Henry II (Nassau)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The coat of arms of the Counts of Nassau

Henry II the Rich of Nassau (* around 1180 ; † April 26, 1247/48/49/50, before January 25, 1251) was Count of Nassau . He was particularly distinguished by his chivalrous and pious disposition. In particular, he demonstrated an excellent sense of charity and gift zeal for the church, so that monasteries and places of worship in the area of ​​what is now Nassau enjoyed the most significant upswing in his time, supported by numerous donations. The greatest favor was enjoyed by the German Order , which he gave ample consideration for his brother's renunciation of power when he entered. Heinrich took part in the sixth crusade . He was the builder of the castles Sonnenberg , Ginsburg and Dillenburg .

Life

Sonnenberg Castle
Ginsburg
Keppel monastery
Arnstein Monastery

Heinrich was the eldest son of Count Walram I of Nassau and a certain Kunigunde, possibly a daughter of a Count of Sponheim or a daughter of Count Poppo II of Ziegenhain .

Heinrich is mentioned for the first time in a document dated March 20, 1198, together with his mother and brother Ruprecht IV. This mention means that he and his brother were of legal age at that time.

Between 1198 and 1247 he is mentioned as Count of Nassau. Heinrich ruled with his brother Ruprecht until 1230.

In imperial politics, Heinrich was largely friendly to the Hohenstaufen dynasty , with the exception of taking sides with Emperor Otto IV in the years 1209–1211 . In the years 1212–1214 he also imprisoned the opponent of Emperor Frederick II , Archbishop Dietrich von Trier . In 1214 Heinrich was in the vicinity of Friedrich II zu Jülich , in 1223 with his son Heinrich zu Worms , in 1224 in Frankfurt . Heinrich took part in Frederick II's crusade in 1228 . In 1231 Heinrich visited the Diet of Worms and in 1232 the Imperial Assembly of Frederick II in Ravenna . Later he went over to the papal camp, so that Friedrich's son Konrad IV issued an execution mandate against him (1241), about the success of which nothing is reported. In 1247 he supported the election of Wilhelm II of Holland , the anti-king, who confirmed all of Heinrich's imperial possessions and gave him the right to mint coins.

Walram I was enfeoffed with the royal court of Wiesbaden by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa . Nassau's possessions in this area were expanded around 1214 when Heinrich received the imperial bailiwick over Wiesbaden and the surrounding Königssondergau , which he held as a fief .

Around 1200, Heinrich and his brother Ruprecht began building Sonnenberg Castle on a rock north of Wiesbaden to protect against the Archbishop of Mainz and his vassals, the neighboring lords of Eppstein , with whom there were permanent border disputes. But the Mainz cathedral chapter claimed Sonnenberg as their property. In order to resolve this conflict, Nassau paid an amount of 30 marks to the chapter in 1221 to preserve the land of Sonnenberg. They were forced to recognize the sovereignty of the Archbishop of Mainz over Sonnenberg Castle and to take it as a fiefdom from Mainz.

At the end of the 12th century Walram I was able to strengthen his power on the Niederlahn. As part of the legacy of the Counts of Arnstein , he succeeded him as Vogt of the Archdiocese of Trier in Koblenz , Pfaffendorf , Niederlahnstein and Humbach ( Montabaur ). The archbishop reinforced Montabaur around 1217 to protect his property on the right bank of the Rhine from Nassau. By 1230, the influence of Trier am Rhein and Lahn was sufficiently strengthened to expel Nassau from the majority of the archbishop's bailiwicks.

Heinrich found support from Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne , who made Heinrich his marshal and cupbearer . In return for his protection against the archbishops of Mainz and Trier, Heinrich had to cede half of Siegen to Cologne in 1224 . Unaffected by this division of power, Nassau retained its sovereign rights in the Siegerland , where the high level of jurisdiction and the wild ban continued until 1259.

His government was rich in feuds, of which those with the nobles of Willnsdorf because of victories, with those of Merenberg over the district court Rucheslo of the old Erdehegaues are to be emphasized. Heinrich built the Ginsburg in Siegerland.

Heinrich's brother Ruprecht had been a knight of the Teutonic Order since 1230 . At his death in 1239 Ruprecht left his legacy to him. Heinrich continually challenged any division of his territory with the Teutonic Order.

Heinrich was the owner of the Upper Bailiwick of the Georgsstift in Limburg an der Lahn during the construction of the Limburg Cathedral . In 1239, at the request of his liege, Friedrich vom Hain, he transferred the income from the Netphener parish to the Premonstratensian monastery at Stift Keppel near Hilchenbach . His descendants took over the patronage of the monastery.

Heinrich's policy in the Herborner Mark provoked conflicts with the noble families there. Around 1240 he built Dillenburg Castle to better subdue his opponents. In 1248 he began a feud with Sophie von Brabant and her son Heinrich over the Herborner Mark, which strained the Nassau-Hessian relationship for centuries after his death.

The necrology of Arnstein Monastery documented the death of 'Henrici comitis de Nassauwe, qui contulit nobis ecclesiam in Diffenbach inferiori' on April 26th. Heinrich is mentioned in a document from 1247 and is listed in a document from January 25, 1251 as "deceased". That is, he died on April 26, 1247, 1248, 1249 or 1250. He was followed by his sons Walram II and Otto I.

progeny

Before December 11, 1215, Heinrich married Mathilde von Geldern and Zütphen († October 28, 1247 or later), the youngest daughter of Count Otto I of Geldern and Zütphen and Richardis von Scheyern-Wittelsbach . With her he had the children:

  1. Ruprecht († September 19, before 1247), was enfeoffed by the Archbishop of Trier with Allod in Diez and Ober-Lahnstein , was a knight of the Teutonic Order.
  2. Walram II (* around 1220 - † January 24, 1276), successor of his father, founder of the Walram line of Nassau .
  3. Otto I († between May 3, 1289 and March 19, 1290), successor to his father, founder of the Ottonian line of Nassau .
  4. Heinrich († May 28 after 1247) was a monk in Arnstein Monastery.
  5. Elisabeth (* around 1225; † after January 6, 1295), ⚭ Gerhard III. von Eppstein († 1252).
  6. Gerhard († between April 7, 1312 and September 20, 1314), was u. a. Canon in Liege .
  7. Johann († Deventer , July 13, 1309) was an elect of the bishopric of Utrecht .
  8. Katharina († April 27, 1324), becomes abbess of the Altenberg monastery in 1249 .
  9. Jutta († 1313), ⚭ around 1260 Johann I von Cuijk († July 13, 1308).
  10. ? Irmgard († August 1, 1297), was abbess in Val-Benoît.

literature

  • E. Becker: Castle and City of Dillenburg. A walk through their history in the Middle Ages and modern times. Published for the commemoration of the city charter on September 20, 1344 . 2nd Edition. The City Council of Dillenburg, Dillenburg 1983.
  • AWE Dek: Genealogy van het Vorstenhuis Nassau . Europese Bibliotheek, Zaltbommel 1970 (Dutch).
  • Ernst Joachim:  Heinrich II., Count of Nassau . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 547 f.
  • JM van der Venne & Alexander AM Stols: Gerhard Graaf van Nassau, 1259-1313. De oudst bekende Nassau in Nederland? In: De Nederlandsche Leeuw, Maandblad van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch Genootschap voor Geslacht- en Wapenkunde . No. 2 , 1937 (Dutch).
  • AA Vorsterman van Oyen: Het vorstenhuis Oranje-Nassau. Van de vroegste tijden dead . AW Sijthoff & JL Beijers, Leiden & Utrecht 1882 (Dutch).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cawley.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Dek (1970).
  3. ↑ a b c d Joachim (1880).
  4. ↑ a b c d Vorsterman van Oyen (1882).
  5. ↑ Becker (1983), p. 10.
  6. ↑ This is mentioned in the article on Walram I on Wikipedia . The article about Heinrich II in the English Wikipedia says among other things: 'Walram I had received the Königshof Wiesbaden from Emperor Frederick I in reward for his support of the emperor in the conflicts of 1170-1180.' . In the article about Sonnenberg Castle it says: 'The Nassau were probably enfeoffed with the royal court of Wiesbaden by Friedrich I as thanks for their support in the Roman trains in 1154.'
  7. ↑ Becker (1983), p. 9.
  8. ↑ Cawley quotes from a document dated December 11, 1215, in which 'Heinricus und Roppertus comites de Nassovva' acquired property of the Mainz Cathedral with the permission of 'uxorum nostrarum Methildis et Gertrudis' , from which it can be concluded that Heinrich and Mathilde already on 11 December 1215 were married. All genealogical information relates to a marriage before 1221.
  9. ^ Cawley: Mathilde died after the necrology of the Arnstein Monastery on October 28th. It is mentioned in a document from 1247.
  10. ↑ The genealogies differ in the number of children and the order in which they were born.
  11. ↑ Van der Venne & Stols (1937).
predecessor Office successor
Walram I. Count of Nassau
1198–1247 		Walram II.
Otto I.
personal data
SURNAME Henry II
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count of Nassau
DATE OF BIRTH around 1180
DATE OF DEATH before 1251