Eberhard I. (Württemberg, Duke)

Eberhard im Bart (colored pen drawing around 1550)

Eberhard's grave slab in the Tübingen collegiate church

Eberhard im Bart (born December 11, 1445 in Urach ; † February 25, 1496 in Tübingen ) was the first to rule as Eberhard V. Count of Württemberg-Urach and from 1482 also of Württemberg-Stuttgart and from 1495 as Eberhard I. Duke of Württemberg and Teck .

Life

Eberhard was a son of Count Ludwig I of Württemberg-Urach and his wife Mechthild , née Countess Palatine near Rhine. One of his tutors was the clergyman Johannes Nauclerus , who later exercised a great intellectual influence on the count.

After the death of his father, who suffered the plague in 1450 at the age of 38, his brother, six years older than him, became Count Ludwig II of Württemberg-Urach , but died in 1457 at the age of 18. Thus the title fell to the underage Eberhard, for whom a guardianship was established that ruled from the Reichsburg Grüningen . The county of Württemberg-Urach corresponded to the western part of the former Württemberg, which had been divided between Ludwig I and his younger brother Ulrich with the Nürtingen Treaty in 1442.

Eberhard V. moved into Urach Castle as his residence, the moated castle in Urach on the eastern edge of his territory, where his parents had already resided. The small town was the seat of the Urach Line for four decades and received ambitious new buildings such as the collegiate church of St. Amandus (from 1478) and the hospital (from around 1480) as institutions for the welfare of the country. With the master builder Peter von Koblenz and the carpenter Hans von Zweibrück, the count had two capable experts at his disposal who shaped the building industry in the county from around 1470 onwards. Later Eberhard moved the residence to Stuttgart and from 1483 ruled the reunified Württemberg from there.

From May to November 1468, Count Eberhard went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem , where he and his 24 noble companions ( Christoph von Baden et al.) Were knighted by the Holy Sepulcher in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on July 12, 1468 . He owes his nickname “in the beard” to a vow he made on the pilgrimage that he would not cut his beard in the future.

The Palm Hall in Urach Castle, which was repainted for the wedding in 1474

In 1474 the count entered into a prestigious marriage with the northern Italian Margravine Barbara Gonzaga of Mantua from a very respected and wealthy family. After the church wedding on April 12th in Mantua Cathedral, a “ supplement ” took place in Urach on July 4th . A description of the wedding celebration shows the participation of many high-ranking men and women. The 14,000 guests ate 165,000 loaves of bread and over 150,000 liters of wine.

From January 1475 Eberhard took part in the Neuss war against Charles the Bold of Burgundy and went to the Imperial Army, which finally arrived from Neuss via Cologne and ended the siege by the Burgundian troops in June of that year.

Barbara was homesick for Italy all her life. The only daughter from this marriage died in infancy. Eberhard still had children "born to single women outside of marriage". Ludwig Wirtemberger (1465–1495) and Hans Wirtemberger were due to the good relationships Eberhard with Kaiser Friedrich III. In 1484 he was put in the condition that they were born in wedlock. In addition, he is said to have had other children from his relationship with Ottilie von Gosheim. Gregor Lamparter von Greifenstein and Margarete Wirtemberger († 1493) followed Ludwig. The mother of the Franciscan nun Katharine Wirtemberger, like Hans's, remained anonymous.

Eberhard died in 1496 in Tübingen Castle of fever, red dysentery and bladder ulcers. The anniversary of his death was February 25 according to the Julian calendar : VI kalendas marciij or dies St. Matthiae. Since he died in a leap year in the last week of February, many modern sources erroneously state February 24th as the date of death. According to the calendar of saints , Mathias Day was celebrated on February 25th in leap years.

He was first buried in St. Peter's Abbey on the Einsiedel . Later his body was transferred to the collegiate church in Tübingen .

Eberhard's new coat of arms after the elevation to Duke with the lords of Württemberg , Teck , Grüningen and Mömpelgard

Duke Eberhard with the imperial storm flag in the town hall of Markgröningen

University creation and reforms

Count Eberhard, who came into office at a young age, faced the challenges of his time with the life motto “Attempto” (“I dare”), which can be proven from 1472. At first he had to defend himself above all against his uncle, the Elector Friedrich von der Pfalz , who had made claims to his part of the country and was a constant threat. After Friedrich's death († December 12, 1476) Eberhard was able to turn more to domestic politics.

Although he himself was ignorant of Latin, Eberhard valued literary education and the intellectual movement of humanism and had a large number of Latin texts translated into German for himself. Mainly the Urach calligraphy writer and illuminator Stephan Schriber worked for him here . Remnants of his extensive library have been preserved.

Motivated by his mother Mechthild von der Pfalz , Eberhard had the Sindelfingen Abbey relocated to Tübingen and founded the University of Tübingen here in 1477 . He also brought the " Brothers of Common Life ", a community of " Devotio moderna ", and one of their leading representatives, Gabriel Biel , into the country and had pens built in Urach , Dettingen an der Erms , Herrenberg , Einsiedel near Tübingen and Tachenhausen. The humanist Johannes Nauclerus , who also became the university's first rector and later chancellor, played a decisive role as the count's intellectual confidante and scholarly advice .

In the year the university was founded, Eberhard arranged for the Jews living in Württemberg to be expelled or captured. As a justification, he is said to have used litigation files that were specially translated for him for the alleged ritual murder of Simon von Trient . Eberhard's anti-Jewish policy was probably also justified in economic terms: the population complained about excessive interest payments, and he himself also benefited from a haircut in the course of the eviction.

From February to April 1482, the important humanist Johannes Reuchlin accompanied Count Eberhard on his trip to Rome , during which negotiations with Pope Sixtus IV were successful, above all about the personal and financial separation of the university from the Tübingen Sankt-Georg-Stift.

A particular concern of Eberhard was the church and monastery reform and the implementation of state financial supervision.

Reunification and elevation to the duchy

With the Münsinger Treaty on December 14, 1482, Eberhard succeeded in reunifying the two parts of Württemberg-Urach and Württemberg-Stuttgart. In the same year Pope Sixtus IV awarded him the Golden Rose . He moved the residence to Stuttgart and ruled the reunified country. In 1485 he concluded a ten-year protective alliance with Duke Siegmund the rich in coins and a mutual aid agreement in the event of war. In 1492 he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece by the future Emperor Maximilian .

At the Reichstag in Worms , King Maximilian I elevated the county of Württemberg on July 21, 1495 after lengthy negotiations to a duchy and Count Eberhard V to be Duke of Württemberg and Teck . The desired title of Duke of Swabia and with this the revival of the old tribal duchy was denied him. Two days later, the king renewed the hereditary fief with imperial storm flag , castle and city ​​of Grüningen and approved the inclusion of the Grüninger flag in the new four-part ducal coat of arms. In return, Eberhard had to accept in the Worms Treaty that the duchy and imperial fiefdom would revert to the Reich in the event of an interrupted male succession, and undertake to stop the construction of the Württemberg Landgraben .

The successor to the heirless Eberhard I was also regulated in the Münsinger Treaty. After that, Count Eberhard VI, who had ruled the Stuttgart part of the country since 1480. after the Duke's death, his successor as Eberhard II , which finally ended the division of the country.

reception

Equestrian bronze statue , Eberhard im Bart, inner courtyard of the Old Palace in Stuttgart

"The richest prince", a sculpture created by the sculptor Paul Müller based on a ballad by Justinus Kerner , is located in the Stuttgart palace garden

Even his contemporaries admired Eberhard's intellectual abilities. Especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, the patriotically-minded Württemberg historiography glorified the first duke. His bust was erected in the Walhalla in his honor . He is also characterized in " Praising with many beautiful speeches " as "Eberhard, the bearded man, Württemberg's beloved gentleman", which is based on the poem The Richest Prince by Justinus Kerner . In this so-called "Württembergerlied" he is celebrated as the richest prince among the German princes because he was offered shelter with each of his subjects without worrying about having to fear for life or property. This ballad says figuratively: “ ... I can boldly lay my head in any subject's lap.” This sentence is accompanied by a memorial by the sculptor Paul Müller , the Eberhard group , in the palace garden in Stuttgart .

According to Deigendesch, an unbiased assessment of his person must also take into account that he showed a clear “ hostility towards Jews ” among the princes of his time .

literature

• Volker Himmelein : Eberhard, the one with the beard. Pictures and stations from his life. A biographical study on the 500th anniversary of the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen , Rainer Wunderlich Verlag, Tübingen 1977, ISBN 3-8052-0278-4 .

• Fritz Ernst : Eberhard with a beard. The politics of a German sovereign at the end of the Middle Ages. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1933.
• Gerhard Faix: Eberhard im Bart, the first Duke of Württemberg. Published by the Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart . Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart 1990.
• Eberhard Gönner :  Eberhard in the beard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 234 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Peter Rückert (ed.): From Mantua to Württemberg: Barbara Gonzaga and her court . Accompanying book and catalog for the exhibition of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Main State Archives Stuttgart, 2nd, revised edition, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN = 978-3-17-022390-5 online
• Hans-Martin Maurer (Ed.): Eberhard and Mechthild. Studies on politics and culture in the late Middle Ages (= living past. Testimonies and memories. Series of publications of the Württemberg History and Antiquity Association. Volume 17). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-17-013124-9 .
• Hans-Martin Maurer : "True dukes and princes of the empire". The increase in the state and the house of Württemberg in 1495. In: Contributions to regional studies. No. 5/1995, pp. 1-9.
• Dieter Mertens : Eberhard V./I. in the beard. In: Sönke Lorenz, Dieter Mertens, Volker Press (eds.): Das Haus Württemberg. A biographical lexicon. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 , pp. 92-95.
• Dieter Mertens: Eberhard im Bart as a founder of the University of Tübingen. In: Sönke Lorenz u. a. (Ed.): Attempto - or how do you found a university. The university start- ups of the so-called second wave of start-ups in comparison (= Contubernium. Volume 50). Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07525-9 , pp. 157-173.
• Dieter Mertens: Eberhard in the beard as a political leader in the early modern Duchy of Württemberg. In: Journal of Württemberg State History. Volume 59, 2000, pp. 43-56. ( Full text )
• Ingrid Gamer-Wallert : Count Eberhard's palm. From personal mark to university logo, Silberburg-Verlag, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-87407-565-6 .
• Gerhard Raff : Hie good Wirtemberg all the way. Volume 1: The House of Württemberg from Count Ulrich the Founder to Duke Ludwig. 6th edition. Landhege, Schwaigern 2014, ISBN 978-3-943066-34-0 , pp. 339-375.
• Paul Friedrich von Stälin :  Eberhard in a beard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 557 f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tilmann Marstaller: Residence made of stone and wood. Castle, monastery and city of Urach in the light of historical building research . In: Klaus Gereon Beuckers (ed.): City, Castle and Residence Urach. New research. Regensburg 2014, pp. 137–161.
2. ^ Fritz Pietzner: Sword leadership and accolade. Postberg 1934, p. 122
3. ↑ Peter Rückert (ed.): From Mantua to Württemberg: Barbara Gonzaga and her court . Accompanying book and catalog for the exhibition of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Main State Archives Stuttgart, 2nd revised edition, Stuttgart 2012.
4. ↑ Main State Archives Stuttgart A 602 No. 373d
5. ^ Gerhard Raff : Hie gut Wirtemberg every way. Volume 1: The House of Württemberg from Count Ulrich the Founder to Duke Ludwig. 6th edition. Landhege, Schwaigern 2014, ISBN 978-3-943066-34-0 , p. 361f. and Hermann Grotefend : Pocket Book of the Calculation of Time in the German Middle Ages and Modern Times. 13th edition. Hahn, Hannover 1991, ISBN 3-7752-5177-4 , p. 78 and p. 222
6. ↑ Dieter Mertens: Eberhard in the beard and humanism . In: Maurer HM (Ed.): Eberhard and Mechthild. Studies on politics and culture in the late Middle Ages. Stuttgart 1994, pp. 35-81.
7. ↑ Regina Cermann: The library Duke Eberhard in the beard of Württemberg (1445-1496) . In: Scriptorium 51 (1997), pp. 30 - 50 with plates 3-15. Regina Cermann: Stephan Schriber and the Uracher Hof including a new interpretation of Count Eberhard's palm in the beard. In: New Research. City, castle and residence of Urach. Edited by State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg and Klaus Gereon Beuckers (Art History Institute of the University of Kiel). Regensburg 2014, pp. 53–83.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Roland Deigendesch: Enmity against Jews at the Uracher Hof? A lost and rediscovered manuscript from the circle of Count Eberhard V of Württemberg. In: Journal of Württemberg State History. Volume 64, 2005, pp. 85-102.
9. ^ Hannes Obermair : Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 2 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-88-901870-1-8 , p. 185-186, No. 1218 .
10. ↑ King Maximilian I certified that “We recommended ours and the empire Sturmvanen to the highly-pored Eberharten, Hertzieh zu Wirtemberg and zu Teck, [...] and all his feudal heirs, and also lend him Gruningen with this our letter Instead of and castle with people and good guys [...], when because that is and belongs to ours of the Sturmvanen empire; with the modesty that the aforesaid Hertzog and his heirs to us and our descendants in the Reich, Kunegen and Keysern, must forever do the service that one ought to do rightly and fairly. Sy sullent too and have orders that sy procure and preserve the Sturmvanen [...], as also the named Hertzog Eberhart and his forefathers from our Vorfaren am Reiche had such recommendations and fiefs and brought them here. ”Cf. July 1495; Main State Archive Stuttgart, Regesten 713, and RI XIV, 1 n. 2164 - Regesta Imperii online ; Original copy from Hermann Römer : Markgröningen in the context of Landesgeschichte I., Urgeschichte und Mittelalter , Markgröningen 1933, p. 187f.

Web links

Commons : Eberhard I.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Eberhard I.  in the German Digital Library
• Materials on Eberhard's contemporary perception ( memento from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Stefan Lang: Duke Eberhard I in the beard of Württemberg (1445-1496), published on April 19, 2018 in: Stadtarchiv Stuttgart, Stadtlexikon Stuttgart

predecessor	Office	successor
Ludwig II.	Count of Württemberg-Urach 1457–1482	Reunification of Württemberg through the Münsinger Treaty
Ludwig II.	Count of Württemberg-Mömpelgard 1457–1473	Heinrich
Heinrich	Count of Württemberg-Mömpelgard 1482	Reunification of Württemberg through the Münsinger Treaty
Reunification of Württemberg through the Münsinger Treaty	Count of Württemberg from 1495, Duke 1482–1496	Eberhard II.
New title created	Duke of Teck 1495–1496	Eberhard II.