Christoph the Strong
Duke Christoph the Strong of Bavaria-Munich (also Christoph the fighter ; * January 6, 1449 in Munich , † August 15, 1493 on the island of Rhodes ) was a son of the Bavarian Duke Albrechts III. and brother Duke Albrechts the Wise .
Life
Like his older brother Albrecht, Christoph was destined for the clergy. When Albrecht became sole ruler in the Duchy of Bavaria-Munich in 1467 , he raised the right to participate in the government. Before his death, his father Albrecht had ordered that only the two eldest sons should rule, so it was Christoph's turn to take part in the government.
He allied himself with the Knight League of the " Böckler ", but Albrecht managed to have the union declared at the Reichstag of Regensburg on October 28, 1467 by an imperial decree for dissolved.
Thereupon Duke Ludwig von Bayern-Landshut mediated between the two brothers and reached an arbitration award on January 16, 1468. According to this, Albrecht should accept Christoph as co-ruler within a year. In the meantime he should receive the city of Kelheim and a certain amount annually. When Albrecht had thrown the Böckler down in the Böckler War in 1468/69, Christoph renounced co-rulership for five years and contented himself with Schloss Pähl am Ammersee and an annual income of 8,000 guilders. Since Albrecht did not trust him, he had him overwhelmed on February 23, 1471 while taking a bath in Munich and imprisoned for 19 months. Only on October 9, 1472, at the urging of the emperor and his relatives, he released him against the affidavit not to take revenge. In March 1475 he resigned from the government for another 10 years and included the cities of Landsberg and Weilheim as compensation along with an annual allowance . In addition, his debts of 20,000 guilders were paid.
Duke Christoph moved to the Hungarian court in 1476 as a knight in the service of King Matthias Corvinus , because in the dispute between Corvinus and Emperor Friedrich III. were the Bavarian Wittelsbach allies of the Hungarians. In 1477 he returned and in 1485 again demanded his share of the government. The emperor rejected this, and Albrecht thereupon demanded the surrender of the cities of Landsberg and Weilheim. On February 23, 1485, while he was in Augsburg, Albrecht's field captain Niklaus von Abensberg took the two cities from him. Thereupon Christoph attacked Niklaus von Abensberg on February 28th and killed him and his few followers. Christoph then regretted his act and made a pilgrimage to Andechs to repent . On June 17th he renounced all claims to co-rule against transfer from the cities of Schongau and Weilheim, the palaces of Pähl and Rauhenlechsberg, the payment of his debts and payment of a certain annual sum. In 1488 he moved to Bruges with an army to liberate King Maximilian .
In 1489 the conflict between the ruling Duke Albrecht and his brothers escalated again. Christoph and Wolfgang had found out that Albrecht had appointed Georg von Bayern-Landshut as heir in the event that he should die without any sons entitled to inherit, and so they joined the Löwlerbund, which was directed against Albrecht . The emperor, whose daughter Kunigunde Albrecht had married against his will, supported their renewed demand for co-government and, at Wolfgang's suggestion, appointed Philip of the Palatinate as arbitrator in the dispute between the brothers.
As ruler of the property around the Wittelsbach secondary residence Schongau , Christoph donated his own mill to the city around 1490, today's Herzogsägmühle . In 1490 he fought in the service of the king in Hungary against Wladislaw II. In 1493 he undertook with Elector Friedrich III. from Saxony made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he described in a pilgrimage book. He and Elector Friedrich in Jerusalem were made Knight of the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in 1493 . On the way home he fell ill from the effects of a bath in Rhodes and died.
reception
To emphasize Christoph's power and strength, the following incident is told in Munich's saga treasure: In 1490 he took part in a knightly competition in the Munich residence , from which he emerged victorious. Allegedly he was able to knock a nail "12 Schuh von der Erd" (approx. 3.60 meters) down from the wall with his foot; he also allegedly threw a 364- pound stone 9 paces. On the gate wall to the fountain courtyard of the residence, an inscription, the stone and the highest of three nails remind of this deed.
His pompous sword was the highlight and symbol of the Bavarian State Exhibition Bavaria - Hungary. A thousand years in 2001.
The duke also plays a role in the performances of the Landshut wedding .
The wood-carved group of figures of the morris dancers by the Munich sculptor Erasmus Grasser was inspired by a banquet of Christopher the Strong.
A statue of the Duke is attached to the facade of the New Munich City Hall on Marienplatz (1st floor, sixth figure from the left).
literature
- August Alckens: Duke Christoph the Strong of Bavaria-Munich. Pinsker, Mainburg 1975.
- Helga Czerny: The death of the Bavarian dukes in the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period 1347–1579. Preparations - dying - funeral ceremonies - burial - memoria (= series of publications on Bavarian national history . Volume 146 ). CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-10742-7 , p. 208–227 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).
- Wolfgang Jahn et al. (Ed.): Bavaria - Hungary. A thousand years. Catalog for the Bavarian State Exhibition 2001 (= publications on Bavarian history and culture. Volume 43). House of Bavarian History, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-927233-78-1 .
- Sigmund Ritter von Riezler : Christoph, Duke of Bavaria . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 232-235.
- Alois J. Weichslgartner: A brotherly dispute in the Wittelsbach house. Duke Christoph the Strong of Bavaria died 500 years ago. In: Our Bavaria. Volume 42, Munich 1993, pp. 59–60.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Georg Spalatin, Christian Gotthold Neudecker , Ludwig Preller: Historical estate and letters, 1851, page 89 f.
- ↑ a b Valmar Cramer: The order of knights of the Holy Grave from the Crusades to the present. , JP Bachem, Cologne 1952, p. 35
- ↑ Arnd Krüger : The sport before the "English sport" in England and on the continent . In: Christian Becker, Cornelia Regin , Anton Weise (eds.): When sport came to Hanover. History and reception of a cultural transfer between England and Northern Germany from the 18th to the 20th century . Lit, Münster 2015, ISBN 978-3-643-13152-2 , pp. 36–54.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Christoph the Strong |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Christoph the fighter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wittelsbach nobleman, brother of Duke Albrecht the Wise |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 6, 1449 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 15, 1493 |
| Place of death | Rhodes |