Heinrich Reuss of Plauen

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Heinrich Reuss of Plauen
Grand Master's coat of arms of Heinrich Reuss von Plauen

Heinrich Reuss von Plauen (* 1400 ; † January 2, 1470 in Mohrungen ) was governor from 1467 and from 1469 to 1470 the 32nd Grand Master of the Teutonic Order .

family

He came from the family of Reichsvögte of Plauen and Weida (younger line) Vogt country that since the 13th century the nickname. Reuss led (Reuss = Russian) ; Heinrich Vogt von Plauen, † before 1309, spent many years in Russia.

Life

He joined the Teutonic Order at an early age and spent the first few years in a monastery in Germany. Around 1420 he went to the Prussian Order and took over the office of Vogt in the city of Dirschau . In 1433 he was appointed Komtur von Balga , and in 1440 he became Vogt of the Natangen region . From 1441, von Plauen was the highest Spittler and Commander of Elbing .

During the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466, also known as the City War) between the Prussian Confederation , which is allied with Poland, and the Order, he led the Order's army and made a name for himself through an overwhelming victory over the army of the general aristocracy of the Polish King Casimir IV. in the Battle of Konitz on September 17, 1454. He accompanied the Duke of Saxony, Wilhelm the Brave , to Jerusalem, where in 1461 he was knighted by the Holy Sepulcher . In 1466 von Plauen was appointed Commander of Prussian Holland .

Plauen was sponsored and supported by his uncle, Ludwig von Erlichshausen , who had been Grand Master of the order since 1450. When he died in 1467, von Plauen took over the leadership of the order as governor, without first being elected Grand Master. Since Marienburg, the previous seat of the Grand Master , was lost to Poland by the Second Peace of Thorne , von Plauen settled in Mohrungen.

He succeeded in reorganizing the badly shaken order. Many places pledged to mercenary leaders could also be recovered.

On October 17, 1469, Heinrich Reuss von Plauen was also formally appointed 32nd Grand Master of the Teutonic Order against his will. He wanted to avoid having to take the oath of allegiance to King of Poland Casimir IV Jagiełło as Grand Master .

He died eleven weeks later on January 2, 1470 of the consequences of a stroke that he suffered on his return from a trip to Petrikau, where he had sworn the oath of allegiance imposed on the Polish king by the Second Peace of Thor. He was buried in the Königsberg Cathedral . In memory of the work of the Grand Master in Mohrungen, the district of the same name included the Plauen lion in its coat of arms in 1928.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Reuß von Plauen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Georg Kohl: Pilgrimage of Landgrave Wilhelm the Brave of Thuringia to the Holy Land in 1461 , Müller 1868, page 70
personal data
SURNAME Heinrich Reuss of Plauen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobleman, 32nd Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (1467–1470)
DATE OF BIRTH 1400
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1470
Place of death Moors