Christoph Jacob von Degenfeld

Christoph Jacob von Degenfeld (* around 1596; † November 11, 1646 in Neuhaus Castle ) was the landlord of Neuhaus and Eulenhof , Ehrstädt and Waibstadt and co-lord of Hohen-Eybach and Dürnau.

Life

He was the son of Johann Christoph I von Degenfeld (1563-1613) and Barbara von Reischach. After his father's early death in 1613, he was the only male descendant when he was still a minor. Jacob Eberhard von Reischach zu Nußdorf and Johann Philipp von Helmstatt were appointed as his guardians . The guardians asked for a fiefdom confirmation for Christoph Jacob with the Neuhaus castle and stables, half of Ehrstätt and two courtyards in Hinterkirneck, which Duke Johann Friedrich sent to the authorized guardian on March 22, 1614 in Stuttgart . For the Worms fiefdom, namely the other half of Ehrstädt, the guardians asked Bishop Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , who came to power in 1616, for a direct loan from Christoph Jacobs, since he was now 20 years old and would soon marry. An early renewed loan when he is of legal age should be avoided. This request was granted with a fief letter of May 29, 1617. In 1620 Christoph Jacob also received a personal fief with the Württemberg fiefs from Duke Johann Friedrich.

In 1625, Christoph Jacob and his cousins Christoph Martin , who has made a name for himself as a general in Swedish, French and Venetian services, and Christoph Wolfgang were raised to the baron status.

In the meantime the Thirty Years' War had broken out, from which only fragmentary messages from Neuhaus Castle have come down to us. In 1628 Christoph Jacob turned to the Duke with the question of how he should proceed against the efforts to re-Catholicize the Kraichgau from Mainz and Worms . The duke advised clarification of the patronage law and asked for further reports. There are no documents about the further events in this matter, Ehrstädt in any case remained Protestant.

The Württemberg fiefs of Christoph Jacobs had after the death of Johann Friedrich in 1629 by the administrator Ludwig Friedrich and after his death in 1633 by Duke Eberhard III. to be renewed. Christoph Jacobs' small rule in Kraichgau sank into the turmoil of the war. In the last years of the Thirty Years War from 1641 at the latest, Ehrstädt was at times completely depopulated. It was not until 1645 that two men, two women and two children were named again who had no cattle and no provisions. During this meager time, Christoph Jacob died in 1646, leaving behind three underage sons.

family

He married Anna Margaretha von Helmstatt († 1631) in 1619. In 1632 he married Barbara Freiin von Horneck († 1652) for the second time. The first marriage had six children:

• Anna Juliana ∞ Johann Friedrich Rüdt von Collenberg
• Anna Barbara
• Christophora Pleikarda
• Pleikard Christoph, emperor. Lieutenant captain, † single in Italy
• Christoph Martin von Degenfeld († 1684), remained single, Lieutenant General of the Republic of Venice
• Johann Christoph II. Von Degenfeld († 1680) ∞ Veronica Benigna von Dachenhausen

literature

• Friedrich Hub: Genealogy of the von Degenfeld family at Schloss Neuhaus, Ehrstädt, Waibstadt and Wagenbach. In: ders .: Ehrstädt and Neuhaus Castle. Ehrstädt 1967, pp. 420-438.