Gottfried III. (Arnsberg)

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Gottfried III. (* around 1214; † between 1284 and 1287) was Count von Arnsberg from 1238 until his death.

Origin and family

Gottfried was the eldest son of Count Gottfried II von Arnsberg from his marriage to Agnes von Rüdenberg. He himself married Adelheid von Blieskastel. With this he had a total of eleven children. The sons Heinrich and Friedrich died before their father. Gottfried married Hedwig von Ravensberg. This son also died relatively early. The heir was Ludwig . Ida married Count Siegfried von Wittgenstein . Bertha was married to Everwin von Götterswick. Agnes was the last abbess of the women's monastery in Meschede . After its conversion into a canon, the son Johannes von Arnsberg became provost there . The daughter Mechthild was the heiress of the Wewelsburg and the Assinghauser Grund and married Count Heinrich III. from Waldeck . Adelheid was married to Gerlach II von Dollendorf. Jutta became a nun in the Paradiese monastery .

Distribution of inheritance and first years of rule

Shortly after assuming his rule, after family disputes with his cousin Konrad, the count was forced to cede the area around Rietberg as the County of Rietberg . The river Lippe formed the border . This hereditary settlement was solemnly concluded on September 1st, 1237 in front of numerous witnesses in Arnsberg. In addition to Rietberg, Konrad also received the original estates of the Cuyk family in Holland .

This severely weakened the county of Arnsberg, but this was the last significant assignment of territory until the end of this territory. In the centuries to come, inheritance divisions were generally avoided in that later-born sons were settled with spiritual benefices.

As under the previous counts, Gottfried's reign was also shaped by competition with the Archbishops of Cologne . At the beginning of his rule, however, he had to realize that the power of the Arnsberg counts, in contrast to the dynamic Cologne territorial policy, had sunk significantly. After Gottfried attacked a village near Soest for an unknown reason , Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden summoned him to Cologne in his capacity as Duke of Westphalia . He had to promise him a corresponding document dated November 9th, 1238, as Vogt von Soest, to keep within the conventional limits and to give satisfaction to those killed. He also had to provide the Archbishop of Cologne with 200 knights at his own expense if necessary. In the event of possible future conflicts of interest with the Erzstuhl, Gottfried had to undertake to submit to an arbitration court consisting of knights from both sides.

In the following period without any armed conflict, the Cistercian convent Himmelpforten was founded in 1246, mainly at the instigation of the Countess . The count supported the establishment by transferring a number of possessions.

Approach and alliance with the Archbishop of Cologne

In the years that followed, common interests pushed competition into the background. The reason was the expansion attempts by Bishop Simon von Paderborn , who not only fortified his town of Salzkotten without the permission of the Duke of Westphalia, but also plundered the surrounding territories. In the course of this conflict, the Paderborn church prince allied himself with the Count of Jülich and other enemies of the archbishop and, in 1255, marched through Westphalia with a strong army, plundering and destroying. Under the leadership of Gottfried III. A counter-alliance of the injured princes and knights was formed. This included Otto von Altena , Engelbert von der Mark , Messrs Theoderich von Bilstein , Albert II von Störmede , Heinrich Schulte von Soest, Goswin von Rodenberg, Heinrich Drost von Isenberg, Albert von Hörde and others. Between Dortmund and Lünen there was a battle on the Wülferichskamp and the capture of the Bishop of Paderborn. After the capture, the allies wrote to Pope Alexander IV to justify their action. The Pope, however, sided with the Archbishop and demanded the restoration of the status quo, probably with success.

For Gottfried, his involvement in the aristocratic union was beneficial because the weakening of Paderborn improved relations with the Archbishop of Cologne, who benefited most from it. This rapprochement led to a real federal and friendship treaty between Gottfried and Archbishop Engelbert on September 4, 1265. In this context, the archbishop, in his capacity as Duke of Westphalia, allowed the fortification of the village of Neheim and its elevation to the rank of town.

The alliance was initially kept by the Count of Arnsberg. Like the Paderborn bishop and some other territorial lords, he supported the Cologne archbishop in his fight against the city of Jülich in 1267 . This in turn was supported by the bishops of Münster and Osnabrück , the counts of Mark and Waldeck and others. In the battle of Zülpich , apart from Gottfried, the leading figures of the allies were captured alongside the archbishop. Exactly what role Gottfried played in this conflict and whether he took part in the battle is unknown.

In 1266 Gottfried approved the acquisition of the manor in Mülheim in the Möhnetal by the Teutonic Order . The German Order Coming Mülheim subsequently emerged from this.

Adelsfronde against the Archbishop of Cologne

With the election of Siegfried von Westerburg as Archbishop, the good relationship between the Count of Arnsberg and the Erzstuhl turned negative again. His claim to power led on April 7, 1277 in Deutz to a broad alliance of Westphalian princes. The Bishop of Paderborn, Gottfried von Arnsberg and thirteen other counts, the Landgrave of Hesse and eight other nobles came together to form an alliance. It was an attempt to push the Cologne man out of Westphalia entirely. On the side of the archbishop stood the Bishop of Munster and the Abbot of Corvey . The Archbishop was lucky that Bishop Simon von Paderborn died and Engelbert von der Mark fell victim to treason. As a result, more and more church princes and nobles joined the archbishop. Gottfried had nothing to oppose the superior force and after a lost campaign on January 21, 1278, he was forced to sign a peace treaty in the town of Neheim. In it, the count and his son Ludwig committed themselves to be of lifelong service to the archbishop upon request. The federal government as a whole also failed. Count Wilhelm von Jülich, for example, was slain in Aachen , the others also had to submit.

Last years

In the following years of his reign, Gottfried probably did not undertake any further military actions. In addition to the donations already mentioned, Gottfried also provided material support to the monasteries and monasteries in Wedinghausen , Rumbeck , Oelinghausen and Benninghausen .

The sale of the bailiwick rights to the city of Soest, which was carried out by his son Ludwig as co-regent, probably fell during his reign . These rights fell to the city itself. The competing rights of Cologne's archbishops played a decisive role in this renunciation of influence in the emerging city.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Genealogical table in: Michael Gosmann: The Counts of Arnsberg and their county. On the way to sovereignty (1180–1371). In: Harm Klueting (Hrsg.): The Duchy of Westphalia: The Electoral Cologne Westphalia from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster 2009 p. 173

literature

personal data
SURNAME Gottfried III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count of Arnsberg (1235-1285)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1214
DATE OF DEATH between 1284 and 1287