Erich IV. (Saxony-Lauenburg)

Erich IV. Von Sachsen-Lauenburg (* 1354 ; † 1411 ) was Duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg from 1368 to 1411 from the house of the Ascanians . He was the son of Duke Erichs II of Saxe-Lauenburg and Agnes von Holstein .

Live and act

Through his marriage to Sophie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg in 1373, he renewed the relationship with this house, which was heavily burdened by the unsuccessful campaign of his brother-in-law Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Lüneburg against Erich's father in 1362 until Wilhelm's death in 1369.

A contract with Lübeck on June 14, 1390 enabled the construction of the Stecknitz Canal from 1392, which connected the Elbe near Lauenburg with Mölln and Lübeck and thus offered a continuous ship connection between the Hanseatic cities of Lüneburg , Hamburg and Lübeck. When it opened on July 22, 1398, the Stecknitz Canal was the first artificial waterway in Northern Europe.

Erich's relations with the Hanseatic cities, especially with Lübeck, were severely clouded by the death of his cousin Erich III on May 25, 1401. Erich saw himself as the heir to the lands of his cousin, who had died without descendants. Eric III. but had pledged the castle and town of Bergedorf , the Vierlande and the customs station at the Eyslinger Elbe ferry for 16,262 ½ marks to Lübeck, so that Lübeck claimed the inheritance for itself. Erich took the Bergedorf Castle in a flash and put the Lübeck governor in front of the door. Since the city was left without financial reserves due to the construction of the Stecknitz Canal and thus could not recruit a sufficient number of mercenaries, Lübeck surrendered to the situation. On July 13, 1401, Erich IV. And the Lübeck delegates signed a contract in which Bergedorf and the lands north of the Elbe were awarded to Erich, which was also claimed by Erich, but Mölln, pledged by Albrecht V , was finally given to Lübeck.

But Erich did not want to give up the claims on Mölln completely. When he believed Lübeck had been weakened by internal political unrest in 1409, he marched into Mölln at the head of an army and occupied it. But he had misjudged the situation. Lübeck wanted to protect the city, but not give it up. So it fell with an army of 10,000 men in the Duchy of Lauenburg, Erich's ancestral property, and devastated it, thereby persuading Erich to withdraw from Mölln. But when this was unsuccessful, the superior Lübeck army turned against Mölln. Erich then burned the city down and fled. On January 14, 1410, he again contractually guaranteed the possession of Mölln in Lübeck.

A year later, in 1411, Erich IV died. His successor was his son Erich V.

Marriages and offspring

Erich married Sophie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1358–1416), a daughter of Magnus II , on April 8, 1373 . The connection resulted in:

• Erich V († 1436), Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg
• Johann IV. († 1414), Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg, co-regent with Erich V.
• Albrecht († 1421), Canon in Hildesheim
• Magnus († 1452), Bishop of Hildesheim and Kammin
• Bernhard II († 1463), Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg
• Otto († before 1431)
• Agnes († before 1415), married to Count Albrecht II of Holstein († 1403)
• Agnes († around 1435), married to Duke Wartislaw VIII of Pomerania (1373–1415)
• Katharina von Sachsen-Lauenburg († around 1448), married 1st to Prince Johann VII of Werle († 1414), married 2nd to Duke Johann IV of Mecklenburg († 1422)
• Sophie († 1462), married to Duke Wartislaw IX. of Pomerania († 1457)

ancestry

Erich I (Sachsen-Lauenburg) († 1361) Duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg

Erich II (Sachsen-Lauenburg) Duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg

Elisabeth of Pomerania († 1349)

Eric IV of Saxony-Lauenburg (1354–1411) Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg

Gerhard II. (Holstein-Plön) (1254–1312) Count of Holstein-Plön

Johann III. (Holstein-Kiel) († 1359)

Agnes von Brandenburg (1257–1304) Queen of Denmark

Agnes of Holstein

Henry III. from Schlesien-Glogau

Catherine of Silesia-Glogau († 1323/1326)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Document book of the city of Lübeck IV, Nos. 519 and 520 (1390 June 24).
2. ↑ Victoria Overlack (ed.): The Bergedorfer Castle - Een sloten Huss, development - functions - building history . Museum for Bergedorf and the Vierlande, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-936300-49-9 , p. 30 .
3. ↑ Because of his only short co-reign he is occasionally not counted, so that his later successor Johann V is sometimes referred to with the same serial number as Johann IV (Sachsen-Lauenburg) and the two are confused.

literature

• Olaf Matthes and Bardo Metzger (eds.): Bergedorfer Personenlexikon . 2nd Edition. Museum for Bergedorf and the Vierlande, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-935987-03-X .
• Victoria Overlack (ed.): The Bergedorfer Castle - Een sloten Huss, development - functions - building history . Museum for Bergedorf and the Vierlande, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-936300-49-9 .
• Harald Richert: Between Bille and Elbe . Verlag Otto Heinevetter, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-87474-966-5 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Erich II. (Ratzeburg-Lauenburg line) Erich III. (Bergedorf-Mölln line)	Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg 1368–1411	Erich V.