Adolf II. (Schauenburg and Holstein)

Adolf II of Schauenburg and Holstein (* 1128 ; † July 6, 1164 near Demmin ) was Count of Schauenburg, Holstein and Stormarn and founder of Lübeck .

Adolf II von Schauenburg, Holstein and Storman (1128–1164) Miniature from the Rehbein Chronicle (16th century) Lübeck City Library.

Adolf II was the son of Count Adolf I (Schauenburg and Holstein) and followed his father in 1130 as the noble lord of Schauenburg, Count of Holstein and Stormarn under the reign of his mother Hildewa.

After the death of Emperor Lothar III. in 1137 the new King Conrad III. the Duchy of Saxony in 1138 to the Ascanian Albrecht the Bear . As a result, Adolf II, as the feudal man of the Guelph Duke Heinrich the Proud , ostracized by Emperor Konrad , lost the counties of Holstein and Stormarn , which Albrecht the Bear gave to Heinrich von Badewide . Adolf only got it back in 1142 after King Conrad had given the Duchy of Saxony to Heinrich the Lion , the son of Henry the Proud, and the latter enfeoffed him again with Holstein and Stormarn and Wagrien . Heinrich von Bathide received the newly created County of Ratzeburg in the Gau Polabien as a replacement ; his descendants died out as early as 1199.

After that Adolf II tried to promote Christian proselytizing in his domain, in which he was supported by the missionary Vizelin . In the center of Holstein, Count Adolf II rebuilt the destroyed Victory Castle since his liege, Heinrich the Lion, gave him this largest and most important fortress in northern Elbe as a count's residence. From this castle he expanded his sovereignty over Holstein, Stormarn and Wagrien . In addition, Adolf settled colonists from his domain as well as from Westphalia and the Netherlands in parts of Wagrien, described very clearly by Helmold von Bosau in Book I. Chapter 57.

In 1143/1144 he founded Lübeck , where he had a first hill fort built as a wood-earth construction, which was mentioned in 1143 by the chronicler Helmold von Bosau as a former fortification of Krutos . He had to cede this to Heinrich the Lion in 1158 when he had aroused his dissatisfaction through his interference in the Danish controversy for the throne.

In 1159 he accompanied Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa to Italy.

The exposed location of his feudal lands, especially in Wagrien, which were still mostly inhabited by Slavic pagans, made him enter into a long-term alliance with the Abodritian prince Niklot around 1143 . A trusting relationship developed between the two princes. In the great Wendenkreuzzug of 1147, which was mainly directed against the Abodrites in the north, and thus against Niklot, Aldolph fought at the side of his liege, Duke Heinrich of Saxony. In 1164 he again took part in Henry the Lion's campaign against the Abodrites . On July 6, 1164 he fell in the battle of Verchen , near Demmin in Western Pomerania. His body was embalmed and buried in the cathedral in Minden .

Marriage and offspring

Adolf II was married to Mechthild von Schwarzburg-Käfernburg , a daughter of Count Sizzo III. from Schwarzburg-Käfernburg . They only had one son, Adolf III. who followed his father as Count of Holstein and Wagrien.

literature

• Oliver Auge, Detlev Kraack (ed.): 900 years of Schauenburger in the north. An inventory. (= Sources and research on the history of Schleswig-Holstein, vol. 121. ) Wachholtz, Kiel a. a. 2015 ISBN 978-3-529-02221-0 .
• Karl Jansen:  Adolf II. (Count of Holstein and Stormarn) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 106 f.
• Heinz Maybaum:  Adolf II, Count of Holstein. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 78 ( digitized version ).
• Wulf Hinrich Schröder:
  • The vassal of the lion , part 1, from monastery student to count , Ingo Koch Verlag, Edition Altstadt Verlag, Rostock 2003, ISBN 3-935319-29-0 .
  • The vassal of the lion , part 2, Apokalyptische Zeiten , Ingo Koch Verlag, Edition Altstadt Verlag, Rostock 2004, ISBN 3-937179-39-9 .
  • The vassal of the lion , part 3, And don't you put your life in ... , Ingo Koch Verlag, Edition Altstadt Verlag, Rostock 2004, ISBN 3-937179-40-2 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf I.	Count of Holstein 1130–1137	Heinrich von Bathide
Heinrich von Bathide	Count of Holstein 1142–1164	Adolf III.
Adolf I.	Noble Lord of Schauenburg 1130–1164	Adolf III.