Henry III. from Praunheim

Henry III. von Praunheim (* before 1248, named from 1266; † 1309 ) from the family of the Knights von Praunheim was from 1273 imperial school of the imperial city of Frankfurt am Main .

family

His father was Wolfram II von Praunheim , who had also been the Reichsschultheiß of Frankfurt and died in 1274. Only his first name , Udelinde , is known of his mother .

Heinrich III was married. first with a Hildegard whose family origin is not documented and who died early. This marriage gave birth to a son, Richwin, who also died early. In the second marriage Heinrich III married. Gertrud von Fraunstein , daughter of Siegfried von Fraunstein. It was also her second marriage: she had previously been married to a knight from Merkisheim . From the marriage with Heinrich III. emerged:

• Adelheid
• Heinrich IV. , Later also Reichsschultheiß
• Wolfram III.

politics

Oldest testimony for Heinrich III. is a document that proves that he entered the service of Count Dieter von Katzenelnbogen in 1266 as a castle man at Dornberg Castle . Henry III. maintained a wide network of relationships in the Wetterau area . He received fiefs from Archbishop Gerhard II of Eppstein , Elector of Mainz , Gottfried II of Eppstein , Werner von Hagen-Münzenberg , Count Boppo and Rudolf von Wertheim and the abbess Berta von Arnsberg of the Essen monastery .

In early 1273, Heinrich III. in succession to the knight Konrad von Sachsenhausen Reichsschultheiß von Frankfurt. However, he did not hold this office continuously, but with interruptions when Volrad von Seligenstadt took the position. In 1279/1280 he acted as a senior high school, while his son, Heinrich IV. From 1280 Heinrich III. then referred to as the "former mayor". In the conflicts over the Reichsschulthießenamt in the following years he succeeded in maintaining his family's claim to the office; however, its powers are dwindling in relation to an increasingly powerful urban patriciate .

In his function as Reichsschultheiß, Heinrich III resisted. the request of King Adolf of Nassau to burden the Frankfurt Jews with a special tax , with which Adolf wanted to pay off his debts of 20,000 silver marks (corresponding to 4,682 kg of silver or 3.8 million euros based on today's value ) to the city of Frankfurt.

Henry III. was one of the richest imperial ministers of his time.

literature

• Alfred Friese: The Lords of Praunheim-Sachsenhausen, inheritance of the Reich in Frankfurt am Main: Property, social and cultural history of an imperial family of the high and late Middle Ages . Masch. Diss. 1952, p. 66ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Friese, p. 68.