Gamareth Fronauer

Seat of Gamareth Fronauer: Orth Castle in Lower Austria.

Captured by Gamareth Fronauer in 1461 and set on fire: Greifenstein Castle in Lower Austria.

Gamareth Fronauer (also Gamaret Fronauer Gamerit Fronauer von Fronau or Gamareth von Fronau ) (* before 1448 , † 1498 ) was a nobleman of the Duchy of Austria and an Austrian mercenary leader who had his seat in the castle of Orth in Orth an der Donau (also Orth im Marchfeld) in Lower Austria . His reputation as a " robber baron " is likely to be related to the feuds he waged in the Duchy of Austria.

Origin and family

Gamareth Fronauer was married at least twice, around 1464 to a Margarethe and around 1483 to an Elsbeth ( Elisabeth von Steinpeiß ( Steinpeiss ), from this marriage he had a daughter named Margarethe , who was married to Hanns von Lamberg ).

It is likely to come from the von Fronau family (also Frenau or Franau ), who had their origins in Bavaria near Roding in the eastern Bavarian district of Cham in the Upper Palatinate , but found a new home in Austria between around 1317 and 1608. In the 15th and 15th centuries in the Duchy of Austria in the possession of the village Erdberg and other lordships.

The brothers Hartwic and Rudiger von Franau signed a deed of foundation for the Church of Our Lady in Munich in the Duchy of Baiern in 1271 . A relative of one of them was probably the canon Friedrich Francisco Auer (d. 1293), later provost and then Bishop of Chiemsee . In 1317 a Rapoto von Fronau is proven as a witness in a document, which concerns a donation from Count Heinrich von Pernstein . It is likely to be the first mention of a Fronauer in the Duchy of Austria .

A knight Gerhard von Fronau (also Gerhard Frenawar ) is proven at the beginning of the 15th century as the owner of several dominions in the Duchy of Austria. In 1408 Duke Leopold IV of Austria enfeoffed him with the Gutenhof in today's Himberg , an enfeoff that was confirmed in 1414 by Duke Albrecht V of Austria . From 1401 to 1408 he is also proven to be the owner of the Obersiebenbrunn estate ; his son Konrad succeeded him here in 1408 . Another owner of this estate was Pankratz von Fronau , son of a Konrad around 1479 , and Konrad von Fronau , brother of Pankratz von Fronau around 1500 .

As parents of Gamareth Fronauer (with him Gamureth von Fronau ), Wisgrill leads the knight Gerhard von Fronau (died before 1459) Herr zu Krumpach, Längbach, Wolfbach, Dürrenkrut and Siebenbrunn and his wife Margaretha (died after 1459) from the burgrave family from Garsch (Gärß) on. In addition to Gamareth, he is said to have had other children, including the sons Bernhard , Gerhard and Wilhelm and the daughter Elisabeth , allegedly a lady-in-waiting of Queen Elisabeth .

There is evidence of a brother named Gerhard Fronauer (also Franawer ) (died 1458), who looked after the castle and dominion of Orth as the sovereign caretaker. In 1453 he had bought a house in the Neustadt from Hans Grym , which indicates good relations with Emperor Friedrich III. suggests. As a result of the disputes with his relative, King Ladislaus , he is said to have sold him the castle and lordship of Orth, which at the time belonged to the emperor's possessions that Ladislaus considered to be an inheritance withheld from him. In 1456, Gerhard Fronauer, along with a Mr. von Weißpriach and a Mr. von Ungnad, was awarded the Pönfall of the city of Strasbourg. At that time he was the advice of Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria , the brother of the emperor. When at the end of March 1458 the "robber's castles" of the mercenary leader (in contemporary sources: "dux latronum" or robber captain ) Ledwenko von Ruchenau , who had previously ravaged the area around the city of Vienna , had been dug up in the area of Hainburg , Gerhard became Fronacher killed in this operation.

Under the generals of Duke Albrecht VI. there is also a Eustachius Fronauer , who was perhaps a relative of Gerhard and Gamareth.

Robber baron or actor in a war?

In the Duchy of Austria , which was ravaged by devastating clashes in the 15th century, Gamareth Fronauer led a feud against Emperor Friedrich III. , Which was used as a pretext for a dispute between the emperor and the local estates. During this dispute he went on raids and kept some castles and palaces occupied, which earned him the reputation of a robber baron .

Life

Gamareth Fronauer received several fiefs from Albrecht Achilles , then Margrave of Ansbach , later Elector of Brandenburg .

When, with the death of King Ladislaus in November 1457, the Albrechtinian branch of the Habsburg family had died out in the male line, in 1458 Emperor Friedrich III. and Archduke Albrecht VI. to the struggle for rule over the Duchy of Austria . Both initially agreed with the estates on a division of the country, in which Albrecht took control of Austria ob der Enns (with the city of Linz ), while Austria under the Enns (with the city of Vienna) went to Friedrich (contract of August 21, 1458 ). Friedrich was at the same time still in other wars, z. B. concerned the legacy of the Counts of Cilli , involved. Since Friedrich did not succeed in bringing the situation under the Enns under his control, Albrecht was offered several pretexts to continue the struggle for rule under the Enns in order to take control of it (with the consent of the estates).

For Gamareth, this offered the ideal framework in order to enforce his demand, which he believed he had against the emperor. After his brother Gerhard fell at the beginning of 1458, he claimed the castle and dominion Orth as his heir as an allod . Both had been left to his brother for care by the emperor, who now demanded that Gamareth return them. This in turn claimed that the emperor had sold the custody to his brother and therefore refused to return it. The emperor did not recognize this requirement, Gamareth could not produce a purchase letter. The result was a legal battle in which Gamareth was supported for political reasons by the Austrian provincial estates under the Enns against the emperor (in his position as Duke of Austria under the Enns ). This trial of strength gave Archduke Albrecht a welcome opportunity to intervene in the conflict on the side of the state estates in order to pursue his own goals.

In 1460, Orth Castle was besieged on the orders of Emperor Frederick and taken without a fight on March 26, 1460 after Gamareth had previously managed to leave it. (Apparently he escaped from the castle through underground passages.) After his expulsion from Orth on the Danube, he settled in Groß-Schweinbarth that same year , holed up there for four weeks in the church and attacked Gaunersdorf . Sources report a slaughter with many dead, but Gamareth had to withdraw. The Schenkerkreuz in Gaweinstal (also called Fronauer- or Urlauberkreu ) still reminds of these raids.

In 1461 Greifenstein Castle was captured by Gamreth and set on fire. He also held Pottenburg Castle until it was recaptured by Ulrich von Grafeneck ( Grafenegg ). As Archduke Albrecht VI. on June 19, 1461 officially announced the feud to his brother, Gamareth gave him his field camps in Hollenburg , Trebensee and Pirchenwaldt for a cash payment

During the siege of the emperor in the Vienna Hofburg (October 16/17 - December 4, 1462) by the then Vienna city government under Wolfgang Holzer and Archduke Albrecht VI. Gamareth was initially on their side. However, after the Bohemian King George came to the emperor's aid with an armed force, he switched to the emperor's side.

In 1464 Gamareth received from the emperor the approval to set up a market in Neusiedl an der Zaya and the Ungeld zu Dürnkruth, with which he provided for his then wife Margarethe. It seems that he recently made the career leap from robber baron to imperial council , at least he is referred to as such on the occasion of the confirmation of a home tax order to his future wife Elsbeth in 1483.

Literary / fiction afterlife

Gamareth Fronauer is the historical model for the figure of Konrad Fraunauer in Benedict Naubert's multi-part novel Ulrich [!] Holzer, Mayor of Vienna (publ. 1793), who, together with his partly fictional, partly historically documented family, plays a positive leading role there.

Remarks

1. ↑ According to “Prima Nocte”, the (for the time being) only source that contains a year of birth and death, he was born in 1448. The data on the raids in 1460/61 seem to be secure. Therefore the given year of birth is probably wrong, because it is hard to imagine that Gamareth was already a "robber baron" at the age of about 12 years.

literature

• Register of fiefdoms in Lower Austria XVII / 1, which Gamareth von Fronau held first from Margrave Albrecht and then his sons Friedrich and Siegmund (octave band), duration: 1493–1497; Signature: Bamberg State Archive, Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Plassenburg Secret House Archive No. 3570; Old signature: A 222 IV No. 7471 C 32 No. 20/2
• Paul-Joachim Heinig : Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Volume 17). 3 volumes, Böhlau, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-412-15595-0 (at the same time: Gießen, Universität, Habilitation -schrift, 1993), see Volume 3, Register, p. 1680 under Fronauer von Fronau Gamerit
• Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince in the field of tension between dynasty, regions and empire (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Volume 38). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-50139-6 (partly also: Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, dissertation, 2013), see register under Fronauer Gamaret
• Franz Karl Wißgrill : scene of the rural Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood , Vienna 1794–1804
• Johann Evang. Kirnbauer von Erzstätt : The Lower Austrian rural nobility. Panels, A – R. In: J. Siebmacher's large and general book of arms . Volume 4. Bauer and Raspe, Nuremberg 1909, plate 50.
• Johann Evang. Kirnbauer von Erzstätt: The Lower Austrian rural nobility. Text, A – R. In: J. Siebmacher's large and general book of arms . Volume 4. Bauer and Raspe, Nuremberg 1909, p. 103 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to Franz Karl Wißgrill: scene of the rural Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood. Vienna 1797, Volume 3, p. 111, his real name is supposed to have been Konrad, but was called Gamareth.
2. ↑ by Constantine A. Moritz Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince in the field of tension between dynasty, regions and empire (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Volume 38). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2015.
3. ^ After Paul-Joachim Heinig: Kaiser Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Volume 17). 3 volumes, Böhlau, Cologne 1997.
4. ↑ Prima Nocte  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on February 17, 2013.  
5. ^ Franz Karl Wißgrill: scene of the land-based Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood. Vienna 1797, Volume 3, p. 114.
6. ^ Paul-Joachim Heinig: Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics. 1997, Volume 1, p. 263.
7. ↑ AR, Text - GDZ. Retrieved March 11, 2019 . 
8. ^ Franz Karl Wißgrill: scene of the land-based Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood. Vienna 1797, Volume 3, p. 109.
9. ↑ http://www.gutenhof.at/reitsportzentrum/historie , accessed on January 18, 2017.
10. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on January 18, 2017. 
11. ^ Franz Karl Wißgrill: scene of the land-based Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood. Vienna 1797, Volume 3, p. 111 According to Wisgrill, this Gerhard von Fronau is identical to that Gerhard von Fronau, who was enfeoffed by the dukes Leopold IV and Albrecht V, which, however, is not really convincing given the time frame.
12. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. 2015, p. 510.
13. ^ Paul-Joachim Heinig: Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics. 1997, Volume 1, pp. 224 and 263 / footnote 507
14. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. 2015, p. 468. For information on the operation against Ledwenko von Ruchenau, see also Ferdinand Opll (ed.): News from medieval Vienna: Zeitgenossenrechte , Vienna / Cologne / Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 1995, p. 160.
15. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. 2015, p. 525.
16. ↑ This inheritance initially affected all Habsburgs from the Leopoldine family branch . Duke Sigmund der Münzreich , cousin of Friedrich and Albrecht, who had also asserted his claim to rule over the Duchy of Austria or parts of it, waived in 1458 in favor of Albrecht in exchange for the Vorderen Lande , which is why the inheritance dispute between the Habsburgs was ultimately only was fought between the emperor and his brother.
17. ^ Georg Wacha: Linz under Albrecht VI. and Friedrich III. In: Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz 1986. Linz 1987, pp. 11–21, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
18. ↑ Regg.F.III. H. 18 to 37 In: Sonja Dünnebeil, Paul Herold, Kornelia Holzner-Tobisch (arrangement): Regesten Kaiser Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Organized by archives and libraries. H. 18: The documents and letters of the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, Dept. House, Court and State Archives: General series of documents, family documents and collections of copies (1458–1463) . Vienna et al., 2004 (regesten.regesta-imperii.de)
19. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. 2015, p. 519f.
20. ^ Paul-Joachim Heinig: Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics. 1997, Volume 1, p. 263 and Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince in the field of tension between dynasty, regions and empire , 2015, p. 518f.
21. ↑ Private website about Angern an der March and the surrounding area  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on February 18, 2013.  
22. ↑ The Schenkerkreuz in the Gaweinstal chronicle  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on February 189, 2013 and marterl.at accessed on January 18, 2017.  
23. ^ Paul-Joachim Heinig: Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics. 1997, Volume 1, pp. 224 and 263 / footnote 507
24. ^ Entry on Pottenburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute, accessed on September 16, 2016.
25. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. 2015, p. 537f.
26. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. 2015, p. 570.
27. ^ Paul-Joachim Heinig: Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics. 1997, Volume 1, pp. 44f. and p. 263.
28. ^ Paul-Joachim Heinig: Emperor Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics. Volume 17. 3 volumes, Böhlau, Cologne 1997, volume 1, p. 263.