Büdingen (noble family)

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The Lords of Büdingen were a medieval noble family in the eastern Wetterau . They achieved their greatest importance as followers of the Staufer with the establishment of the Pfalz Gelnhausen and the control of the Reichsforst Büdinger Wald . Similar to the noble lords of Munzenberg , the Büdinger took on an important administrative function for the Hohenstaufen monarchy in the region. Numerous castles were founded by them to protect the territory. Since then, the headquarters of today's Büdinger Castle has been . When they died out in the male line in 1240/41, the Isenburg family largely succeeded them after a long struggle for the inheritance.

The Büdinger castle was originally built by the Lords of Büdingen and was the center of power.

history

origin

The oldest surviving evidence of a noble family with the designation of origin de Budingen is a document from Archbishop of Mainz Adalbert I from 1131, in which the brothers "Gerlach" and "Ortwin" are named as witnesses with this local addition. The family had probably been wealthy in the region for much longer. Because before that - without an attached place - the name "Hartmann" was recorded in numerous older documents of the Abbey of Fulda , dating back to the 9th century . It is common among the Büdingers, otherwise rarely in the region. Together with a concentration of largely congruent family property in the southern Wetterau, this speaks for a family connection. The "Hartmanne" have been in possession of the Glauberg , Florstadt and Büdingen since the late 9th century , which presumably came from the royal estate . The Büdinger St. Remigius Church is interpreted as an early church belonging to this Hartmann family.

Konradsdorf Monastery was created as a foundation by the Büdinger in place of an earlier castle over the Nidder .

Gerlach I appears again in 1147 in a papal privilege for the Ilbenstadt monastery . The prominent mention before Count Berthold von Nürings suggests that he was involved in donations to the monastery. The foundation of a monastery on their own property probably followed soon after with the Konradsdorf monastery . This coincides with archaeological findings. Excavations in the late 1980s led to the discovery of a small stone tower castle within the monastery grounds there, which existed from the 10th to the middle of the 12th century.

Gerlach's brother Ortwin no longer bears the local origin Büdingen in a document from 1145, but rather it says: "Gerlavs de Budingen et frater eius Ortwinus" ("Gerlach von Büdingen and his brother Ortwin"). However, in 1156 a modified form of the name appears as "Wortwin von Staden". It is not known whether this is identical to Wortwin von Steden , the owner of Homburg Castle , who was documented around the same time . In 1156, Wortwin von Staden and his wife Hedwig gave Staden Castle, which had been newly built on their own property, to the Abbot of Fulda as a fief . Obviously this was not only because of the proximity of the castle to the Fulda Mark . Here, too - as in the case of the Hartmanne - there is a proximity to the Abbey of Fulda: As places of jurisdiction for disputes, Fulda properties are also mentioned with Umstadt and Höchst .

The founding of other castles can probably be traced back to Ortwin, including Ortenberg within sight of the Konradsdorf Monastery, where his presumed son called himself "Werner von Ortenberg" in 1166. The connection between Staden and Ortenberg is strengthened by the fact that between 1176 and 1189 a "Heinrich" alternately called himself "von Staden" and "von Ortenberg". How these new castle foundations changed back into the ownership of the Büdingen- based main line cannot be traced. Presumably, the Lords of Lißberg descended from the Ortenberg line , who built the Lißberg Castle near Ortenberg .

Ascent under the Hohenstaufen

Gerlach's son, Hartmann von Büdingen, has been documented about thirty times since 1166, including often in the vicinity of Emperor Friedrich I. Hartmann took part in the court days of Gelnhausen in 1180 and Mainz in 1184 . He also sought to be close to the Archbishops of Mainz, Konrad I von Wittelsbach and Christian I von Buch . Under Henry VI. this increased: Hartmann accompanied the king on trains through central Germany and on the Italian train in 1194. Already during this time another Hartmann appeared in Archbishop Konrad's entourage, in some documents also "Hermann", first in Erfurt with his son Gerlach (II.). After the court assembly in Gelnhausen in 1195, both Hartmanns can no longer be documented, possibly they followed the call to the crusade. Instead, Gerlach II appeared independently in 1207.

The proximity to the Hohenstaufen peasants paid off for the von Büdingen in the form of a significant increase in power. The Hohenstaufen policy in the Wetterau included not only the founding of cities and palaces ( Friedberg , Wetzlar , Gelnhausen ) but also the administration by powerful Reich ministers . As a counterpart to the area of ​​influence of the Lords of Hagen-Münzenberg in the northern Wetterau and over the Wildbann Dreieich , an approximately equal-ranking complex of the Lords of Büdingen with core around the Palatinate Gelnhausen and the associated Büdinger Forest can be considered. In addition to the naming of the corresponding imperial forest, the structural design as a moated castle, the Romanesque core of which is architecturally closely based on Gelnhausen, points to the dominant role of the Büdinger Castle in the administration of the Palatinate . The client is Hartmann I, who probably also organized and supervised the building of the Palatinate. The Büdinger Burg has a largely structurally identical two-part palas in common with the Münzenberg , consisting of a basement and two floors, the rooms of which could be reached via an external staircase. The function of the Büdinger Castle, which is closely related to the imperial forest, is still clear in the wisdom of the Büdinger Forest from 1380.

The core of the rule was the castle triangle Büdingen-Ortenberg-Staden, from there the noble free von Büdingen controlled the wilderness area. By the end of the 12th century, the castles Wächtersbach , Birstein and Burgbracht were added, which were presumably occupied by Burgmannen and secured the south and east sides of the imperial forest.

Under Gerlach II, the Büdinger in the wake of the Staufer reached the height of their power. The burgrave office in the Palatinate Gelnhausen, the Vogteirechte in the Büdinger Wald, sovereignty over the jurisdiction of the surrounding imperial courts and the direct relationship with the ruler made him appear at the head of the regional nobles. This can be seen in the imperial city Gelnhausen documents in which he is mentioned before the mayor . In the Wetterau he assumed the function of the later Reichslandvögte , which was shown around 1219 in a joint appearance with the Frankfurt city ​​school and the Friedberg burgrave in a legal act. The construction of Ronneburg Castle is mostly attributed to Gerlach II . In the Hohenstaufen-Welf throne dispute he supported Philip of Swabia , but after his murder went over to the Welf Otto IV , whom he accompanied to Italy in 1209. When the Staufer Friedrich II came to Germany in 1212 to elect a king , Gerlach turned to him and his son Heinrich VII . After Heinrich's election as king in Frankfurt in 1220, Gerlach appeared in his advisory group. He accompanied Heinrich to Italy in 1226 and 1232. After the Mainzer Hoftag of 1235, Gerlach seems to have left the royal court. No references to Konrad IV are discernible.

Extinction and Inheritance

Just like the rise, the decline and extinction of the Lords of Büdingen ran parallel to the development of the Hohenstaufen power. An attack by the anti-Staufer party on the Wetterau possessions in autumn 1241 may also have affected the castles in Staden, Ortenberg and Büdingen. It is uncertain whether Gerlach II lived to see this. He is mentioned for the last time in a document dated September 20, 1240. Since he had no male descendants from his marriage to Mechthild von Ziegenhain , the main inheritance initially fell to his four sons-in-law, who were on different sides in the dispute with the Hohenstaufen. These were:

The fifth party involved in the inheritance was the Isenburg House, which had been in possession of the Wetterau since 1220 (including inheritance of Cleeberg Castle ) . In 1258 Ludwig von Isenburg († around 1304) appeared in a document together with Gerlach's four sons-in-law. How Ludwig got into this possession cannot be determined with certainty. He could have received it through a relationship on his mother's side with Gerlach II. Or through the Ortenberg line; it is sometimes also assumed that his wife Heilwig was a daughter of Gerlach II from a second marriage.

First, Rosemann von Kempenich, who came from an Isenburg branch and had coins minted for a short time in Ortenberg, left his share to the Breubergers. The Isenburg residents were able to use the extinction of the Breubergers (1323) and the retreat of the Lords of Hohenlohe-Brauneck (1272-1314) from the region in their favor. Core area of Büdinger rule were known collectively as ganerbschaft managed rights Büdinger Forest and Gelnhausen Palatinate. Since 1324, only Isenburg and Trimberg have each been involved in half. The unprecedented decline of the Trimberger as a result of a failed territorial formation with the subsequent sale of the property in turn favored Isenburg, whereby neighbors such as Hanau ( Ortenberg , Haßlau court ) and Eppstein were also able to secure smaller parts. As a result of these events, the Isenburgers succeeded by 1376 in taking possession of the Büding family, albeit a reduced one.

Relatives

  • Gerlach I. von Büdingen (mentioned between 1131 and 1147)
  • (W) Ortwin von Staden (mentioned 1131–1156)
  • Hartmann I. von Büdingen (mentioned 1166–1195)
  • Hermann or Hartmann II. Von Büdingen (mentioned 1195 - approx. 1200)
  • Gerlach II of Büdingen (mentioned in 1207 - before 1247)

coat of arms

A coat of arms of the Lords of Büdingen is not known due to the limited sources. Occasional attempts were made to infer a Büdinger coat of arms from the color change of the Isenburg coat of arms (initially red, black bars in silver for the Wetterau lines ). Occasionally a golden lion on a blue plate is referred to as a “Büdinger Löwe”, but this assignment has also proven to be incorrect. Anton von Isenburg had this lion lent to himself by Emperor Charles V in 1547 as an addition to his coat of arms . It was originally the coat of arms of the Counts of Schwarzburg , which Anton was entitled to use because of his relatives to the Counts of Hardegg and the Lords of Hohenlohe-Brauneck. The similarity of the name to the Hardeck Castle near Büdingen may also have played a role. The early owners of this castle are not known with certainty and the assignment of the lion to the noble free von Büdingen is clearly a later construct.

literature

  • Klaus-Peter Decker: Gentlemen in the Wetterau. In: Winfried Speitkamp (Hrsg.): Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900-1806 (= Handbook of Hessian History. Vol. 3 = Publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 63). Marburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-942225-17-5 , pp. 274-325, especially pp. 291-304 [ III. The noblemen of Büdingen and their heirs ].
  • Karl Ernst Demandt : The Lords of Büdingen and the Empire in Staufer times. In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Vol. 5, 1955, pp. 49-84.
  • Karl Ernst Demandt: History of the State of Hesse. 2nd edition, Bärenreiter, Kassel and Basel 1972, ISBN 3-7618-0404-0 , pp. 496–498.
  • Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer period. In: Büdinger history sheets. Vol. 21, 2008/2009, especially pp. 113-128.
  • Hans Philippi : Territorialgeschichte der Grafschaft Büdingen (=  writings of the Hessian office for historical regional studies. Vol. 23). Elwert, Marburg 1954, pp. 90-114.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Stimming (arrangement): Mainzer Urkundenbuch. First volume. The documents up to the death of Archbishop Adalbert I (1137) . Darmstadt 1937, reprint Darmstadt 1972, no.571.
  2. ^ Hans Philippi: Territorial history of the county of Büdingen. Marburg 1954, pp. 90-94; Klaus-Peter Decker: Gentlemen in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, p. 291.
  3. ↑ Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer time. In: Büdinger history sheets. Vol. 21, 2008/2009, p. 113.
  4. ^ Hans Philippi: Territorial history of the county of Büdingen. Marburg 1954, p. 93.
  5. ↑ Waltraud Friedrich: The former Premonstratensian monastery Konradsdorf: 1000 years of history and building history (=  sources and research on Hessian history. Vol. 118). Hessian Historical Commission and Historical Commission for Hesse, Darmstadt / Marburg 1999, ISBN 3-88443-070-X , esp. Pp. 82–89.
  6. ↑ Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer time. In: Büdinger history sheets. Vol. 21, 2008/2009, p. 117.
  7. ^ StA MR , documents R Ia, Stift Fulda 1156.
  8. ^ Hans Philippi: Territorial history of the county of Büdingen. Marburg 1954, pp. 95f .; Klaus-Peter Decker: Gentlemen in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, p. 292f.
  9. ↑ Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer time. In: Büdinger Geschichtsblätter 21, 2008/2009, pp. 117f .; Klaus-Peter Decker: Gentlemen in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, p. 305.
  10. ^ Hans Philippi: Territorial history of the county of Büdingen. Marburg 1954, pp. 95f .; Klaus-Peter Decker: Gentlemen in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, p. 292f.
  11. ↑ Klaus-Peter Decker: Lords in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, pp. 291 and 294.
  12. ↑ Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer time. In: Büdinger history sheets. Vol. 21, 2008/2009, p. 119.
  13. ^ Heinrich Reimer : Hessisches Urkundenbuch. Section 2: Document book on the history of the Lords of Hanau and the former Province of Hanau. Vol. 4: 1376-1400. Publications from the Royal Prussian State Archives (Hirzel), Leipzig 1897, no.217.
  14. ↑ Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer time. In: Büdinger history sheets. Vol. 21, 2008/2009, pp. 119f.
  15. ↑ Regesta Imperii V, 1.1 n.1035.
  16. ↑ Angela Metzner: Reichslandpolitik, aristocracy and castles - studies on the Wetterau in the Staufer time. In: Büdinger history sheets. Vol. 21, 2008/2009, p. 124.
  17. ↑ Klaus-Peter Decker: Lords in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900-1806. Marburg 2014, p. 295f.
  18. ^ Karl Ernst Demandt : The final battle of the Staufer imperial family in the Rhine-Main area. In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 7, 1957, pp. 102–164, esp. Pp. 115f.
  19. ^ Hans Philippi: Territorial history of the county of Büdingen. Marburg 1954, pp. 96-99; Klaus-Peter Decker: Gentlemen in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, p. 299.
  20. ↑ Walter Hävernick : The older coinage of the Wetterau up to the end of the 13th century . (=  Publication of the Historical Commission for Hesse and Waldeck. 18.1). Marburg 1936, 2nd edition. 2009 [with research report and biographical foreword by Niklot Klüßendorf ], p. 13 and cat. No. 267.
  21. ↑ Klaus-Peter Decker: Lords in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, p. 300.
  22. ↑ Klaus-Peter Decker: Lords in the Wetterau. In: Knights, Counts and Princes - secular dominions in the Hessian area approx. 900–1806. Marburg 2014, pp. 302–304.
  23. ^ Hans Philippi: Territorial history of the county of Büdingen. Elwert, Marburg 1954, p. 100 and footnote 82.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 12, 2016 .