Anna von Viermund

Anna von Viermund (also von Viermündt , * 1538 in Nordenbeck ; † April 16, 1599 ibid) was Baroness von Nordenbeck and through their marriages Countess von Waldeck and Baroness von Winnenberg and Beilstein .

family

Anna was the only daughter of Hermann von Viermund (* 1501; † 1563), Lord von Nordenbeck, Episcopal Paderborn Landdrost von Dringenberg, Elector of Cologne bailiff of Medebach, and his first wife Theodora (Dieterike) von Büren († 1539), a daughter of the bailiff of Medebach and Beurn. Her father was the son of Philip I of Viermund . Anna's mother converted to Protestantism and raised Anna Protestant. Her mother's siblings and relatives remained Catholic.

Since a Catholic stepbrother of her father wanted to win the family property for himself, he asked his son for Anna's hand, but was turned away.

Life

When her father suddenly died on March 18, 1563, in addition to his equal daughter Anna from another marriage, he left behind an unequal son Adrian von Viermund. His children, as well as the sons of Anna's uncle Johann von Viermund zu Bladenhorst , who had also died in the meantime , Philip II († January 21, 1584), Arnold († 1592) and Johann the Younger († November 15, 1564), were all Protestant. Since, according to the law of the time, only male relatives could inherit, these three were entitled to inheritance. Although Anna was only entitled to a bridal sweetheart befitting her rank, she claimed all of her father's goods. Her Catholic step-nephew then again urged her to marry her, but Anna had meanwhile been promised to marry the Protestant Count Heinrich VII von Waldeck-Wildungen . He returned from France in November 1563, where he had fought for the oppressed Huguenots in the First Huguenot War. On December 19, 1563, Anna and Heinrich finally married in Korbach .

Thereupon her cousins ​​Philipp II., Arnold and Johann took advantage of their absence and attacked and occupied the castle Nordenbeck , Anna's family seat. Count Heinrich von Waldeck initially had to postpone a counterattack due to lack of money. During the eventual march, however, his horse ran away and he died, hanging on the stirrup, in front of his wife Anna in October 1577.

As a childless widow, Anna then moved into the buildings of the former Werbe monastery . She asked the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel for help, but it did not materialize. She then took the expensive legal process and initially sued the aristocratic courts through two instances up to the trial before the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Speyer . Under the chairmanship of Cuno von Winnenberg and Beilstein , the Imperial Court of Justice ruled in their favor: Nordenbeck Castle was to be returned to Anna within four weeks and compensation for the full two years to be paid. The defendants, their cousins, had to bear the costs of the proceedings. As a threat, the Reich was called to enforce the court rulings. So Anna came back into her possession in 1580.

In 1583 Anna married Cuno von Winnenberg and Beilstein, the President of the Supreme Court, who had ruled in their favor.

In 1587, following an appeal, the Imperial Court of Justice granted Anna the use of the inherited estates, also retrospectively from 1563. The value of this use was put at 125,000 guilders . Since her cousins ​​Philip II and Arnold could not raise this amount, the entire paternal estate went to Anna.

Anna died on April 16, 1599 and was buried on April 20, 1599 in the church of Nieder-Ense . She herself had her tomb made in 1594 by the sculptor Andreas Herber from Kassel and placed in the church; it has been preserved there to this day.

Web links

• Hans Otto Landau: Anna von Viermund at www.viermuenden.com