Dietrich von Quitzow

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Dietrich von Quitzow (* 1366 ; † February 13, 1417 in Harbke ), Margravial Councilor and Vogt of Wredenhagen , together with his brother Johann von Quitzow was one of the feared and well-known robber barons of his time in the Berlin and Brandenburg area .

Life

It was the time after the death of Emperor Charles IV. His successors were initially not particularly interested in the Margraviate of Brandenburg , anomie arose and the region was on the verge of collapse. This situation made it possible for various knights from the noble families residing in the Prignitz , especially the Quitzows , Gans zu Putlitz , Bredows and others, with their armies, which can be compared to private armies, to exploit the vacuum and to increase their possessions by pillaging and looting.

Above all, Dietrich von Quitzow was considered one of the cruelest and most insidious fighters in this scene. As early as 1391 he was heard when he besieged the place Milow near Rathenow . Here he suffered a defeat and was delivered for four years to the Archbishop of Magdeburg Albrecht IV von Querfurt for arrest. After his release, he first took part with his brother Johann in the raids of his father Kuno von Quitzow († 1402), lord of Kletzke Castle, which from 1399 then particularly extended to the entire Mark Brandenburg. After their father's death, the two brothers became the epitome of horror. In carrying out his actions, Dietrich von Quitzow did not shy away from entering into changing alliances to achieve his goals.

So in 1402 he joined forces with his brother Johann at first with the Dukes of Pomerania and with them fell into the Barnim region , part of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, without warning , and conquered Bötzow, later Oranienburg , Neumühl Castle and on September 21 1402 the city of Strausberg . But this alliance did not last long and Dietrich changed sides. At the request of the Berliners, he was entrusted with the leadership of the official state troops and his brother was appointed governor of the Mittelmark . With these troops he was able to drive his former allies from Pomerania out of the region and he was now celebrated as a liberator by the Berliners. His conquests and looting in the Mark continued unhindered and so in 1405 he took Saarmund as well as the castle and city of Köpenick and thus controlled the trade routes. On April 13, 1409, he granted the town council of Köpenick on behalf of Margrave Jobst of Moravia jurisdiction over its citizens in order to ensure internal peace. Nevertheless, there was an open break here, probably also due to his despotic and unpredictable nature and his excessive binge drinking. But only when King Sigismund the future emperor, after the death of Jobst of Moravia, the burgrave of Nuremberg, then Friedrich VI. now when Frederick I of Brandenburg had appointed the new margrave and later elector , the tide turned to Dietrich's disadvantage.

From his new official residence in Berlin- Cölln , Friedrich I gathered allies around him after he fought in the Battle of Kremmen a . a. could assert against Dietrich von Quitzow's men, and attacked the defiant noble families and their possessions again. So Dietrich finally had to give up some possessions and fled to his ancestral castle Friesack in February 1414 . Friedrich also pursued him there and was able to conquer Friesack Castle with a new type of cannon, which was given the name " Faule Grete " because of its inertia and weight . But Dietrich managed to escape.

Now constantly on the run in the direction of Mecklenburg , where he first found refuge at Stargard Castle with the Duke of Stettin, Otto II , he roamed the countries with his men, pillaging and pillaging. In September 1414 he attacked the places Nauen , Vieritz , Niemegk , Wittbrietzen and Schönefeld , murdered and pillaged and did not stop at his own cousins ​​Claus and Henning. Only the outbreak of the plague, both among the population and among his own people, significantly impeded his further plans, and a planned attack on Beelitz could no longer be carried out, only Buchholz could still be plundered. Since the imperial ban had been imposed on his current allies, the Dukes of Stettin, on May 10, 1415 , they separated from Dietrich von Quitzow and thus reached an armistice for themselves. Dietrich had to flee again and found shelter with his sister Mathilde, married from Veltheim , at Harbke Castle . Impoverished and exhausted from the many fights, as well as in poor health, he died there on February 13, 1417. He was buried in the Marienborn monastery .

Dietrich von Quitzow was married to Elisabeth Schenk von Landsberg , Edle auf Teupitz (1374 to 1417), with whom he had at least three children. While his brother, who fled to his Plaue castle during the fighting in 1414 and was arrested there by the troops of Frederick I, had largely renounced robber baronism, Dietrich was a robber baron out of conviction. He was arrested several times in the course of his turbulent life, but he was repeatedly set free through ransom payments, bribes or fighting.

Much was written about him and his atrocities, in particular by the chronicler Engelbert Wusterwitz and later by Theodor Fontane , Karl May and others. In the Red City Hall of Berlin recalls Fries to the feud against the Quitzows, and in the district of Moabit a street is named after him and his brother.

reception

Literature and Sources

  • Clemens Bergstedt: The Quitzows. Legends and Reality . In: Messages from the Association for the History of Prignitz . Volume 6 (2006), pp. 5-12
  • Clemens Bergstedt: The Quitzows in the Picture of Brandenburg History , hendrik Bäßler Verlag, Berlin 2011
  • Uwe Michas: With feud, pawn and sword - The “Quitzow time” in the Mark Brandenburg , Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-910134-03-3
  • Theodor Fontane: Walks through the Mark Brandenburg , Part 5: Five castles; Old and new from the Mark Brandenburg - Quitzöwel ; September 1889; Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1971, Frankfurt / M., Berlin.
  • Archive Hans-Thorald Michaelis
  • Karl Lohmeyer:  Quitzow . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 60-62. - family items
  • Lutz Partenheimer , André Stellmacher: The submission of the Quitzows and the beginning of the Hohenzollern rule over Brandenburg . Potsdam 2014. ISBN 978-3-88372-099-9 (paperback) / 978-3-88372-103-3 (hardcover).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Quitzow, Dietrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Robber barons
DATE OF BIRTH 1366
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1417
Place of death Harbke