Betzdorf (noble family)

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Family coat of arms of those von Betzdorff also called Ermarts

The von Betzdorf family , also Betzdorff or Ermarts , is a noble family from the Westerwald , who were wealthy at the middle Sieg and were in the service of the Sayn family . Branches of the family still exist today.

history

Origin and coat of arms

The family was named after the town of the same name, Betzdorf an der Sieg, where their ancestral home, the Junkernhaus , a castle house presumably from the late 14th century and now heavily modernized in the northern Siegschleife, was located. The family belonged to the sexes who had three slanted diamonds in their coat of arms. The similarity of coats of arms and numerous family ties suggest that they originally belonged to the family of the noble free von Nister , which included count families as well as lower noble families. It can be assumed that the from Betzdorf from Gevertzhagen ( Gebhardshain) emerged. This is supported by the presumed tinging of the coat of arms, the spatial proximity and, last but not least, an accumulation of the same first names. It is quite possible that von Betzdorf's diamonds were in black, slanted to the right on a silver bar. It is more likely that, like those of Gevertzhagen, they used the three diamonds in silver (possibly with a gold border) on a red background. A boar growing as a crest, although not secured, which seems to be borrowed from the coat of arms of the Counts of Freusburg.

Lines and possessions

In 1271 a knight Hermann von Betsendorp appears in a deed of donation to the Dünnwald monastery near Cologne. From 1360, the secured trunk line begins with Johann zu Betzdorf. His sons Johann, Wilhelm and Arnd were partisans of the feudal young count Gerhard I von Sayn and accompanied him during his arguments. For that Johann was in 1398 with the Struthof as Burglehen and the castle seat to Freusburg invested . In the following centuries the family received this count's fief over and over again. In Saynic services, their relatives held court offices, acted as bailiffs and Burgsassen zu Freusburg or were clerical dignitaries. Since 1609 this branch has been called Ermart or Ermert, the new family name is derived from the ancestor Ermbrecht von Betzdorf. The Saynic bailiff Avemann noted in 1742: "that the vassals, called Ermarts, are of the same sex with the previous von Betzdorf". 1624, during the Thirty Years' War , when Kurtrier took control of Freusburg, the family was the fief lost, but succeeded in 1653 to acquire after the return of sovereignty to the house Sayn, parts of the fief back. In addition to the Struthofer fiefdom, the von Betzdorf owned, wholly or temporarily, goods and possessions in the offices of Freusburg and Hachenburg, including the castle house and free aristocratic family estate in Betzdorf, the Burgmannenhaus with lands in Freusburg, goods in Hachenburg and farms in Alsdorf and in Seifen Molzhain . Later, after 1650, also farms in Scheuerfeld , Wissen and Imhausen .

The branch line from Betzdorf to Hachenburg, proven until the end of the 16th century, had possessions in Elkenroth , Korb and Hachenburg. Whose members acted as lesser nobility on, were clergymen or as officials and aldermen in the Counts rule operates Hachenburg. From 1437 to 1508 they held the office of rentmaster there , the chief financial officer of the entire county, between 1454 and 1471 also the city ​​school authority . In the immediate vicinity of the counts were also Gerhard von Betzdorf, who, as the recipient of the inheritance, witnessed the last declaration of will of Count Gerhard II. The brothers Wilhelm and Heinrich appeared in 1494 as witnesses to the division of the estate between Gerhard III. and his brother Sebastian I. Together with the count family and other families in the region, von Betzdorf belonged to the brotherhood “Our Lady”, founded in 1292, which looked after the well-being of the poor in the Siegtal valley. In addition, documents document various foundations and donations to the Marienstatt and Michaelsberg Abbeys , in which some family members were monks and religious and often held the office of the cellar there.

Another sideline, that of Betzdorf zu Au, was owned by the Au bei Morsbach Adelshof from 1533 until it died out in the male line in 1581 . A branch of the Hachenburg line had settled in Cologne around 1530 , lived there in the "Kapellenhaus", owned the Betzdorfer Hof near Bonn and belonged to the urban upper class. This came from Konrad von Betzdorf (1518–1586), municipal syndic and envoy of the imperial city, humanist and in 1567 rector of the University of Cologne . The family can be traced there over three generations up to the 17th century. The latter had a modified coat of arms with three slanted swallows instead of the three diamonds.

Known family members

Konrad von Betzdorf (1518–1586), City Syndic, Vice Chancellor and 1567 Rector of the University of Cologne, author of the Cologne procedural rules.

literature

  • Hellmuth Gensicke : Wallmenroth called Beuinghausen , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 1970, pp. 91-92.
  • Hellmuth Gensicke: Regional history of the Westerwald , Wiesbaden 1958.
  • Hermann Knodt: Preliminary work on the Hessian Wappenbuch (unpublished), Material Wappen Ermert, in: Hauptstaatsarchiv Darmstadt, Best.O 64, No. 1465.
  • Herbert M. Schleicher (arr.): The genealogical-heraldic collection of Canon Johann Gabriel von der Ketten in Cologne , Vol. 1, Cologne 1983.
  • Humbert Schmidt: Betzdorfer as Burgsassen, students, officials, clergy and benefactors , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 33 (1990), pp. 197-204.
  • Humbert Schmidt: Dr. Konrad Betzdorf , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Altenkirchen District 1974.
  • Wilhelm Söhngen: History of the city of Hachenburg , Wiesbaden 1914.
  • Erich Vierbuchen: "Everything lives from mining and smelting ..." Family history of saynic trade families of the 18th century. Part II , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 35 (1992), pp. 217–225.
  • August Wolf, History of Betzdorf , o.O. 1951.
  • Rolf Zobel: Coat of arms on the Middle Rhine and Moselle , Norderstedt 2009, plate 30.

References and comments

  1. ↑ The sources almost exclusively contain seals and coats of arms in black and white, usually without diagonal bars. The only indication of the tinging is the coat of arms of Konrad von Betzdorf from the 16th century in the von der Ketten collection. This coat of arms has the same coloring as that of Gevertzhagen.
  2. ↑ Textor family tree ( memento from February 21, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on February 3, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b Betzdorfer Ortschronik ( memento from July 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 15, 2011.
  4. ↑ Quotation from Vierbuchen, p. 220.
  5. ^ Reichsgrafschaft Sayn , accessed on April 19, 2011.