Eppan (noble family)

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The Counts of Eppan were illegitimate descendants of the older Guelphs and probably came from the line of the Counts of Bozen . From around the middle of the 12th century they had their headquarters at Hocheppan Castle west of Bolzano . After the Eppaners attacked a papal embassy in 1158, the castle was destroyed by a punitive expedition under the Guelph Henry the Lion , but it was rebuilt afterwards. Around the same time, the Counts of Tyrol began to compete with the Eppaners for their possessions and rights in Trento . After decades of conflict, the Counts of Tyrol were able to win this battle. The male line died out in 1300 with the death of Count Gottschalk, brother of Egno von Eppan, who had already died in 1273 as Prince-Bishop of Trient .

coat of arms

A golden lion pointing to the right in a red field, holding a blue and white striped lance pole with both paws, on which there is a flag that is diagonally divided into two fields from top right to bottom left. The upper half of the flag is blue, the lower half white.

history

Altenburg ruins (right) in front of Warth Castle near St. Pauls, around 1820

The line of the Counts of Eppan was founded by Ulrich, the youngest son of Count Friedrich von Bozen. On the basis of a letter of indulgence by Egnos from Eppan from 1270, which suggests a relationship with the older Guelphs , they are regarded as illegitimate descendants of them. The county of Eppan extended over the area inherited from Friedrich von Bozen in 1110 to the right of the Adige , which included the parishes of Eppan and Tesimo . The center of the rule was the Altenburg , whose castle chapel was built next to the parish church in the parish village due to lack of space. Count Ulrich, together with Bishop Altmann von Trient, founded the Canon Regular Monastery of St. Michael an der Etsch , which was consecrated on September 29, 1144/45, St. Michael's Day. It is believed that the monastery was planned as a memorial church and burial place for the Counts of Eppan.

Count Ulrich's sons, Friedrich I and Heinrich I, got into property disputes with the Counts of Tyrol , in which the Bishop of Brixen played an intermediary role. In 1156 the brothers captured the Bishop of Trent and two emissaries of the Pope for reasons unknown. In 1158 the Pope sent his two most distinguished cardinals to Germany with gifts of honor for Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa , but they were attacked and robbed at the Salurner Klause by the knights of Haderburg , which belonged to the Counts of Eppan. The cardinals were captured and demanded a ransom for them, whereupon Duke Heinrich the Lion of Bavaria responded with a punitive expedition and destroyed several castles in the County of Eppan, including the Altenburg above the Warttal, which at that time was the headquarters of the counts.

Hocheppan Castle , Bolzano in the background

How the Counts of Eppan survived Henry the Lion's incursion is unclear, but it is believed that this event prompted the Eppaners to build a new castle in the Gaider Graben around 1160 , which should be easier to defend due to the new location. the Hocheppan Castle . After the death of Count Anold von Morit-Greifenstein, an inheritance dispute over the county of Bolzano began between the Eppaners and the Counts of Tyrol, which the Tyroleans won in 1170. Ulten was the only area that fell to the Eppaners as a result of these conflicts. Around 1170, Count Friedrich von Eppan moved his main residence to Ulten to today's castle ruins of Eschenlohe . Despite this relocation, this line remained as the main line of the Counts of Eppan.

After Friedrich I moved to Ulten in 1170, Heinrich I continued to reside at Hocheppan Castle, which at that time was already completely in his possession. After Friedrich's death around 1190, Egno von Ulten came into his inheritance, which led to disagreements between him and Heinrich. As a result of these disputes, Eppan became the property of Count Egno von Ulten, while Heinrich received Andrian and Nals , which had been separated from Eppan . Under Egno von Ulten, the castle on Altenburg Hill, which had been destroyed in 1158, was rebuilt and completed in 1195. Under Egno's successor, Ulrich III., Hocheppan Castle was enlarged and redesigned. Henry I's legacy, rule over Andrian and Nals, was assumed by his youngest son, Henry II, in 1200. The Andrian Castle was built under Heinrich II . After the death of Henry II, his son and then canon of Trento, Egno, took over his father's possessions around 1231/37. In 1241 Ulrich V's two sons, Georg and Friedrich IV., Became heirs of the County of Eppan. The early death of the two heirs marked the end of the line of the Counts of Eppan.

genealogy

  1. Friedrich von Bozen (mentioned 1078)
    1. Arnold II. (* Around 1070, † around 1130), Vogt von Brixen, Count von Morit ∞ Irmengard
      1. Arnold III († 1167/68)
    2. Heinrich (mentioned 1116)
    3. Ulrich I (* around 1085; † around 1150/55), Count of Eppan ∞ nobility
      1. NN († around 1142)
        1. Adelbert (* around 1140; † around 1160/72)
      2. Friedrich I (* around 1120; † around 1184) ∞ Machtilt († 1214)
        1. Ulrich II. (* Around 1145, † around 1188)
        2. Gebezo († before 1186)
        3. Arnold († around 1189)
        4. Friedrich II. († 1194), Abbot of Marienberg
        5. Adelheid ∞ Kuno, Count von Mögling
        6. Egno I. († 1209/10) ∞ Irmengard von Ronsberg
          1. Henry III. (* around 1191)
          2. Ulrich IV. (* Around 1193; † around 1248), Count of Ulten ∞ Juta
          3. Sophia ∞ Bertold von Eschenloch
      3. Machtilt († 1173) ∞ Egno († 1192), Vogt von Matsch
      4. Heinrich I (* around 1125/30; † around 1200), Count of Eppan ∞ Maria († around 1170/73)
        1. Ulrich III. (* around 1168; † around 1240), Count of Eppan ∞ NN
          1. Bertold (* around 1195; † around 1211/17)
          2. Adelheid († around 1264) ∞ Hugo von Taufers
        2. Heinrich II. (* Around 1170, † around 1230), Count of Eppan ∞ NN
          1. Ulrich V. (* around 1195; † around 1225/36) ∞ NN
            1. Georg (* around 1225; † around 1251/54)
            2. Friedrich IV (* around 1225; † around 1249/54)
            3. Sophia ∞ Albero von Wangen
            4. Elisabeth († around 1263/73) ∞ Hugo von Velturns
          2. Heinrich IV. (* Around 1194; † around 1227/37)
          3. Egno II (* around 1197, † 1273), Bishop of Brixen

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Ronsberg coat of arms ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2014 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. . Accessed May 14, 2014.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ronsberg.de
  2. ^ Hannes Obermair : St. Michael on the Adige . In: The former monasteries of the Augustinian Canons in Austria and South Tyrol (Österreichisches Chorherrenbuch Vol. 3), ed. by Floridus Röhrig, Mayer & Co .: Klosterneuburg 2005, ISBN 3-902177-22-5 , pp. 431-446.
  3. ↑ Bruno Mahlknecht: The Counts of Eppan - attempt at an overall representation. In: The Sciliar. 72, 1998, pp. 675-701, especially pp. 681-690.
  4. ↑ Bruno Mahlknecht: The Counts of Eppan - attempt at an overall representation. In: The Sciliar. 72, 1998, pp. 675-701, especially pp. 690-697.

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