Balthasar (Sagan)

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Balthasar von Sagan († July 15, 1472 in Priebus ) was Duke of Sagan and mercenary leader of the Teutonic Order from 1439 to 1461 and 1467 to 1472 . In the armed conflicts between the city of Wroclaw and the Bohemian King Georg von Podiebrad , to whom Wroclaw initially refused to pay homage, he fought as a Wroclaw field captain . He came from the Glogau branch of the Silesian Piasts .

Life

Balthasar was the eldest son of Duke Johann I von Sagan and the Scholastica von Sachsen-Wittenberg (1391–1463), a daughter of Elector Rudolf III. His first marriage was to an Agnes whose origin is unknown and who died in 1460. From this marriage came the only daughter Anna, who died as a child in 1463 and was buried in the Nienburg monastery. In 1469, Balthasar married Barbara, a daughter of Duke Boleslaus II, Duke of Teschen .

Like his father and brothers Rudolf and Johann II , Balthasar was a military leader of the Teutonic Order . After his father's death in 1339, he and the second-born brother Rudolf took over the reign of the Duchy of Sagan and at the same time the guardianship of the younger brothers Wenzel and Johann. After the division in 1449/50, Balthasar and his brother Rudolf received the Saganer share. In addition, he had to undertake to provide financial support for his widowed mother and sisters. The youngest brother Johann II received the Priebuser Land, which had only belonged to the Duchy of Sagan since 1413. He was obliged to pay for the third-born brother Wenzel, who suffered from a disability. Since they only had a modest income, Balthasar, Rudolf and Johann II had to enter into foreign military service. In addition, in continuation of the policy of their father, they concluded a protective and defensive alliance with the Elector Friedrich II of Saxony in 1446 .

After Balthasar's brother Rudolf fell for the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Konitz in 1454 , the Duchy of Sagan belonged to Balthasar alone. From 1455 he fought with his own troop of mercenaries for the Teutonic Order in Prussia . After his return, he joined a league on April 19, 1458, which turned against Georg von Podiebrad or the Bohemian electoral monarchy and only wanted to recognize an orthodox king. In addition to Balthasar and his brother Johann II. The dukes Konrad djW von Oels and Heinrich IX were members of the union . d. Ä. von Glogau , the Breslau bishop Jodok and the cathedral chapter as well as the hereditary principalities of Breslau and Schweidnitz-Jauer . In the same year they concluded another league in Görlitz against Georg von Podiebrad, which also included the city of Breslau and Saxony . In 1460, Balthasar was used by the city of Wroclaw as their field captain in the fight against Georg von Podebrady. Although a peace between King George and the city of Breslau was agreed on January 13, 1460 with the involvement of the papal legate Hieronymus of Crete, Balthasar was not included in this peace, as he continued to refuse to obey King George. Presumably for this reason he enfeoffed Balthasar's brother Johann II with Sagan on March 19, 1461, who until then had resided in Priebus. After Johann II was introduced to Sagan by royal captains, Balthasar went to see Friedrich II of Brandenburg , from whom he hoped in vain for support. Therefore, he went to King George in Prague, where he was also not heard, which is why he then went to Rome in the hope of papal help. After his return to Breslau in February 1463, the papal legate intended to initiate a lawsuit against Balthasar's brother John II in order to force the return of Sagan to Balthasar. However, the process was foiled by Bishop Jodok, so that Balthasar had to continue to do without Sagan. After the new Breslau bishop Rudolf von Rüdesheim imposed a condemnation judgment on King George on December 23, 1466, in April / May 1467 there were again armed conflicts between the Breslauers, led by Balthasar von Sagan and Nikolaus I von Opole and by the Bohemian opposition directed against Georg von Podiebrad were supported. The opposing side was led by King George's sons, Balthasar's brother Johann II and Konrad "the black" von Oels. Although the Breslauers took Münsterberg on April 17th and occupied Frankenstein Castle , they were defeated on May 16th by Georg von Podiebrad's son Viktorin . The ongoing dispute between the brothers Balthasar and Johann II over the Duchy of Sagan also played a role in this conflict. Since Henry IX. von Glogau Balthasar failed to help, he was defeated in August 1467 by Johann II. Nevertheless, in October d. J. take an Abwehrbund Sagan, which is why Johann II fled to King George in Prague. Henry XI. von Glogau , who in the middle of the fighting his late father Heinrich IX. had inherited, Sagan handed over to his cousin Balthasar. In order to prevent an inheritance in the event of his possible childless death, the widowed Balthasar remarried.

After the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus was elected (counter) king of Bohemia in 1469, whom Balthasar's brother John II paid homage to after initial hesitation, Corvinus, who had appropriated Silesia, handed him considerable funds for the recruitment of mercenaries, which he used to fight Poland should start. Instead, John II used these mercenaries to take Sagan and drive his brother Balthasar away. He spent this chained to Priebus and held him prisoner in the round tower of the city fortifications. Balthasar died there on July 15, 1472. His body was buried in the tomb of the Glogau-Saganer Piasts, the Augustinian Church in Sagan.

To escape the wrath of King Matthias, Balthasar's brother Johann II fled to Saxony and on December 19, 1472 sold the Duchy of Sagan with Priebus and Naumburg am Bober to the Wettin dukes Albrecht the Courageous and Ernst .

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personal data
SURNAME Balthazar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balthasar of Sagan; Baltasar of Sagan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke von Sagan, mercenary leader of the Teutonic Order, field captain of Breslau
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1472
Place of death Priebus