Heinrich IV. (Glogau)

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Heinrich IV. Von Glogau (also Heinrich IV. (II.) "The faithful" ; * 1292 ; † January 22, 1342 in Sagan ) was Duke of Glogau from 1312 to 1323 , Duke of Sagan from 1319 to 1342 and Duke of Steinau in 1342 .

Origin and family

Heinrich IV came from the Glogau branch of the Silesian Piasts . His parents were Heinrich III. von Glogau († 1309) and Mechthild († 1318), daughter of Duke Albrecht of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In 1310 he married Mathilde († 1323), daughter of the Brandenburg Margrave Hermann von Brandenburg . The children came from marriage:

Life

After the death of their father Heinrich III., Who in addition to his Silesian possessions was also the master of almost all of Poland, Heinrich IV. And his brothers Conrad I († 1366), Boleslaus († 1320), Johann († 1361/65) inherited and Primislaus II. († 1331) in 1309 its areas. They initially administered these jointly until 1312 under the tutelage of their mother Mechthild. Because of the generally unsafe situation, the cities of Freystadt , Steinau , Sprottau , Fraustadt , Lüben , Guhrau , Crossen and Grünberg, which belong to their Silesian territory, formed a city league as early as 1310 to jointly take action against robbers, arsonists and other criminals.

In order to prevent their territories from being fragmented, Henry IV and his brothers initially divided their inheritance into two parts on February 29, 1312. Heinrich and his two youngest brothers Johann and Primko received the larger western area with the towns of Steinau, Sagan , Grünberg, Crossen and Posen . They also owned Glogau , Beuthen and Freystadt, which, however, were initially assigned to their mother as personal belongings for her life . The eastern area with the towns of Gnesen , Kalisz , Oels and Wohlau went to the second-born Konrad I and the third-born Boleslaus for joint administration. After the last two had lost Greater Poland to Władysław I. Ellenlang in 1314 and Boleslaus, who had been Duke of Oels since 1312 , died in 1320, Heinrich, Konrad, Johann and Primko re-divided the entire property in 1322. Heinrich IV received Sagan, Konrad I. Namslau and Oels, Primko Glogau and Johann Steinau .

In 1318 Henry IV protested together with nine other Silesian dukes against the collection of St. Peter's penny in the form of poll tax, which was not common in Silesia until then . Your objection to the papal chair in Avignon was put forward by the Ratibor lawyer Bertold and the Breslau cleric Johann von Molhusen but rejected by the Pope. As the dukes continued to refuse to pay, an interdict was imposed on the diocese of Wroclaw . On June 23, 1323, Henry IV addressed the Pope on behalf of his brothers under the title "Duke of Silesia, Heir of the Kingdom of Poland, Lord of Glogau and Posen" and assured him that he and his brothers would pay the Peter pfennigs had now ordered in their lands. At the same time he asked the Pope for his protection in case the emperor or the Roman king wanted to extend their feudal sovereignty over Heinrich's and his brothers lands.

With the feudal deeds issued in Breslau on April 29, 1329 and May 9, 1329, Henry IV and his brothers Johann and Conrad I voluntarily entered into a feudal relationship with the Crown of Bohemia , whereby they were granted special inheritance benefits. Only her youngest brother Primko / Przemko refused to become a Bohemian vassal , but died on January 11, 1331 from a poison attack by his subjects. The rightful heirs of Primko were Heinrich IV. And his brother Johann von Steinau, whereby Primko's widow Konstanze was entitled to the city of Glogau as personal belongings. However, Johann von Steinau had sold his right to his share in Glogaus to the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg before Primko's death . He therefore appeared in Silesia in September 1331 to take over the inheritance that had been bought from Johann von Steinau. At the same time he defied Henry IV's claim to inheritance and Constance's right to the treasure and forcibly confiscated the entire Duchy of Glogau as a settled fiefdom . In order to create a fait accompli, he released the citizens from the oaths they had given to the dukes and confirmed their previous privileges. He appointed a Bohemian governor to manage the duchy. This made Glogau the first Silesian duchy directly subordinate to Bohemia.

Henry IV died in Sagan in 1342. His body was buried in the Augustinian church there. He was succeeded as Duke of Sagan by his only son Heinrich V "the Iron". Only after he had paid homage to the Bohemian sovereign King Johann in 1344 did he receive half of Glogau from him, with which the injustice committed against his father Heinrich IV was to be made good.

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