Henry III. from Burgau

Henry III. von Burgau (* before 1286) was the last margrave of the margraviate of Burgau from the Berg family .

Life

Henry III. was the grandson of Margrave Heinrich II von Burgau . His father Heinrich died early (last document was mentioned in 1278) and is therefore not counted in the ruling margraves of Burgau. Henry III. is first mentioned together with his grandfather on April 1, 1286 in a deed of gift for the Kaisheim monastery . Through his marriage to Margareta von Hohenberg on November 23, 1288, he became closely related to the Habsburgs . Margareta is a niece of Rudolf I , the first Roman-German king of the Habsburg dynasty and a cousin of the later King Albrecht I (1298–1308). This is likely to have played an important role in the takeover of the margraviate by the Habsburgs (around 1301). Henry III. took over the rule after the death of his grandfather. The chronicle of the Wengen Monastery in Ulm reports that Margrave Heinrich II died in 1293, although two documents from spring 1294 are unclear as to whether they were grandfather or grandson. On December 3, 1294, Heinrich III. For the first time secured various goods to his servant Arnold den Halder alone with the advice of his uncle, Count Ludwig V. von Öttingen .

The margravate was apparently in a difficult economic situation. From 1292 to 1297 several sales, some of them extensive, were made, goods were no longer purchased. The increasing power of the rich cities and the attractive central power after the imperial period (until 1273) brought many regional noble houses into difficulties. After the politically experienced and nationally known Heinrich II, under whom the margraviate flourished, the young inexperienced grandson was confronted with these problems. Although Heinrich III. may have already been of age (marriage 1288), his uncle, Count Ludwig V. von Öttingen, is often included in his documents initially (from 1294), sometimes referred to as a “curator”. Margrave Heinrich III. last documented on March 25th, 1300 for the transfer of property in Binswangen to the Ramschwag brothers. On October 9, 1301, Abbot Heinrich von Fulda hands over the sons of King Albrecht Lehen, which Heinrich, the Margrave of Burgau, once held. This indicates the transfer of the margraviate to the Habsburgs. King Albrecht then granted the margraviate as an imperial fiefdom to his sons, the dukes of Austria. In the document dated May 2, 1304, on a court day in Fleinhausen, these are first named as Margraves of Burgau. In a document from January 1312, the related Count Ludwig V. von Öttingen settled problems with a guarantee that he had previously given to the Augsburg church for the Burgau margrave. Currently, from sources, neither a contract nor other precise circumstances for the assignment of the margraviate by Heinrich III. known to King Albrecht. The Habsburg was the cousin of Heinrich's wife Margarete.

Henry III. finally entered the monastery: According to the necrology of the monastery of St. Katharina von Augsburg , he died as Brother Heinrich on an unknown year on December 12th. His wife Margarethe von Hohenberg is noted in the same necrology for a year unknown on December 21, whether she was in the monastery is unclear.

The couple had two daughters, Margareta and Agnes von Burgau. Margravine Margareta married Count Hermann III. von Castell (near Kitzingen) and is mentioned several times in the Monumenta Castellana between 1306 and 1330. After the death of her husband around 1331, she probably went to the monastery, as she is entered in the necrology of the monastery of St. Katharina in Augsburg as the sister ("soror") Margareta on September 17th, the date of death. Her grandchildren, Count Gottfried IV. And Konrad von Hohenlohe-Brauneck donated the famous Herrgottskirche near Creglingen in 1384 with the (later added) Marien Altar by Tilmann Riemenschneider. They are shown with Konrad's wife and daughter in the donor window that has been preserved.
The daughter Agnes of Heinrich III. was a Dominican in the monastery of St. Katharina in Augsburg. She is mentioned in a document from March 1323 and wrote an extensive testament on March 3, 1353, which shows many family relationships. Agnes died very old on November 28, 1363 and was buried in the cloister of the monastery (today the courtyard of the Holbeingymnasium Augsburg). Her memorial, a large ogival oil painting with a scene from the Mount of Olives, the margravial coat of arms and the date of death is in the depot of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich today (inventory no. 4670).

swell

• City and State Library Augsburg, Necrology of the St. Katharina Monastery Augsburg, Sig 2 ° Cod. Aug. 470.

literature

• Philipp Jedelhauser: Contributions to the beginning and end of the rule of the Margraves of Burgau from the Berg family. 2nd revised edition, Krumbach 2017, pp. 1–21.
• Franz Reißenauer: Günzburg. History of a Swabian city. Volume 1: From the beginning to 1805 . Wißner Verlag, Augsburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89639-721-8 , p. 62.