Friedrich von Bieberstein
Friedrich von Bieberstein (* 13th century or 14th century; † 1360 ) was a baron who was one of the most powerful lords in the Kingdom of Bohemia and one of the most important vassals and confidants of Emperor Charles IV (of Luxembourg) in Bohemia. In Bohemia he owned, among others, the dominions Friedland (today Frýdlant v Čechách in the Czech Republic), in the margraviate Niederlausitz the dominion Sorau (today Żary in the voivodeship Lubusz in Poland ) as well as the castles Landeskrone and Tauchritz in theMargraviate of Upper Lusatia .
origin
Friedrich came from the noble family of the Lords of Bieberstein , whose name is derived from the Bieberstein Castle in the margraviate of Meißen and who are wealthy in northern Bohemia as well as in Silesia and in the “ Lausitz ”, ie in the margravates of Upper and Lower Lusatia was.
His father was Johann von Bieberstein (* 1290, † n. 1306), Heinrich III. Duke of Silesia zu Glogau , Sagan , Greater Poland etc. served as a general. According to Dr. JG Hermann, Johann never came into the possession of the Friedland dominion, presumably because he died before his father Rulko (Bolko, Rudolf) von Bieberstein.
Neither the name nor the origin of his mother is known.
Life
Since his father Johann died before his grandfather Rulko, Friedrich followed him directly as heir to all property and fiefdoms of his house. Part of the property, the so-called Eigenensche Kreis in Upper Lusatia , was transferred from his grandfather to one of his daughters, who was the abbess of the St. Marienthal Monastery of the Cistercian Sisters near Ostritz (today in Upper Lusatia in Saxony ), which the family did in 1241 Bieberstein had been donated.
Confidante of King Charles IV.
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Frederick held an important place in the royal court of King Charles IV in Prague . This is evident from his presence at important state acts.
So he was in Prague on November 21, 1344 at the royal court, and attended the solemn appointment of the first Archbishop of Prague , Ernst von Pardubitz (* c. 1300, † 1364 in Raudnitz) in the company of princes, bishops and lords after Pope Clement VI. (1342-1352) had approved it by a bull dated April 30, 1344. He probably took part in the laying of the foundation stone of the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, which took place in the same year.
A few years later, on April 7, 1348, he took part in the founding of Charles University in Prague , the "Alma Mater Carolina", the first university in Central Europe by King Charles IV .
The "False Woldemar" affair
In the same year he took part as a royal vassal in King Charles IV's campaign, which he undertook to help the supposed Margrave of Brandenburg Woldemar to his rights. The latter was long dead, but allegedly reappeared after a long pilgrimage and gained wide recognition and support. King Karl believed in Woldemar, so he undertook a military expedition to check Woldemar's authenticity and to transfer the Mark Brandenburg back to him. Friedrich von Bieberstein supported King Charles IV with his crew in the siege of Frankfurt on the Oder and took part in two of the most important negotiations. First he was in the field camp at Heinrichsdorf near Müncheberg on October 2, 1348 , when King Karl took evidence of the authenticity of Woldemar and that he really was the Margrave of Brandenburg , who was believed dead, and this - after confirmation - in all forms with the mark Brandenburg enfeoffed. Friedrich was also present there on October 20th when the king gave the eventual to Dukes Rudolf I of Saxony Wittenberg and his brother, Duke Otto of Saxony as well as Prince Albrecht II of Anhalt-Zerbst and his brother, Prince Waldemar II of Anhalt Succession in the Margraviate of Brandenburg and in the Margraviate of Landsberg after the heirless death of the re-emerged Margrave Woldemar assured.
It wasn't until two years later that it turned out that this Woldemar was a fraud, who went down in history as the " Wrong Woldemar ". Although he lost the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1350, he was able to hold onto the court of Anhalt-Dessau as a "prince" until his death in 1356.
The Görlitz feud
In 1349 Friedrich von Bieberstein was involved in a feud with the city of Görlitz in the margraviate of Upper Lusatia , which arose from the fact that the Görlitzers were unable to arrest a peacemaker named Nitsche von Rackwitz, who was a vassal of Friedrich. They therefore sent a delegation to Friedrich von Bieberstein, who was then in his castle in Tauchritz , near Görlitz. Since Friedrich closed himself to the demand for the extradition of the Nitsche, the Görlitzers decided to act themselves. They rode with an armed team to Friedland Castle (today Frýdlant Castle in the town of Frýdlant v Čechách in the Czech Republic), where von Rackwitz was staying, and penetrated the castle to take him prisoner. Friedrich, who suspected what they were up to, rode to Friedland himself with a crew, surprised the armed Görlitzers in his castle and angrily ordered them to be killed as enemy intruders: “Now slot our right-wing enemies who are looking for us in ours Vesten. ”Two Görlitzers lost their lives in the beginning fight, the others fled but were caught up and left 7 dead on the field.
After all sorts of comparative appointments, peace finally came, in which Friedrich von Biberstein had to agree to a payment of 200 shock so that a church could be built for the salvation of the slain. This is the church of “Our Lady” in Görlitz. The sum was by no means sufficient to complete it. A new misfortune, a plague, had to be added to promote its construction: due to the numerous deaths, the half-finished church grew so many legacies that they are not only listed and provided with altars, but the clergy are also ordered to do so could.
The train to Italy
Friedrich von Biberstein accompanied King Charles IV on his journey to Italy in 1354 and 1355. The expelled Roman tribune Cola di Rienzo , who had lived in Prague from 1350 to 1352, had repeatedly warned against this, but with the intention of restoring popular sovereignty and his own rule in Rome . Friedrich therefore took part in the solemn coronation of Charles with the Iron Crown as King of Italy in 1355 and on April 5, 1355 in the imperial coronation of King Charles IV in Rome , which was commissioned by Pope Innocent VI. was made by a cardinal. However, Emperor Charles IV left Rome and Italy with his entourage after a short stay and so Friedrich von Bieberstein returned to Bohemia in the same year.
After his return, his father-in-law Ulrich von Pack, Herr zu Sorau, died in 1355, as a result of which his inheritance, the town and rule of Sorau (today Żary in the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland ) passed to Friedrich. He became the most powerful among the castle-sitting gentlemen in Upper Lusatia.
Enfeoff with the goods in the Duchy of Glogau
In November 1357 Friedrich von Biberstein was with Emperor Karl IV. In Weißwasser in Oberlausitz, near Görlitz, to regulate the question of the dominions of the Landeskrone and Tauchritz (southernmost district of the city of Görlitz ) and whatever else belonged to him in the Duchy of Glogau .
These possessions were pledged to Duke Heinrich V , known as “the Iron”, Duke of Glogau and Sagan († 1369). Frederick could now only receive them as a fiefdom and vow to always keep himself to the crown of Bohemia with all his fiefdoms and with his free inheritance. At the same time, the emperor granted him the privilege that all of his vassals, who were previously under the jurisdiction of the royal bailiffs in the cities, would now only be under his jurisdiction.
More feuds and death
Although Friedrich von Bieberstein was so powerful and feared by many, he was caught up in two major feuds.
He had one with Albrecht von Hakeborn , the other with Duke Heinrich V “the Iron” of Glogau and Sagan, both of them because of inheritance disputes from Pack's legacy.
In both he fought without success: he won nothing with the first feud, with the second he had to forego the goods claimed by the Duchy of Sagan . The warfare consisted in devastating the area around Sagan with robbery and fire, so that even the monastery there had to secure its harvest behind the walls of the city and in the refectory and then plundered and devastated as far as Schwiebus (today Świebodzin in the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland), where the inhabitants fared no better.
Soon afterwards Friedrich von Biberstein died in 1366 (according to others in 1360).
Marriages and offspring
Friedrich Herr von Bieberstein married Hedwig von Pak (Pack) around 1340 , the only daughter and thus heiress of her father, Ulrich von Pak, gentlemen on Sorau.
Children:
At least two sons are known:
- Johann von Bieberstein (* 1342, † February 3, 1424), Herr zu Sorau etc.
- Ulrich von Biberstein (* v. 1350, † 1406), Herr zu Friedland etc.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Note: Friedrich's date of birth seems unclear: Since he was a son of Johannes von Bieberstein, who died in 1304 according to the Wiki article Bieberstein (noble family) , he could not have been born until 1329, as stated there.
- ↑ Dr. JG Hermann: "History of the City of Reichenberg", Volume I, published by Franz Jannasch, Reichenberg, 1863, p. 127
- ^ František Palacký: History of Bohemia, Volume 2, p. 256
- ↑ a b Dr. JG Hermann: op. Cit. P. 128
- ^ Paragraph The wrong Waldemar from: Wilhelm von Sommerfeld: Woldemar Margrave of Brandenburg. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 677-687.
- ↑ Dr. JG Hermann: op. Cit. P. 129
literature
- Richard Jecht: “History of the City of Görlitz”, first delivery; Second edition, self-published by the author, Görlitz 1922.
- Dr. JG Herrmann: “History of the City of Reichenberg” 1st volume; Reichenberg, published by Franz Jannasch 1863.
- Karl Friedrich Klöden : Diplomatic history of the margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, who was declared false, from the years 1345-1356. Presented immediately after the sources . First part, Berlin 1845, 451 pages, online .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Friedrich von Bieberstein |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bohemian baron, confidante of Emperor Charles IV. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 13th century or 14th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1360 |