Jacobea
Jakobäa ( Dutch Jacoba , French Jacqueline ; * July 15, 1401 in The Hague ; † October 9, 1436 in Teilingen ) was the only legitimate child of Duke Wilhelm II of Straubing-Holland and from 1417 to 1433 as his heiress Countess of Hainaut , Holland and Zealand . Although she was already in 1420 by her uncle Johann III. was largely disempowered and in 1433 in the Hague Treaty their territories to their cousin Philip of BurgundyShe was the best-known member of her family and had to cede it, which she made her heir in the Delft Treaty of Reconciliation in 1428 . Jacobea, who was married a total of four times, died in October 1436 at the age of 35. The Straubing-Holland line of the Wittelsbach family ended with her childless death .
Life
Dauphine de France
Jakobäa was born on July 15, 1401 in The Hague as the daughter of Duke Wilhelm II of Straubing-Holland and his wife Margaret of Burgundy . Her uncle Johann Ohnefurcht , Margarete's brother, became Duke of Burgundy in 1404 . Her father Wilhelm also inherited the long-time Duke of Straubing-Holland, his father Albrecht I , in 1404, who had ruled over the duchy he helped create for half a century. Albrecht had achieved European importance through his skilful marriage policy. His daughter Johanna had married the Roman King Wenzel , Johanna Sophie had married Duke Albrecht IV of Austria and in the double wedding of Cambrai in 1385 he had entered into a double marriage alliance with Burgundy , which was ruled by a branch line of the French royal family.
Albrecht's son Wilhelm, whose marriage to a daughter of the French king had not materialized due to her early death, wanted to emulate his father in this regard and engaged his only legitimate daughter Jakobäa in Compiègne in 1406 to three years older Jean de Valois , son of French King Charles VI. and the Bavarian Wittelsbacher Isabeau . The wedding took place on August 6, 1415. The ambitious marriage policy of Albrecht and Wilhelm had thus apparently paid off, the Duchy of Straubing-Holland now seemed to be secure on all sides. However, the close association with the expanding House of Burgundy and the lack of a legitimate male heir were to cause some problems for Jacobea later. Her father had at least nine illegitimate children, but no legitimate son, which is why his brother Johann von Lüttich and his nephew Philip of Burgundy could lay claim to the succession.
When Louis , the older brother of Jean de Valois, died unexpectedly a few months after the wedding , Jacobeaa's husband was made a Dauphin . He was the designated successor to his father Charles VI. and his wife was slated to be the next queen of France. Jakobäa's father Wilhelm, who hosted the young couple several times, gained considerable influence at the French court as the future king's father-in-law. His attempts to persuade King Sigismund of Luxembourg to recognize his daughter as his successor in the counties of Holland, Zealand and Hainaut were less successful . In 1416 he was also unable to finally convince the Dutch estates of the female line of succession. At this point in time, Wilhelm, who was over 50 years old, did not yet know that he only had a few months to live.
Shortly afterwards, he also had to see the sudden end of his French plans: Jean de Valois died in early April 1417 and Wilhelm's daughter had become a widow at the age of only 16. The Dauphin was probably poisoned in Compiègne , where he got engaged to Jacobea in 1406. His widow, who just had the French throne in mind, had to fight for possession of the paternal duchy a little later after the death of her husband. Because her father died just a few weeks later, on May 31, from the effects of a dog bite. He probably got blood poisoning. The politically inexperienced Jakobäa now had to try to convince the subjects of her deceased father who had become self-confident as a result of the economic boom in the Netherlands. However, she was not the only one interested in rule over the Duchy of Straubing-Holland.
Duchess of Brabant
In Hainaut, where female succession had long been common, Jacobea was recognized on June 13, but in Holland and Zealand it was controversial from the start. While the noble Hoeken spoke out in favor of them, the city's cod party supported their uncle John III. , the youngest brother of her father. Johann had been elected Bishop of Liège since 1389 , but had never been ordained a priest. He had long toyed with the idea of establishing a secular rule in the Netherlands and willingly gave up his diocese to become Wilhelm's successor. Jakobäa initially wanted her uncle on the advice of her mother Margarethe with the title of guardian and defender of the country of Hainaut , but this really aroused his ambition. The Roman King Sigismund, who had already spoken out against Jakobäa in 1416, supported John and enfeoffed him with the counties of his deceased brother. He also gave him his niece Elisabeth von Görlitz as his wife. Elisabeth was Duchess of Luxembourg and had previously been married to Anton von Brabant , who had died in 1415 at the Battle of Azincourt .
Jacobea also remarried, but showed a less fortunate hand than her uncle. Her father is said to have chosen Johann IV , a stepson of Elisabeth von Görlitz and, as his father's successor, Anton Herzog von Brabant , as the second husband for his daughter. However, the more recent research assumes that the decision in favor of the offspring of the Brabant Duchy only arose under the leadership of her mother Margarethe and her uncle Johann von Burgundy. In any case, Johann spoke out in favor of this marriage, which was intended to secure the existence of the duchy even if the estates spoke out against female succession. The engagement took place on July 31, two months after Wilhelm's death. His marriage to John IV in March 1418 in The Hague, however, turned out to be a failure. The close relationship of the two spouses made a papal dispensation necessary, which was granted in December 1417, but was revoked in January 1418, as Jacobea's opponents, including King Sigismund, spoke out against it at the Council of Constance . In addition, the young Duke Johann IV, who also had to struggle with considerable financial worries, was by no means up to his older namesake.
John III, who could be sure of the support of Sigismund and the codfish, took up arms. In 1417 the troops of uncle and niece met in the battle of Gorkum . Jakobäa remained victorious, but had to cope with the defection of the important trading city Dordrecht . In addition, their marriage has stood on feet of clay since the royal intervention in Constance initiated by her uncle. The marriage was possible thanks to the support of the Hennegau estates, which on May 11th explicitly opposed the claims of Johann III. expressed themselves, despite the lack of dispensation, but Jacobea's own concerns about the marriage became greater and greater. Nevertheless, on May 29, 1418, against the express wish of King Sigismund, her husband took the oath of rulership in Mons, Hennegau . However, Johann von Brabant used the rights that he has officially been entitled to since then more to reorganize himself financially than to support his wife in her fight against the uncle and the king. In 1419 Jakobäa had to accept the settlement of Workum brokered by her cousin Philip, who later became Duke of Burgundy , who awarded Dordrecht, Gorkum and Rotterdam with the associated lordships to their opponent.
Johann III. In return, he only had to recognize the legality of the marriage between Jacobea and John of Brabant and formally waive his claims by returning letters to the Pope and King. This decision was made even easier by the fact that he not only received high financial compensation, but was also part of the government of the areas ruled by Jacobea and John of Brabant for five years. His military threats and intervention with the Pope had paid off. In May 1419, Pope Martin V also revoked the revocation of the dispensation. Jakobäa's heavily indebted husband pledged Johann III against her will on April 21, 1420 in the Treaty of St. Martinsdyk . for twelve years his share in the government of the duchy. The fact that her uncle renounced the repayment of the debts and the county of Hainaut was little consolation for Jakobäa, whose husband had also appointed her uncle as heir and released her Dutch, Zeeland and Frisian subjects from their oath of loyalty. With the exception of Hainaut, Johann von Brabant had given up all of his wife's possessions in order to improve his financial situation. The Jacobea, who was not very enthusiastic about this, was now striving for separation.
Duchess of Gloucester
In the meantime, the general political climate had changed fundamentally. The Duke of Burgundy, Johann Ohnefurcht, was murdered in September 1419, the French Dauphin Karl , the brother of Jakobäa's first husband, was considered complicit and was therefore disinherited in the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 . The English King Henry V was now to become King of France as well. Jakobäa left her incompetent husband in 1420. In February 1421 she published a statement in which she stated that she considered the marriage null and void because of the land-damaging behavior of John of Brabant. However , she could do little on her own against the soldiers of her uncle, who were led by his Lower Bavarian vicarage Heinrich Nothaft . When with Leiden the last city still ruled by the Hoeks to Johann III. Had fallen, Jacobea had to admit defeat.
On March 6, 1421 she fled to England to ask the English King Henry V for help, who gave her a splendid welcome. In 1422 she married Humphrey of Gloucester , the king's brother, who after Henry's death took over the reign of his underage son . The news of the marriage hit the mainland like a bomb. On October 15, 1422 it became known that Jacobea had not only married one of the most powerful princes in Europe, but was also pregnant by him. Before Jacobea could be sure of her position, however, she first had to arrange for her marriage to Johann von Brabant to be annulled. However, when they the Popes Martin V in Rome and Benedict XIII. When asked in Avignon, the old opponents, John III. and Philip of Burgundy, suddenly advocates of the dissolved marriage. In his own interest, Philip had to be concerned at the same time to prevent an English invasion and to enable a compromise between the two husbands of Jacobea.
In the autumn of 1424 Jacobea returned to their ancestral duchy together with Humphrey; English troops should emphasize their claims. The couple landed in Calais and finally arrived in Mons at the end of November, where the Humphrey estates recognized Humphrey as governor on December 5th. Already on January 3, 1425 he signed with
"Humphrey, by the grace of God Son, brother and uncle of kings, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Hainaut, Holland, Zealand and Pembroke, Lord of Friesland and Grand Chamberlain of England"
However, there was no longer a fight with Jakobäa's uncle Johann, who also ruled the Lower Bavarian part of the duchy. Johann died on Epiphany in 1425. Apparently his court master Jan van Vliet had coated the corners of the ducal prayer book with poison.
Mrs. van Borsselen
Jacobea could finally have succeeded her father if her uncle had not appointed his nephew Philip of Burgundy as heir. Philipp, who is only incompletely characterized by his nickname “the good”, was far more unscrupulous in the pursuit of his goals than his predecessor (see also Battle of Brouwershaven 1426). He took Jakobäa prisoner, in 1427 incorporated the Duchy of Brabant from the hapless John IV into his domain and finally achieved in 1428 in the Delft Treaty of Reconciliation that Jakobäa recognized him as his successor. Her third husband, who must have recognized the hopelessness of her endeavors, had already left her at this point.
Jacobea, worn down by captivity, now had to accept that their more than ten years of struggle had been in vain. In 1432 she married her former guardian, the Zeeland nobleman Frank van Borsselen , who was promptly captured by Philipp. In return for the release of her fourth husband, Jakobäa transferred all rights to the counties of Holland, Zealand and Hainaut to Philip of Burgundy on April 12, 1433 in the Hague Treaty . She retired into private life and died of tuberculosis just three years later . Frank van Borsselen survived it by 34 years.
reception
Older representations
The contemporary chronicler Andreas von Regensburg , who also referred to Straubing-Holland in his works Diarium sexennale and Chronica Husitarum , treated Jakobäa's fate in detail. So he wrote:
“The same Wilhelmus [Wilhelm II.] Died around the time when one zalt 1409, and lyes ain tachter, called fraw Jacoba. Dy Jacoba het first to the ee dolphin of France. [Jean de Touraine] Since he died, since he came to Brabant. Since then, sy won't stay and name the king's brother of Engelland. [Humphrey of Gloucester] Dy fraw Jacoba, da ir father, Duke Wilhalm, died something, there you want to own your own country [Hainaut, Holland, Zealand and Friesland] from inheritance because of inheritance and that's why you write your own country. Herwider duke Johans, elect of Liège, wrote himself sun of the same country Henigaw, Holand and the other and lye the bistumbe of Liège [...] and glorified the same country in its power some vil with great war. "
In later centuries the last member of the House of Straubing-Holland, like the Duchy of Straubing-Holland as a whole, was rarely the subject of research. In addition to Lorenz Westenrieder's work Von den Baiern in Holland (1345–1436) , written in 1782, and the work of the Lower Bavarian lawyer Joseph Anton von Mussinan on the history of the ducal Lower Bavarian line Straubing-Holland , Franz von Löher's two-volume study Jakobäa von Bayern should be mentioned and their time (1862/69). Löher presented Jakobäa, who had never been to Bavaria, as a Bavarian patriot who fought against the advance of the French. Working more from the sources, but also intent on stylizing the dispute over the Dutch counties as a struggle for Germany , was Friedrich Schneider's biography of Duke Johann von Baiern , published in 1913 . Elected Bishop of Liège and Count of Holland (1373–1425) .
Recent research
More recent representations of the Duchy of Straubing-Holland come from the pen of Max Kirnberger ( Das Herzogtum Straubing-Holland 1353-1429, 1968) and Theodor Straubs ( Bavaria under the sign of the divisions and partial duchies, 1977/88). In the years that followed, only a few special studies appeared, it was not until the 650th anniversary of the Duchy in 2003 that research interest revived. In addition to “princes in the distance”. The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing-Holland 1353–1425 by Dorit-Maria Krenn and Joachim Wild have been the anthology since then, 650 years of the Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing-Holland. Lecture series by the Historical Association for Straubing and the Surrounding Area (2005) and Michaela Bleicher's dissertation The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing in the Hussite Wars. Everyday life and warfare in the Spiegel der Landschreiberrechnung (2006) published. An up-to-date biography of Jacobea, however, which comprises more than a few pages, remains a desideratum.
The confrontation with Jakobäa was not limited to German-language research. In his six-volume Cartulaire des Comtes de Hainaut de l'avènement de Guillaume II à la mort de Jacqueline de Bavière , Léopold Devillers collected the documents of Jacobea, her father Wilhelm II and her uncle Johann III from 1881-96 . Edouard Le Blant wrote in Les quatre mariages de Jacqueline, Duchesse en Bavière in 1904 about their four marriages. In Dutch literature and tradition, Jakobäa long played a role similar to that of her contemporaries Agnes Bernauer in Bavarian or Jeanne d'Arc in French. In the 1960s, the Dutch historian HPH Jansen published a book on the hook-and-cod war ( Hoekse en Kabeljauwse Twisten, 1966) and one on Jakobäa ( Jacoba van Beieren, 1967). Costume parties are still held in her honor at Teilingen Castle , a statue of Jakobäas can be found in Woudrichem in the Netherlands and a tennis club also bears her name. The most important recent works in Dutch come from Jansen's pupil Dick EH de Boer, who also made some contributions to the anthologies of the Historisches Verein für Straubing and the surrounding area.
Jakobäabilder
Compared to many other members of her house, who received little attention in research and literature, the politically unsuccessful Jacobean was treated quite extensively and in various ways. Franz von Löher already commented on the reasons for this in the dedication of his book Jakobäa von Bayern und their time . In it he wrote to the Bavarian King Maximilian II :
“Jakobäa is enveloped in the magic of romance, the heroine of countless tragedies. Even today she has [...] 'for the Dutch the immortal life of an Iphigenia, Maria Stuart, the Virgin of Orléans and other sacred women'. [...] Once more she fluttered his banner before the old knighthood. […] The last dark shadow, the last forest freshness of the Middle Ages, still blows over the age of Jacobea. But just like at the exit of a forest, the bright seeds of modern times shimmer through the trunks and branches. "
The German historian Laetitia Boehm attributed Jakobäa's attractiveness for scholarly and fiction authors to three main factors: her early death, her struggle against the expansion of Burgundy and her contemporaneity with Joan of Arc. Jacobea was even personally linked to the Hundred Years War between France and England through her family ties and, above all, through her marriage to Humphrey of Gloucester . Their eventful lives and especially their four marriages were also particularly attractive to later authors. It was not for nothing that Le Blant's Jacobean biography was called Les quatre mariages de Jacqueline . According to HPH Jansen, the three politically motivated marriages and finally the love marriage with Frank van Borsselen stimulated the imagination of middle-class ladies who could cry for poor Jacoba in the seclusion of their boudoirs, for what was done to her by selfish, heartless men . A century earlier, Löher hit a similar line when he wrote in the second volume of his biography - albeit without the ironic undertone of Jansen:
“So far the young widow had only pulled shiny rivets out of the man's world. Her first husband, the Crown Prince of France, was poisoned before he was sixteen years old. The second, the Duke of Brabant, was an immature young man without strength or intelligence: from him she fled to London out of shame and bloody horror. There she had chosen the third, the knightly handsome prince and protector of England: but he had shown himself to be a wretched weakling. How heavy did the solid metal weigh against its worth in Borsselen's character! "
Regardless of what image one made of her, Jakobäa is one of the most popular Wittelsbach women. Except for her great-grandmother Margarethe I , the ancestral mother of the Straubing-Holland family, none of her ancestors was written as much as about her. Of the male representatives of her house, no matter how important they may have been in some cases, none of them aroused nearly as much interest as Jacobea. Since Jansen's work at the latest, however, her person and her tragic fate have receded into the background in favor of a more comprehensive consideration in the context of the political upheavals of the European late Middle Ages. The development of modern territorial states that can be seen in retrospect and the complex diplomacy of that time, as practiced by King Sigismund, for example, overwhelmed the last Duchess of Straubing-Holland, who, unlike her father or uncle, had not had the opportunity before taking office to gain political experience. In German-language research, however, a more detailed examination of their work against this background has so far not been taken.
literature
The Wikisource entry on Jakobäa provides a detailed bibliography ; the following selection is limited to basic, more recent works.
- Laetitia Boehm : The Wittelsbach House in the Netherlands . In: Journal for Bavarian State History . tape 44 , 1981, pp. 93-130 , especially 94-97, 116-125 ( online ).
- Alfons Huber, Johannes Prammer (ed.): 650 years of the Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing-Holland. Lecture series by the historical association for Straubing and the surrounding area . Historical association for Straubing and the surrounding area, Straubing 2005, ISBN 3-00-014600-8 , p. 327-331, 347-349, 369-371 .
- Antheun Janse: A pion for a lady. Jacoba van Beieren (1401-1436) . Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam 2009, ISBN 978-94-6003-185-4 .
- Hubertus Petrus Henricus Jansen: Jacoba van Beieren . 2nd Edition. Kruseman, The Hague 1976, ISBN 90-233-0346-6 .
- Dorit-Maria Krenn, Joachim Wild : “princes in the distance”. The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing-Holland 1353–1425 (= booklets on Bavarian history and culture . Volume 28 ). House of Bavarian History, Augsburg 2003, ISBN 3-927233-86-2 , p. 34-37, 42, 44 .
- Heinrich Neu: Jakobaea of Bavaria. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 323 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Marita A. Panzer: Wittelsbach women. Princely daughters of a European dynasty . Pustet, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7917-2419-5 , p. 49-65 .
- Hans Patze : The Wittelsbacher in the medieval politics of Europe . In: Journal for Bavarian State History . tape 44 , 1981, pp. 33-79 , especially 76-77 ( online ).
- Joachim Wild: Holland. The Wittelsbacher on the North Sea (1346–1436) . In: Alois Schmid , Katharina Weigand (Hrsg.): Bavaria in the middle of Europe. From the early Middle Ages to the 20th century . CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52898-8 , p. 92-106 , especially 103-106 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Jakobäa in the catalog of the German National Library
- Dorit-Maria Krenn: Straubing-Holland . In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria
Remarks
- ↑ In older literature, the day of St. James, July 25th, is also mentioned as a birthday.
- ^ Léopold Devillers: Cartulaire des Comtes de Hainaut de l'avènement de Guillaume II à la mort de Jacqueline de Bavière. Volume 4, Hayez, Brussels 1889, no.1157, p. 91.
- ↑ Antheun Janse: Een voor een pion lady. P. 121 f.
- ↑ Devillers, Vol. 4, No. 1173, pp. 109 ff .; No. 1174, p. 111 f.
- ↑ Devillers, Vol. 4, No. 1199, pp. 158 ff.
- ↑ Devillers, Vol. 4, No. 1228, pp. 187 f.
- ↑ Devillers, Vol. 4, No. 1235, pp. 199 f.
- ↑ Devillers, Vol. 4, No. 1251, p. 220; Frans van Mieris: Groot charterboek der Graaven van Holland, van Zeeland en heeren van Vriesland . tape 4 . van der Eyk, Leyden 1756, p. 545 .
- ^ Georg Leidinger (ed.): Andreas von Regensburg. All works (= sources and discussions on Bavarian and German history . New series, volume 1 ). Rieger, Munich 1903, p. 651-652 ( online ).
- ↑ On the history of research up to 1980 see Boehm: Das Haus Wittelsbach in the Netherlands. Pp. 93-97. For more recent developments see Bleicher: The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing in the Hussite Wars. Pp. 9-14.
- ↑ Excerpt from Löher's letter of dedication to Maximilian II, cf. Franz von Löher: Jakobäa von Bayern und Ihr Zeit. Eight books of Dutch history . tape 1 . CH Beck, Nördlingen 1862, p. vii – viii ( digitized version ).
- ↑ See Boehm: The Wittelsbach House in the Netherlands. P. 95.
- ↑ Jansen: Jacoba van Beieren. P. 7; Translation according to Boehm: The Wittelsbach House in the Netherlands .
- ↑ Franz von Löher: Jakobäa von Bayern and their time. Eight books of Dutch history . tape 2 . CH Beck, Nördlingen 1862, p. 483 ( digitized version ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jacobea |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jacoba; Jacque |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Heiress to Hainaut, Holland and Zealand |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 15, 1401 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The hague |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 9, 1436 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Teilingen |