Burgrave of Altenburg
The Burgraves of Altenburg were a German noble family in Saxony and Thuringia .
history
Creation of the Burggrafschaft Altenburg in the Pleißenland
The Burggrafschaft Altenburg was in the course of the German colonization in 1147 under King Konrad III. erected in Pleißenland . On the one hand, it served to consolidate the position of Conrad III. in the empire, on the other hand it served to secure and manage the royal property in and around the imperial palace of Altenburg .
From the middle of the 12th century, the Burgraves of Altenburg appeared as holders of military, judicial and political tasks in the Burggrafschaft Altenburg, who were presumably anchored in the Altenburg area before the middle of the 12th century. The first owner of the burgrave's office was Heinrich I von Altenburg (d. 1203), who probably had been in the hands of King Conrad III since 1146/47, and certainly since 1150. held the Altenburg burgrave title with extensive territorial rights over the residents of the Pleißengau and Burgkorn income. In the course of the formation of the Pleißengau to the Reichsland from 1158/65, Heinrich I von Altenburg played a key role in the Reichsland colonization in the Altenburg, Leisnig / Colditz area , around Frohburg / Flößberg (Flügelsberg) and in the Zinnberg / Penig area on the Zwickauer Mulde . As a result, the von Altenburg family gained considerable stately growth. Heinrich I died in 1203, but appeared for the last time as Burgrave of Altenburg in 1189.
The successor in the burgrave office was Heinrich's son Dietrich I. von Altenburg, who received the goods around Altenburg in addition to the burgrave office when the paternal rule was divided, while the colonial parts around Frohburg and Flößberg went to his brothers. As the successor to Dietrich I, his brother Albrecht I von Altenburg (died 1229) is mentioned from 1210. As the second-born son, he had received the rights to rule around Frohburg as compensation when his father was divided. While Albrecht I contributed to the assertion of royal and imperial power in Central Germany, he suffered setbacks in his Frohburg rulership center with the advance of Wettin servants (Lords of Schladebach / Gnandstein ). He also made numerous donations to the Bergerkloster zu Altenburg.
Between 1222 and 1273 Albrecht II of Altenburg is attested as burgrave of Altenburg. Certainly he did not take up the burgrave office until after the death of his father Albrecht I in 1229. During his reign, the family rulership gained greater importance than the office. After the death of Albrecht II's cousin, Konrad von Frohburg, around 1253, the Frohburg rule fell back to the castle count's line as an inheritance, making Frohburg the new center of the castle's power development at this time.
The Burggrafschaft Altenburg since it was pledged to the Wettins in 1243
After the Pleißenland was pledged to the Wettins in 1243, Burgrave Albrecht II approached the Meissen Margrave Heinrich III. on. In 1253, Margrave Heinrich III demonstrated. his claims to power over the Pleißenland through notarizations. At the time of his reign, Burgrave Albrecht II contributed to the stabilization of the Wettin rule in the Pleissenland. When he came of age in 1261, Heinrich's son, Albrecht II , from 1265 Landgrave of Thuringia, took over the rule in the Pleißenland. During the first decade of his rule, the imperial burgrave Albrecht II remained in his office as district judge. When the imperial daughter Margaretha von Staufen , who had received the Pleißenland as a dowry in 1243 when she got engaged to the Landgrave of Thuringia, Albrecht II, fled from her husband in 1270, the connection between the castle and the landgrave broke completely. Burgrave Albrecht II was expelled by the landgrave in 1270. At the same time he lost his residence in Altenburg Castle. Thereupon Albrecht II withdrew to his estates in the hollow area around Zinnberg / Penig and Rochsburg . In the same year, the landgrave appointed his servant Siegfried von Hopffgarten as a district judge in the Pleißenland with his seat at Altenburg Castle.
Division of the Burgraves of Altenburg into the Zinnberger and Rochsburg lines
On the basis of a settlement concluded in 1270, the paternal inheritance was divided after the death of Albrecht II in 1275 in such a way that the older son Albrecht III. received the burgrave dignity and the greater part of the castle counts' possessions with the Zinnberg Castle built around 1170 and the Penig settlement that was built around 1260. As early as 1276, ministers of the Altenburg burgraves performed at Zinnberg Castle with "Heinricus de Cinnenberg". These are not to be confused with the burgrave family. The younger son Dietrich II. Von Altenburg received Rochsburg, first mentioned in 1195, when it was divided, and has been called Dietrich II von Rochsburg ever since. The Rochsburg line was first mentioned in 1283 as a tenant of Rochsburg. The burgraves of Altenburg probably received it as a Wettin fief when this noble family died out with "Gunteros de Rochsberg" around 1220/24.
After the falling out with Siegfried von Hopfgarten, Landgrave Albrecht II continued with Albrecht III from 1275. invited the son of the former burgrave Albrecht II to the burgrave office. After his death in 1280 he was followed by his son Heinrich IV von Altenburg. Since the two younger brothers of Heinrich IV. Entered the Teutonic Order and Heinrich IV. Died in 1291 without heirs entitled to inheritance, the Altenburg burgrave office and the possessions of the Zinnberg line passed to Heinrich's uncle Dietrich II. Von Rochsburg.
End of the Burgraves of Altenburg and transition to the Wettins
The last Altenburg burgrave from the von Altenburg family was Albrecht IV von Altenburg. He was first mentioned in a document in 1295 and succeeded him in office and rule after the death of his father Dietrich II von Rochsburg in 1303. The core of his power was formed in addition to the largely thinned out official rights in the Pleißengau from the reunited and largely closed rights and possessions around Zinnberg / Penig and Rochsburg on the Zwickauer Mulde and, since 1323, in Lauterstein in the central Ore Mountains . At the beginning of his rule numerous donations were made to the Teutonic Order, the Bergerkloster zu Altenburg and other monasteries. In 1306/07 Albrecht IV belonged to the anti-Wettinian party, which was closely associated with King Albrecht V of Habsburg, along with the Pleasen Land estates and other lords . After the Wettin Margrave Friedrich the Freidige took possession of the Pleißenland in 1308, Albrecht IV actually recognized the sovereignty of the Wettins. In the following years he consolidated his influence in the Wettiner sphere of influence, u. a. he was involved in efforts to achieve peace in the country and used as an arbitrator in aristocratic disputes. Furthermore, Albrecht IV became a close confidante of the margraves. Through his participation in the overthrow and expulsion of the Lords of Schellenberg , who were ostracized after the " Schellenberger Feud " (1275 to 1293) and the subsequent devastation of the property of the Altzella monastery near Nossen in 1319, Burgrave Albrecht IV received from the drafted Schellenberger owned the Lauterstein lordship in 1322/23 with the town of Zöblitz in the central Ore Mountains as a fief. Furthermore, together with his son-in-law Otto von Leisnig, he was able to record other property gains from the hands of the Wettins. These were u. a. in 1324 the town and rule of Waldheim and the enfeoffment with the villages of Göhren , Himmelhartha , Schlaisdorf and goods in Wernsdorf north of Lunzenau on the Zwickauer Mulde.
Albrecht IV had only one daughter named Elisabeth, who was married to the burgrave Otto I von Leisnig . His brother Dietrich von Altenburg was excluded from inheritance due to his entry into the Teutonic Order in 1307. Through royal and Wettin enfeoffment together with his son-in-law Otto I von Leisnig, Albrecht IV secured the family inheritance of the manorial estates that did not belong to the burgrave's office in 1323. The Altenburg burgrave office, which was greatly reduced in terms of rights and income, placed King Ludwig the Bavarian under the sovereignty of his son-in-law, Margrave Friedrich the Serious , who came from the House of Wettin . With the death of Burgrave Albrecht IV in 1329, the transfer of the Altenburg burgrave office to the Wettins was confirmed by an imperial diploma. Since then, Altenburg has been seen as an integral part of the Pleißenland.
The castle counts' possessions after the burgraves of Altenburg died out
The legacy of the Burgraves of Altenburg, d. H. the house and private goods, without the burgrave dignity transferred to the Wettins, passed with their rights, goods and income to Elisabeth, the daughter of the last Altenburg burgrave Albrecht IV. Since she was married to Otto von Leisnig, the possession of the Altenburg burgraves passed to the family of the burgraves of Leisnig . After a family division of the Rochsburg dominion in 1436, the reduced Rochsburg dominion remained in the possession of the Burggraves of Leisnig until 1448 and the Penig dominion until the family died out in 1538.
The property of the Frohburger sideline was already in the 14th century in the possession of Wettin marshals from the von Schladebach family (later called Marshal von Bieberstein ), who called themselves Marshal von Frohburg. Flößberg , called Flügelsberg at that time , came to the Teutonic Order of Altenburg when this branch line died out in 1330.
Burgrave of Altenburg
- Heinrich I von Altenburg (mentioned 1146/47 to 1189, died 1203)
- Dietrich I. von Altenburg (between 1203 and 1210)
- Albrecht I of Altenburg (1210 to 1229)
- Albrecht II of Altenburg (1222/29 to 1270)
- Albrecht III. von Altenburg (1275 to 1280)
- Heinrich IV. Von Altenburg (1280 to 1291) (Zinnberger Line)
- Dietrich II von Rochsburg (1291 to 1303) (Rochsburg Line)
- Albrecht IV of Altenburg (1303 to 1328) (Rochsburg line)
Coat of arms of the Burggrafschaft Altenburg
The coat of arms of the Burggrafschaft Altenburg is the red rose on a silver background. You can find it today u. a. in the coat of arms of the East Thuringian district of Altenburger Land and in some local coats of arms in the district (including Altenburg , Altkirchen , Lucka , Langenleuba-Niederhain and Heukewalde ) and in the dominions of Penig and Rochsburg (including Penig ), which are now in the Saxon district of Central Saxony .
Web links
- History of the Burgraves of Altenburg in the Bavarian State Library
- Book about the Burggrafschaft Altenburg
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the burgraviates in the Pleißenland s. André Thieme: The beginnings of the Burggrafschaft Altenburg . In: New archive for Saxon history . No. 65, 1994, pp. 27-38. and André Thieme: The Burggrafschaft Altenburg. Studies of office and rule in the transition from the high to the late Middle Ages . (Writings on Saxon State History 2). Leipziger Universitäts-Verlag, Leipzig 2001.
- ^ Heinrich von Altenburg in the Saxon Biography
- ^ Dietrich I. von Altenburg in the Saxon Biography
- ^ Albrecht I. von Altenburg in the Saxon Biography
- ^ Albrecht II. Von Altenburg in the Saxon Biography
- ^ History of the city of Penig
- ^ The Burggrafschaft Altenburg, p. 561ff.
- ^ IV. Von Altenburg in the Saxon Biography
- ^ The Burggrafschaft Altenburg, p. 559
- ^ Website about the Marschall von Bieberstein family
- ↑ Mention of Flügelsberg in footnote 32, p. 16
- ↑ The coat of arms on the Altenburger Land district website