Hans Ebran von Wildenberg

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Knight Hans Ebran von Wildenberg (* after 1426 probably in Wildenberg ; † before 1503 ) was a late medieval Bavarian historian and court master in Landshut and Burghausen .

Life

Hans (Johann) Ebran von Wildenberg came from the Lower Bavarian "tournament aristocracy" (the state that was allowed to take part in knight tournaments ) and was the eldest son of Ulrich Ebran von Wildenberg († 1455) and his second wife, a born von Gumppenberg. The family was traditionally in courtly service with the Wittelsbachers and had its roots in the two castles Wildenberg near Abensberg / Lower Bavaria and Scherneck. In the Battle of Giengen , knight Hans Ebran is said to have fought as war captain and one of five officers of the cavalry of Ludwig the Rich of Niederbayern-Landshut . At that time he claims to be “there everywhere”, but later claimed that it would be too “long” to tell everything. He is said to have been in his early thirties at the time (1462). In the same year it is documented that Wildenberg, out of gratitude for returning from the Bavarian War, first donated a new bell, then the new building of the entire church of Pürkwang near his ancestral castle.

Like his ancestors, Hans Ebran was looking for a job at the Lower Bavarian court. In 1463 he was appointed ducal councilor. From 1464 to at least 1472 he officiated as a caretaker, rentmaster and chief judge in Landshut.

From 1479 he officiated as court master of Duchess Hedwig , wife of Georg the Rich , the successor of Ludwig as Duke of Lower Bavaria-Landshut and at the same time as presiding judge at the court in Burghausen . In 1496 he is mentioned as the court master of Hedwig's daughter Elisabeth .

Hans Ebran von Wildenberg traveled to Rome and Monte Cassino and allegedly even made a pilgrimage from there in 1480 to the Holy Land . In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem , the accolade is said to have been renewed, which, according to the Bavarian historian Johannes Aventinus , he was supposed to have received immediately before the Battle of Giengen.

Wildenberg was married to Barbara Paulsdorferin von der Küren. In 1496 he was appointed by George the Rich to be one of his executors. 1500 Wildenberg is mentioned for the last time as alive, on August 22nd 1503 his youngest brother Heinrich, a hard-working "tournament", was enfeoffed with one of his fiefs in Regensburg , so that Hans Ebran must have died at an unknown time before this date, according to more recent Research between March 1501 and August 1503.

In addition to Heinrich, Johann Ebran had four other brothers: Sebastian apparently died early, and his brother Jobst did not grow very old either. Christoph Ebran von Wildenberg became provost at Salzburg Cathedral and failed there as a counter-bishop. Peter von Wildenberg inherited the Lower Bavarian family seat.

Historiography

Wildenberg is one of the very few late medieval chroniclers who belonged to the court nobility. Allegedly, he felt himself called to be a historian by his patron Duke Ludwig the Rich: "If his praise, his chivalrous and pugnacious dealings should not be remembered in the future, it hurt my mind." after 1484 he gave a very brief appreciation, possibly also because he had no direct access to official documents from the Landshut archive at his place of residence in Burghausen. Even the historian Sigmund Ritter von Riezler regretted in 1889 that Wildenberg did not put "more detailed notes on history" on paper.

Hans Ebran began to deal with Bavarian history around 1465. A first version of his Bavarian Chronicle was completed around 1479 before the author made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Between 1490 and 1493 Ebran revised his work by tightening parts and adding a preface. Two copies of the first version have survived in Munich from around 1500 and around 1560; a third manuscript of the chronicle with corrections by Wildenberg's own hand is available in Weimar, which represents the revised version from around 1493.

According to his own statement, Hans Ebran was supported in his research by two clergymen. He relied on the then common church sources such as chronicles from the monasteries Tegernsee , Mondsee , Niederaltaich (where Duke Georg is said to have personally supported him in correspondence with the monks with the request for information), Andechs and Kremsmünster , but also quoted fables So no difference between "serious" information and obvious legends according to today's conception.

His chronicles have also been counted among the moral and edifying writings of the late Middle Ages , in which the decline of manners and customs shortly before the Reformation is lamented: “Oh, you princes, spiritual and worldly, turn away the great sins, that not the wrath of God fall on Christianity. Because verily, you have to give an answer before the last judgment. ”Wildenberg attributed all military victories to the direct intervention of God, was not impressed by (secular)“ princely heroic deeds ”, liked to ignore economic and political facts and preferred to argue his Christian spirit. Cursing, buying office, and adultery were the worst sins of his time for him.

literature

  • Sigmund Ritter von Riezler: History of Baierns , Volume III, Gotha 1889, p. 908 f. ( online ).
  • Sigmund Ritter von Riezler:  Wildenberg, Hans Ebran von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, p. 498 f.
  • Victor Keller: Knight Hans Ebran von Wildenberg, his life and his Bavarian chronicle . In: Negotiations of the historical association for Niederbayern, 31 (1895), pp. 85–141 ( online ).
  • Friedrich Roth (ed.): Johann Ebran von Wildenberg: The knight's Hans Ebran von Wildenberg chronicle of the princes from Bavaria . Munich 1905 ( online ).
  • Jean-Marie Moeglin: Les ancêtres du prince. Propagande politique et naissance d´une histoire nationale en Bavière au Moyen-Age ( 1180-1500 ) , Geneva 1985, here pp. 144-171.
  • Stefan Dicker: National awareness and current affairs: studies on Bavarian chronicles of the 15th century . Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2009

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrea Dirsch-Weigand: City and Prince in the Chronistics of the Late Middle Ages: Studies on Late Middle Ages Historiography , Cologne / Vienna 1991, p. 20
  2. ↑ Riezler.
  3. ↑ puerkwang.de .
  4. ↑ Roth 1905, VII.
  5. ↑ Stefan Dicker: State Consciousness and Current Affairs: Studies on Bavarian Chronology of the 15th Century , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2009, p. 82
  6. ↑ Stefan Dicker: State Consciousness and Current Affairs: Studies on Bavarian Chronology of the 15th Century , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2009, p. 82
  7. ↑ Quoted from the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.
  8. ↑ Stefan Dicker: Country Consciousness and Current Affairs: Studies on Bavarian Chronology of the 15th Century , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2009, p. 85
  9. ↑ Roth 1905, XXXVII; Possible 1985, p. 144.
  10. ↑ Munich, State Library, Cgm 1597 (around 1500) and Cgm 1557 (around 1560).
  11. ↑ Riezler.
  12. ↑ Stefan Dicker: Country Consciousness and Current Affairs: Studies on Bavarian Chronicles of the 15th Century , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2009, p. 88
personal data
SURNAME Wildenberg, Hans Ebran from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wildenberg, Ritter Hans Ebran von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION late medieval Bavarian historian and court master in Landshut and Burghausen
DATE OF BIRTH after 1426
PLACE OF BIRTH Wildenberg
DATE OF DEATH before 1503