Christoph of Oldenburg

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Christoph von Oldenburg (* 1504 ; † August 4, 1566 in Rastede ) was a German general and count of Oldenburg . According to him, the war is in Denmark 1534-1536 Count's Feud called.

Life

Count of Oldenburg and ecclesiastical offices

Christoph was born as the younger son of Count Johann V von Oldenburg and his wife Anne von Anhalt-Zerbst and was thus grandson of Gerhard the Arguable and George I of Anhalt-Zerbst . As a middle son he was intended for a spiritual career, received the Augustinian monk Johannes Schiphower as a teacher and became a canon in Bremen in 1515 , later (from 1524) also in Cologne , where he had been a benefice at St. Gereon since 1516. Abbey and received a thorough humanistic education there during a traceable stay from 1518 to March 1521 . In 1530 he finally became provost of the already Protestant St. Wilhadi and Stephani monastery in Bremen. When Archbishop Hermann von Wied's attempts at Reformation failed in 1546 , Christoph also lost his canon donation. His hope of becoming Bishop of Bremen was also dashed, as he wrote to Philip of Hesse in 1558 , with whom he stayed from 1524 to 1528 and supported him in the introduction of the Reformation .

Christoph himself was an active promoter of the Reformation in the county of Oldenburg , which he and his brothers Johann VI have been doing since the death of his father in 1526 . , Georg and Anton ruled. In 1529 the youngest brother, Anton, who was also Protestant, with Christoph's support, succeeded in ousting the two older brothers, who remained Catholic like their mother, from the rule and ruled alone. Anton also allowed the Reformation promoted by Christoph in the county because it brought him additional property thanks to the monastery secularization. The marriage of her sister Anna to Chief Enno II. Cirksena , which Johann had previously rejected, improved relations with the neighboring East Frisia . In the same year Christoph was elected abbot of the Rastede monastery , found the monks with a pension and kept the monastery as a private residence. In Oldenburg he soon lost influence towards his brother, who found support for his government from his liege, Duke Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . In contrast, his influence was greater in East Frisia, where he supported the politics of his sister Anna, now widow of Enno II. Cirksena von Ostfriesland, and promoted religious tolerance. From 1561 to 1565 he gave shelter to the controversial pastor Albert Hardenberg in the Rastede monastery. Interested in humanistic education all his life, he corresponded a. a. with Philipp Melanchthon , who certified him a high level of education.

Count feud in Denmark

Since the benefices did not represent a secure source of income with the introduction of the Reformation, Christoph hired himself as a mercenary leader and general, but still strived for his own rule, although officially still clerical. After the death of the Danish King Friedrich I in 1533 he claimed the Danish throne against Frederick's son Christian III - allegedly for his cousin, King Christian II , who was deposed in 1523 and who had been imprisoned at Sønderborg Castle since 1532 . This claim was based on a common great-grandfather with Christian II and Christian III, Dietrich von Oldenburg . He was also friends with Christian II.

For this request he won the support of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck under its mayor Jürgen Wullenwever at the Hanseatic Day in Hamburg in early 1534 . The Hanseatic city wanted to use the Danish tensions for its part to restore its old supremacy on the sound . On May 14th he appeared with 4,000 mercenaries in front of the city and in the following days issued several letters to Christian III as well as to the nobility of Holstein and Denmark, in which he presented the deposition and capture of Christian II as an injustice called for his liberation and reinstatement. While the Lübeck captain Marx Meyer invaded Holstein in May without a declaration of war, Christoph did not leave Travemünde until mid-June . Before that, he undertook to give Lübeck the castles Helsingborg and Helsingör , which secured the Sund toll . Without any resistance worth mentioning, he conquered Zealand and Funen . The cities of Copenhagen and Malmö, as well as the rebellious farmers in Jutland under Skipper Clement , joined him. He thus succeeded in bringing a large part of Denmark under his control and in having himself worshiped there as governor .

In this situation, the Danish nobility agreed on Christian III. as king and strengthened, while the attackers were hampered by disagreement. Christoph refused a common line with the Mecklenburg Duke Albrecht VII , to whom Wullenwever had also promised the Danish crown, which is why the funds and troops promised from Mecklenburg for Christoph were not received. Most of the castles and towns that Christoph had joined went to Christian III, who had meanwhile been elected king, at the end of 1534, mostly without resistance. over. At the latest after Lübeck concluded a separate peace with Denmark in July 1535 and Wullenwever was deposed, Christoph no longer received any pay from there for his mercenaries. On July 28, 1536, Christoph had to surrender in Copenhagen and leave the country.

Stein in Oldenburg at the Stautorkreisel (in the bridge over the Mühlenhunte), inscription: Christof Grav To Oldenborch and Delmenhorst 1553

More campaigns

Despite the final defeat, the count's feud increased Christoph's reputation as a general. For a short time he entered the service of Burgundy . In 1538 he tried in vain for his brother Anton to wrest Delmenhorst from the diocese of Munster , which was not achieved until 1547 in the Battle of Drakenburg , in which Christoph defeated the Protestant Bremen on the side of the Schmalkaldic League against the Archbishop and Emperor Charles V with an army recruited for the Electoral Palatinate . supported. In 1552 he collected an army for Moritz von Sachsen for the uprising of the princes , but entered the Second Margrave War on the side of the Brandenburg Margrave Albrecht Alcibiades after the Passau Treaty , whereby his mercenary troops u. a. Fulda destroyed. In the following years he also fought for Albrecht Alcibiades and also supported Wilhelm von Grumbach , but without getting too involved in the dubious undertakings of Grumbach , who was outlawed in 1563 . In 1562 he offered his services to Queen Elizabeth I of England through Albert Hardenberg and Jan van Utenhove . He was also involved in the Protestant discussion about military aid for the Huguenots in France . All in all, after 1553, as a mercenary leader, he did not get beyond planning. The keeping of the peace in the empire , which became more effective after the middle of the 16th century, increasingly narrowed the freedom of movement for mercenary leaders like Christoph.

In the end, Christoph's lordly ambitions were not fulfilled either. In 1558 his hopes for archbishopric dignity in Bremen were disappointed by the bishops' electors. Furthermore, his efforts to win back his post in Cologne, lost after the failure of the reformation-friendly Archbishop Hermann von Wied in Cologne in 1546, remained unsuccessful. He no longer played a role in the Oldenburg sovereignty.

In contrast, his influence on East Frisian politics was at least temporarily significant. As the widow of the East Frisian count, his sister Anna took over the custodial government of East Frisia from 1542. She was closely related to Christoph, whose advice she often sought and followed, especially in the critical religious and political situation after the Schmalkaldic War.

family

His "housewife" Salome is mentioned in his wills of 1560 and 1566. An illegitimate son Christoph is only mentioned in 1539.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich von Alten: Count Christoff von Oldenburg and the count feud (1534–1536) . Perthes-Besser & Mauke, Hamburg 1853 ( digitized version ). , Pp. 92-93.
  2. ↑ History of St. Wilhadi and Stephani ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kirche-bremen.de
  3. ^ Friedrich von Alten: Count Christoff von Oldenburg and the count feud , pp. 94 / 97ff.
  4. ^ Friedrich von Alten: Count Christoff von Oldenburg and the count feud , pp. 119–130.
  5. ^ Friedrich von Alten: Count Christoff von Oldenburg and the count feud , pp. 142–143.
  6. ↑ History of Bremen ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www2.bremen.de
  7. ^ Letters from Jan van Utenhove to Archbishop Edmund Grindal and from Edmund Grindal to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley of August 6, 1562; Elizabeth: August 1562, 6 . In: Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth 5 (1867), pp. 6-10.
predecessor Office successor
Johann V. Oldenburg Stammwappen.png
Count of Oldenburg
1526–1566 		Anton I.
personal data
SURNAME Oldenburg, Christoph von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 1504
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1566
Place of death Rastede