Freden (noble family)
The Lords of Freden were an ancient noble Lower Saxon noble family , which then also settled in Schleswig-Holstein and the Baltic States and died out in the 16th century.
Name and relationship
The Lords of Freden named themselves after the place Freden (Leine) . Her name was spelled Freden, Fredenon, Friethen, Vreden, Frethen, Vrethen, Freten, Verdenem, Freyden, Vriden, Vredene, Frieden, Fredhen, Wredhen. Their family coat of arms, two vertical keys with their backs to each other, as well as common property, identify them as a branch of the von Rosdorf family . The lords of Freden were the lords of Escherde and the Lords of Gittelde used as common property in and around Castle Winzenburg , as well as Castle Westerhof testified. Together with the also related lords of Gandersheim, the lords of Freden shared the bailiwick of the monastery. In the cathedral they donated their own side altar, called Fredenscher or Uslarscher altar, which still adorns their coat of arms today.
history
From the middle of the 12th century, the Lords of Freden appear by name as ministerials of the Hildesheim diocese . Walter von Freden, who appears in documents of the Hildesheim diocese between 1142 and 1158 to 1190, was the first documented representative of the family. He was followed in 1202 by Friedrich von Freden, and in 1203 by the brothers Ekbert (senior) and Konrad von Freden.
Ekbert (junior) von Freden sold a quarter of the Pandelbeke forest near Müncheberg in the Harz foreland, not far from Gittelde, in 1231. The forest, anciently owned by the family, belonged to another 25% of the Counts of Woldenberg , whose share came from the legacy of the Counts of Ambergau , the Counts of Insula-Werder; 50% of the forest was owned by Count Palatine Heinrich (V) the Elder of Braunschweig .
The Ambergau was ruled for generations by Billunger , such as Ekbert vom Ambergau (932–994) and his son Wichmann III. (d. 1016). Even if no agnatic relationship existed between the Billungern and the Lords of Freden, a cognatic one is likely. Wichmann III. was buried in Vreden. So far, science has assumed that this location refers to Vreden in Westphalia, since Wichmann was Vogt there. But his corpse was transferred "to his forefathers" who had clearly ruled the Ambergau for generations. Freden on a leash should therefore have been meant. Especially since Wichmann was demonstrably in possession of Dahlum = King Dahlum in 1009 . Close to Dahlum, relatives of the Lords of Freden (the Lords of Bovenden ) surprisingly also owned forests (Sundern Forest), as well as, together with the Counts of Insula-Werder, the Counts of Woldenberg-Wöltigerode, the lawyers of Hildesheim, and the Lords of Escherde , on extensive property in two places (Ammenhusen, Woldenhusen) located directly near Dahlum, such as the Sundern forest. This explains the takeover or maintenance of the Billunger head name Ekbert in the von Freden family. Freden himself also has joint ownership of Count Palatine Heinrich and the Lords of Freden: in 1223 the Count Palatine z. B. the church patronage on site, while the Lords of Freden had property on both sides of the Leine. This common ownership should go back to the Billunger.
Ekbert (junior) von Freden, the seller of the Pandelbeke forest, documented it between 1228 and 1251. Like his ancestor, Walter von Freden, he was a ministerial officer in the service of the Hildesheim diocese. His brother was named after grandfather Walther.
Bishop Konrad II of Riesenberg , Bishop of Hildesheim between 1221 and 1246, fought with the then powerful families of the Lords of Escherde and von Freden in order to curtail their influence and to expand and round off the territory of the diocese. He bought her shares and a. at Winzenburg, Elze and Sarstedt for large sums of money, as well as new lendings in the diocese.
Towards the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, the Lords of Freden reached the zenith of their power. They built Hausfreden Castle in Freden , which monitored the Leine crossing between Gross- and Klein Freden. At the same time they exercised the bailiwick, partly together with the gentlemen from Gandersheim, partly alone in Gandersheim. At this time they donated the originally important side altar in honor of the house saint Johannes Baptist, to the right of the chancel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, part of the family, together with related families, set out on a crusade to the Baltic states and to settle in Schleswig-Holstein. The family can be traced back to the 16th century at both locations. In the course of the 14th century they shared, together with their relatives, the Lords of Gittelde, Burg and Herrschaft Westerfeld. In the 16th century the trace of the family is lost, both in their original homeland as well as in Schleswig-Holstein and the Baltic States.
literature
- Document book Hochstift Hildesheim Vol. I, II, III
- Adolf Lüntzel: The older diocese of Hildesheim
- W. Wittich: Freedom of the old and servitude of the primeval nobility in Lower Saxony
- Franz Anton Blum: History of the Principality of Hildesheim . tape 1 . Heinrich Georg Albrecht, Wolfenbüttel 1805 ( digitized ).
- Franz Anton Blum: History of the Principality of Hildesheim . tape 2 . Heinrich Georg Albrecht, Wolfenbüttel 1807 ( digitized version ).
- Dietrich Upmeyer: The gentlemen of Oldershausen
- Hans Goetting: The Diocese of Hildesheim - The imperial direct Gandersheim Abbey