date=Spring 2006 |title=The Perennial Conflict Between International Criminal Justice and Realpolitik |first=M. Cherif |last=Bassiouni|url=https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2115&context=gsulr&httpsredir=1 |page=551 |access-date=November 21, 2023}} The ad hoc tribunal, however, refused to accept this as a defense. Peter von Hagenbach was found guilty of murder, rape, and perjury, and was beheaded at Breisach.{{cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/law/public-international-law/introduction-international-criminal-court-6th-edition?format=HB&isbn=9781108727365 |title=An Introduction to the International Criminal Court |year=2007 |first=William A. |last=Schabas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-521-88125-8 |chapter=Chapter 1: Creation of the Court|chapter-url=http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/81258/excerpt/9780521881258_excerpt.pdf |access-date=November 21, 2023}}
Legacy
Although there was no explicit use of a doctrine of command responsibility, it is seen as the first trial based on that principle.[http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/general/2005/command.htm Command Responsibility] The Mens Rea Requirement, By Eugenia Levine, Global Policy Forum, February 2005 It also includes the earliest documented prosecution of sexually-based/targeted crimes before an international tribunal when he was convicted for rapes committed by his troops.Luping, Diane. 2009. “Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes before the International Criminal Court.” Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law. 17(2): 431–492. More recently, the trial of Peter von Hagenbach has been cited to argue against ongoing efforts in modern Australia seeking the retrial or posthumous pardon of convicted Boer War criminals Breaker Morant, Peter Handcock, George Witton, and Henry Picton. {{Cite book |last=Leach |first=Charles |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/808438842 |title=The legend of Breaker Morant is dead and buried : a South African version of the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Zoutpansberg : May 1901–April 1902 |date=2012 |publisher=Charles Leach |isbn=978-0-620-52056-0 |location=Louis Trichardt, South Africa |oclc=808438842}} p. 194.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{NIE Poster|year=1905|Hagenbach, Peter von|Peter von Hagenbach}}
- [https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5cd077/pdf THE TRIAL OF PETER VON HAGENBACH: RECONCILING HISTORY, HISTORIOGRAPHY, AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW]
- [http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/15cen/swissburg14741477.html Swiss-Burgundian War 1474–1477]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagenbach, Peter Von}}
Category:15th-century German people
Category:Executed German mass murderers
Category:Executed military leaders
Category:German people convicted of murder
Category:German people convicted of rape
Category:German people convicted of perjury
Category:German people executed for war crimes
Category:People executed in the Holy Roman Empire by decapitation