Daniel von Mudersbach

Daniel "the elder" of Mudersbach (* around 1400 ; † April 24, 1477 ) was a German nobleman from the Mudersbach family. He was mainly entrusted with administrative activities on behalf of Count von Katzenelnbogen . Daniel finally accompanied Count Philip the Elder of Katzenelnbogen on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Life

family

Daniel's parents were Grete Bucher von Laurenburg (* 1368; † 1410) and Daniel von Mudersbach (* 1368; † approx. 1410).

His marriage to his wife Jutta von Bubenheim (* unknown; † October 7, 1466) had twelve children, six boys and six girls.

The eldest son of Daniel was mentioned as Daniel "the younger" by Mudersbach in some documents.

Position and activities

Daniel was subordinate to Count von Katzenelnbogen as a bailiff . In this activity he was active from 1429 to 1445 in Driedorf and from 1440 to 1453 in Ellar and Hadamar . He increasingly appeared as a mediator and mediator in feuds or disputes, be they legal or personal. An example of this is the simplification of administration in Ellar. Here Daniel decided that the residents who settled in the catchment area of ​​the Zenten no longer only had to drive manure or bring in the harvest, but should from now on only mow the grass and bring in the hay. This simplification of administration cost the residents of the Zenten of Eller food taxes such as grain or oats, which had to be paid on specified days.

Daniel made a much bigger name for himself in the Mainz collegiate feud , which lasted from 1461 to 1463, and in the feud between the Count of Katzenelnbogen and the Lords of Westerburg and Schaumburg . In the Mainz collegiate feud, Daniel mainly administered the prisoners and the looted objects that were held or stored in Ellar . Up until then he had only been active in administrative activities, but now he increasingly began to act as a mediator between his master and third parties, including the feud between Katzenelnbogen and Westerburg / Schaumburg.

The feud was finally settled in Koblenz at an arbitration tribunal in 1443. Daniel had to mediate not only in disputes with his master, but also when a dispute broke out between the officials of Count von Sayn and those of Count von Katzenelnbogen. A complaint by the Count von Sayn shows how much Daniel influenced his opponents:

On the contrary, he [...] had violently haunted his own people, imprisoned one of them and took away their belongings [...] from others, so that they suffered great damage.

Another example from another dispute with the Lord of Westerburg (1445–1446) shows that Daniel did not treat his opponents squeamishly when it came to quarrels, be it against him personally or against his master . This dispute was about landmarks which, from the point of view of Mr. von Westerburg, had been violated by men of Count von Katzenelnbogen. An arbitration day should be held in Langendernbach to arbitrate and settle the disputes between the two parties . Daniel, appointed as mediator, refused such a day at Langendernbach, knowing full well that the count had the right on his side. The arbitration day was a waste of time for Daniel and therefore did not take place.

Possessions

The Mudersbacher possessions were mainly in the region of their origin, thus on the right and left side of the lower dill . Both in the southeast of the Westerwald, on the lower Lahn and in the core areas of their masters, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, the Mudersbachers owned smaller possessions and rights.

The noble landed property in the 15th century was divided into two departments: on the one hand the allodium and on the other hand the fiefdom . The allodium is the inheritable part of the noble land, which is passed on from one generation to the following family members. The fiefdom is land made available by the feudal lord, which can be given away again at any time. The allodial parts of the Mudersbacher property are difficult to prove. These probably consisted of areas of the lower Dill and Ulmtal valleys as well as the legacy of the Greifensteiner.

In several documents in which the variable possessions, rights and income of the Mudersbacher are recorded, the place Driedorf crystallizes out. This place was already assigned to Daniel's ancestors in 1347 by Otto II of Nassau-Dillenburg . The fiefdoms did not refer to territories, but to goods and tithes . Further fiefs of the Mudersbacher in Driedorf followed in 1437, in which the castle, the moat and the space between the castle and the city were transferred to Daniel as a fief by Landgrave Ludwig von Hessen. Further fiefs followed from 1452 at Rodenberg and Driedorf, and from 1455 on Hermannstein Castle near Wetzlar.

Daniel also owned properties in the city of Limburg an der Lahn . From 1370 the Mudersbachers owned a building opposite the cathedral, on which the 'Old Vicarie' stands today. The Mudersbachers also owned fiefs in the Limburg area.

Outside the home area of ​​the Mudersbachers, Daniel still owned two farms near Darmstadt .

to travel

Daniel set out on a journey to the Orient in 1433 with his master, Count Philipp von Katzenelnbogen, and other companions. The pilgrimage of several months in 1433/34 was a march to the Holy Land for personal reasons and had nothing in common with the military crusades that took place after the Synod of Clermont .

The procession around Philipp von Katzenelnbogen was a very well-equipped pilgrimage, as the Counts von Katzenelnbogen had achieved great wealth through the Rhine tolls.

The journey took Daniel from Darmstadt across the Alps to the Italian trading metropolis Venice . From there it went by ship to Istria . Although the company was very well financed, the crossing by ship was more of a mass transport than a leisurely crossing. The traders who transported the pilgrims on their ships tried to accommodate as many travelers as possible on the ship. And so you had to share the space not only with other pilgrims, but also with rats and other vermin in a confined space. In Istria, pilgrims visited the Church of St. Euphemia before continuing on to Egypt .

Although the purpose of the trip was the pilgrimage to the holy places of Christianity, the touristic aspect was never neglected. In Egypt, the pilgrims mainly observed the previously unknown animal world, which offered new sights for them. The elephants, camels, giraffes and crocodiles must have made a very big impression on the pilgrims. The personal highlight of the trip for Daniel took place on October 24th, 1433, because on this day he was knighted by Philip in the church of the St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai . After leaving Mount Sinai behind, the pilgrims went on to the holy places of Jerusalem, then on to Damascus and Beirut .

The outward journey to the Holy Land was easy for the pilgrims, but the return journey home was all the more difficult. The first attempt to start the return voyage from Jaffa on November 23, 1433 , failed because of a strong storm that sank the travelers' ship and forced them to swim back to Jaffa. The second attempt at departure on January 6, 1434 was disturbed by a storm between Rhodes and Crete, but the pilgrims returned home unharmed.

Daniel and the rest of the procession of pilgrims vowed to undertake a thanksgiving pilgrimage to the holiest places of the Holy Roman Empire after their arrival. The pilgrims' stations were the grave of St. Elisabeth in Marburg , the grave of the Three Kings in Cologne and the Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne in Aachen . On May 3, 1434 they arrived at Rheinfels Castle .

Death and burial

Grave of Daniel von Mudersbach and his wife Jutta

Daniel's tomb in Limburg Cathedral is to the right of today's altar and was probably designed in color. The style of the grave goes back to the late Gothic , which can be recognized by the fine tracery typical of this art style. Due to the formerly colored design of the grave, a better assignment of the coats of arms was possible. The life-size images of Daniel and his wife Jutta kneel under a canopy while they pray to the Pietà in the middle. On the right and left above the couple, the family coats of arms of the two deceased are shown:

• on the right the coat of arms of the Bubenheimer, a black bar on a golden background,
• on the left the coat of arms of the Mudersbach family, four red and silver stripes that run into the center of the coat of arms with a pointed cut.

On the helmets of the two large coats of arms stands a boy on the right, holding an open book in his left hand and holding the back of his head with his right hand. Above the left coat of arms, that of the Mudersbacher, is an African or Oriental-looking person wearing a hat. It is probably a symbol of Daniel's journey to Africa and the Holy Land.

There are four smaller coats of arms around the helmets, which show the ancestors of the respective person. If you look at the tomb from the front you can see:

1. First row from the left, upper coat of arms = Mudersbacher, lower coat of arms = Steinebach (grandparents on Daniel's father's side).
2. Second row, upper coat of arms = Laurenburg, lower coat of arms = Gebhardshain (grandparents on Daniel's maternal side).
3. Third row, upper coat of arms = Bubenheim, lower coat of arms = Stein (Jutta's paternal grandparents).
4. Fourth row, upper coat of arms = Rheinberg, lower coat of arms = Krummenau (Jutta's maternal grandparents).

A small dog can be seen between the kneeling, which is supposed to represent the loyalty of the two spouses.

Two inscriptions in Latin are carved in the lower part of the tomb. The right inscription reads:

An (n) od (omi) ni MCCCCLXI die septimo me (n) sis Octobris obiit venerabilis d (omi) na Jutta de Bube (n) hei (m) legitti (m) a strenui Daniels de Mude (r) spach militis senioris cui (us) ani (m) a requ (i) escat i (n) s (anc) ta pace A (men).

(In the year of the Lord 1461 on the 7th day of October, the venerable Mrs. Jutta von Bubenheim, the lawful wife of the valiant knight Daniel von Mudersbach, the elder, died. Her soul rest in holy peace. Amen.)

The left inscription under Daniel's figure reads:

Anno d (omi) ni millesimo quadringe (n) tesimo LXXVII vicesima quarta die mensis Aprilis obiit strenu (u) sd (omi) n (u) s Daniel de Muderspach miles senior cuius ani (m) a requiescat i (n) s ( anc) ta pace ame (n).

(In the year of the Lord 1477 on the 24th day of April the brave knight Daniel von Mudersbach the Elder died. Let his soul rest in holy peace. Amen.)

swell

• Christian Daniel Vogel : Historical news from the Dreidorf, Eigenberg and Holenfels castles and their owners, the von Mudersbach . In: NassA 1 (1830), pp. 212-225.
• Christian Daniel Vogel : Historical news from the Dreidorf, Eigenberg and Holenfels castles and their owners, the von Mudersbach . In: NassA 2 (1832-1834), pp. 171-198.
• Karl E. Demandt: Regesten der Graf von Katzenelnbogen 1418–1486 , Vol. 2. Wiesbaden 1954, No. 6132.
• Karl E. Demandt: The Orient trips of the Katzenelnbogen counts . In: Archives for Hessian history and antiquity 33 (1975), pp. 27–54.
• Adolf Bach : Erhart Wameszhrachts Hodoeporicon or description of the journey of Count Philipp von Katzenelnbogen to St. Lande (1433/34) . In: NassA 44 (1916-1917), pp. 107-152.

literature

• Alfred Morlang: Daniel von Mudersbach (approx. 1400–1477). Knight, bailiff and oriental rider . In: Magistrate of the district town of Limburg ad Lahn (ed.): Limburg in the flow of time: highlights from 1000 years of city history. Limburg 2010, pp. 130–147 (contributions to the history of the district town Limburg ad Lahn 1).
• Hellmuth, Gensicke: The ancestral coat of arms of the Mudersbacher tombstone in Limburg Cathedral . In: NassA 70 (1959), pp. 171-174.
• Hans-Jürgen Kotzur : The interior design through the ages . In: Wolfram Nicole (Ed.): The Limburg Cathedral. Mainz 1985, pp. 265-380.
• Hans-Joachim Beyer : The Latin inscriptions in the Limburg Cathedral. Limburg 1989.
• Ferdinand Luthmer : The architectural and art monuments of the Lahn area . Frankfurt 1907, p. 40.
• Wolf-Heino Struck : Sources on the history of the monasteries and monasteries in the area of ​​the Middle Lahn up to the end of the Middle Ages. Vol. 1, 2, 3, 5. Wiesbaden 1956-1984.
• Reinhold Röhricht and Heinrich Meisner: The pilgrimage of the last count of Katzenelnbogen (1433–1434) . In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 26 (1882). Pp. 348-371.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred Morlang: Daniel von Mudersbach (approx. 1400–1477). Knight, bailiff and oriental rider. In: Christoph Waldecker and Alfred Morlang (eds.): Limburg in the river of time: highlights from 1000 years of city history. Limburg 2010, p. 131-132 .
2. ^ Alfred Morlang: Daniel von Mudersbach (approx. 1400–1477). Knight, bailiff and oriental rider. In: Christoph Waldecker and Alfred Morlang (eds.): Limburg in the river of time: highlights from 1000 years of city history. Limburg 2010, p. 135-137 .
3. ^ Alfred Morlang: Daniel von Mudersbach (approx. 1400–1477). Knight, bailiff and oriental rider. In: Christoph Waldecker and Alfred Morlang (eds.): Limburg in the river of time: highlights from 1000 years of city history. Limburg 2010, p. 132-135 .
4. ^ Alfred Morlang: Daniel von Mudersbach (approx. 1400–1477). Knight, bailiff and oriental rider. In: Christoph Waldecker and Alfred Morlang (eds.): Limburg in the river of time: highlights from 1000 years of city history. Limburg 2010, p. 139-143 .
5. ^ Alfred Morlang: Daniel von Mudersbach (approx. 1400–1477). Knight, bailiff and oriental rider. In: Christoph Waldecker and Alfred Morlang (eds.): Limburg in the river of time: highlights from 1000 years of city history. Limburg 2010, p. 130-131 .