Förtsch from Thurnau
The von Förtsch and Förtsch von Thurnau families were an old Franconian noble family .
history
origin
According to Ruprecht Konrad-Röder, the Förtsch are among the descendants of Wigger von Langheim, who was documented in 1059/1096 . He concludes this from the leading names Arnold, Eberhard and Wolfram appearing in this family association, which the Förtschen also carried, and from the coincidence of property complexes on the middle Upper Main. Eberhard (I.) "de Briswizze" ( Oberpreuschwitz ) and his son Arnold (I.), known as "de Menigen" ( Menchau ) in 1167 , under the ministry of Count Berthold von Andechs-Meranien , appeared as the ancestors of the family . The tower hill in Dörnhof near Oberpreuschwitz is the headquarters .
Eberhard II, the son of Arnold I, appeared around 1205 with the nickname "Vorsco", which, according to Konrad-Röder, is a Slavic loan word from the German, meaning follower (to Slavic borscha = boy, boy ). Another descendant of Arnold von Menchau appeared around 1216 with the nickname "hospes", the Latin word for guest or host. He is considered to be the progenitor of the von Wirsberg family . In 1244 Eberhardus Forscho de Turnowe and his son Albert (I.) de Waldinrode received the Arnstein Castle as a fief from Andechs-Meranier Otto VIII . This means that the Wallenrode / Waldenfels family association also descends from the Förtschen.
Thurnau Castle
In 1244 Eberhard III called himself. Förtsch “de Turnowe” for the first time. Thurnau is now a market in the district of Kulmbach in Upper Franconia . The rule of Thurnau was in the sphere of interest of the burgraves of Nuremberg, who were keen to expand their territories, and the bishops of Bamberg . It had come from the Walpoten to the Förtsch. Dietrich II., The Bernese, a grandson of “Eberhard III. Forscho de Turnowe ”, sold his share in Thurnau in 1288 to the Bamberg bishop Arnold von Solms . His cousin Albert II initially gave his free Thurnau castle to the Bamberg bishop in 1292, but then sold it in 1307 to the burgrave Friedrich IV of Nuremberg . Kasendorf , Döllnitz , Muckenreuth , Hörlinreuth , Felkendorf , Menchau , Limmersdorf and Berndorf were named as property of the Förtsch at that time . In response to the protest of Bishop Wulfing von Bamberg, this contract had to be canceled, but Kasendorf remained in the possession of the burgrave.
One of the most important rights that the Förtsche had to exercise in their rule of Thurnau was that of high jurisdiction . The Nuremberg burgraves tried to dispute this rule-building right, so that Martin Förtsch found it necessary in 1397 to have King Wenzel confirm the “neck court with stick and gallows” in Thurnau . The disputes between the Förtschen and the neighboring Hohenzollern were only settled in 1539, when Wolf Förtsch agreed to receive "the fraish authorities of Thurnau" from the margraves of Brandenburg as a fief. The family was organized in the knight canton of Gebürg .
The oldest part of the castle is the bower, the "Hus uf dem Stein", from the 13th century. It was built by the knights of Förtsch. Between 1430 and 1477 the archive building and a residential wing were added.
The knight Jorg was "the oldest and last of the Förtsch family", with him the family went out on Good Friday (March 31st) 1564. The extensive property of the family fell to the daughter Ursula of Wolf Förtsch, who died in 1551. She was married to Hans Friedrich von Künsberg , her sisters Anastasia to Siegmund Fuchs von Rügheim, who died before 1564, and Barbara to Hans Georg von Giech zu Buchau . Anastasia Fuchs von Rügheim was compensated with money; the von Giech and von Künsberg families became the lords of Thurnau.
Related sexes
Directly related noble families include the Fuchs von Rügheim , Giech , Künsberg and Sparneck .
Personalities
- Katharina Förtsch von Thurnau , Abbess of Himmelkron Monastery (1409–1410)
coat of arms
Blazon : “In the lace cut of red and silver divided diagonally to the right. A tombstone in the Himmelkron monastery, which was dated before 1300, shows a bear's trunk as a helmet ornament. In Scheibler's book of arms, the helmet ornament is crowned and the trunk was raised on two raised black paws with a golden crossbar. The helmet covers are red and silver. ”The colors red and silver in the coat of arms of the municipality of Stadelhofen are reminiscent of the von Förtsch and von Giech families .
Coat of arms of the von Förtsch family
Coat of arms of the municipality of Stadelhofen
literature
- Rüdiger Bauriedel, Ruprecht Konrad-Roder: Medieval fortifications and low-nobility mansions in the Bayreuth district . Bayreuth 2007
- Franz Karl Frhr. v. Guttenberg: Thurnau castle and palace construction . 1913
- Franz Frhr. v. Guttenberg: The rule of Thurnau and the Foertsche . Thurnau 1925
- Friedrich Wilhelm Anton Layritz: Contribution to the history of the Förtschen von Thurnau . Bayreuth 1796
- Gustav Adelbert Seyler : history of heraldry: coat of arms, coat of arms art, coat of arms science. Bauer & Raspe, Neustadt ad Aisch, 1970, p. 227
- Gustav Voit: The nobility on the Upper Main . Kulmbach 1969, pp. 91-102