Belrein von Eselsberg

Eselsberg via Ensingen

Ground plan and attempt to reconstruct the castle (1925)

Belrein von Eselsberg (* 12th century; † around 1253) was a Swabian noble free and the last male representative of his gender; he had his seat at Eselsberg Castle above Ensingen in the Ludwigsburg district and founded the Rechentshofen monastery at the foot of the Stromberg .

Life

Origin and family

The gentlemen of Eselsberg (locally also from Eselsburg ) had their eponymous seat on Eselsberg near Ensingen . Your Eselsberg Castle , now mostly called Eselsburg, was first mentioned in 1188 as a Staufergut in a document given by Emperor Friedrich I to Seligenstadt . In 1194 the castle was apparently in the hands of the brothers Werner and Heinrich von "Eselesberc", who behind Bertold von Kräheneck as witnesses to a document from King Heinrich VI. were listed. According to Werner Palmbach, the Eselsbergers are said to have called themselves "von Owenbühl" after the Auenbühl near Rechentshofen and, like the gentlemen of Weißenstein, emerged from the Kräheneck family .

It is not known from whom the brothers Werner and Heinrich von Eselsberg Belrein descended. He was married to Agnes von Bilversheim, probably a sister of Bamberg's bishop Heinrich I von Bilversheim . They had two daughters known by name, Berchtrade and Agnes, but no male successor.

First mention

Belrein von Eselsberg was mentioned for the first time in 1232 as a witness of the Counts of Vaihingen and von Calw , who left the goods at Öwisheim , which they carried to fief from Bishop Beringer in Speyer, to the convent of Maulbronn Monastery . Witnesses were the Counts "Otto de Eberstein and Godefridus de Lewenstein " and "Otto de Brosle , Albertus Drosler, Heinricus de Rossewach , Bertholdus de Vlehingen , Belreinus de Eseleberch". When Maulbronn Monastery acquired goods in Winmothsheim from Count Gottfried von Vaihingen in 1232 , Belrein was also among the witnesses, specifically as a nobleman: “[…] liberi: Cunradus de Sterrenvils , Belreinus de Eselesberch, Burchardus et Conradus de Strubenhart , Cůnradus de Lomersheim , Albero de Slierstat , Theodoricus de Calcwile, Bertoldus Strubeco, Gerlacus de Illingen, […] ”.

Rebuilt church from Rechentshofen Monastery

Bridge over the ditch of the Eselsburg

Oberriexingen founded by Belrein?

Monastery foundation

After Belrein the monastery Maulbronn various goods and Gülten in from Eselsberg still in June 1241 Gündelbach (probably one and Lichtenberg Wüstung had in Gündelbachtal) left, he founded on July 31, 1241 his wife Agnes of Bilversheim the convent Rechentshofen southeast of Hohenhaslach that gifted them with goods and tithes in Rechentshofen, Auenbühl (today Bühlwäldle north of the monastery) and in the nearby Hartwald (then called Nonnenhart ). In addition to reasons of prestige, the concern for the personal salvation of the soul with a corresponding burial place and the care of an Eselsberg daughter may have motivated the founders, who remained without male descendants, to found the monastery. Belrein's daughter Berchtrade became abbess of the monastery, which was to serve as the burial place of her parents and later also of the family of her sister Agnes, who was married to Count Konrad II of Vaihingen . The regional historian Hansmartin Decker-Hauff explained that, despite this connection and Belrein's proximity to this count's house, no Count von Vaihingen testified to the foundation, but rather, strangely enough, Count Hartmann I. von Grüningen led the secular row of witnesses, explaining that this Hartmann also had a daughter of Belrein's wife have. However, like other Decker-Hauff genealogical constructs, this conclusion is not tenable. Other witnesses were the Speyer Bishop Konrad von Eberstein and the abbot of Maulbronn Monastery Konrad von Sternenfels with son, Konrad von Lomershein, Berchtold, Vogt von Weißenstein, and his brothers Belrein and Helfrich. In 1245 Albert von Lomersheim , canon of the main church in Speyer and priest of the people in Kleinsachsenheim , who described himself as a blood relative of Belrein, renounced all claims “to the new breaking toe in Rechentshofen in favor of the monastery there”.

Retirement

In 1243 Belrein von Eselsberg appeared as a witness for the brothers Hermann and Rudolf, sons of the previously deceased Margrave Hermann V von Baden .

Belrein von Eselsberg is said to have founded the town of Oberriexingen an der Enz around 1250 . Since there is no evidence of this, and a town elevation was more a matter of counts and required royal approval, this seems doubtful. Oberriexingen was first mentioned as a town in 1361; the city was probably founded in the 14th century by the Counts of Vaihingen , who were in charge here at the time.

On September 2, 1252 Belrein was mentioned for the last time in a document when he was in Maulbronn next to Count Gottfried III. von Calw appeared as a witness for Bishop Heinrich von Speyer.

estate

Belrein von Eselsberg is said to have died around 1253. Since he had no male successor and daughter Berchtrade as nun or abbess in Rechentshofen had no inheritance claims, the inheritance of Belrein with Eselsberg Castle and the protective bailiwick of Rechentshofen Monastery fell to Count Konrad II of Vaihingen, who was married to daughter Agnes († around 1276). This document was first documented on November 11, 1271 at Eselsberg Castle and left his heirs with “a heavy burden of debt”. To alleviate this, son Konrad III. von Vaihingen repeatedly sold goods from the Eselsberg inheritance from 1277 to 1298, but always needed the approval of his mother Agnes († around 1299), who apparently secured a strong position as a widow with her marriage contract . After the sale of the castle and town of Vaihingen an der Enz , its successors used Eselsberg Castle as their headquarters in the 14th century.

In his will, drawn up in Stuttgart in 1356, Heinrich, the last Count of Vaihingen, bequeathed the rest of the Vaihingen rule to Count Eberhard von Württemberg . Heinrich's sister entitled to inheritance, Countess Mechthild "von Zollern-Eselsberg", had to be compensated after Heinrich's death in 1364 and still had Eselsberg Castle. The Württemberg house probably only received full access after the death of Mechthild's daughter Anna († 1396), who until then had a steward on Eselsberg. The fact that the Vaihingen counts and their heirs surrendered the "Veste Eselsberg" as the last estate long after the eponymous Vaihingen Castle and that Count Friedrich von Zollern-Schalksburg, who was married to Mechthild, called himself "Herr von Eselsberg", suggests a high quality of the location and special appreciation close this Belrein genome.

In the local tradition, Belrein was also called Graf. The mineral water bottler in Ensingen named one of its products Graf Belrein with reference to this .

swell

• Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg LABW online
• Württembergisches Urkundenbuch WUB online

literature

• Lothar Behr, Otto-Heinrich Elias, Manfred Scheck a. Ernst Eberhard Schmidt: History of the city of Vaihingen an der Enz , Ipa, Vaihingen 2001.
• Thomas Faltin: The Cistercian convent Rechentshofen and its position towards spiritual and secular violence. In: Journal for Württemberg State History <ZWLG> 55 (1996) pp. 27–64.
• Adelbert von Keller: Elblin von Eselsberg . In: Directory of the doctors appointed by the Philosophical Faculty of the royal Württemberg Eberhard-Karls-Universität zu Tübingen in the decanate years of 1855-1856 , Fues, Tübingen 1856, pp. 7–9. Google digitization .
• Werner Palmbach: The Rechentshofen Monastery in Hohenhaslach, a wine town. History and stories from 1200 years of village life . City of Sachsenheim (ed.), Sachsenheim 2000.
• Karl Eduard Paulus : Description of the Oberamt Vaihingen . Issued by the Royal Bureau of Statistics and Topography. Hallberger, Stuttgart 1856. Wikisource .

Remarks

1. ↑ Herren von Eselsburg is a retrospective naming. There is no evidence of the Lords of Eselsberg that they called themselves like the Upper Swabian family of the Lords of Eselsburg .
2. ^ As “castrum Elisperch” on April 23, 1188. See WUB Volume II, No. 457, pp. 256–260 WUB online
3. ↑ Source: WUB Volume II., No. 487, p. 301 WUB online
4. ↑ Werner Palmbach: The Rechentshofen Monastery , in: Weinort Hohenhaslach - History and stories from 1200 years of village life , City of Sachsenheim (publisher), Sachsenheim 2000.
5. ↑ Descent possibly from Hugo, comes de Creginecka (Kräheneck), 1037, see WUB Volume I., No. 222, pp. 263–265 WUB online , safer from Belremus de Creinhegge (Belrein von Kräheneck ), 1148, as this is consistent with the Named Belrein; see WUB Volume II, No. 327, pp. 43-45 WUB online . According to Adelbert von Keller: Elblin von Eselsberg , Tübingen 1856, p. 8, a relationship with the gentlemen of Lomersheim is proven by documents in Mones Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 4, pp. 341, 434.
6. ↑ WUB Volume III., No. 809, p. 304 WUB online
7. ↑ WUB Volume III, No. 810, p. 305 WUB online
8. ^ According to WUB online Lichtenberg near Oberstenfeld ; Lichtenberg in northern Alsace would also be conceivable . More obvious, however, is a desert in the Gewann Lichtenberg above the Gündelbachtal (north-northwest of Gündelbach 49 ° 0 ′ 11.9 ″  N , 8 ° 56 ′ 4.6 ″  E ) or the Lichtenberg desert north of Cleebronn .
9. ↑ Testified by the nobles "Cunradus de Braamberc " and "Wernherus de Sterrenvels ", the knight "Heinricus Sleenstein" and by "Sifridus abbas totusque conventus in Mulenbrunne"; see WUB Volume IV, No. 979, pp. 28-29 WUB online
10. ↑ WUB Volume III, No. 950, pp. 454–455 WUB online
11. ↑ WUB Volume III, No. 950, pp. 454–455 WUB online
12. ↑ WUB Volume IV, No. 1049, p. 107 WUB online
13. ↑ Some witnesses: Eberhardus et Otto de Eberstein, et filius Eberhardi de novo miles factus, dominus Otto de Brusela , Belreinus de Eselsberg, Albertus de Libenstein, Heinricus de Roswach , Graccus de Ilsveld, Rudolfus de Upstadt , [...]; Source: WUB Volume VI, No. N20, pp. 462–463 WUB online .
14. ^ According to the homepage of the city of Oberriexingen .
15. ↑ Witnesses: "Gothefridus comes de Calewe , Belreinus de Eselsberc, Gerardus de Brusella, Wernherus de Sterrenvels, Walterus Snitelin, Egeno frater scolastici Spirensis, Anselmus de Quaicheim , Rudolfus de Ǒpstat , Gothefridus de Niperc , [...]" Source: WUB IV ., No. 1237, pp. 305-306 WUB online
16. ↑ WUB Volume VII, No. 2236, pp. 158-159 WUB online
17. ↑ Lothar Behr et al. a .: History of the city of Vaihingen an der Enz , Ipa, Vaihingen 2001, p. 86.
18. ↑ Cf. WUB Volume VIII., No. 3042, pp. 270-271 WUB online (1281) or WUB Volume IX., No. 3518, p. 68 WUB online (1286)
19. ^ Robert Kretzschmar: Württemberg district town and customs station . In: Lothar Behr u. a .: History of the city of Vaihingen an der Enz , Ipa, Vaihingen 2001, p. 101ff.

Web links

Commons : Eselsberg (Stromberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files