Henry IV of Castell

Portrait of Heinrich IV zu Castell from 1572

Heinrich IV. Count and Lord zu Castell (born February 13, 1525 at Stolberg Castle ; † September 20, 1595 in Remlingen ) was ruler of the County of Castell from 1546 to 1595 , together with his brothers Konrad and Georg II. Before taking office, he was Canon in Bamberg . He also worked as a diplomat.

The county before Henry IV.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Grafschaft Castell found itself in a precarious situation: the great rulers of the area, namely the Prince Diocese of Würzburg and the Margraviate of Ansbach , increasingly narrowed the county’s territory. Friedrich VI. had to cede his half to the bishop in the city of Volkach and the county lost access to the important river Main.

Another development was the emergence of the Lutheran creed, which, coming from central Germany, spread even further in Franconia . One of the immediate consequences of the religious upheavals was the German Peasants' War of 1525, in which the disadvantaged strata of the population united and violently attacked their landlords. The uprising was put down, but the county was still affected.

Life

Catholic Canon

Count Heinrich IV. Was born on February 13, 1525 at Stolberg Castle. He was the third son of Wolfgang I and his wife Martha, a born Countess zu Wertheim . The sources are silent about most of the other siblings, only the later co-regents Konrad and Georg have survived. Count Heinrich belonged to the Bamberg and Würzburg cathedral chapters from an early age and was employed as domicellar .

Heinrich then went on to study. He studied from 1538 to 1542 at the universities of Ingolstadt , Orléans and Dole in France and at the Italian universities in Bologna and Padua . He then undertook an extensive journey through Italy and returned to Franconia in 1548. In the meantime his father had died and the count and his brothers took over the rule of the county.

At the same time Heinrich again took on spiritual offices. He became cathedral capitular in Würzburg and in this position also attended the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1550. As the envoy of the Würzburg bishop he also took part in the signing of the Passau Treaty . In 1553 the bishop sent him to Dresden. Soon afterwards he became governor and commander of the prince-bishop in Würzburg.

Evangelical diplomat

The year 1555 represents a decisive turning point in the Count's biography. With the recognition of Protestant teaching by the Peace of Augsburg , Heinrich also converted to Protestantism. Previously, the count resigned from his spiritual benefices in Würzburg and entered the service of the Lutheran Duke Christoph von Württemberg as a secret councilor . He accompanied him to the imperial coronation in Frankfurt in 1562 and to the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1566.

In 1556 Heinrich had received the Remlingen inheritance from his mother. Here he built the castle . With the legacy on October 7, 1560, the brothers divided the Franconian rule into "land portions" that only served as administrative districts. Heinrich took over the rule of Remlingen in the west of the county. From 1568 to 1569 he was director of the Frankish Counts College.

In Württemberg , Duke Christoph had died in the meantime, Heinrich entered the administration of the duchy as governor of Württemberg . In 1575, however, he gave up his offices there in order to devote himself more to rule in Franconia. Until 1577 he was a secret councilor and governor in the service of the Margraves of Ansbach. Heinrich IV died on September 20, 1595 and was buried in the church in Remlingen.

Marriage and offspring

Heinrich IV married Elisabeth Countess zu Helfenstein , who died in 1584. The sources are silent about the couple's children, as none took control of the county.

literature

• Bernd Heinrich Breslauer: Heinrich IV. Count and Lord zu Castell. A German book collector of the Renaissance and the bindings made for him during his student years in Orléans, Paris and Bologna (= New Year's Sheets of the Society for Franconian History XLI) . Castell 1992.
• Max Domarus: The portraits in the castle Rüdenhausen (= Friends of Mainfränkischer Kunst und Geschichte eV (Hrsg.): Mainfränkische Hefte. Issue 46) . Volkach 1966.
• Wilhelm Engel: House u. Reign of Castell in Franconian history . In: Society for Franconian History (ed.): Castell. Contributions to the culture and history of home and dominion. New Year's Sheets XXIV . Würzburg 1952. pp. 1-19.
• Otto Meyer: The Castell house. State and class rule over the centuries . In: Otto Meyer, Hellmut Kunstmann (ed.): Castell. State rule - castles - status lordship . Castell 1979. pp. 9-53.

Web links

Commons : Heinrich IV. Zu Castell  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meyer, Otto: The Castell House . P. 22 f.
2. ^ Breslauer, Bernd Heinrich: Heinrich IV. Count and Lord zu Castell . P. 18.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Domarus, Max: The portraits in Rüdenhausen Castle . P. 25.
4. ↑ Engel, Wilhelm: Haus u. Reign of Castell . P. 8.

predecessor	Office	successor
George I. Johann Friedrich V. Wolfgang I.	Count of Castell 1546–1595	Gottfried Wolfgang II.