County (noble family)
The noble lords of Grafschaft were a medieval noble family with property in the border area between the later Duchy of Westphalia and the Wittgensteiner Land . They exercised bailiwick rights in the service of the Counts of Arnsberg in the eastern Sauerland and appointed the bailiffs of the Grafschaft monastery .
Scope of possessions and rights
Their property, the so-called Grafschaft, was in the Hochsauerland near the Kahler Asten . It reached from there to the Lennetal of the later office of Fredeburg , to the Nuhnetal in the office of Medebach and to the Negertal in the office of Brilon .
The seat of the gentlemen was Nordenau Castle . Although they belonged to the noble , influential and important nobility until the 14th century , they did not have their own power of counts, but received their rights from the Counts of Westphalia, i.e. the Counts of Werl and later of Arnsberg. The bailiwick rights received by the Westphalian counts included, among other things, jurisdiction in the parishes of Grafschaft and Oberkirchen . In addition, the noble lords of Grafschaft were chairmen of the Feme Court in Nordenau , lords of the bailiwick of Brunskappel and patrons of the Brunskappel parish and other churches.
In contrast to Seibertz, who also assigned the bailiwick of Medebach to the noblemen of Grafschaft, Anton Führer argues that this bailiwick belonged to the family of the younger noble lords of Itter .
History and Development
If you follow Johann Suibert Seibertz , the noble lords were a branch of the older Battenberg family, who ruled in the county of Wittgenstein . In contrast, Wilhelm Thöne stated that the Grafschafter descended from the noble lords of Hachen .
As the first nobleman with the Vogtamt of the Grafschaft Monastery, a Hermann is named as a witness to Archbishop Friedrich I of Cologne at the beginning of the 12th century. Further news is missing for the rest of the century. However, they performed their office successfully, as the importance of the monastery rose sharply during this time. Only since the beginning of the 13th century have the noble lords of Grafschaft been documented again. A Rembold von Grafschaft and his son Heinrich are named as witnesses for Archbishop Adolf in 1202. Probably a brother of Heinrich was the abbot of Werden monastery and Helmstedt Gerhard von Grafschaft .
Adolf I. and Johann I.
The dynasty reached the height of its importance under Adolf I, who officiated as bailiff from around 1245. Together with the Counts of Wittgenstein-Berleburg, he was co-founder of the city of Berleburg . The fact that Adolf began to issue his own documents with a large seal also speaks for the ambition to get his house out of the dependent position. Despite his office as Vogt of the Grafschaft monastery, Adolf had a conflicted relationship with it. Outside of Westphalia, he participated in several feuds between the Archbishops of Cologne. A sister of Adolf was the Essen abbess Sophia II von Grafschaft.
The hope of expanding power did not come true. Rather, since Adolf, the noble lords had to sell parts of their property to Kloster Grafschaft again and again, so that in the end they were not directly imperial princes, but rather belonged to the lower ministerial nobility of their property. Adolf's successors were the Widekind and Grafschaft brothers. This resulted in the division of property, including the Nordenau Castle. Even when it came to reunification, the division of the castle in particular later led to serious conflicts with neighboring noble families, as parts of the castle were sold to the Counts of Waldeck . The negative tendencies were, however, a rather long-term phenomenon and initially the noble lords played an important role. In his function as bailiff of the Medebach court in 1333, Johann I mediated an eternal peace between the cities of Medebach and Winterberg .
Johann II.
After 1331, under Johann II, there was a conflict with Heinrich von Waldeck over the possession of Nordenau Castle. This initially ended with the capture of Johann and the confirmation of the Waldecker's claims. Johann was not only enfeoffed by Count Gottfried IV of Arnsberg with some bailiffs, but also entered into a relationship with the Archbishop of Mainz , for whose possession of the castle and city of Battenberg he provided a castle team alongside other Westphalian nobles. In 1341 there were again conflicts with the Counts of Waldeck because of Nordenau Castle. The noble lords were supported by the Archbishop of Cologne, Walram, who in turn had various conflicts with the Waldeckers. Even if only temporarily, the people of Cologne drove the Waldeckers out of Nordenau Castle. The conflict between the noble lords of Grafschaft played a role in the war between Archbishop Walram and Bishop Ludwig von Münster on the one hand and Count Gottfried IV, Adolf II von der Mark and Otto von Waldeck on the other. At the end of the war in 1345, a comparison was made on issues relating to the Nordenau. The castle was shared between the archbishop and the counts of Waldeck. Johann II took his part of the castle from both of them as a fief. However, the castle itself was largely destroyed during the war. The costs of the war effort also had an extremely negative effect on the prosperity of John II, so that he too was forced to sell rights and possessions. The noblemen of Itter were among the beneficiaries . As the brother-in-law of this family, Johann got involved in a conflict with the Landgraves of Hesse . Despite his limited resources, Johann stuck to a high level of effort. In 1349, for example, he attended the Prince's Day of Emperor Charles IV in Cologne. At times Johann entered into a direct relationship with the Archbishops of Cologne as a bailiff. By pledging, the rights to Nordenau Castle were transferred to the Lords of Gaugreben from Medebach for Waldeck and to the Bishop of Paderborn for the Archbishop of Cologne in the 1370s. Johann was forced to hand over a number of possessions to the Gaugreben as a bridal gift for his daughter. As a result, the territory of the hereditary bailiwick was permanently divided. Johann II died around 1380. He was the last of the noble lords of Grafschaft who was of greater importance.
Descent into the lower nobility and end
The property developed relatively quietly under Konrad von Grafschaft, who was first mentioned in 1358 and last documented in 1441. Successor was Kraft III. After his death, his two sons Johann V and Kraft IV became hereditary bailiffs of Kloster Grafschaft. After Kraft's death, Johann was the sole bailiff. At that time there were disputes with the abbots of the monastery. In 1471 Philipp bought Oberense Castle in Ober-Ense, south of Korbach , as his residence . The noblemen finally belonged to the lower nobility. At that time, Nordenau Castle was completely in ruins.
Under Hereditary Bailiff Philip, the differences of opinion with the monastery were settled around 1513. He was succeeded in 1521 by Jost (Jobst) von Grafschaft. Although he had numerous illegitimate offspring, he remained unmarried. His brothers died before him.
The foreseeable extinction of the noble lords of Grafschaft led to claims for the inheritance and the succession being filed from various sides. Friedrich von Fürstenberg did not have any claims of his own, but recognized that the key to the inheritance lay with the abbots of Grafschaft and the Archbishop of Cologne in his function as Duke of Westphalia. He supported his application for the bailiwick with numerous gifts. After Friedrich's death, Kaspar von Fürstenberg took over the claims. The last nobleman of the county, Jost (Jodocus), died on September 15, 1572 at Ober-Ense Castle . Fürstenberg commissioned the learned councilor Gerhard Kleinsorgen to look after his interests. After the Lords of Grafschaft died out, Elector Ernst moved in the Grafschaft hereditary bailiwick with the Grafschaft monastery as a fallen man's fief and transferred it to Kaspar von Fürstenberg in 1573.
coat of arms
The oldest coat of arms of the Grafschaft family is emblazoned as follows: Two red stakes in gold; the helmet wears two red buffalo horns each with six peacock feathers; the ceilings are red and gold.
Known members of the sex
- Gerhard von Grafschaft , † 1249, provost to become 1215–1223, prince abbot to become abbot and Helmstedt 1230–1255.
- Adolf von Grafschaft, † 1238, Abbot to Grafschaft 1214–1238.
- Beatrix von Grafschaft , † 1303, Abbess of Freckenhorst 1298–1303.
- Johann II, nobleman of Grafschaft zu Nordenau, 1330–1381, Vogt of the Grafschaft monastery, bailiff of Wildenburg, Schnellenberg, Siegen, Nordenau, Falkenberg and Medebach.
- Heinrich III., Nobleman of the county of Nordenau and Ehreshoven, 1320–1362, knight, Bergisch bailiff of Angermund.
- Widekind von Grafschaft , † November 11, 1322, nobleman.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Egon Peifer: Die Burg Nordenau, p. 124, In: Schmallenberger Sauerland Almanach , Schieferbergbau-Museum Schmallenberg (ed.), Schmallenberg, 1990
- ^ Anton Führer: The Medebacher Vogtei , Mönchengladbach, 1951
- ^ Wilhelm Thöne: Dynastic ancestors of the noble lords and bailiffs of Grafschaft , Aachen 1959
- ^ Johann Suibert Seibertz: History of the noblemen from Grafschaft zu Norderna and their supporters in the bailiwicks Grafschaft and Brunscapell . In: Association for history and antiquity of Westphalia (ed.): Journal for patriotic history and antiquity . Volume 12 / New Episode Volume 2. F. Regensberg, Münster 1851, p. 262 ( digitized version in Google book search).
- ↑ History of Oberense Castle, accessed on August 13, 2010 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Bernd Kirschbaum: Gerhard Kleinsorgen (1530–1591), a historian in Westphalia in the early modern period . The work and its author, p. 31, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 978-3-8334-2423-6
- ↑ Hans Mieles: Kaspar von Fürstenberg, Drost from 1567 to 1618 , from Bilstein Land, Burg und Ort , p. 81, Lennestadt 1975
literature
- Herbert Bellingrath: On the early history of the gentlemen v. Grafschaft , in Hessische Familienkunde, Volume 4, 1959, 353–356.
- Schnettler: The Lords of Grafschaft as feudal owners in the area of the former Grafschaft Mark. In: Trutznachtigall 1926 p. 70ff. Digitized version (PDF; 12.0 MB)
- Johann Suibert Seibertz : History of the noble lords of Grafschaft. Arnsberg 1854 ( Google Books , MDZ Munich )
- Johann Suibert Seibertz: Diplomatic family history of the dynasts and lords in the Duchy of Westphalia . Arnsberg, 1855. pp. 69–164 ( digitized version in Seibertz, Landes- und Rechtsgeschichte ).
- Wilhelm Thöne: Dynastic ancestors of the noble lords and bailiffs of Grafschaft , Aachen, 1959.
- Wilhelm Thöne: Family table of the nobles of Grafschaft , in Hessische Familienkunde, Volume 3, 1956, 543-546.
