Georg von Stein

This article deals with the nobleman and court official Georg von Stein. For other people see Georg Stein .

Georg von Stein (also Georg von Stain or Jörg von Stein ; † December 3, 1497 in Berlin ) was an Upper Swabian nobleman. He was an important follower and close confidante of Archduke Albrecht VI. from Austria. After his death, he first served Duke Sigmund of Austria, then the Bohemian King Georg and finally the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus . From 1480 to 1488 he was captain of the Lower Silesian duchies . From 1481 to 1485 he was governor of Lower Lusatia and from 1481 to 1490 governor of Upper Lusatia . He was also governor of the Bohemian hereditary principality Schweidnitz-Jauer .

Origin and beginnings

Georg probably came from the von Stein family from Upper Swabia. His father Konrad († around 1477) was born in 1451 in the wake of Albrecht VI. mentioned. Georg was sponsored by his uncle Wilhelm von Stein, who, as a doctor of law, was his advice. At Wilhelm's instigation, Georg turned to the clergy and, on his recommendation, received a canonical in Augsburg . In 1451/52 he accompanied Emperor Friedrich III. on his journey to Rome , at that time he was probably already in the service of Archduke Albrecht. Although he was appointed papal protonotary there by Pope Nicholas V , he gave up his spiritual career and turned to chivalry. A stay of several years in Italy followed, during which Georg made contact with numerous humanists. The impression arises that he was particularly open to the new intellectual currents of his time.

In the service of Archduke Albrecht

After the fall of Constantinople , Georg wrote a little pamphlet about the prophet Mohammed , which he gave to Archduke Albrecht VI. dedicated. In March 1458, Georg committed himself to lifelong service for the Archduke, for whom he had meanwhile become Chancellor , for a personal asset of 600 guilders . Around 1458 he also became his councilor and made himself indispensable to him by granting loans. In return he received from Albrecht VI. first of all Laufenburg Castle and in 1463 as a deposit (for 14,000 guilders) also the city of Steyr in Austria ob der Enns with the associated offices, in addition he was knighted after the suppression of the " Holzer uprising ". In the same year he captured Aggstein Castle , which he then also took over as a pledge.

Georg was one of those followers of Albrecht who were personally present when Albrecht died in December 1463. After that he was immediately suspected of having something to do with Albrecht's death. While historians in the 19th century even suggested a conspiracy against the Archduke himself, current research considers this to be unlikely.

After Albrecht's death he came to an agreement with his successor Friedrich III. on the surrender of Steyr against the repayment of the deposit, which was reduced by 6,000 guilders, but then opened a feud against the emperor. When Friedrich III. the city was occupied after New Year 1467, Georg conquered it at the end of January d. J. back. He established himself with his mercenaries at the Steyr castle .

Because of this dispute, he subsequently placed himself in the service of the Bohemian King George of Podebrady , who was also in dispute with Friedrich III. lay. At the end of 1467 Georg von Stein lost the city of Steyr for good. After the expected help from Duke Viktorin von Münsterberg did not materialize, he also lost Steyr Castle in January 1468. With a certificate concluded on November 30, 1470 at Moravská Třebová Castle, he ceded his rights to Ulrich von Boskowitz on Cimburg . Georg von Stein subsequently undertook diplomatic assignments for Georg von Podiebrad, which led him to the Burgundian court and to German princes, among others .

In the service of King Matthias

After the death of Georg von Podiebrad in 1471 Georg von Stein turned to the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus . Although the Bohemian Catholic League had proclaimed the rival king in 1469, he was unable to assert himself against Vladislav II even after George's death . During the subsequent Bohemian-Hungarian disputes over supremacy in Bohemia, Georg von Stein undertook numerous diplomatic assignments for Corvin, which took him to the courts of Brandenburg , Saxony and Hungary, among others . An alliance treaty negotiated between his king and the princes of Zerbst was signed on July 15, 1472.

After Matthias Corvinus succeeded in expanding his dominion to the neighboring Bohemian lands , Georg von Stein gained an influential position in Lusatia and Silesia , where he succeeded Stephan Zápolyas as governor of the Bohemian hereditary duchy of Schweidnitz-Jauer and pledge holder of Bolkenhain . After Hans von Czettritz , who had been a partisan of Georg von Podiebrad, lost the rule of Neuhaus to Corvin in 1475 , he appointed Georg von Stein as administrator. In 1478 Georg came to rule Zossen in Niederlausitz .

In 1481 Matthias Corvinus divided the Bohemian state office of the governor of Silesia. Johann Bjelik von Kornitz became captain of the Upper Silesian duchies and Georg von Stein became captain of the Lower Silesian duchies. This made them both the highest state officials in Silesia. In the same year Georg von Stein was appointed governor of Upper Lusatia. Presumably through this position he came to the rule of Hoyerswerda .

In 1482 Georg von Stein conquered the Fürstenstein as Corvin's army commander , on which he subsequently resided. In 1483 he arranged for the Freudenburg , which had become a robber barons nest, to be destroyed. The same fate happened to the neighboring Hornschloss in the same year .

When Matthias Corvinus appropriated the Duchy of Steinau in 1489 , he transferred it to Georg von Stein. The news of the death of King Matthias Corvinus in 1490 reached Georg von Stein at his bailiff's seat, the Ortenburg in Bautzen . Since he could no longer be safe in Silesia and Lusatia, he fled to his rule Zossen and from then on to the electoral court in Berlin.

Last years of life

He could not maintain his possessions. In 1492 he had to hand over Steinau to the rightful owner, Duke Konrad X. "the young white man" . Since he had still not given up his claims to Steinau, he sold it in 1494 to the Karstein burgrave and Bohemian chief mint master Benesch von Weitmühl ( Beneš z Veitmile ), who died in 1496. His brothers Christoph and Sebastian von Weitmühl sold Steinau and Raudten in 1497 to Duke Heinrich I von Münsterberg , who incorporated the newly acquired property into his Duchy of Oels .

Georg von Stein died on December 3, 1497 with the Franciscans in the Gray Monastery in Berlin.

literature

• History of Silesia , Vol. 1: From prehistoric times to 1526 . Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1988, ISBN 3-7995-6341-5 , pp. 221, 223f., 226f. and 229
• Hermann Markgraf:  Stein, Georg von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 608-613.
• Rudolf Kneschke: Georg von Stein, attempt at a biography . Phil. Diss., Weida i. Th., 1913
• 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. Vol. 38). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-50139-6 (partly also: Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, dissertation, 2013). ( Review ), see register, p. 763
• Hugo Weczerka (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical places . Volume: Silesia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 316). Kröner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-520-31601-3 , pp. 33, 104, 112, 196 and 341.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 269
2. ^ Hermann Markgraf:  Stein, Georg von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 608-613.
3. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, pp. 268 and 275
4. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 269
5. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 268f.
6. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 269
7. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 497
8. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 497, p. 590 and p. 613
9. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 636ff.
10. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 644
11. ^ Heinrich Schubert: Documented history of the city of Steinau on the Oder . Breslau 1885, published by Max Woywod, p. 32f. and 163
12. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne u. a. 2015, p. 644, footnote 401