Etzel I. (Ortenburg)

Etzel I. , also Ezzo I. , Etzelin I. or incorrectly Etzel II. († May 17, 1446 ) Count von Ortenburg comes from the Lower Bavarian noble house of Ortenburg and was the son of Count Heinrich IV von Ortenburg and Agnes von Hals . For centuries it was assumed that there were two counts of the same name, which is why there was also talk of an Etzel II . However, recent research has shown that they are the same person. Etzel succeeded his brother Georg I in 1422 as the acting Count of Ortenburg.

Life

Etzel I is documented as the son of Heinrich IV between 1376 and 1446. When the estate was divided in 1395, after the death of his father, he received the Alt-Ortenburg castle and the goods belonging to it. His brother Georg I. received Neu-Ortenburg and his brother Alram I. Dorfbach .

Work in Ortenburg

In 1391 Etzel and his brother Georg signed a document in which they undertook to open their castles to the dukes of Bavaria-Landshut for the benefit of the community and the protection of the empire . This contributed to the fact that the Ortenburgers temporarily became vassals of Bavaria, as they indirectly gave up their imperial rights with the document.

By inheriting a large sum of money, Etzel acquired large fiefs of the Niederaltaich monastery and the Counts of Leuchtenberg in 1416 and 1417 , including the Engelsberg , Ranfels and Bärnstein near Grafenau and numerous villages. In the following years, Etzel repeatedly argued with the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg about the Bärnstein and Ranfels festivals. The dispute was only ended in 1442 after attempts at arbitration by the Bavarian dukes and even by Pope Martin V had failed.

When Georg I von Ortenburg, Etzel's older brother, died in 1422, Etzel became the incumbent count of the imperial county of Ortenburg . After the death of his wife, Etzel gave the Alt-Ortenburg fortress to his nephew Alram II in 1444 and resigned as the reigning imperial count. He then moved to Straubing , where he bought a house. In 1446 Etzel died at Alt-Ortenburg Castle. His possessions fell to the Neu-Ortenburg branch .

Work in the duchies of Bavaria

For several years Etzel was a follower of Elisabeth of Bavaria-Ingolstadt at the French royal court and served her husband, King Charles VI. between April 18, 1398 and May 9, 1401 as a chamberlain. His relationship with the king was considered excellent and he received numerous gifts from him.

In 1401 Etzel returned to Bavaria. There he was from May 20, 1407 to June 22, 1408 the keeper of Lower Bavaria , later he was from April 15, 1419 to June 22, 1423 the keeper of the city of Vilshofen . In 1422 Etzel entered the service of Duke Johann III as a councilor . from Straubing-Holland . However, due to his position, he was only rarely used in his function as a council, because he was predestined to take on higher political tasks.

When on August 8, 1423 Passau Bishop Georg von Hohenlohe died, Etzel continued for the election of his nephew Ulrich I. a. On September 10th, Ulrich I and Leonhard von Laiming were voted twice . The dispute was only settled on January 10, 1424 through intervention by Pope Martin V , who confirmed Leonhard von Laiming as bishop.

After the death of Duke Johann III. In 1425 Etzel played an important role in the Straubing succession dispute. He was elected to the inheritance committee by the estates . In 1426 Etzel accompanied King Sigismund to Straubing to decide what would happen next in the orphaned duchy. Then Etzel accompanied the king to Regensburg . In the same year Etzel represented the duchy at the court conference in Vienna .

The division of Bavaria-Straubing in 1429

Four years later, in 1429, Etzel I belonged to the 25 arbitrators of King Sigismund's partition commission, which in the Pressburg arbitration award on April 26, 1429, the lands under Ludwig the Bearded of Bavaria-Ingolstadt , Heinrich the Rich from Bavaria-Landshut as well as Ernst and Wilhelm III. divided by Bayern-Munich .

After the official dissolution of the Duchy of Straubing-Holland, Etzel I switched to the council of the Munich dukes. From 1438 to 1443 he was a keeper at Deggendorf in their service . In 1446 he is again as council of Duke Albrecht III. mentioned. At the same time Etzel was a member of the council of Duke Heinrich XVI from 1435 to 1443. from Bavaria-Landshut. Between 1434 and 1439 Etzel I appeared several times as an arbitrator for the Bavarian dukes.

After his will he was buried in the Sixtus Chapel in Passau .

family

Etzel's first marriage was to Katharina von Anserweiler (d'Ancerville) († approx. 1401) and his second marriage (around 1405) was to Siguna (Sigaun) von Rohrbach. From his second marriage he had a daughter named Margarethe († April 19, 1448 ), who lived with Heinrich III before February 6, 1413. Notthaft zu Wernberg († November 26, 1471 ) was married.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Master list on Genealogy.euweb.cz

literature

• Michaela Bleicher: The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing in the Hussite Wars. Everyday life and warfare as reflected in the land clerk accounts . Dissertation . Regensburg 2004 ( digitized version (PDF) ).
• Friedrich Hausmann : The Counts of Ortenburg and their male ancestors, the Spanheimers in Carinthia, Saxony and Bavaria, as well as their branch lines. In: Ostbairische Grenzmarken - Passauer Jahrbuch für Geschichte, Kunst und Volkskunde. No. 36, Passau 1994, pp. 9-62.
• Friedrich Hausmann: Archives of the Counts of Ortenburg. Documents of the family and county of Ortenburg (in Tambach and Munich) Volume 1: 1142–1400 (= Bavarian archive inventories . 42). Neustadt an der Aisch 1984.
• Eberhard Graf zu Ortenburg-Tambach: History of the imperial, ducal and counts 'entire house of Ortenburg - Part 2: The counts' house in Bavaria. Vilshofen 1932.
• Carl Mehrmann: History of the Evangelical Lutheran community of Ortenburg in Lower Bavaria - memorandum for the anniversary celebration of the 300th anniversary of the introduction of the Reformation there on October 17 and 18, 1863. Landshut 1863 ( digitized version ).
• Johann Ferdinand von Huschberg : History of the ducal and countial general house of Ortenburg: edited from the sources. Sulzbach 1828 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Root list on Genealogy.euweb.cz
• Genealogy of the Counts of Ortenburg

predecessor	Office	successor
George I.	Count of Ortenburg 1422–1444	Alram II