Christoph von Münchhausen

Christoph von Münchhausen († 1565 ) was the Danish governor in Estonia around 1558–60 .

His parents were Johann von Münchhausen zu Haddenhausen from the white line of the Münchhausen family and Anna von Wettberg. His siblings included Johann von Münchhausen , Bishop of Ösel-Wiek and Bishop of Courland . After his brother became Bishop of Courland in 1541 and Bishop of Ösel-Wiek from 1542 and thus, in addition to his spiritual function, also ruling prince of two sub-territories of the Livonian Confederation , Christoph had fiefdoms in Livonia from the Danish King Christian III. the interests of which the brothers defended. From 1557 to 1561 he was the monastery governor of the Diocese of Ösel-Wiek , i.e. secular administrator of one of his brother's two lands.

After the Livonian War began in January 1558 with the Russian invasion of Ivan the Terrible , the Livonian Estates met in Dorpat in June 1558 . There Munchausen advocated turning to Denmark for help - and not to the nearby empires of Poland-Lithuania or Sweden . However, after the estates asked Sweden for support, he conquered the city and the order castle Reval in the name of the Danish king . He became governor in Estonia and received the Kolck Castle near Reval from the Landkomtur zu Reval , took it over for the King of Denmark and received it from him as a fief .

In 1559, in the name of his brother Bishop Johann, he sold his monasteries Ösel-Wiek and Kurland, which Johann had secularized, to King Frederick II of Denmark, who handed them over to his brother Magnus . In 1560 he put down a peasant uprising in front of the Lohde bishop's castle .

After Bishop Johann had left Courland in 1559 and went to Copenhagen, his brother must have returned to his parents' property in Haddenhausen near Minden soon afterwards - after the Danish influence in Livonia and Estonia had waned. In 1561, Kurland in the Union of Wilna was handed over by Poland to the new Duke Gotthard Kettler . Estonia submitted to Swedish rule in 1561.

In 1559, Christoph von Münchhausen, as the Count's Landdrost of Otto IV. Von Holstein-Schaumburg, was involved in the introduction of the Reformation in the county of Schaumburg. His father Johann von Münchhausen was still an advocate of Catholicism and therefore instigated armed conflict with the city of Minden , which ended in 1530 with his defeat and the destruction of Haddenhausen Castle. Christoph did not rebuild the castle until 1553, which meant that the property was burdened with debts, which is why his son Heinrich had to sell the estate to a cousin in 1602.

Under Otto IV von Holstein-Schaumburg, Christoph had already fought against the Turks and with the Spaniards against the Netherlands; he was friends with the mercenary leader Georg von Holle , who in 1565, after Christoph's death, vouched for his debts. Holle was also a comrade in arms of the mercenary leader Hilmar von Münchhausen , a cousin from the black line of the family.

Christoph was married to Adelheid von Behr and had four children with her:

• Heinrich (* after 1550; † 1617) ∞ I. Dorothea von Uslar adH Waake, ∞ II. Anna Maria von Hake ad H. Bodenwerder; in 1602 he sold Haddenhausen to his cousin Curt, a son of Hilmar von Münchhausen ; since 1609 at Groß Eickel near Blasheim .
• Jutta ∞ Johann von Bothmer adH Lauenbrück
• Ilse ∞ Ludolf Ernst von Klencke , cathedral dean of Verden
• Katharina ∞ Dietrich von Dincklage on Dinklage

literature

• Gottlieb Samuel Treuer : Thorough gender history of the noble house of the Lords of Muenchhausen. Goettingen 1740.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michail Nemirowitsch-Danchenko and Franziskus Pärn: The coins of Duke Magnus, Bishop of Ösel-Wiek , page 163-177 ( Memento from June 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). (German, accessed on July 16, 2007)
2. ^ The early Vasas , p. 164
3. ↑ Alexander von Richter: History of the German ..., Volume 1, p. 352 and Andres Adamson, "Hertsog Magnus ja tema Liivimaa kuningriik" , dissertation, p. 45 (Estonian) (PDF; 4.2 MB)
4. ^ Haddenhausen Castle