Heinrich von Hohenlohe

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Heinrich von Hohenlohe
Grand Master's coat of arms of Heinrich von Hohenlohe

Heinrich von Hohenlohe (* around 1200; † July 15, 1249 ) was the seventh Grand Master of the Teutonic Order .

family

Heinrich was a member of the Franconian noble family Hohenlohe . His father was Count Heinrich von Hohenlohe († after 1212), his mother was Adelheid von Gundelfingen auf der Brenz († after 1230). After the death of his father, Heinrich's older brother Gottfried inherited this as the new Count of Hohenlohe. Heinrich was canon in Würzburg in 1218 .

German medal

He joined the Teutonic Order around 1219, together with his brothers Andreas and Friedrich. Together they made a gift of Mergentheim when they entered the Order . At the time of Hermann von Salza he was German Master of the Teutonic Order from 1232-1242 , so that all German comers were subordinate to him.

Regency council of the underage king

In 1237 he was also appointed to the Regency Council for the underage German King Konrad IV . His influence must have been very great at this time, as a contemporary wrote that "some Brothers of the Teutonic Order" ruled Germany. Heinrich must have been one of these Teutonic Knights. Heinrich's brother Andreas also founded the German Order House in Mergentheim during this time.

In 1244 Heinrich was elected the seventh Grand Master of the order.

Reform of the rule of the order

He achieved that Pope Innocent IV allowed the Teutonic Order to change its rule, which was not allowed until then. However, according to the Pope's will, the rule change should not affect the spiritual life of the Order. So Heinrich began to revise and standardize the rule of the order: he largely retained the Templar rule for military service and the Johanniter rule for service to the sick, but made the rule more concise and more precise than before. Above all, he adapted the rule to the new conditions in Prussia.

The oldest surviving copy of this rule dates from 1264. In addition to the Bible, the rule, the so-called order book , was the most important script of the Teutonic Order. The order book, which had to be present in every coming, that is in every house of the order, consisted of four parts. The first part, the prologue, described the history of the origins of the Teutonic Order and gave a theological foundation for religious life. The second part contained the rule, which contained the three monastic vows , the observances for nursing the sick and the rules for the community life of the monks. In the third part, the laws of the order were summarized, these were regulations for life in the community. The last part, the Customs, explains the constitution and the hierarchy of the Order, regulates the powers of the various offices in general, as well as in the case of war.

The costume of the order was also laid down: the Teutonic Knights should wear a white coat with a black cross on the left side of the coat. This aroused the anger of the Templars , as they wore the same costume, but the Teutonic Order was already so powerful that it was able to assert itself against the Templars. In the future, however, the Templars continued to wear the white coat with a red paw cross.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Detlev Schwennicke : European family tables . Family tables on the history of the European states. New episode, Volume XVII. Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1998, panel 1.

literature

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Heinrich von Hohenlohe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Henricus de Hohenlohe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
DATE OF BIRTH around 1200
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1249