Botho the Elder zu Stolberg

Count Botho the Elder zu Stolberg (* around 1375 ; † March 15, 1455 in Stolberg (Harz) ) was a German nobleman. He ruled the county of Stolberg and since 1429 also the county of Wernigerode in the Harz region .

Life

Botho was the son of Count Heinrich zu Stolberg and his wife Elisabeth. For a long time it was assumed that she was a born Countess von Hohnstein and possibly the daughter of Count Dietrich von Hohnstein-Heringen. On the other hand, in 1925, J. Meyer, in an article in the journal of the Harz-Verein für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, came to the conclusion, which he described as certain, that Elisabeth was born from Querfurt. He left open whether she was the only wife of Count Heinrich zu Stolberg and how she should be classified in the family of the Lords of Querfurt.

Nothing is known about Count Botho zu Stolberg's childhood and youth. Presumably he stayed temporarily at a court of the Counts of Schwarzburg, possibly in Sondershausen .

It can be verified for the first time in 1391. In a document of the Prior General of the Augustinian Remit Order of May 16, 1391, Count Heinrich, his wife Elisabeth and his children are included in all good works of this order. Another reference to the sons of Count Heinrich zu Stolberg can be found in a joint document from Bishop Ernst von Halberstadt and Landgrave Balthasar von Thuringia dated April 17, 1396. The sons and their father are included in a three-year aid alliance, which is stated on it suggests that they were of legal age at the time and were therefore born in 1375 at the latest. When this treaty was renewed on March 12, 1399, Count Heinrich zu Stolberg and his sons were named again.

When Botho was at least 25 years old, a vow was made that 29 years later was to be of outstanding importance for the further development of the Count's House of Stolberg. Count Henry of Wernigerode, who had no children at the time, vowed on 5 June 1400 to the bishop Ernst von Halberstadt and Botho's father Henry, who probably was the half-brother of Wernigeröder counts that after his death his bailiffs the house Wernigerode to Nobody other than to be handed over to Count Heinrich zu Stolberg or his heirs. Count Heinrich zu Stolberg had lent the Count of Wernigerode 1,000 marks. In the event of the death of Count Heinrich von Wernigerode without leaving any sons, Count Heinrich zu Stolberg undertook to hand over the house of Wernigerode to Bishop Ernst von Halberstadt on June 13, 1400, if he pays the debt of 1,000 marks at that time. In the latter document, the names of Count Heinrich zu Stolberg's sons, Heinrich, Botho and Albrecht appear for the first time. Count Albrecht does not appear in any other document than that of 1400. His further fate is unknown. Entry into a clergy would be possible, or even more likely an early death.

After his father's death, he ruled together with his older brother Heinrich, who died around 1416. Botho appeared for the first time acting independently in 1403 when the Reichslehen Rosperwenda was acquired.

In 1429, after the death of the last Count of Wernigerode, he became the new lord of the North Harz County of Wernigerode.

One of his most significant undertakings was the hereditary fraternization with the houses of Schwarzburg and Hohnstein in 1433.

Count Botho, who was already over 50 years old, married Anna, the daughter of Count Heinrich von Schwarzburg, in June 1431, who gave him their son and successor Heinrich and their daughter Elisabeth in 1433 and 1434.

On March 17, 1455 he was buried in the crypt in the St. Martinikirche in Stolberg.

literature

• Botho Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode: History of the House of Stolberg, edited by George Adalbert von Mülverstedt . Magdeburg 1883. pp. 171-289.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ J. Meyer: Name and origin of the wife (s) of Heinrich XVI. Count of Stolberg . In: Zeitschrift des Harzverein für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , 58 (1925), pp. 34–46.
2. ↑ Also written "Bodo".