Eva von Trott

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Eva von Trott

Eva von Trott (* around 1506; † January 12, 1567 in Hildesheim ; incorrectly addressed as Trotha and Trotta ) was the mistress of Duke Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and gave birth to ten illegitimate children. After the affair from the Duchess, with whom he had eleven legitimate children, could no longer be kept secret, he had Eva buried in order to continue their love affair. The matter became such a big scandal that Martin Luther wrote a diatribe about it " Against Hans Worst " during the time of the Schmalkaldic War .

The affair

Duke Heinrich the Younger

Eva von Trott came from the Hessian noble family Trott zu Solz . A close relative, perhaps even her brother, was the imperial field marshal Adam von Trott . She came to Wolfenbüttel in 1522 at the age of 16 as a maid of honor. A love relationship developed between her and the Duke, which was not without consequences. In August 1524 she had her first child, Heinrich Theuerdank . Trott became pregnant twice more at the Wolfenbütteler Hof and gave birth to two daughters. Before she gave birth, she deceived the Duchess by traveling home. In fact, she came down to the nearby Stauffenburg near Gittelde . Confidants of the Duke passed the children off as theirs and raised them in the castle. The affair could not be kept a secret in the long run, and both the Duchess and the noble Trott zu Solz family pushed for a decision. Duke Heinrich, who was married to Maria von Württemberg (1496–1541) and had eleven children with her, decided, when Eva's pregnancy was announced again, to solve the problem in his and Eva's sense with a false burial in Gandersheim Abbey , after she declared in the ducal castle Gandersheim that she was infected by the plague . The Duke commissioned the Braunschweig sculptor Simon Stappen to create a realistic wooden head for Eva's for the mock burial project . While Eva fled to nearby Stauffenburg in simple costume, a doll with a wooden head was buried as a plague victim.

Eva (von Trott) -Linde next to the Stauffenburg

Eva von Trott lived in this castle until 1541, where she often met the duke. More children emerged from this relationship, and ghost stories were spread to keep unwanted visitors away from the Stauffenburg. The Duchess died in 1541, and when the Duke was unsuccessfully sued for the Trott family's surrender of the daughter at the Reichstag in Regensburg in 1541 , he hid her with the three youngest children during his absence in his best fortified castle, the Liebenburg in Liebenburg .

The Protestant princes occupied the Braunschweig region in 1543 and expelled the duke. Eva also fled during this time when she was expecting her tenth child. Marriage was out of the question because of the difference in class. After the death of his first wife, Henry II married 34-year-old Sophia von Polen (1522–1575) in 1556 at the age of 67 , with whom he no longer had any children.

Eva's odyssey only came to an end in 1558 through Heinrich's mediation when he found her permanent residence in the Kreuzstift in Hildesheim . She died there in 1567. Heinrich had ennobled and cared for Eva's children as "von Kirchberg". At times he considered legitimizing his illegitimate son Heinrich von Kirchberg as his successor. The von Kirchberg family died out in Seesen in 1597 . There was no other love affair with Duke Heinrich, or it is not known.

Consequences of the affair

The affair had become widely known and led to Martin Luther writing a diatribe against Hans Worst during the Schmalkaldic War . Luther accused Heinrich of "fornication" and "blasphemy" because of apparent death. This writing is partially understood as a testament of Luther, in which he summarizes his views and his life's work, and interpreted differently because of the coarseness.

The affair has been described in novels, passed down in legends and depicted in plays. Wilhelm Raabe processed them literarily in his novel " After the Great War ".

In the vernacular, Duke Heinrich was also mockingly called the "wild Heinz von Wolfenbüttel".

literature

  • Horst-Rüdiger Jarck (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon. 8th to 18th centuries. Appelhans, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 709 f.
  • Elisabeth E. Kwan, Anna E. Röhrig : women from the court of the Guelphs. 20 biographies. MatrixMedia-Verlag, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-932313-17-8 .
  • Paul Jonas Meier : The sculptor's handicrafts in the city of Braunschweig since the Reformation. (= Work pieces from the museum, archive and library of the city of Braunschweig , Volume 8). Appelhans, Braunschweig 1936.
  • Gerhard Taddey (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German history. Events, institutions, people. From the beginning to the surrender in 1945. 3rd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-81303-3 , p. 1266 f.
  • George Hiltl: The dead Eva . In: The Gazebo . Issue 31–32, 1864, pp. 488-490, 505-508 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A file from the Imperial Court in Regensburg documents that Duke Heinrich the Elder. J. Stappen placed this delicate assignment in writing. See Meier: The arts and crafts. 1936, p. 10.
  2. ↑ Jarck: Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon. 8th to 18th centuries. 2006, p. 709.
personal data
SURNAME Trott, Eva von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Trotta, Eva von; Trotha, Eva von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mistress of Duke Heinrich d. J. von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
DATE OF BIRTH around 1506
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1567
Place of death Hildesheim