Niclas von Abensberg

Niclas von Abensberg (also Nikolaus von Abensberg ; * 1441 ; † February 28, 1485 near Freising ) was a German knight .

Life

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Niclas came from the old Bavarian noble family of the Abensberger . His parents were Count Johann III. von Abensberg and his wife Elsa Törringer .

In his youth, Niclas came to the court camp of Duke Ludwig the Rich of Bavaria-Landshut . Contemporary sources describe him as brave and skillful in the arms trade. Niclas took part in many national tournaments; in the battle of Giengen ( Giengen an der Brenz ) in 1462 he distinguished himself. He was in charge of Graisbach , Riedenburg and Kelheim .

Even today he is remembered every year in his hometown Abensberg , because once a year he donated an alms-giving to the poor, which lasted until the 19th century. What is forgotten, however, is that Niclas drove all Jews out of his lands in 1450 and had the Abensberg synagogue destroyed.

In the dispute between Albrecht IV of Bavaria-Munich and his younger brother Christoph , Niclas sided with the former and took Christoph prisoner in 1471. The dispute between the brothers was initially settled, but broke out again 14 years later. This time too, Niclas von Abensberg led Albrecht IV's army against Christoph and captured the cities of Päl , Weilheim and Landsberg . He was ambushed near Freising and taken prisoner. He was stabbed to death by a squire while in captivity.

Niclas' wife Martha († 1486) came from the family of the Counts of Werdenberg . The couple had no surviving children, so the Counts of Abensberg died out with Niclas.

From the year 1461 there is a vicious letter with a disgrace of Niclas von Abensberg: The picture shows the count hanging upside down on a gallows and next to it his overthrown coat of arms. Benigna von Tanndorf was the author of the letter of shame reproduced with the picture as a single-sheet print.

Above the picture is the handwritten line “Nicklaus herre zcu Abensperg ben ich genant / my posheit makes me well known”; In the vicious letter, Benigna von Tanndorf complains that Niclas stole her “kleynet”, her treasures, from her “behaussunge”, that is, her dwelling or apartment, in a thieving way. This caused her damage of 3000 guilders, which is why she wanted to warn everyone about Niclas “the same Verretischen plutferkeuffer and morders-poesswicht”.

See also

• Abensberger Monument

literature

• Beatrix Ettelt-Schönewald: Chancellery, council and government of Duke Ludwig the Rich of Bavaria-Landshut (1450–1479) (=  series of publications on Bavarian regional history . Volume 97 / II ). CH Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-10499-1 , p. 418 f .
• Karl Theodor von Heigel:  Abensberg, Niclas Graf v . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 19 f.

Web links

Commons : Niclas von Abensberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Malignant letter with attached disgrace (woodcut) of Benigna von Tanndorf against Nikolaus von Abensberg from the year 1461 at monasterium.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Image of the reproduction of the disgrace from the Otto Hupp estate stored in the Bavarian Main State Archive on a document: Illuminated documents 1461-99-99_unknown in the European document archive Monasterium.net . Here also notes on the provenance of the single-sheet print.
2. ↑ kleinœde, kleinœte, kleinôt - a delicate, artificially crafted thing; then every dainty gift. In: Middle High German Dictionary. Prepared by Wilhelm Müller and Friedrich Zarncke using the estate of Georg Friedrich Benecke. 3 volumes, Leipzig 1854–1866; here Volume 1, Col. 838a.
3. ↑ Reprint of the abusive letter text in: Joseph Baader: Verruf gegen Nikolaus, Herr von Abensberg. In: Anzeiger für Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit (NF) 19, 1872, Sp. 381 ( archive.org ).
   For the smear letter also: Martin Roland, Andreas Zajic: Illuminated documents of the Middle Ages in Central Europe. In: Archives for Diplomatics; Script history, seal and heraldry. Volume 59, 2013, p. 412; ( documents.icar-us.eu PDF).