Hamaland

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Spread of Germanic tribes around 50 AD.

The Hamaland was a Gaugrafschaft on the territory of the present Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland . The term first appears in written sources in the 9th century. The name is associated with the Germanic Chamaven tribe , which is last mentioned in the end of the 4th century, although there are four centuries between the two names and, above all, the migration of peoples .

Geographical classification

The exact location of Hamaland is controversial in research. What is certain is that it stretched along the banks of the IJssel , with today's Deventer in the north, with only a narrow strip to the west of the river. The western border reached the Rhine around Velp (district of Rheden near Arnheim ) and touched the extreme east of the Betuwe ; then the border followed the river itself to the vicinity of Emmerich . From here, the eastern border of Hamaland corresponded to the border between the dioceses of Utrecht and Münster , as it was established at the end of the 8th century and still existed in the 16th century. This gave the county two bulges to the east, one at (and including) Lochem , the other at (and with) Doetinchem . In between the Hamaland had its narrowest point at Steenderen east and Eerbeek west of the IJssel. The view of Heidinga, who goes back to other authors, that the Hamaland once included the Veluwe and the Flethite to the west , is based on a misinterpretation of a document from the year 855, while the statement that the Hamaland extended to the east into the Münsterland ( Wirtz due to other authors) is probably too generous an interpretation of a chronicle from the 12th century. The affiliation of the West Münsterland to Vreden to Hamaland is so controversial.

The county of Hamaland, on the other hand, included the older Gau Islo / Hisloa, the IJsselgau, in the north and the Gau Leomericke ( De Liemers ) in the south. Both older names have been replaced by the term Hamaland.

The Counts of Hamaland

9th and 10th centuries

The Counts of Hamaland belonged to the Meginharde family in the 9th century . The first representative is Brunhari of Hamaland , who is not attested as a count, but only as the father of Wracharis. This Wrachari from Hamaland is attested in 794 as Liudger's beneficiary still without earl dignity and then in 800 as a count, namely as the landowner in Wichmond in the IJsselgau. It is followed by his son Meginhard I of Hamaland , who is not expressly attested as a count, but was probably Vogt of the Werden monastery between 841 and 847 . 855 succeeds Wichmann I. von Hamaland as Count in Hamaland. His relationship with Wrachari and Meginhard can be assumed, but not proven.

Wichmann was succeeded by Meginhard II von Hamaland , who died before 881; His relationship, this time with Wichmann, is also unknown. What is certain, however, is that Meginhard's son Everhard Saxo von Hamaland followed his father. Everhard was murdered in 898 by the Frisian Waldger, son of Gerulf von Kennemerland , the progenitor of the Gerulfinger family , i.e. the ancestor of the Dutch count house. Everhard Saxo left two underage sons, Meginhard IV , and Everhard, which is why his brother Meginhard III. became the successor. Later, Saxo's son Meginhard IV of Hamaland took over his father's county.

Everhard, the other son of Saxos, married Amalrada, sister of St. Mathilde, who in 909 married the Saxon Duke Heinrich , later the German king. Mathilde and therefore also Amalrada can certainly be attributed to the descendants of Widukind, and are therefore often incorporated into a so-called Widukind-Immediate clan which, however, has not yet been made properly understandable. From the marriage with Everhard Amalrada came two sons, Dietrich , 965-984 bishop of Metz , and Everhard, of which we only know that he had a son, also of 978 Everhard age of ten with his uncle Dietrich in Metz died

Meginhard IV of Hamaland is attested as a count in 921 and administered not only Hamaland, but also the counties of Salland , Veluwe , Drenthe , Hunsingo and Fivelgo and probably also the Naardingerland southeast of Amsterdam . In 938/939 he took part in the uprising against King Otto I , which was under the leadership of Otto's brother Heinrich and Otto's brother-in-law Giselbert von Lorraine . The uprising was put down, the rebels were punished, which usually took place through confiscation of property, removal and confiscation of the imperial fiefs. This is what happened to Meginhard von Hamaland. He died around 955 on the Elterberg , the residence of his son (?) Wichmann II . A decade later, he founded the Elten canonical monastery on the hill towering 60 meters above the Rheinau . In the death register of the monastery, Meginhard is listed without the title of count.

List of the first Earls of Hamaland

First Count House of Hamaland

Second Count House of Hamaland

Division of Hamaland County into southern Hamaland and Zutphen

In 944 Otto pardoned the Hamaland count's house, perhaps at the intercession of his aunt Amalrada. Meginhard remained without office, but his two sons from different wives each got a share of his previous districts: the older, Everhard, was count in Salland, Drenthe and Hunsingo / Fivelgo, the younger, Wichmann , in Hamaland, Veluwe and probably also in Gooi . Both got a castle each from their father's confiscated property: Wichmann got Hoch-Elten, Everhard Zutphen .

Everhard had no surviving sons; his heir, Averarda, married Count Gottfried von Verdun in the 950s , who was later nicknamed “the prisoner”. Averarda died on August 11, possibly 961, leaving behind a son and daughter. The following year Gottfried married Mathilde Billung , widow of Count Balduin III. von Flanders , brother-in-law of Wichmann 'von Elten' , who had married Baldwin's sister Liutgard around 947. Three children are known from Wichmann's marriage: Luitgart, Adela and Wichmann. The boy probably died in 965 or 966 at the age of about seven, which broke off the male line of the count's house. The widower Wichmann, although only about 35 years old, did not think of a second marriage, but converted Eltenberg into the Hoog-Elten Monastery, which was already in operation in 968. Wichmann's last testimony dates from December 973. Since Wichmann donated a large part of his fortune to the monastery, where his eldest daughter Luitsart was first abbess , his second daughter Adela von Hamaland felt disadvantaged. For decades she fought for possession, ultimately (996) with success.

11th century

Wichmann's counties probably passed to his son-in-law Immed IV. From the Immedinger family , Adela's first husband, and then to their son Dietrich , who died in April probably in 1017 or 1018 and left two daughters. The older of the two most likely married Gottfried , the son of Gottfried 'the prisoner' of Verdun and 1012-1023 Duke of Lower Lorraine , who died in 1023 childless. He was followed both as Duke and Count by his younger brother Gotzelo I , who also became Duke of Upper Lorraine in 1033 , which he passed on to his son Gottfried III while he was still alive . passed on. When Gottfried III. of King Heinrich III. the successor in Lower Lorraine was refused, he rebelled and was finally deposed in 1046.

The freed counties were partially occupied by Bava's son, Dietrich von Hamaland's younger daughter, who was married to Gerhard Flamens and had at least two sons, Gerhard and Dietrich. Gerhard took the Veluwe, Teisterbant and the Betuwe , the latter belonging to the Immeds family, like the Hettergau and the Düffelgau on the other side of the Rhine south of Hamaland. After 1063 Gerhard was also able to take over the Hettergau with Geldern , after which the Flamenses later called themselves the Geldrian Count's House, and possibly also the Düffelgau, as well as the southern part of Hamaland, where in 1083 Gerhard the Tall one left the Home of Flaming is attested.

The fact that Gerhard Flamens and his family had to wait a while for the Hettergau (and the Düffelgau) and the southern Hamaland was due to the fact that others had already established themselves there before 1046. The southern Hamaland was probably awarded to Werner, a favorite of King Konrad II (1024-1039) in 1026 , after Gotzelo I had turned against Konrad's accession to the throne in 1024/25. The reconciliation of Gotzelos with the King Christmas 1025 was connected with some concessions: Werner - who had already owned considerable estates in southern Hamaland and Veluwe earlier in the same year - was appointed liege count in southern Hamaland, and in Hunsingo / Fivelgo became a half-brother of the empress Gisela von Swabia used. Only after Werner's death could the southern Hamaland be taken over by the Flamenses.

In the Hettergau (and perhaps also in the Düffelgau) it was different. There, too, a liege count Gottfried the Bearded must have been active before 1046, Gottschalk , who was also liege count of northern Hamaland. Like Werner, Gottschalk had stayed away from Gottfried's uprising and was therefore also able to keep his office. Here, too, the Flamenses had to wait for the incumbent's death. This happened in 1063; In 1067 Gerhard Flamens is attested as a count in Hettergau.

List of the other Counts of Hamaland

Third Earl of Hamaland

House of Immedinger

after 983-1010, family disputes over ownership

since 1017/18

House Verdun of the Wigeriche

Division of the county in 1025 to two liege counts

  • Werner in southern Hamaland, 1046–1056 attested as Count Wecelo, after whom Gerhard the Tall One from the House of Flamens, later called the Geldrian Count House, is attested to in 1083 .

Zutphen county

In northern Hamaland it was different. Here, too, a liege named Gottschalk had been appointed before 1046 and remained so after Gottfried III's deposition. King Henry III In 1046, however, gave the suzerainty of this area to the Bishop of Utrecht , with the boundaries of the area being precisely described in the deed of donation. This shows that Hamaland was cut into two parts at its narrowest point described above, that is, along the Steenderen - Leuvenheim - Eerbeek line . The donation of this northern Hamaland to the Bishop of Utrecht in 1046 made Gottschalk liege-count of this bishop.

When Gottschalk died in 1063, he was followed by his son Otto, called "the Rich", in northern Hamaland. The fact that the Flamenses did not come into play here is probably due to the fact that Gottschalk had become an important landowner in his county through his marriage. His wife Adelheid was a great-granddaughter of Gottfried the prisoner, whose daughter Irmingard von Verdun was married to Otto von Hammerstein . Their daughter Mathilde became the wife of Ezzonen Ludolf von Brauweiler , and Adelheid came from this marriage. Her two brothers died earlier than Adelheid, who was left as the last offspring of Liudolf. As mentioned, Gottfried the prisoner was in turn the husband of Averarda, Everhard's heir, the half-brother of Wichmann von Elten. Thus Gottschalk was the indirect heir of the old Hamaland count house. This legacy included the Zutphen castle and extensive property in its vicinity. Gottschalk's importance in northern Hamaland was so great that his descendants were able to assert themselves here. Their residence was Zutphen Castle, after which northern Hamaland was also known as the County of Zutphen . Even today the area of ​​the former northern Hamaland east of the IJssel is called de Graafschap .

The name Hamaland appears for the last time in the sources at the end of the 11th century.

Hamaland today

The regional awareness of Hamaland is only weak, but has experienced a renaissance in recent years, also through the establishment of a Euregio , which spatially extends far beyond the original Hamaland and includes , for example, Enschede , Bocholt and Dülmen . The name Hamaland can be found in sports clubs, music clubs and regional companies as well as on the 253 km long Hamaland Route, a signposted circular route for car tours. This modern Hamaland identity is maintained by the Hamaland Museum in Vreden , a local museum that is also the district museum of the Borken district .

Web links

literature

Footnotes

  1. ↑ in the European family tables Volume I.1 (1999) Table 201 Everhard and his descendants are seen as presumed members of the Ezzone family , cf. Tribe list of the Ezzone
  2. ↑ a b Hein H. Jongbloed: Immed “von Kleve” (around 950). In: Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine. Vol. 209, Issue 1, 2006, pp. 13-44.