Hartwig Reventlow

Hartwig Reventlow , also Hartwich , († between 1353 and 1356) was a knight from the Reventlow family in the service of the Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein .

Live and act

Information about the first few decades of Reventlow's life is undocumented. His father was probably also called Hartwig Reventlow. He is mentioned in documents between 1257 and 1272 and was still alive around 1300. His mother's name is not recorded. Reventlow himself had a son named Iven, according to sources.

A first proof of existence of Reventlow dates back to the year 1315. Seven years later he is mentioned for the first time as a knight. Information about him goes back to the 1448 Chronicon Holtzatziae of the so-called Presbyter Bremensis and is legendary. This work was expanded later, especially towards the end of the 16th century, in the vicinity of Heinrich Rantzau . W. Berblinger wrote in 1881 in Gerhard the Great of Holstein and his residence in Rendsburg that Reventlow initially Adolf, the son of Count Johann II. Von Holstein-Kiel , and then Count Gerhard III. from the Rendsburg line . However, there is no evidence for this.

Panel in Segeberg's Marienkirche depicting Hartwig's murder of Adolf (top right). The scene on the left shows the murderer in front of Pope John XXII.

According to the Chronicon Holtzatziae , Reventlow was the first to recognize the talent of Count Gerhard, who grew up without a father. He supported him and brought him into a leading position in the shattering house of the Schauenburger. In 1315 the murder of Adolf allegedly carried out by Reventlow at the Siegesburg helped . The reason for this act is said to have been a defamation of the count's family and a rape of his daughter or wife. After the murder, Reventlow allegedly went on a penitential pilgrimage to Rome . He also had an elaborate structure made in Itzehoe Monastery , which included a refectory and a dormitory. However, it is only documented that the count was murdered. Whether Reventlow carried out the deed is questionable.

Ascribing the Count's murder to Reventlow is obvious, given his relationship with Count Gerhard. The count profited from the death of Adolf, whose Kiel line could no longer fight for possession of the County of Holstein . In addition, Reventlow can be found in many documents, especially since 1315, which are related to events around Gerhard. The first documents deal with the peace agreement between Gerhard, whose cousin Johann III. , the cousin Johann II, who was disempowered by them after the murder of his son, and the city of Kiel . Also in the following years Reventlow is in a prominent position in numerous documents Gerhard III. to find. Therefore he was probably one of the count's most important advisors. His seals are on the certificate of the division of the country between Gerhard and Johann III. from the year 1316 and the repeated peace treaty of the cousins ​​with Johann II and the city of Kiel. In addition, in 1323 he sealed the agreement of 88 knights and squires from Holstein against acts of violence by Johann III. In 1325 he put his seal on the comparison that Gerhard and Johann made about the land between Eider and Schlei .

In 1329 Count Gerhard made peace with Johann and gave Reventlow as arbitrator. In 1339 the knight sealed the peace agreement between Gerhard and Waldemar V of Schleswig . In 1340 he acted as an arbitrator in the agreement of the same counts to exchange garnishments in North Jutland and Schleswig .

Count Gerhard III. died violently in 1340; Reventlow is rarely found in documents afterwards. The last signs of life date back to 1353. In 1356 he was considered dead.

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Reventlow, Hartwig . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 7. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1985, pp. 230-231.
• Gottfried Heinrich Handelmann:  Reventlow, Hartwich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, p. 345 f.