Balthasar von Esens

The Junker Balthasar fountain in Esens

Balthasar von Esens , called "Junker Balthasar" (*?; † October 16, 1540 ) was from 1522 until his death chief of the East Frisian glories of Esens , Wittmund and Stedesdorf and thus ruler of the Harlingerland .

biography

Balthasar von Esens was the son of Chief Hero Omken and Armgard von Oldenburg, his paternal grandfather was Sibet Attena , the maternal grandfather the Count of Oldenburg Gerd the Brave . He was the last chief of the Attena line.

Like his father, the belligerent Balthasar did not care about the wishes of the Counts of East Friesland after he had assumed his inheritance and did not recognize their sovereignty over his rule. To do this, he robbed all the traders he got his hands on on land and at sea. He issued letters of piracy and liked to bring up the merchant ships of the city of Bremen . During this time of the Reformation he also won the support of the Bishop of Bremen and the Duke of Geldern . Not that Balthasar was a fanatical or even an exemplary Catholic, but the Bishop and Geldern were initially entitled to anything that could harm the Protestant Bremen.

When his cousin Christoph von Jever, the son of Edo Wiemken the Younger , who died in 1511, died in 1517, Balthasar tried to appropriate the Jeverland . As a justification for this, he stated that Edo's first wife, his aunt Frouwa, who had died of the plague in 1497 with the three daughters from this marriage, had given him in her will. In addition to the Jeverland, he attacked Ulrich von Dornum's land, to which he also made claims.

Count Edzard von Ostfriesland from the house of Cirksena tried meanwhile after the complaints about Balthasar that were becoming loud all over the country, to bring the Harlingerland to reason. After his first campaign against the Junker in 1524, piracy was forbidden and he became a member of the East Frisian Count's House. As Balthasar regularly disregarded this agreement as soon as the count's troops had withdrawn, Edzard had to move to Esens again in 1525. Afterwards, it was a little quieter for Balthasar von Esens.

When Enno II took over the rule in East Frisia as the new count, a new agreement was made between the parties in 1529, in which the mutual claims were determined. The hot-headed Balthasar was looking for another argument with his neighbors and the merchants. In 1530, Enno moved back to Harlingerland with a mercenary army in order to “hit Balthasar in the mouth” by his own admission.

After a long siege, the Junker finally had to hand over Esens and lost most of his territory. Thinking about revenge, he sat down with his sister Onna in the county of Rietberg , who was married to the gentleman there. He allied himself with his cousin Maria von Jever , who was able to free herself from East Frisian access to her land in 1531. From there he came to the Catholic Duke Karl von Geldern , a declared enemy of the Protestant Cirksena, who gave him his support in regaining his rule. With this, Balthasar broke the so-called Geldrische feud off the fence. With Geldern's help, he invaded East Friesland and wreaked havoc and suffering throughout the country (see also: Battle of Jemgum ). Count Enno was forced to give Balthasar back his old rule and to make further concessions. The Harlingerland was from now on under the official suzerainty of Geldern and lost its independence. With this strong power behind him, however, Balthasar continued to harass his neighbors, robbing and pillaging their lands.

Junker Balthasar felt inviolable during these years and, from 1537, began to hunt down Bremen merchant ships. Since the Bremen resisted, this led to a conflict between Balthasar's feudal power, the Catholic Geldern, and the Protestant Schmalkaldic League , to which Bremen belonged. After the death of Karl von Geldern in 1538, Count Enno wanted to settle the conflict and offered Balthasar a marriage with his sister. But since Balthasar made the return of some cannons that had been taken from him years ago a condition before he wanted to let the bride come to his court, this attempt at an agreement also failed. Because the Junker but still held harmless at Bremer ships and had to move to an amicable settlement, which was 1,538 imperial ban on Balthasar imposed. The people of Bremen finally took this as an opportunity to put an end to the pirate's craft once and for all. In the meantime Maria von Jever had settled her dispute with East Frisia and concluded a contract with Enno II, which prompted Balthasar von Esens to invade Jeverland in the summer of 1540. Shortly afterwards, the Bremen Esens attacked and received strong support from Maria von Jever. Balthasar died of an illness during the siege of Esens. After his death, Bremen was quickly ready to make peace. Since Balthasar had no children, the Harlingerland fell to the Rietbergers after his death.

Junker Balthazar's armor

According to a legend - which did not spread until the beginning of the 20th century - the people of Bremen brought the Junker's armor as a war trophy to the Schütting , the meeting place of Bremen's merchants, after the end of the war . There they set up the armor with a mechanism in such a way that whenever someone entered the great hall of the house via a certain staircase, the armor opened its visor and raised a hand in greeting. Balthasar von Esens was supposed to show respect for the people of Bremen even after his death. This “ complimentarius ” saluting machine stood in the Schütting until the beginning of the 19th century and then came to today's Focke Museum via various stops . In all likelihood, however, the figure's armor is not spoil from the war against Esens, but rather an old piece from the merchants' armory themselves.

Historical judgment

Opinions about its role in history differ widely. For his admirers and many Frisians from the Harlingerland he was a freedom fighter who rebelled against the Counts of East Frisia and the Hanseatic League and thus adhered to the idea of Frisian freedom . In Esens he was honored with the annual Junker-Balthasar-Tage until 2010, as he supposedly granted the town city rights in 1527, but this has not been historically proven. He is also credited for being able to preserve the independence of the Harlingerland for a long time.

For his critics, on the other hand, Balthasar was a pirate and scoundrel who used every opportunity to enrich himself with his neighbors, kept to no agreements and was unparalleled in troublesome and unruly. The Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1875–1912) calls Balthasar one of the “wildest fellows in those wildest times in the Frisian lands”.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Petri: Miss Maria von Jever. Studies on personality and domination practice. Treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia (Ed. Vd Ostfriesischen Landschaft) Volume 73; Aurich 1994, p. 31. 35f
2. ↑ Compare HH Meyer: The Complimentarius - History of a Bremen Sight . In Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 77, p. 168 ff, Bremen 1998.

Literature and Sources

• Karl Ernst Hermann Krause:  Esens, Balthasar von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 27 f.
• Ubbo Emmius : Frisian History ("Rerum Frisicarum Historia"). Wörner, Frankfurt / M. 1981/1982 (7 vols., Reprint of the Leiden 1616 edition).
• Gerhard Anton von Halem : History of the Duchy of Oldenburg . Schuster, Leer 1974, ISBN 3-7963-0044-8 (reprint of the Bremen 1794 edition).
• Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Perizonius : History of East Frisia. Edited from the best sources . Schuster, Leer 1974, ISBN 3-7963-0068-5 (4 vols., Reprint of the Weener 1868 edition).
• Wolfgang Rohde (Ed.): Chronica van den groten daden the Graven van Oldenborch . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 1993, ISBN 3-89442-160-6 (reprint of the edition around 1537).
• Martin Tielke: Biographical Lexicon for East Frisia . East Frisian Landscape, Aurich 1993 (3 vols.)