Keno II. Tom Brok

Keno II. Tom Brok (* around 1380; † August 16, 1417 ) was chief of Brokmerland in East Frisia from 1399 to 1417 . During the time of his reign, the time of the Vitalienbrüder in East Friesland ended and the power of the tom Broks reached a climax.

Life

Brokmerland in East Frisia in the 14th century.

Keno II. Tom Brok was born around 1380 as the son of chief Ocko I tom Brok and his wife Foelke Kampana . He had two sisters, Ocka tom Brok (* around 1381, † 1397) and Tetta tom Brok (* around 1382, † 1426), and an illegitimate older half-brother, Widzeld tom Brok (* around 1359; † April 25, 1399).

Since Keno II was not of legal age at the time of his father's murder in 1389, his half-brother Widzeld exercised the guardianship of chiefs in Brookmerland together with Keno's mother Foelke. After Widzeld's assassination on April 25, 1399, Keno II became chief of the Brookmerland.

Keno II was married to Adda Idzinga (* around 1372). His successor was their son Ocko II. Tom Brok (* 1407, † April 26, 1435).

Vitality Brothers

Scenes of the Vitalienbrüder around 1400.

Even under Kenos II's predecessor, Widzeld, the Brookmerland and other Frisian countries had become a retreat for pirates, the so-called vital brothers, in the North Sea area. At the same time, power struggles raged between the various East Frisian chiefs, in which the Vitalien brothers were also included in the disputes.

On February 2nd, 1400, a few months after Keno II became chief of Brookmerland, the Hanseatic League in Lübeck decided to send armed cogs to the North Sea to fight the pirates . Keno II. Tom Brok responded by sending a letter to the Hanseatic cities apologizing for the accommodation of the Vitalienbrüder and promising their immediate release. However, the Vitalienbrüder found a new job with Keno's opponents Hisko Abdena and Edo Wiemken as well as with the Count of Oldenburg, whereupon Keno II and his allies, above all Folkmar Allena , Enno Haytatisna and Haro Aldesna , hired pirates again.

The Hanseatic League then decided to conduct military operations in East Frisia. On May 5, 1400, the Hanseatic fleet that had been set up on the Osterems met the Vitalien brothers hosted by Folkmar Allena and defeated them. On May 6th, the Hanseatic League transferred the city and the castle of Emden von Hisko and thus gained a permanent base in East Friesland, from which further operations started. Already on May 23, all the chiefs and communities of East Friesland confirmed to the Hanseatic League that they would never accept Brothers Vitality again, including Keno II in Brookmerland.

Extension of rule

Keno II. Tom Brok expanded his rule in East Friesland in the following years. In 1404 he made a peace with his opponent Folkmar Allena and gave him Canhusen Castle back. Then he set about taking the remaining or newly built bases of the Vitalienbrüder and conquered the towns of Norden and Pilsum, whereupon the Hanseatic League entrusted him with further castles and palaces, such as in Nesse, Arle, Berum, Greetsiel and Osterhusen, for administration. In 1408 he and Focko Ukena conquered Collinghorst, Potshausen and the Esseburg in Ihrhove. On October 21, 1413 he finally expelled Hisko Abdena from Emden, who fled to Groningen . In 1415 he besieged the castles of Rheide, Termünten and Delfszijl, finally took the city of Groningen in September and thus expanded his rule far to the west. At this point Keno II tom Brok was at the height of his power.

Death and grave

His goal of uniting the entire eastern Friesland between the Zuidersee and Weser under his rule was not achieved by Keno II. Tom Brok. Unlike his two murdered predecessors, he died of natural causes in bed on August 16, 1417.

During excavation work in the area of ​​the Ihlow monastery church in autumn 2004, archaeologists came across a brick-lined grave pit with two skeletons. It was initially assumed that it was the remains of the former chiefs Keno II. Tom Brok and his son Ocko II. The anthropological investigation of the skeletons has since shown that two people were buried in the brick box who had a significantly higher age at death than Ocko II and Keno II. Unfortunately, due to a disruption of the grave, only the lower body could be examined. The skeleton below belonged to a man who was probably well over 60 years old who suffered from severe rheumatoid polyarthritis : one foot was crippled, the bones of the foot had grown together, and a knee was stiffened by a bone bridge between the upper and lower leg. The man must have been bedridden for a long time. The skeleton on top belonged to an extremely bone-robust, female individual: the characteristics of the pelvis relevant to the diagnosis of gender were all clearly female. Arthritic signs of age on the joints and spine and, above all, an already very advanced osteoarthritis of the knee, suggest a death age of 50 to 60 years. Whoever was buried in this double grave, the couple's health was severely impaired over a long period of time in their last lifetime.

See also

• East Frisian chiefs
• Vitality Brothers
• Gender tom brok

Web links

• "Kulturkreis tom Brok" , u. a. with information on the history of the tom Broks

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ostfriesen-Zeitung of August 10, 2004: graves of tom Broks unearthed ( memento of the original of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , seen September 19, 2012. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Widzeld tom Brok	Chief of the Brookmerkand 1399–1417	Ocko II. Tom Brok