Balthasar Rantzau

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Balthasar Rantzau

Balthasar Rantzau (* around 1497, † May 1547, presumably at Wartenfels Castle in Lusatia ) was bishop of the Diocese of Lübeck . He became known for his tragic end as a victim of a kidnapping.

family

Johannes Jakosbz Folkema: Balthasar Rantzau (above) as bishop with other members of the Rantzau family

Balthasar Rantzau came from the Holstein noble family Rantzau . He was the son of bailiff Hans Rantzau (1452–1522) at Gut Neuhaus and Schmoel in what is now the Plön district and Margarethe Brockdorff (1477–19 August 1547). His oldest brother was Melchior Rantzau (around 1496–1539), the most important statesman for foreign and financial policy in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . Five other of his brothers also held important positions in the government of the duchies: Heinrich (or Henrik) (1501–1561) and Sievert († 1576) were ducal councilors and bailiffs , Jasper (or Caspar) († 1562) were royal councilors and bailiffs , Breide († 1562) royal governor of the duchies and Otto († 1585) provost of Uetersen monastery . Together the family owned rich land in Holstein.

Life

As a middle son destined for the clergy, Balthasar Rantzau received minor orders as a youth . As early as 1511 Duke Friedrich presented him to the cathedral chapter in Schleswig as provost . But he never stayed there, but began studying at the University of Rostock in 1514 . In 1521 he received a prebend in Lübeck, later also in Ratzeburg , without settling there, as the rules actually prescribed.

bishop

In 1536, after the sudden death of Detlev von Reventlow , the first Protestant bishop of Lübeck , he was elected as his successor. Although the cathedral chapter had refused, King Christian III. Demand to be allowed to appoint the bishop to comply, but the choice was probably made to please the king, because the relationship between Lübeck and Denmark was not the best after the feud of the counts . Little is known about Rantzau's attitude towards the Reformation . Only the source of money interested him in the office. The priestly and episcopal ordination , which would actually have been necessary for this, he shifted again and again. It probably didn't even take place. He also refused to take the oath to the cathedral chapter until 1539. And instead of living on the bishopric in Eutin , he preferred to live on the Neuhaus family estate, which he had inherited with his brother Sievert.

Kidnapping and death

Balthasar Rantzau was kidnapped together with a noble boy at the beginning of August 1545 from his episcopal estate Kaltenhof on the Trave in the area of Alt-Lübeck not far from today's Bad Schwartau . The perpetrator was the Mecklenburg nobleman Martin von Waldenfels , owner of Gut Gorlosen , who tried in this way to recover unpaid wages, which amounted to 1,400 guilders , from King Christian III. to blackmail from Denmark. Waldenfels, an over 60-year-old mercenary leader who was heavily indebted, had already requested this several times in the past few years. In 1543 he came in the entourage of Prince Magnus of Mecklenburg for his wedding to Elisabeth , a sister of the king, in Kiel , where he made his request again. However, he was put off to arbitration by Johann Rantzau . Finally, Lieutenant Breide Rantzau, the bishop's brother, declared the debt null and void on behalf of the king, since Waldenfels could not produce a written contract for the alleged recruitment of riders, and threatened him with a trial for his "lies". As a result, Waldenfels sent the king a feud on August 10, 1545 , in which he declared that he had kidnapped a Rantzau. The ransom demanded was 20,000 guilders, about a third of Denmark's annual government spending.

The king was not ready - and probably also not able to pay the ransom, the Rantzau brothers saw the kidnapping as a matter of state and the cathedral chapter only wanted to participate if the others paid. The negotiations - a lengthy correspondence, which also includes letters from the abductee from the first months of captivity, has been preserved - therefore dragged on at the highest level with the involvement of the Holy Roman Empire . Waldenfels and his assistants were charged with breaching the peace and persecuted as robbers throughout the empire. However, since only the approximate whereabouts of the abductee and the kidnapper were known, mediators were used to negotiate with the princes of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg, including Chancellor Andreas von Barby , who was to become Rantzau's successor in 1556. Even Balthasar's old mother traveled to Mecklenburg in 1546, hoping to free her son. Elector Joachim von Brandenburg summoned several nobles, including two von Bredow brothers , who were accused of being involved in the kidnapping, but even this leverage did not bring Waldenfels to release his prisoner. Bishop Balthasar, increasingly ill health, was dragged from one castle to another. In addition to the ransom, Waldenfels repeatedly demanded the reimbursement of expenses for its proper maintenance. Finally, Breide Rantzau took matters into his own hands and in the spring of 1547, with a group of riders, searched an estate in the Brandenburg region where, according to witnesses, Balthasar Rantzau was supposed to have been. Although he did not find his brother, he attacked the wedding of one of the Bredow brothers and in turn kidnapped some nobles. In response to the complaint of the Brandenburg knighthood, the Danish king explained the whole case in detail. Waldenfels, who meanwhile fought for Moritz von Sachsen in the Schmalkaldic War , met Elector Joachim in Berlin. But he claimed that he could not dispose of the prisoner. It is possible that Rantzau had already died at this point, as his brother assumed due to the lack of letters for a long time. The historian Wolfgang Prange suspects that he died at Stavenow Castle and was buried in Blüthen . As an imperial mandate Waldenfels in summer 1547, the imperial ban threatened, he should not release the bishop immediately and the feud renounce to Waldenfels agreed only to negotiations if Denmark would drop the charges against him, including Christian III. wasn't ready. However, since Waldenfels was under Moritz von Saxony's personal protection, Elector Joachim opened the trial only against the Bredows and a few other suspects at the end of 1548. It became clear that the bishop was already dead. Waldenfels protested in writing against the allegation of the noble boy, who has now been freed, of murdering Rantzau. He was ostracized and his property was awarded to King Christian, which led to a new dispute with the Mecklenburg dukes. Waldenfels himself remained unscathed in Saxon services.

After Rantzau's kidnapping, the cathedral chapter argued with the brothers over the episcopal estates, which they initially refused to surrender. Only after his death was officially confirmed in 1548 did they hand over the monastery administration, but kept half of the inventory and quite a bit of money. The cathedral chapter therefore refuses to comply with the king's request and to re-elect a nobleman as bishop.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal
  2. ↑ Colding: En kidnappingaffære i arhundrede 16 , p 575
  3. ↑ Colding: En kidnappingaffære i arhundrede 16 , p 578
  4. ↑ Colding: En kidnappingaffære i arhundrede 16 , p 585
  5. ^ Behrmann: News about the kidnapping , pp. 327–331
  6. ↑ Is there a bishop resting under Bluethen's altar? on SVZ.de (accessed June 14, 2014)
  7. ^ Prange: Rantzau, Balthasar , p. 192


predecessor Office successor
Detlev von Reventlow Bishop of Lübeck
1536 - 1547 		Jodoku's testicular filter
personal data
SURNAME Rantzau, Balthasar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Lübeck
DATE OF BIRTH around 1497
DATE OF DEATH May 1547
Place of death Wartenfels Castle , Lausitz