Margareta of Schwangau

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Margareta von Schwangau (* around 1390 at Hinterhohenschwangau Castle ; † after May 23, 1451) was the wife of Oswald von Wolkenstein .

Life

Ruins and floor plans of the castles “Hinterhohenschwangau” (left) and “Vorderhohenschwangau” (right), where Neuschwanstein Castle stands today.

Her parents were Ulrich II von Schwangau and Adelheid Schwelcher . Her sister Madlen Weinaker was with Parzival of Weineck on Castle Fragenstein married. One brother was Hans von Schwangau . Margareta asked him in a letter of May 23, 1451 for advice in a dispute between her daughter-in-law Agnes. Two other brothers, Heinrich and Thomas von Schwangau, are named in a feud letter from the spring of 1429 in which Oswald declares the feud to his cousin Hans von Villanders because of an open claim .

The poet-composer and politician Oswald von Wolkenstein asked for Margareta's hand in 1416 or 1417. This marriage proposal is the background of the song Ain guet born noble man . Another song Ain Mensch von achzehen jaren klug with the title Regina Margarita probably also refers to Margareta herself.

In the summer of 1417 (at least after Easter ) the wedding between Oswald and Margareta was celebrated, probably in Hohenschwangau , Waltenhofen or Schwangau . Margareta was awarded 500 Rhenish guilders as home tax , which corresponds to around 50,000 euros ; The payment by her brothers was not made until many years later, after Oswald had received a farm in Bozen as a pledge from his brother-in-law Parzival von Weineck in 1419, had Margareta transfer her inheritance claim to him in 1426 and finally from his employer, King Sigismund I , obtained a certificate of loan for the Schwangau imperial fiefdom as a means of pressure.

Margareta was probably pretty, she could read, write and sing well. Oswald had repeatedly praised these qualities in his wife, whom he had only called Gret . Margareta inspired Oswald to write love songs that are among the most beautiful of the German Middle Ages . In some of these songs the Tyrolean uses his wife's Swabian expressions.

In 1420 or 1421 the couple moved to Hauenstein Castle on the Schlern . The castle did not belong to Oswald alone, but to two thirds of Anna von Hauenstein and her husband, the knight Martin Jäger , who lived on the Fahlburg . Oswald had received his third share in the division of the estate from 1407, but immediately took possession of the castle and also collected the dues of the farms subject to interest for himself, which led to a bitter feud with hunters, in the course of which Oswald was kidnapped and tortured . It was not until 1427 that he acquired sole ownership in a settlement.

The family mostly lived on Hauenstein, but Oswald also owned a city apartment in Brixen and several rented houses. In 1419 Oswald made a larger foundation for the St. Margarethen monastery church in Neustift monastery , for which he was then given the right to live and eat in a beneficiary house of the monastery. However, he rarely made use of this retirement provision. The “Wolkenstein House” still exists today. The reason for the foundation for the Neustift monastery was probably a serious pregnancy or illness of Margareta. It is not known whether she later used the beneficiary as a widow's residence or stayed on Hauenstein.

Frescoes in St. Oswald near Castelrotto

On a fresco in the Oswald Chapel near Castelrotto , a serious and kind woman is shown in the lower right, who is believed to be Margareta's portrait .

Margareta von Schwangau and Oswald von Wolkenstein had seven children together. Their names are Michael ( canon in Brixen), Leo, Gotthart (died before February 1441), Friedrich (died 1456), Oswald II (died 1498), Maria and Ursula. Maria became a nun in the Poor Clare Monastery in Bressanone , where, together with some other nuns, she tried to prevent monastery reforms in a dispute with Brixen Bishop Nikolaus von Kues ; later she moved to the Poor Clare Monastery in Merano , where she died as abbess in 1478. The descendants of Margarete and Oswald acquired the Rodenegg Castle near Brixen in 1491 , which is still owned by their direct descendants, the Counts of Wolkenstein-Rodenegg .

When her husband died on August 2, 1445 in Meran , Margareta was present. On the same day she handed the representatives of the countryside who had gathered there the two keys to the chests with the guardianship contract for the young Duke Sigmund and the inventory of the ducal treasure that had been entrusted to Oswald. Margareta's last letter is dated May 23, 1451. The exact time of her death is unknown. Margareta was buried in the Neustift basilica at Oswald's side. Their tombstones are no longer preserved.

literature

  • Albrecht Classen: Margareta von Schwangau and Maria von Wolkenstein (15th century) . In: Women in German literary history . New York [u. a.] 2000, page 129 ff.
  • Dieter Kühn: Me Wolkenstein. Extended new version, Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-596-19008-9
  • Esther Momo, Rita Müller: Margarethe von Schwangau - The wife of Oswald von Wolkenstein. Student thesis, Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 978-3-638-93749-8 ( online )
  • Karl August Muffat : About Margareta von Schwangau . In: Meeting reports of the philos.-philolog. and histor. Class of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich . Volume 1, 1875, pages 103-104.
  • Hans Pörnbacher: Mr. Oswalds von Wolkenstein wife . Konrad, 1983, ISBN 3874372014 and ISBN 9783874372015 .
  • Hans Pömbacher: "In Races bey Saleren". The world of Margareta von Schwangau, Oswald von Wolkenstein's wife, between Säuling and Schiern . In: ARX. Castles and palaces in Bavaria, Austria and South Tyrol . Vol. 32, No. 1, 2010, ISSN  0394-0624 , pages 7-10 ( PDF ; 42.7 MB).
  • Hans Pörnbacher: Margareta von Schwangau. The wife of Oswald von Wolkenstein (approx. 1390–1448) . In: The Sciliar . Volume 48, Part 1, 1974, pages 283-297.
  • Johannes Schrott: Margareta von Schwangau . In: Supplement to the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung of April 20, 1873, No. 110, pages 1673–1674.
  • Elisabeth Wintergerst: Margareta von Schwangau . Self-published, Füssen / Lech 2014, film (running time 69 min.)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Pörnbacher: Margareta von Schwangau. The wife of Oswald von Wolkenstein (approx. 1390–1448) , page 294 ( excerpt )
  2. ↑ Dieter Kühn, p. 373 ff., 494
  3. ↑ Kühn pp. 652-656
personal data
SURNAME Margareta of Schwangau
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Margaret of Selva
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Oswald von Wolkenstein
DATE OF BIRTH around 1390
PLACE OF BIRTH Hinterhohenschwangau
DATE OF DEATH January 1448