Bärbel von Ottenheim
Bärbel von Ottenheim (* 1430 in Ottenheim near Lahr , † 1484 in Hagenau ) was the mistress of Jakob von Lichtenberg , Vogt of the city of Strasbourg .
biography
Bärbel von Ottenheim was born as the daughter of a farmer (according to other information: a baker). She became famous for two factors: On the one hand, she became the lover of the last Lord von Lichtenberg , Jakob von Lichtenberg. On the other hand, a famous portrait bust was identified with her. After the death of Jacob von Lichtenberg in 1480, she was first thrown from Buchsweiler Castle by the heirs and then imprisoned in the city of Hagenau on charges of witchcraft . The heirs of Jakob von Lichtenberg, Count Simon IV. Wecker von Zweibrücken-Bitsch and Count Philipp II. Von Hanau-Lichtenberg , appealed to the city council for a death sentence . Presumably it was about getting the property of the Bärbel von Ottenheim. Another possibility is that in the tense situation in the run-up to the peasant wars, a “ peasant sacrifice ” was to be offered to the subjects, since the mistress had extensive influence on the government and is said to have been hated by the people. Before a verdict could be reached, Bärbel died in prison; the cause of death remained unclear. Rumors of murder and suicide were inevitable.
Portrait bust
Prophet with a beard - Jakob von Lichtenberg
|
.jpg)
A famous portrait bust - probably a Sibylle - of the late Gothic / early Renaissance by Niclaus Gerhaert van Leyden was identified with Bärbel von Ottenheim. (The counterpart, an older man with a flowing full beard - probably a representation of a prophet - was mistaken for Jakob von Lichtenberg). Both figures originally adorned the portal of the New Chancellery in Strasbourg and looked at each other from two windows. For the first time in Daniel Specklin's "Collectaneen" the couple was described as Bärbel and Jakob in 1587 and gained a certain fame. Only the head of both busts has survived; there are plaster casts that were made before 1870.
The busts themselves have an eventful history. They were brought to the city library when the town hall was demolished after the French Revolution. This was destroyed by Prussian artillery in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The busts were thought to be lost. In 1915 the prophet's head was rediscovered in the collection of the Hanau History Association . Until then, the badly battered head had been taken for the representation of an ancient satyr . Presumably a soldier had brought him to Hanau after 1870, knowing the connection between Lichtenberg and Hanau-Lichtenberg . The association returned the valuable piece to the Strasbourg museum. 20 years later the head of the Sibyl was rediscovered in the Palatinate and bought by the Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt am Main . The originals are now in the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame in Strasbourg (Jakob) and in the Liebieghaus (Bärbel). In a joint exhibition by both museums about Niclaus Gerhaert, both heads were exhibited together again for the first time in 2011/2012.
aftermath
A community school in Schwanau is named after Bärbel von Ottenheim . Ottenheim is now a district of Schwanau in Baden-Württemberg.
Their fate has also found expression in literature:
- Hermine Maierheuser : Bärbel von Ottenheim . Historical novel from 1939
- Otto Flake : Schön-Bärbel von Ottenheim . Berlin 1937 (novella)
literature
- M. Goltzené: From the history of the office Buchsweiler . In: Pay d'Alsace, issue 111/112, p. 64f.
- Fritz Eyer: The territory of the Lords of Lichtenberg . Strasbourg 1938.
- Ernstotto zu Solms-Laubach : Bärbel von Ottenheim . Frankfurt 1936.
- Peter Karl Weber: Lichtenberg. Alsatian domination on the way to becoming a territorial state . Heidelberg 1993.
- Otto Flake: Nice Bärbel von Ottenheim . Berlin, Rembrandt-Verlag, undated (1937).
Web links
- Geography online: Jakob von Lichtenberg and Bärbel von Ottenheim
- bathe online: Bärbel von Ottenheim: "honorable" woman or witch? , Author: Hans Weide, 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ For the history of conservation see Fried Lübbecke : Hanau. City and county. Cologne 1951 p. 61f.
- ↑ Sculpture (Musées de Strasbourg) ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Liebieghaus sculpture collection
- ↑ Niclaus Gerhaert. The sculptor of the Middle Ages on the Liebieghaus website.
- ↑ Bärbel-von-Ottenheim School
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bärbel von Ottenheim |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | mistress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1430 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ottenheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1484 |
| Place of death | Haguenau |