Kaspar von Fürstenberg
Kaspar von Furstenberg (* 11. November 1545 in Castle Water Lappe in Ense ; † 5. March 1618 in Arnsberg ) was kurkölnischer Drost to Bilstein , Fredeburg and Waldenburg and Kurmainzer bailiff to Fritzlar and Naumburg . He was also the council of the prince-bishops of Paderborn, the Cologne and Mainz electors. Since 1613 he was Landdrost of the Duchy of Westphalia .
Family and education
Kaspar was the son of the Bilstein bailiff Friedrich von Fürstenberg from the von Fürstenberg family and his wife Elisabeth von Westphalen . In addition to Kaspar, the couple had numerous other children. Among these were Friedrich, later canon in Mainz , and Dietrich , who later became the prince-bishop of Paderborn, and the daughter Ottilia , later the abbess of Oelinghausen and Neuenheerse . The sister Anna was also abbess in Oelinghausen.
One of the peculiarities of the noble Fürstenberg family since the 16th century was that almost all male members received an academic education. Most of them chose jurisprudence. Together with his brothers, Kaspar von Fürstenberg received training from the Dortmund humanist Friedrich Beurhaus . This even accompanied him to Cologne during his first years of study. There Kaspar studied law. He completed his studies with a doctorate in 1563 and obtained a licentiate in law in 1566.
In 1573 he married Elisabeth, who came from the von Spiegel zu Peckelsheim family , who were influential in the Diocese of Paderborn . A total of eight children came from this marriage. Among them were the heir Friedrich von Fürstenberg and Johann Gottfried von Fürstenberg , canon in Mainz. Helena was the prioress of the Überwasser monastery in Münster.
After the death of his wife, the middle-class Anna Busse from Medebach ran the household of Kaspar. After much hesitation, he entered into a morganatic marriage with her in 1598 . The children conceived previously with this were legitimized. The other children were born in wedlock, but were not equal to the descendants from the first marriage in terms of inheritance law and were not aristocratic. A total of nine children were born from the second marriage. Three of them entered the clergy. There was also an illegitimate child from the time before his first marriage.
Though learned, he was devoted to the good life. He liked to play and dance and was addicted to alcohol. There were times when he fell off his horse due to drunkenness or had to interrupt a trip. Hunting, on the other hand, interested him less.
Property and buildings
Since the first-born son Friedrich renounced his father's successor, the second-born Kaspar became his father's heir in 1567. However, the inheritance was also linked to the high debts, especially from the hereditary pledge of the offices of Bilstein and Waldenburg acquired in 1564. This removed them from the direct control of the electors. He acquired the office of Fredeburg in 1584 as a pledge from the Cologne electors.
He owned the Castle Waterlappe. He had his center of life at Bilstein Castle . It became important for him to expand this property in the direction of Attendorn . He received the Hespecke estate from the Cologne Electors as a fief. He also acquired various fishing rights and the right to use wood in the Lenhauser Mark.
The acquisition of Schnellenberg Castle near Attendorn was of particular interest to him . The castle came into his possession through purchase in 1594. The castle itself was a fiefdom of the electors. But there was also considerable personal ownership. Kaspar derived his claim to belong to the imperial knighthood from owning the castle . He demonstratively decorated the castle with the imperial eagle.
The war damage that occurred during the Truchsessischen turmoil was repaired and Schnellenberg in particular received a valuable interior in the style of the late Renaissance . The altar of the castle chapel was consecrated by Kaspar's brother Dietrich. He also had Waterlappe Castle rebuilt and a garden laid out at Gut Hengstebeck near Bilstein. The expansion of Schnellenberg in particular was time-consuming and put a heavy strain on Kaspar's finances. He employed foreign craftsmen, artisans and artists.
The property also included town houses in Attendorn , Werl , Soest , Meschede and Paderborn. Kaspar also acquired an estate with extensive vineyards in Mainz and also owned property in the Rheingau . He also had mining done in his area. He owned an iron mine near Hundem.
In addition, Fürstenberg succeeded in gaining hereditary bailiff rights over the Grafschaft monastery in 1573 . Against the will of the local monks, he separated the parish of Oberkirchen as a separate judicial district, which finally came under the control of the von Fürstenberg family from 1602.
The property was administered through precise bookkeeping and registration. At the end of each year Kaspar gave detailed information about his acquisitions in his diaries.
In the service of different masters
Kaspar served several clergy princes as officials and counselors. It was through these services in particular that he gained a considerable reputation.
Kurköln
Council and envoy
As a councilor to the Elector of Cologne as Duke of Westphalia since 1570 , Kaspar von Fürstenberg took part in a total of nine Imperial Diets. In particular in the Duchy of Westphalia, which was under the Elector of Cologne, he had considerable influence. By owning the offices of Waldenburg, Bilstein and Fredeburg, he controlled over a quarter of the entire duchy. On behalf of the Elector, Kaspar was also deployed to embassies, for example to Hesse in 1572 to clarify border disputes. He was also envoy to the district council of the Lower Rhine-Westphalian Reichskreis. He was also present with his sovereign since 1600 at a number of meetings of the clerical electors and on general electors days. He was involved in the negotiations for the establishment of the Catholic League. Although he gave up his office as a councilor for reasons of age in 1604, the Cologne electors continued to call on him. In 1612 he took part in the coronation of Emperor Matthias in Frankfurt.
Witch trials
Kaspar's duties in his offices also included jurisdiction through to blood jurisdiction. During his tenure as Droste of the offices of Bilstein , Fredeburg and Waldenburg and owner of the Oberkirchen Patrimonial Court, a number of witch trials took place in which Kaspar von Fürstenberg was partly directly involved. At first he showed comparatively little zeal to pursue alleged witches. He even had to justify himself to Elector Salentin von Isenburg for this. This changes radically later. Since 1590 in particular there have been numerous lawsuits, whereby in the case of Dorothea Becker there were also personal reasons. The alleged witches and wizards were “embarrassedly interrogated” if they were convicted of the country or burned. In the year 1590 alone, 28 people were indicted in the Bilstein estate and at least 21 were executed. Further processes followed. In the Fredeburg office, most of the 50 defendants were executed between 1595 and 1600. The situation was similar in other parts of his sphere of influence. In addition to various other factors, Kaspar blamed an alleged witch for the death of his wife.
Truchsessian War
Kaspar also initially served as a councilor to Elector Gebhard von Truchseß . When the latter began to turn to Protestantism around 1582, but stuck to his claim to power over Kurköln, Kaspar turned away from it. He took the side of the advocates of the old faith and the cathedral chapter . The other members of the estates of the Duchy of Westphalia, on the other hand, mostly tried to avoid a clear decision. The elector was therefore able to move into the Duchy of Westphalia in February 1583 and hold a state parliament in his royal seat of Arnsberg . There even a resolution was passed in which the estates undertook to support the elector in enforcing religious freedom. Shortly afterwards Gebhard von Truchseß was excommunicated by the Pope, the Emperor removed him as Elector and appointed Ernst von Bayern instead. Gebhard von Truchseß took troops against Kaspar von Fürstenberg. Without its own soldiers, Bilstein Castle fell into the hands of the electoral troops on June 11, 1583. Kaspar was forced to flee the country. He joined the units of Ernst von Bayern. With these he moved back into the Duchy of Westphalia in 1584. Not least his support of the new sovereign Ernst von Bayern was the reason why Kaspar was transferred the pledge of the office Fredeburg. In the following years there were still military threats from supporters of Truchseß but also from Dutch troops. Kaspar was forced to have the Castle Waterlappe protected by mercenaries.
Paderborn
Kaspar von Fürstenberg also served his brother Dietrich von Fürstenberg, Prince-Bishop of Paderborn since 1585 , as an advice. As an advisor to the prince-bishop, Kaspar played an important role in suppressing Protestantism and the re-Catholicization of the diocese of Paderborn. Last but not least, he promoted the settlement of the Jesuits as an order of the Counter Reformation. To secure the power of the bishop, Fürstenberg also edited the Paderborn police regulations . He was also involved in the coin system. He also supported his brother in conflicts with various rural towns, especially in his dispute with the city of Paderborn. Kaspar also advised his brother on the witch hunt. For this purpose he stayed several weeks or months a year in the prince-bishopric of Paderborn.
Kurmainz
In addition, since 1588 he also served as a councilor to the Elector of Mainz . He was also appointed bailiff of the Electorate of Mainz Fritzlar and Naumburg. The intention was to curb Fritzlar's efforts to become independent and to preserve the Catholic faith in this area. It was advantageous that these offices were only about a day's journey from Bilstein Castle. In Fritzlar he took action against Anabaptists . But every year he only held brief positions in his offices in Mainz and left the day-to-day business to the mayor of Fritzlar. However, he regularly stayed at the court in Mainz for several weeks .
Landdrost of the Duchy of Westphalia
Already in 1600 the Landdrost of the Duchy of Westphalia, Count Eberhard zu Solms-Lich , who was both the elector's deputy and the highest representative of the local nobility, died. For various reasons the position was not filled in the following years. The pressure of the estates became so great that Elector Ferdinand of Bavaria appointed Kaspar von Fürstenberg in 1613 despite his age and poor health. He held the office until 1618.
Effort to improve one's status
His reputation led several times to attempts to procure Kaspar von Fürstenberg the dignity of count, but this always failed. More concrete was his efforts to recognize his claim to membership in the imperial knighthood. This was based on the possession of the Schnellenberg Castle on some alleged family traditions. He succeeded in being accepted into the knighthood of the Wetterau in 1595 . Since then he has regularly paid his corresponding taxes. The descendants held on to the imperial knighthood right into the 19th century. In fact, however, the Fürstenbergs remained members of the rural lower nobility without any real imperial immediacy.
Writing calendar
Kaspar made diary-like entries in writing calendars from 1572 to 1610. He recorded appointments and events in Standard German, Latin or Greek, he also gave an account of his actions and left clues to his successors. These writing calendars are an important historical testimony to the life of an important nobleman during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.
Tomb
His grave is in the former Wedinghausen collegiate church in Arnsberg . Friedrich von Fürstenberg had the tomb erected by the sculptor Heinrich Gröninger in honor of his father. Later it became the high altar of the church.
See also
literature
- Alfred Bruns (arr.): The diaries of Kaspar von Fürstenberg. 2 vol., 2nd ed .; Münster 1987.
- Alfred Bruns: Kaspar von Fürstenberg (1545–1618) In: Michael Gosmann (Hrsg.): Fürstenbergic sketches. Stroll through 700 years of Westphalian family and state history. Arnsberg, 1995. ISBN 3-930264-09-9 , pp. 43-46.
- Josef Bernhard Nordhoff: Fürstenberg, Caspar von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 245 f.
- Gerhard Theuerkauf : Kaspar von Fürstenberg . In: Helmut Lahrkamp u. a .: Fürstenberg's story. Vol. 3: The history of the von Fürstenberg family in the 17th century. Münster, 1971 pp. 1–28.
- Franz Ignaz Pieler: Life and work of Caspar von Fürstenberg. According to his diaries. Paderborn 1873 ( digitized version )
- Thomas Poggel: Writing Calendar and Festival Culture in the Early Modern Age. Cultivation and perception of time using the example of Kaspar von Fürstenberg (1545-1618) . Jena 2013 (= Acta Calendariographica, Research Reports 6).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Horst Conrad: "Splendor Familiae." Generational discipline and politics in the von Fürstenberg family. A sketch. In: Südwestfalenarchiv, 6th year 2006, p. 112.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 19f.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 24f.
- ↑ Hans Mieles: Kaspar von Fürstenberg, Drost from 1567 to 1618, from Bilstein Land, Burg und Ort, p. 81, Lennestadt 1975.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, pp. 4–9.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, 9f., Pp. 11-12.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 10f.
- ^ Rainer Decker: The witch hunts in the Duchy of Westphalia. In: Witches - jurisdiction in the Sauerland region of Cologne. Schmallenberg, undated [ca.1984], pp. 192-194.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, pp. 12-14.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 15.
- ↑ Hermann-Josef Schmalor: Dietrich and Kaspar von Furstenberg - Two prominent personalities of the Westphalian history. In: Oelinghauser Contributions 2019. Arnsberg, 2019 p. 30
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 15f.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 14f.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 17.
- ↑ Theuerkauf, p. 17f.
- ↑ Edition cf. Bruns 1987.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fürstenberg, Kaspar von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Landdroste |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 11, 1545 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Waterlappe Castle near Ense |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 5, 1618 |
| Place of death | Arnsberg |