Count of Stotel

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The noblemen (nobiles) and later counts of Stotel had their seat on a hilltop castle in a bend in the river Lune , a tributary of the Weser, near the Stoteler church until they were destroyed by the Stedinger in 1214 . The multi-walled new building of the castle was then moved to the northeastern edge of the village. At the confluence of the Lune with the Weser, on the other hand, the Stotel settlement and castle were never located. Another legend (partly propagated by Hermann Allmers ) is the view that the Counts of Stotel were appointed by Charlemagne or that they formed the border guard against the Norman incursions . Nor were they the successors of the Counts of Lesum or are to be divided into an "older" and a "younger" dynasty. The attestable dynasty can only be traced back to the 12th century.

Remnants of the ring wall of Stotel Castle, which was excavated in 2013

Gevehard (1171-1202)

Biographies can first be reconstructed of the two noblemen Gevehard (1171–1202) and Rudolf I (1202–1228 / 29), father and son. But traditionally the founders of the monastery of St. Paul before Bremen (1131) and of Osterholz (1182), Trutbert and Eylhard, are considered noble lords of Stotel. We only know reliably about Trutbert that he was a relative of Count Gerbert I von Versfleth and that his most important genetic material was in Driftsethe . Gerbert also took over the monastery bailiwick of St. Paul. Eylhard, previously a monk from St. Paul, then the first provost of his own founding, could have been the last Count of Versfleth . Even earlier - 1101 and 1146/54 - nobiles with the names Truotpreth and Givehartus appear , which may well have belonged to the family. You may not have sat in the Wesermarsch yet , as the Stoteler had two other main points of ownership and dominance on the Hohe Geest: one on the upper reaches of the Lune with the church in Kirchwistedt and perhaps with its seat on the " Monsilienburg ", the other on the upper reaches of the Hamme with its own church Wulsbüttel and the Bullwinkel mill near Hambergen .

Gevehard was still a follower of Henry the Lion in 1171 , just like his successors had single marriages from the Saxon duchy. However, especially after the fall of Heinrich as Duke of Saxony, the Stotelians leaned heavily on the Bremen church. They belonged to the four counts or noble officers of the archbishop's court (their donors) and received fiefs in the colonization areas on the Niederweser. The settlement of Stotel ( Stotle ) probably owes its rise to the seat of counts with a pre-urban character (parish church St. Margaretha) to the participation of the dynasts in the colonization . Like the marshes Landwürden , Vieland, Osterstade and the parish of Lehe, the parish of Stotel was inhabited by Frisians in the Middle Ages. The property register of the Stotel rule from around 1363/65 mentions numerous Frisian names, and the inhabitants of the parish were organized as a separate regional municipality, which called itself the “Land” Vresekenstotele , i.e. “Stotel of the Frisians”.

According to an apocryphal tradition, Gevehard ( Mitteliederdt . Geverde ) married his daughter to a Count of Oldenburg and was given land dignities “to greven van Oldenborch with to bruthschatte ... and jarlichs darto 60 molt roggen, 7 Bremer marck and 7 punt botter, everything to Lee, de botter van because of the veers. Item 70 molt havern to Santstede, de Oldenborger hern still upboeren today " . In fact, land dignitaries, including the income from Lehe, the ferry there and from Sandstedt , appear as an external property of the Counts of Oldenburg as early as 1273/78. The fact that the Osterholz monastery gave the tithes of Wiemsdorf and Wührden to the Stotelers and not the Oldenburgers as fiefs speaks for a former affiliation of the Landwürder Wesermarsch with their layout within the entire march line west of Stotel.

The late medieval chronicler Heinrich Wolters noted that the Counts of Stotel took part in a crusade with those of Oldenburg and the Lords of Bederkesa MCXI . As Hans G. Trüper has established, the list of Bremen citizens, which Wolters reports on this occasion, points to the crusade of Emperor Frederick I , so this tradition is based on a prescription for MIXC and goes to Gevehard. He may have participated in the Third Crusade in 1189/90 as a Staufer supporter .

Rudolf I (1202–1228 / 29)

Gevehard's son Rudolf I probably had as early as 1197 on the crusade of Emperor Heinrich VI. participated because he was in the wake of Adolf III. von Holstein , and in 1219/20 it belonged again to a crusader army, namely that of Duke Albrecht of Saxony to Livonia . Relations with the overseas expansion to Livonia resulted from the fact that Rudolf's contemporaries, Bishop Albert of Riga and Bishop Hermann von Leal-Dorpat , who played a leading role in the conquest of Livonia, came from the von Bexhövede family of ministers who owned the neighborhood . Hermann was also abbot of the Paulskloster before Bremen until 1219.

Rudolf's marriage can be inferred from the name of his son Gerbert, who donated a memorial for Count Gerbert von Versfleth and was related in the fourth degree to Salome von Oldenburg. So Rudolf, like an ancestor of Salome, married a sister or daughter of Gerbert II von Versfleth. If it was the sister, that would explain why the Memorienstiftung does not run Gerbert II. As grandfather of Gerbert von Stotel, because then he would only have been his uncle.

The family managed to rise to a counts dynasty after the county of Versfleth fell ; as it were in the course of the disputes with the Stedinger and Osterstader farmers who began to rise around 1200 "against the Counts of Oldenburg and their other masters". Two archbishop's incursions to Stedingen (1207 and 1229), in which the Stotelians undoubtedly participated, were unsuccessful. The farmers were all the more successful: They reached the elevation of almost all farmers in the marshes on both sides of the Niederweser. In addition, they devastated the possessions of the surrounding aristocratic lords and aimed in particular at the castles of their noble opponents, supported from 1211 by Otto IV and his allies, including Bremen's Archbishop Waldemar. In 1213 the three castles Munzowe , Seehausen and Hagen fell, and in the following year Stotel himself. Munzowe (probably Monsilienburg ) and Hagen could therefore not have been archbishopric. If they weren't in the hands of the Stotelers, then they were in the possession of their castle men or servants. The actions of the Stedinger show the noblemen as the main opponents of the peasants and as political partisans of the anti-welfare opposition. The geographical location of their basic and sovereign rights along the Geestrand east of the East Estedian marshes gave the family a key position in the struggle for Stedingen.

Gerbert (1229-1267)

Rudolf I's surviving son Gerbert (1229–1267) is attested as comes de Stotlo when it is first mentioned after the death of his father . This is easily explained by the fact that the son of a feudal man had to seek renewed mortgage after his death. Archbishop Gerhard II of Bremen not only granted him the enfeoffment with the church fiefs owned by the Stotelern, but also expanded it to include one or more free courts or counties. The fact that the new rank of the young noble lord appears in this contract document is of course no coincidence, because the county award was obviously made in order to integrate Gerbert firmly into the fronde of the Stedinger opponents.

The Stoteler owned a significant allodial and inheritance, ruled over vassals and servants and had secured important places with castles. Now it was a matter of establishing a sovereignty. The Stotelers' leeway was limited from the outset by the founding of the St. Paul and Osterholz monasteries.

Gerbert is mentioned for the first time as a count in the contract between the Archbishop of Bremen and the Counts of Oldenburg-Wildeshausen in 1229. He and his knightly servants took part in the wars of subjugation against the Stedinger in 1233 and 1234. This enabled him to secure part of the Versflether legacy, for which he built the Stoltenbroke fortress south of Stotel (presumably above the Osterstader Marsch between Hagen and Driftsethe). Stoltenbroke (= "Stolzen-Bruch", not about "Stotlenbroke" as a derivation of Stotle , as has long been assumed) was named for him, but not for his sons and grandchildren. There was no territorially closed "Grafschaft Stotel" (which might have included Osterstade, Vieland, Land Wührden, Lehe and the two Börden Bramstedt and Beverstedt). The counts only managed to secure their territory through the Stotel parish. From this the "Herrschaft Stotel" grew, which in turn should have been largely identical with the Bailiwick and the later office. The Botting zu Hagen 1248 # The Hagen office was separated from the Grafschaft Stotel in 1248, the bailiwick of the Bremen church was sold through the church property belonging to the main Bramstedt courtyard. This acquisition formed the basis for the archbishopric bailiwick and the later office of Hagen (Allmers stylized this free court as a “people's court”).

The fact that the counts claimed customs and minting rights emerges from the alliance agreement against the Stedinger of 1233, in which the allies in their respective terra partially renounced the exercise. At that time it was decided that iniusta theloniae and iniuste monetae between the Elbe, Weser and Hunte should be abolished. Although this contract was drawn up by the Archbishop, the confirmations of the cathedral chapter and the Minorite Convention show that it was also concluded with the nobiles terre , of whom the Counts of Oldenburg, Oldenburg-Wildeshausen and Stotel are expressly named in the main document . As a starting point for exercising the right to coin, however, there must also have been a market place. It has long been known that the count and noble vassals of the Bremen archbishops also produced additions to the bracteates of the Bremen factory. They differ from the Guelph coins in that they are mute and only have heraldic markings. Specifically, pieces from the Counts of Oldenburg were already known from the find of Brümmerloh (Erbstein) and from the Counts of Hoya and the noble lords of Diepholz . The well-known numismatist Heinrich Buchenau postulated as early as 1906 that the Counts of Stotel could also have minted coins .

Gerbert was married to Salome, daughter of Count Otto I von Oldenburg, from 1238.

John I (1267-1306)

Gerbert's sons Johannes and Hildebold initially ruled together (1267) until the younger brother became spiritual.

Hildebold entered the Bremen cathedral chapter, held office as curator from 1280 to 1282, and died on November 30, 1298 as cathedral scholastic. If he no longer appears as a custodian but as a scholastic since 1284, then a reduction in rank could have something to do with his violent character: in 1293 the Bremen council proscribed him because he harassed a pupil without trial and attacked a town house in Utbremen.

Count Johannes I (1267-1306) ended his father's policy of selling property and pursued a thrifty course. The marriage of his son to the ministerial daughter Alburga von Bederkesa (1306) helped to limit the morning gift, but brought the Stotelians rich marriage assets in Vieland and elsewhere. There was no Count Johann who ruled from "1282 to 1336". John I was the longest reigning Count of Stotel and probably also the one who did the most to stabilize internal relations. The effort to strengthen the two main areas of dominance of the counties around Stotel and Kirchwistedt can be clearly seen, because the pledged goods are located in and near Kirchwistedt. In 1306, Count Johannes I and his son Johannes probably participated in the subjugation of the Kehdingen farmers and acquired land there. The family origins of Johann's wife Heilgund can only be reconstructed. Presumably she was a Countess of Oldenburg.

John II (1306-1326)

The son from this marriage, John II (1306–1326), was warlike and took part in the monastery feud of 1305 as a Junker. He was also noticed in 1325 through robberies at the mouth of the Elbe, which he carried out with Luder von Wersebe and other accomplices. In mid-April 1316 he was in Gadebusch at the court of Prince Heinrich of Mecklenburg together with several counts, such as Johann von Holstein and Otto II von Hoya. The Hoyaer with whom Johannes von Stotel had teamed up was his blood relative. Since the Stoteler was still in April of the following year, again together with Duke Rudolf I of Saxony, Prince Heinrich of Mecklenburg, Gerhard III. von Holstein and Otto II. von Hoya stayed on the Elbe (perhaps in Lenzen or Dannenberg), he will have participated in the Margrave War of 1316 together with them. King Eric VI led it. against the city of Stralsund, which had risen against its master, Prince Wizlav of Pomerania. Erich had imposed heavy appraisals and taxes on his country and with the money he paid numerous counts and lords and their entourage. So he sent 7,000 men into the field to besiege Stralsund. But the siege of the city remained unsuccessful and Duke Rudolf I of Saxony-Wittenberg brokered a peace at Templin on November 25th between the citizens of Stralsund and their helper, Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg on the one hand, and the Danes, Mecklenburgers and Holsteiners on the other. Since Elector Rudolf of Saxony, Prince Heinrich of Mecklenburg and Count Gerhard III. and Johann II. von Holstein and Otto II. von Hoya in the spring of 1317 in Freiburg and then in Artlenburg, both were staying on the Elbe and Johannes von Stotel can still be identified in their surroundings in April, he will also participate in one of the subsequent wars have participated in the Elbe region. Gerhard III waged a second war. von Holstein, called the Great, in 1317 against his Pinneberg cousin for the county of Holstein. John II returned in 1318.

In 1326 he died and left two sons, Rudolf III. and John III. They were under the tutelage of Count Giselbert von Holstein, providential bishop of Halberstadt, and the canons of Bremen. He belonged to the family through his mother Heilwig von Oldenburg. The guardianship of Count Johann III. von Oldenburg should have started in 1327 after Giselbert had withdrawn from Bremen.

Guardianship of Alburga (1326–1336)

Rudolf III. and John III, who were under guardianship from 1326 to 1336, as well as several daughters. The first guardians were the Countess Widow Alburga and the Bremen Canon Giselbert von Holstein ; later the Count Johann III. from Oldenburg .

Countess Alburga, née von Bederkesa, is one of the few Stoteler women who are more or less tangible. We know their parents, the time of their wedding and probably even their widow's residence. She was the only daughter and heiress of the knight Dietrich von Bederkesa, called Scheele, and his wife Alburga, and in autumn 1306 married the count's son Johannes von Stotel, who was then still a "Junker" ( domicellus ). We also know the wedding party from the dowry certificate that Dietrich Scheele made out on October 22nd in Bremervörde. In addition to the bride's parents, Count Johannes I. von Stotel, the knights Vogt Johann von Stade, Hermann von Issendorf , Erich von Borcholte, Heidenreich Marschalk, Otto von Reimershusen, Giselbert Vogt von Vörde and the squires Friedrich von Reimershusen, Erich von Borcholte, Hasse from Duhnen. The dowry was impressive: 220 Bremen marks as well as some goods, namely two pieces of land ( terre ) in Depenvlete et Strepelinge, universa bona in terra Vi with all accessories, the big tithe and the lean tithe in Borchusen , the bona in parish Ihlienworth, in one Place called Hemme with all rights. Alongside her husband, Alburga resigned entirely over the next 18 years. She gave birth to him - at least - two sons and three daughters: (Johannes, Rudolf, Agnes and daughters, whose names we do not know). Rudolf was born around 1311/18, Johannes was still very young in 1323 because, unlike his brother, he did not yet consent to a sale of property. Alburga must have been at least 16 years old when she married. So she was born in 1290 (or earlier).

Only after the Count's death in April 1326 did she and her two sons notarize a sale of goods. In July 1329 she donated a memorial in the Dominican convent Blankenburg . An open question is whether the children of Alburga actually had to belong to the ministry of the archbishopric, since the children's status was based on that of their mother. Later Alburga ( Abele ) moved to Stade . Since noble women reached a great age , the widow Alburga will hide behind Abele van Betderkhesa , who was the former owner of an aristocratic court in the churchyard of the Franciscan monastery in Stade in 1375. Since Dietrich von Bederkesa had acquired a hereditary burial in Stade's Marienkloster in 1307, which was to be passed on to his heirs - and those were Alburga and Johannes II von Stotel - it is even very likely that his daughter Alburga set up her widow's residence there The funeral of her parents and her husband was taking place and she was hoping for her own too.

In addition to the daughter Agnes, who could be married to the nobleman Engelbert von Rhaden , the count couple had at least one other daughter who married the noble Heinrich von Osten . It is possible that there was also an unnamed daughter who also married a noblewoman, Johann von der Lieth . Similar to her father, two daughters were only able to reach connubia of lower rank, which shows the descent of the count family to an almost nobility level.

Rudolf III. Roland (1336-1350)

Count Rudolf III. Roland (1336–1350) did not document himself until 1336, but here, too, the Oldenburg Count appears as an intervener in favor of one of his miners (Heio von Hatten). Since Rudolf appears as a guarantor on the Peace of Ashwarden December 1337, it is likely that Johann III. von Oldenburg did not leave his position unused and harnessed his nephew or his team for his own goals and used them in the long-term war against the Rüstringer Frisians, which ended at that time. In the certificate issued above, however, the count calls himself Rolandus . A sale of goods from the year 1350 makes it clear that the count, who calls himself Rudolf in his own documents - with the exception mentioned - was also called Roland by others. A double name Rudolf Roland is conceivable and is perhaps related to the veneration of Roland in the 14th century, but it cannot be completely ruled out that it was an epithet that was given to the count because of his height, namely the paladin of Charlemagne was then considered to be the figure of a giant.

The last Count von Stotel was in permanent financial need. Already during the guardianship, property had to be pledged for 150 silver marks. In total, Count Rodolf sold and pledged his own property for at least 744¼ marks. Now it is not unusual for this time that nobles small and large were not particularly liquid. It is interesting here who advanced the money to the count's household. It is noticeable that only 66 marks came from religious institutions, namely from the Neuenwalde monastery . The count pledged property for 63 marks to his own relatives of the lower nobility. But the lion's share was paid by the servants, namely 175 ¼ marks. A total of 140 marks came from some vassals, and finally 300 marks from two rich farmers in Loxstedt.

In his last years he came into conflict with servants or vassals. He won, after which Luder von Stinstedt and four miners Purrick and Nagel had to grant him 134 # their shares in Nückel Castle (northeast of Loxstedt). The lords of Bexhövede also sold him 134 # their Bexhövede legacy including the castle there.

On August 22, 1350, Heinrich von Stinstedt opened the building to Count Rudolf III. his solid house Nückel. After this date, probably in late summer / autumn 1350, Rudolf III died. childless, presumably as a result of the plague. His widow sold the rule in 1350/51 to the Bremen cathedral chapter, which at that time was under the direction of the cathedral dean Moritz, Count of Oldenburg.

coat of arms

The coat of arms of the high aristocratic von Stotel family consisted of a counter-tinned diagonal red on silver bar; in the Zimier she wore a pot helmet with buffalo horns studded with peacock feathers.

Memorial commemoration

The memorial commemoration for the Count of Stotel was not very pronounced - apart from a necrological entry for the cathedral scholastic Hildebold, we have nothing. This is due to the tradition, because there are no books of the dead from the monasteries of St. Paul in front of Bremen and St. Marien in front of Stade. According to the contract of 1307, Johann II was entitled to be buried in the St Marien monastery church. Before her death, his parents made a foundation for St. John Baptist. in Kirchwistedt - whether she and the other family members had their burial place here or in the late Romanesque St. Margarethen Church in Stotel remains uncertain.

swell

  • Document book on the history of the city of Bremerhaven. Volume I: Lehe and Vieland in the Middle Ages 1072–1500. edited by BU Hucker and J. Bohmbach (= Publications of the Bremerhaven City Archives. Volume 3). Bremerhaven 1982.
    The political preparation of the wars of subjugation against the Stedinger and the acquisition of the Grafschaft Bruchhausen by the House of Oldenburg. In: Oldenburg Yearbook. 86 (1986) pp. 1-32 [Urk. of 1229]
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker , Hans Georg Trüper: The Lords of Bederkesa. Status, rulership rights, coats of arms, genealogy and registers of the Bremen Chamberlain and Burgmann family. (Family Studies Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen, NF 8), Hanover 1989 [with regest part]
  • A Stotel certificate, communicated by [Friedrich Wilhelm] Wiedemann and declared by [Ernst DH] Fromme, Archive of the Association for History a. Antiquity d. Duchy of Bremen and Verden 7 (1880) pp. 112-133 [very faulty edition of the property register of the County of Stotel from 1363/65].

literature

  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker : The Counts of Stotel on the upper Lune. Jahrb. MvM 50 (1969) pp 71-79.
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker: The regional community development in land dignities, parish Lehe and parish Midlum in the Middle Ages. Oldenburger Jahrb. 72 (1972) pp. 1-22.
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker: The mobility of centers of power in the late Middle Ages, shown using the example of the Stoltenbroke Count Castle in the Frisian-Saxon border area. In: Jb. MvM. 55 (1975/76) pp. 41-61.
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker: The problem of rule and freedom in the regional communities and aristocratic rule of the Middle Ages in the Niederweser area. Dissertation. PH Westfalen-Lippem Münster 1978.
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker: The Counts of Stumpenhusen and the bear's claw coat of arms. In: Home calendar for the district of Verden 1991. 1990, pp. 17–35.
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker: History festival and history painting in the service of patriotic sentiments. Hermann Allmers and the “Grafenhof” in Stotel. Bremerhaven 2000.
  • Bernd Ulrich Hucker: The coat of arms of the Counts of Stotel - erroneous views about coat of arms images and tingings. At the same time a contribution to the age of Lower Saxony's high nobility coats of arms. In: Kleeblatt. Journal of Heraldry and Allied Sciences, Mitt. 3 (2002), pp. 5–10.
  • Oskar Kiecker , Richard Cappelle : The art monuments of the Wesermünde district. I. The former Geestemünde district (= The Art Monuments of the Province of Hanover. 28). Hanover 1939 [local article Stotel]
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  • Heinrich Schriefer: Hagen and Stotel. History of houses and offices. Bremerhaven 1901.
  • Hans Georg Trüper : Knights and squires between the Elbe and Weser. The ministry of the Archbishopric of Bremen. Stade 2000.
  • Hans Georg Trüper, Heinz B. Maas: A coming of the Order of St. John at the Lesum? A note on the location of Versfleth and Wittenborg. In: JbMvM. 68 (1989) pp. 241-249.
  • Manfred Wilmanns: The land area policy of the city of Bremen around 1400 with special consideration of the castle policy of the council in the ore monastery and in Friesland (= published by the institute for historical research by the University of Göttingen. 6). Hildesheim 1973.
  • Hinrich Wulff : The Counts of Stotel. In: Bremer Nachrichten. July 28 (1927) [also as a special edition, Bremen 1917, 80.]