Johann von Bieberstein
Johann von Bieberstein (* around 1342; † February 3, 1424 ) was a nobleman who was one of the most powerful lords in the Kingdom of Bohemia and was therefore able to successfully pass feuds with King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia . Together with his brother Ulrich, he owned the dominions Friedland (today Frýdlant v Čechách in the Czech Republic ), in the margraviate Niederlausitz the dominion Sorau (today Żary in the voivodeship Lebus in Poland ), in Brandenburg the dominions Beeskow and Storkow , and in Upper Lusatia, the Landeskrone , Tauchritz , Forst and Triebel .
origin
Friedrich came from the noble family of the Lords of Bieberstein , whose name is derived from the Bieberstein Castle in the margraviate of Meißen and who are wealthy in northern Bohemia as well as in Silesia and in the “ Lausitz ”, ie in the margravates of Upper and Lower Lusatia was.
His father was Baron Friedrich von Bieberstein (* before 1306; † 1360 ) who was one of the most powerful lords in the Kingdom of Bohemia and one of the most important vassals and confidants of Emperor Charles IV (of Luxembourg). In Bohemia he owned, among others, the dominions Friedland (today Frýdlant v Čechách in the Czech Republic), in the margraviate Niederlausitz the dominion Sorau (today Żary in the voivodeship Lebus in Poland), as well as the castles Landeskrone (on the local mountain of the city of Görlitz ) and Tauchritz in the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia .
His mother was Hedwig von Pak (Pack) cl. 1345, the only daughter and thus heir of her father, Ulrich von Pak, the owner of the town and rule of Sorau in Lower Lusatia (today Żary in the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland).
Life
Early years
Johannes von Bieberstein was his father's older son. He received an upbringing in line with his status, which also included studying at the still very young University of Prague , which also meant that he was well trained to manage his extensive property.
After his father's death, he settled in the Sorau estate in Lower Lusatia, which came from his mother's inheritance, while his younger brother, Ulrich von Bieberstein, resided in Friedland (now Frýdlant v Čechách ) and thus in Northern Bohemia. The brothers had inherited extensive territory from their parents,
It is not evident that there was an effective division of property between the brothers, since both regularly appear together.
In 1375 they jointly sold their share in the village of Hartau , which belonged to them and the Burgraves of Dohna , to the council of Zittau ( district town in the district of Görlitz ) for 300 marks Prague groschen and in 1380 also the duty due to them in Ostritz (in the district of Görlitz ). In 1376 Johannes traveled with his brother Ulrich to Tangermünde (on the Elbe in northern Saxony-Anhalt ), which was the second seat of Emperor Karl IV at that time, to attend an important event. There the union of the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Margraviate of Niederlausitz with the Kingdom of Bohemia was carried out with a solemn act . Charles IV had acquired these margravates after intensive efforts through the Treaty of Fürstenwalde (1373) from Duke Otto V “the lazy” of Upper Bavaria (* 1346, † 1379) in order to decisively expand his power base.
Feud against King Wenceslas IV.
For Johannes and his brother, however, there were not only reasons to celebrate, but also reasons to fight.
It is not entirely clear to what extent Johann von Bieberstein was involved in the internal power struggles within the House of Luxembourg . Wenceslaus of Luxembourg , the eldest son of Emperor Charles IV, was crowned King of Bohemia as Wenceslaus IV as a child in 1363, was also King of the Romans from 1376 and was also Elector of Brandenburg from 1373 to 1378 . Despite his abundance of power, King Wenceslas was often characterized by indecision and inaction, which not only earned him the nickname "the lazy", but also angered the Bohemian nobility against him. His cousin Jobst of Moravia saw this as an opportunity to come to power himself. He therefore encouraged the discontented nobility to revolt, which led to King Wenceslaus being captured by representatives of the lordship on May 8, 1383 in Königshof (today Králův Dvůr in the Beroun district in the Czech Republic ), while Jobst of Moravia took over the administration. As part of the nobility gathered around Wenzel's younger brother, Duke Johann von Görlitz (* 1370, † 1396) to free the king, Wenzel was relocated to Wildberg Castle in Upper Austria for security . After lengthy negotiations, King Wenceslas was finally released, but had to promise not to pursue the rebels. However, Wenzel did not keep this promise and had the leaders of the rebels persecuted, and at times castles belonging to the von Bieberstein family such as Friedland, Beeskow and Storkow were also affected.
The next dispute developed as a late consequence of the marriage of Johannes von Bieberstein with the only daughter of Reinhard von Strele , who came from an imperial ministerial family from the Burgraviate Strehla on the Elbe and the lords of Beeskow and Storkow (both in today's Oder-Spree district in Brandenburg) owned. When he died in 1384 without leaving any male heirs, Johann von Bieberstein took over both lords as heir to his father-in-law. King Wenzel IV of Luxembourg saw this in his capacity as Margrave of Brandenburg and feudal lord, namely as a fiefdom that had fallen back to him as sovereign . In view of the conflicting claims, King Wenzel asked Johann von Bieberstein to hand over the rulers to a trustee until the legal situation was clarified . However, Bieberstein defied this order and took possession of both cities by force. This shows that this Herr von Biberstein not only had a good deal of self-confidence, but also a corresponding military strength, because after all he did not oppose the order of any feudal lord, but that of the most powerful prince of the Holy Roman Empire .
King Wenzel - outraged by the disobedience of his vassal - therefore instructed the governor of Upper Lusatia , Benesch Berka von Dubá and Lipa, to take action against Bieberstein with the call of the feudal people and cities, and to take away the lordships he had "unwillingly withheld". He ordered the knighthood and the Upper Lusatian six-city league , which included the cities of Bautzen , Görlitz , Kamenz , Lauban , Löbau and Zittau, to accompany the governor within eight days and to occupy the property in question. On July 22, 1384, King Wenzel also sent an order with the same name to the “mayor, red, burgern and common” of the city of Görlitz.
It is not certain whether the planned campaign against Johann von Bieberstein actually came about. What is certain, however, is that he kept the two rulers and thus either the campaign - for example with regard to the internal power struggles - did not take place, or that Johann von Bieberstein was able to defend himself successfully. In the following year he managed to win the trust of Johann von Luxemburg (* 1370, † 1396), Duke of Görlitz since 1377, even though he was a younger brother of King Wenceslaus. In 1385 in the town of Luckau in Niederlausitz, today in the Dahme-Spreewald district , he was even able to make a comparison with other lords of the Lausitz between Duke Johann and the estates of the Mark. King Wenzel is therefore likely to have accepted Bieberstein's rights to the Beeskow and Storkow rulers and subsequently enfeoffed him with them.
A year later, in 1387, there was another feud against King Wenzel IV. The reason could have been the capture of a servant of the king named Hans Hans Reuker by Johann von Bieberstein. After the matter had initially been dealt with in writing, there was violence towards the end of 1387. Johann von Bieberstein not only called his feudal people together, but allied himself with his brother Ulrich von Bieberstein on Friedland and several gentlemen in the neighborhood, and so set up a considerable force that made forays into the area around Görlitz, threatening the city itself and robbed and devastated the surrounding land. The Council of Görlitz then had the gates and the guards reinforced and urgently turned to King Wenzel and Duke Johann von Görlitz.
The bailiff of Upper Lusatia was then ordered to take action against the Lords of Bieberstein using the contingent of the city and the country. However, this failed for the time being because both the cities and the nobility demanded a written guarantee that they would be compensated for all expenses and that their privileges would not suffer any reduction in their privileges. It was not until the end of 1387 that Duke Johann von Görlitz gave an assurance in this regard, whereupon an army gathered near the city of Bautzen (today a major district town in Saxony ) at the beginning of February , with Görlitz alone providing 40 men on horseback and just as many men on foot . Instead of attacking Johann von Bieberstein and his troops, which were located near Sorau and Cottbus (today the largest town in Niederlausitz), the ducal contingent marched to Friedland, the seat of his brother Ulrich, surprised the occupation there and captured the castle within a few days.
This defeat moved Johann to give in. A truce was signed. Friedland was returned to the Biebersteine, whereupon the ducal contingent dispersed again. However, Johann had used the period of the armistice for further armaments and therefore wanted to strike again after the armistice had expired. Thanks to the intervention of Przemislaus I, Duke of Teschen (1358–1410), who at that time owned half of Glogau, a lasting peace was achieved.
The agreement with the Duke of Görlitz improved as a result, so that in the spring of 1392, when Duke Johann returned from a pilgrimage, Johann von Biberstein rode towards him and accompanied him to Görlitz, where the Duke visited the Friedland der Biebersteine fortress in an accommodating manner. which shows how respected the House of Bieberstein was with the Luxembourg ruling house despite the occasional military confrontation.
Another revolt of the Bohemian nobility against King Wenceslas developed in 1394. On the initiative of Margrave Jobst of Moravia, a meeting of dissatisfied members of the Bohemian lordship took place in Prague, and on May 5, 1394 they published a joint declaration against the king. As a result, King Wenceslas was captured and imprisoned in the White Tower of Prague Castle. However, Johann von Görlitz, with whom Johann von Biberstein was connected, resisted the revolt and drove the rebels to southern Bohemia. After numerous negotiations and armed conflicts between the respective supporters, King Wenzel was finally recognized by the electors in 1400 as a useless, merciless, inconceivable entgleder and worthless handler of the Holy Roman rich (High German: useless, lazy, careless diviner and unworthy owner of the Holy Roman Reiches) was declared deposed.
In 1414 Johann von Bieberstein was governor of Sigismund of Luxembourg, at that time the Roman-German King, King of Hungary and Margrave of Brandenburg in Breslau, and from then on resided mostly in this city.
All in all, the judgment of a contemporary chronicler, who describes him as a “joyful and fearless man, whose courage and heart inclined to war”, should be correct.
Ownership
The brothers Johannes and Ulrich von Bieberstein inherited extensive lordships and lands from their parents, including the lordship of Friedland, Sorau, and the castles Landeskrone (on the local mountain of the city of Görlitz) and Tauchritz (south of Görlitz) in the margraviate of Oberlausitz.
That the Bieberstein brothers' power was also associated with a corresponding fortune is shown not only by the fact that they were important rulers such as Friedland, Sorau, Beeskow, Storkow etc., but also by the fact that the brothers were able to give the margrave von Brandenburg to borrow Sigismund von Luxemburg (that is, the later Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia ) the amount of 5,300 shock Bohemian groschen, as can be seen from a debt certificate from Sigismund from 1381 in which he promises: “All dy prescribed stucke and article globin we the nobleman Mr. Hanß and Ulrichen, brothers called von Biberstein with all our hands strictly and completely to adhere to all contradictions and obstacles with a certificate of this briff ”.
After 1384 the lordships of Beeskow and Storkow were added by inheritance.
In 1385 Johann von Bieberstein acquired the forest rulership (today in the Spree-Neisse district ) and in 1402 the Triebel rulership - both located in Lower Lusatia - whereby he passed the latter on to his son Ulrich von Bieberstein. The city of Triebel is now called Trzebiel and is located in the Lebus Voivodeship in Poland, but the memory of the Biebersteine lives on in the city's coat of arms, as both - as in that of Forst - show the antlers of the von Bieberstein family.
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As a result, Johann also bought the manor and town of Sommerfeld in Lower Lusatia (now Lubsko , also in the Lebus Voivodeship) and received after the death of the previous lord - Jobst of Luxembourg , the 1375 Margrave of Moravia , 1397 Margrave of Brandenburg and 1410 Roman-German became king and died in 1411 - in 1411 a letter of fief from King Sigismund. In addition, Johann owned several unspecified towns and villages in Silesia, some of which he gave as fiefs to other noblemen.
As a surviving letter from Johann von Bieberstein to Zbynko Zajíc von Hasenburg , Archbishop of Prague (1403–1411) from 1411 shows, Johann von Bieberstein transferred the patronage of the church in the town of Reichenberg , which was first mentioned in 1384 and then ruled Friedland belonged to the Augustinian monastery on Prague's Lesser Town (cs .: Malá Strana).
According to JG Herrmann, Johann von Bieberstein was "a very powerful gentleman who had as much property and vassals as any Duke in Silesia of his time."
Demise
Johann Herr von Bieberstein died at the old age of around 82 on February 3, 1424 and was buried in the monastery in Sorau. His tombstone calls him a "friend of peace and piety".
Marriage and offspring
Johann von Bieberstein was married to a von Strele whose first name has not been passed down. She was the heir to her father, Reinhard von Strele Herr zu Beeskow and Storkow, who died in 1384.
children
The following legitimate children are known of Johann von Bieberstein:
- Anna von Biberstein ∞ around 1377 Hans von Cottbus d. J. (cl. 1377-1421)
- Johann von Biberstein, Lord of Beeskow and Storkow, cl. 1392, † 1442 ∞ one from Colditz, cl. 1409. She was a niece of Thimo von Colditz , Bishop of Meissen. He became the progenitor of the older line, which owned Sorau, Beeskow and Storkow, among others, and went out in 1490 with the baron Johann.
- Wenzel von Bieberstein, Lord of Friedland and Forst (cl. 1408 - 1424, † 1427) ∞ Ne. He became the progenitor of the younger line, which was divided into two branches, of which the older one owned among others Friedland, Seidenberg and Reichenberg and went out in 1551, while the younger branch sat on Forst und Pförten (today Brody in the Lebus Voivodeship) and in 1667 went out to baron Ferdinand von Bieberstein, who was the last of his house.
- Ulrich von Bieberstein, Lord of Sorau, cl. 1416, † 1439
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b J. G. Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1st volume, published by Franz Jannasch, Reichenberg 1863, p. 132.
- ^ JG Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1863, p. 135.
- ^ Wenceslas' deed of deposition, printed in: Karl Zeumer (edit.): Collection of sources on the history of the German Reich constitution in the Middle Ages and modern times. Pp. 223-226. (Full text at Wikisource)
- ↑ a b J. G. Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1863, p. 137.
- ^ JG Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1863, p. 136.
- ^ JG Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1863, p. 139.
- ^ JG Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1863, p. 133.
- ^ JG Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1863, p. 138,: "Anno Domini MCCCCXXIV in the S. Blasii obiit Nobilis Dominus Johannes de Biberstein, Amator Pacis et Pietatis etc". (In the year of Lord 1424 the noble Mr. Johannes von Biberstein, friend of peace and piety, died on Saint Blasiustage.)
- ^ Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhofen: European family tables - family tables for the history of European states. Volume III, published by JA Stargardt, Marburg 1976, plate 60.
literature
- JG Herrmann: History of the city of Reichenberg. 1st volume, published by Franz Jannasch, Reichenberg 1863.
- Richard Jecht : History of the City of Görlitz. First delivery, second edition. Self-published, Görlitz 1922.
- Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhofen: European family tables - family tables for the history of European states. Volume III, published by JA Stargardt, Marburg 1976.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Johann von Bieberstein |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Johann Herr von Bieberstein |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bohemian baron, opponent of King Wenceslaus IV. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1342 |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 3, 1424 |