Apel Vitzthum the Younger

Apel Vitzthum the Younger zu Tannroda (* before 1425, † 1475 ) was a German knight .

He comes from the old Thuringian noble family Vitzthum . His father was Apel Vitzthum the Elder in Tannroda , his mother Klara von Beerwalde. The family owned the castle in Burgscheidungen until 1376 and the Niederroßla moated castle after 1371 .

After an inheritance was divided around 1400, the two lines Roßla and Tannroda emerged, with the latter appearing in possession of Kriebstein Castle from 1410 , Tannroda in 1418 and Nebra in 1423. The Roßla line, on the other hand, owned Dornburg, Laucha, Klöden, Lichtenwalde, Kapellendorf etc. The family was one of the most powerful and richest noble families of that time.

Apel the Younger first appears in 1426 after his father, who is named as Obermarschall in 1422, died. In addition to Tannroda and Kriebstein, he also acquired Dornburg in 1462, but was expelled in 1465.

In the Saxon fratricidal war , he was a vassal of both parties, he knew how to play a relatively neutral role despite the negative role of his cousins ​​from the Roßla line ( Apel Vitzthum the Elder , Busso Vitzthum and Bernhard Vitzthum). The elector had regarded Apel's hereditary areas (e.g. the manor Schweikersheim and Kriebstein) as hostile territory from 1446, but left him in possession of them after the end of the war, while the cousins ​​were driven out.

In 1459 he sold Kriebstein together with the town of Waldheim , Hartha and all the villages to the knight Hans von Maltitz zu Dahlen and Otto Spiegel zu Gruna near Eilenburg. In 1465 Tannroda fell to the Count of Gleichen, who were related by marriage to Apel's sister Else .

Three children are known from his marriage to Cecilie von Bibra : Knight Melchior († around 1470), Philipp († 1497) and Klara, a nun in Gotha .

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  Tannroda Castle

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  Kriebstein Castle

literature

• Richard Freiherr von Mansberg: Erbarmannschaft Wettinischer Lande . 5 vols., Dresden 1905 to 1908