Grüningen-Landau
The Counts of Grüningen-Landau , initially Grüningen , then only Counts of Landau, and finally only Lords of Landau, were a branch of the Counts of Württemberg . Because of its importance in the genealogy of the House of Württemberg, the term Grüningen-Landau predominates in the literature. The development of the dynasty shows that belonging to the dynastic aristocracy did not necessarily have to lead to the development of a sovereign rule, but could also end in insignificance.
history
Ascent
In the early days of the House of Württemberg, its policy was more limited to the expansion of power in Upper Swabia and the Allgäu . Ludwig von Württemberg (* around 1137; † 1181) was married to a Countess von Kirchberg . This was continued with the marriage of his son Hartmann (* around 1160, † around 1240) to a Countess von Veringen . Hartmann furnished his son Konrad with the property around Grüningen , which today belongs to Riedlingen , from the Veringian inheritance . Konrad still called himself alternately after Württemberg or Grüningen. Only his son Hartmann I (first mentioned 1237; † 1280) named himself exclusively after Grüningen.
As early as 1256 it can be seen that Hartmann I built Landau Castle on the steep edge of the Danube Valley . A chaplain on Landau is attested in documents since 1267; 1269 a cellar , a notary and a bailiff. Since 1269, a Count Hartmann named Landau for the first time. After 1274 it can be observed that the descendants name themselves more and more after Landau, but still refer to Grüningen in their seals.
The Staufer had last under Emperor Friedrich II. Through purchases in the Allgäu severely restricted the territorial ambitions of the Württemberger in the Allgäu. After the Staufers lost their legitimacy , their cousins Ulrich von Württemberg and Hartmann I von Grüningen sided with the Pope and the anti-king Heinrich Raspe . For the promise of 7,000 marks silver and half of the Duchy of Swabia each, they left the army of Conrad IV and thus enabled Heinrich Raspe's victory on August 5, 1246 in front of Frankfurt in the battle of the Nidda .
On the farm days of 1246 and 1252 Ulrich and Hartmann were awarded extensive imperial fiefs and pledges. They received additional monastery stewards and seized Staufer property. Hartmann von Grüningen received town and castle Markgröningen from King Wilhelm in 1252 . Because of the medieval spelling of Markgröningen - Grüningen , in the older literature - incorrectly - the title of the Counts of Grüningen is related to Markgröningen.
Initially, the two families Württemberg and Grüningen still worked together. When Ulrich I. 1265 died, Hartmann took over from Grüningen custody of his underage sons Ulrich II. And Eberhard I .
After the election of Rudolf von Habsburg in 1273, that changed. Rudolf operated a policy of revision with which he commissioned Albrecht von Hohenberg . Ulrich II. Von Württemberg, meanwhile of legal age, came to terms with it, Hartmann von Grüningen sought military resistance. He died in captivity on the Hohenasperg in 1280 .
Hartmann's son Eberhard I tried to build up positions in the Unterland again by marrying Richenza von Calw-Löwenstein , but by 1300 all possessions were lost here. But property also had to be given up in Upper Swabia . In 1281 the castle and county of Balzheim was sold. Landau Castle even had to be sold in 1323. The decline of the sex was also manifested in the Landau's marriage behavior. Count Eberhard III. († after 1372) married in second marriage no longer befitting. His son from his first marriage, Konrad, was still referred to as a count, his other sons, Lutz and Eberhard IV. No longer held this title.
Swabian condottiere
These three sons pursued a concept of livelihood security, which at that time was not uncommon for Swabian aristocratic families who were in similar economic difficulties: They hired themselves as condottieri in Italy.
Konrad von Landau may have been with the Magna Societas , a company of German mercenaries, since 1338, but most certainly since 1349 . With the money earned in Italy, the Counts of Landau were able to buy back their ancestral castle as early as 1356. Konrad von Landau fell in the service of the Visconti in early 1363 .
Count Eberhard IV, in Italy he still called himself Graf, appeared in Italy from 1371. After he was still in the pay of Florence in 1381 and Perugia in 1382, the sources about him break off. It is not known whether he, like his brother Konrad, was killed in battle.
Ludwig von Landau (Lutz) was initially in the service of the city of Florence from 1369/70. In 1372 he fielded 1,200 lances for the Pope and Florence. Then he joined the Visconti in the service of Milan. In 1376 he married one of Bernabò Visconti's illegitimate daughters . Since Bernabò Visconti married many of his illegitimate daughters to Condottiere, but married his legitimate daughters to ruling European families, he was also brother-in-law of Count Eberhard des Mild von Württemberg. In 1377 he fought together with John Hawkwood before Gubbio , in 1379 he fought with his brother Eberhard and Hawkwood as captain in the service of Florence, Siena and other cities.
Decline
Between 1379 and 1383 Lutz von Landau stayed at the court of King Wenceslas in Prague.
In 1379 he acquired the pledge on Blaubeuren, but in 1390 he had to dispute in a feud with the city of Ulm about this pledge. In 1385 he was declared a traitor by Bologna for reasons that can no longer be determined , and in 1386 he was suspected of corruption. He ended his career in the service of della Scala in Verona . He returned home and died in 1398. He was buried in the Heiligkreuztal monastery .
The sons of Lutz von Landau, Eberhard V. and Konrad V. belonged only to the lower nobility and referred to themselves only as knights and half knights. In 1437 the Landau castle and manor were finally sold.
Later sources
From 1560 onwards, some Counts of Landau appear in Lower Austria who are based in Süßenbrunn and Deutsch Wagram . The family accepts the reformed faith and is expelled from the country by the Habsburgs.
See also
literature
- Casimir Bumiller: History of the Swabian Alb. From the ice age to the present . Casimir Katz Verlag, Gernsbach 2008, ISBN 978-3-938047-41-5 .
- Sönke Lorenz: The Counts of Grüningen-Landau (middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 15th century) . In: Sönke Lorenz… In collaboration with Christoph Eberlein… and the Institute for Historical Regional Studies and Historical Auxiliary Sciences of the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen (Ed.): The House of Württemberg - a biographical lexicon . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart; Berlin; Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 .
- Ursula Mereb: Studies on the history of ownership of the Counts and Lords of Grüningen-Landau from approx. 1250 to approx. 1500. Tübingen 1970.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Sönke Lorenz: The Counts of Grüningen-Landau (middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 15th century) . In: Sönke Lorenz… In collaboration with Christoph Eberlein… and the Institute for Historical Regional Studies and Historical Auxiliary Sciences of the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Ed.): The House of Württemberg - a biographical lexicon . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart; Berlin; Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 . , Page 50. Lorenz also concludes from this that the rise of the House of Württemberg was by no means inevitable and inevitable.