Lords of Eselsberg

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According to Keller, probably the Eselsberg coat of arms
Eselsberg via Ensingen
Attempt to reconstruct Eselsberg Castle (1925)
Rebuilt church from Rechentshofen Monastery

The gentlemen of Eselsberg were Swabian noble freemen who only operated for a few generations under this name, which they had adopted after the acquisition of Eselsberg Castle via Ensingen , and died out in the middle of the 13th century. Their property on the southern edge of the Stromberg came to the Counts of Vaihingen through an heir daughter . The last representative named herself after Eselsberg from 1364.

origin

Likelihood of confusion

The noble gentlemen of Eselsberg had their eponymous seat on the Eselsberg near Ensingen and Horrheim , districts of Vaihingen an der Enz in the Ludwigsburg district since the 1970s . Your future Eselsberg Castle was first mentioned in 1188 as a Staufergut in a marriage agreement made in Seligenstadt between Emperor Friedrich I and King Alfons VIII of Castile together with Güglingen and other places as a marriage property. Since Eselsberg Castle has recently been mostly called Eselsburg , in the wake of this abbreviation a renaming of Herren von Eselsberg to Herren von Eselsburg has spread. However, this form of name cannot be documented with any document and is problematic in that it can lead to confusion with the Upper Swabian ministerial family , which was actually referred to as this and had its seat on the Eselsburg near Herbrechtingen in the Eselsburger Valley .

First mention and parentage

How the castle, which was intended to be married in 1188, and presumably also the surrounding property, came to the Lords of Eselsberg is not documented. In any case, it was already in their hands in 1194, since the brothers Werner and Heinrich, who were apparently close to the Hohenstaufen and mentioned here for the first and last time, met in a document from King Heinrich VI. already called by "Eselesberc". They were listed as witnesses directly behind Bertold von Kräheneck, which is additional evidence to clarify their origin. According to Werner Palmbach, the Eselsbergers are said to have called themselves "von Owenbühl" after the Auenbühl near Rechentshofen and, like the gentlemen of Weißenstein, emerged from the Kräheneck family . Possibly they descended from Count Hugo, comes de Creginecka (Kräheneck), mentioned in 1037, more certainly from Belremus de Creinhegge (Belrein von Kräheneck ), mentioned in 1148 . Like the Krähenecker, who passed on the rare guiding name Belrein over generations, their potential sideline also gave it to Belrein von Eselsberg in the next generation . It is not known from which of the aforementioned brothers Werner and Heinrich this Belrein is descended.

According to Adelbert von Keller, there is undoubtedly a relationship with the lords of Lomersheim , who are documented as relatives and who had their dominance south and west of the Eselsbergers.

Belrein von Eselsberg

Much more can be learned about Belrein von Eselsberg than about his ancestors. From 1232 to 1252 he appears regularly in documents that, among other things, prove his position as a nobleman , and stands out thanks to a monastery foundation. Rechentshofen Monastery and Eselsberg Castle came through its sole heir, Agnes, to the Counts of Vaihingen , who finally made the monastery their burial place and the castle their main residence.

Network of relationships

Belrein is not documented as a witness to a king like his ancestors. But as a prominent witness of the surrounding count houses: in addition to the Counts of Vaihingen, the Counts of Calw and von Löwenstein , who are related to them , as well as the Counts of Eberstein and the Margraves of Baden . For his most important legal act, the monastery foundation, he won instead of Count Hartmann I. von Grüningen as the first witness and sealer.

In documents from the Middle Ages, the neighborhood in the rows of witnesses also has a certain informative value about family or business relationships: next to Belrein there are the noble groups from Sternenfels , Lomersheim , Roßwag , Straubenhardt , Liebenstein , Bruchsal and Weißenstein . In addition to the Count of Grüningen, his monastery foundation was testified by Konrad von Sternenfels and his son, Konrad von Lomersheim, Berchtold von Weißenstein and his brothers Belrein and Helfrich, who were probably related to him or by marriage. In 1245 Albert von Lomersheim, canon of the main church in Speyer and priest of the people in Kleinsachsenheim , who described himself as a blood relative of Belrein, renounced all claims “to the new breaking toe in Rechentshofen in favor of the monastery there”.

Goods, fiefs, rights

According to Werner Palmbach, the Eselsbergers had, in addition to the castles Eselsberg and Owenbühl, property, income or rights in the following municipalities: Ensingen , Gündelbach , Horrheim , Hohenhaslach with Mittel- and Niederhaslach and Rechentshofen. However, only a part of it can be documented by means of documents: Before his monastery foundation, Belrein awarded the Maulbronn monastery various goods and assets in Gündelbach and Lichtenberg (presumably a desert in the Gündelbachtal) in June 1241 . His main witnesses were the noble freemen Konrad von Bromberg and Werner von Sternenfels , who lived in Stromberg .

City foundation?

Belrein von Eselsberg is said to have founded the town of Oberriexingen an der Enz around 1250 . Since there is no evidence of this, and a town elevation was more a matter of counts and required royal approval, this seems doubtful.

Eselsberger genetic material

Since Belrein von Eselsberg, who died around 1253, had no male successor and his daughter Berchtrade as a nun or abbess in Rechentshofen had no inheritance claims, Belrein's inheritance with Eselsberg Castle and the protective bailiwick of Rechentshofen Monastery fell to Count Konrad II von Vaihingen, who was married to daughter Agnes († around 1276). In order to alleviate its debt burden, his son Konrad III. von Vaihingen repeatedly sold goods from the Eselsberg inheritance from 1277 to 1298, but always needed the approval of his mother Agnes († around 1299), who apparently secured a strong position as a widow with her marriage contract . After the sale of the castle and town of Vaihingen an der Enz , its successors used Eselsberg Castle as their headquarters in the 14th century.

Although the last Vaihinger Count Heinrich bequeathed the rest of the Vaihingen rule to Count Eberhard von Württemberg , his sister, Countess Mechthild "von Zollern-Eselsberg" , had to be compensated after Heinrich's death in 1364. Nevertheless, until her death (around 1381) she owned Eselsberg Castle and rights in the surrounding communities. Even Count Friedrich von Zollern-Schalksburg , who was married to Mechthild, called himself "Herr zu Eselsberg", which suggests that this Eselsberg inheritance is highly valued.

swell

literature

  • Lothar Behr, Otto-Heinrich Elias, Manfred Scheck a. Ernst Eberhard Schmidt: History of the city of Vaihingen an der Enz , Ipa, Vaihingen 2001.
  • Thomas Faltin: The Cistercian convent Rechentshofen and its position towards spiritual and secular violence. In: Journal for Württemberg State History <ZWLG> 55 (1996) pp. 27–64.
  • Adelbert von Keller: Elblin von Eselsberg . In: Directory of the doctors appointed by the Philosophical Faculty of the royal Württemberg Eberhard-Karls-Universität zu Tübingen in the decanate years of 1855-1856 , Fues, Tübingen 1856, pp. 7–9. Google digitization .
  • Werner Palmbach: The Rechentshofen Monastery . In: Weinort Hohenhaslach. History and stories from 1200 years of village life . City of Sachsenheim (ed.), Sachsenheim 2000.
  • Karl Eduard Paulus : Description of the Oberamt Vaihingen . Issued by the Royal Bureau of Statistics and Topography. Hallberger, Stuttgart 1856. Wikisource .

Remarks

  1. ^ Adelbert von Keller, Elblin von Eselsberg , Tübingen 1856, p. 8.
  2. ^ As “castrum Elisperch” on April 23, 1188. See Württembergisches Urkundenbuch (WUB) Volume II, No. 457, pp. 256–260 WUB online
  3. ↑ WUB Volume II, No. 487, p. 301 WUB online
  4. ↑ Werner Palmbach: The Rechentshofen Monastery , in: Weinort Hohenhaslach - History and stories from 1200 years of village life , City of Sachsenheim (publisher), Sachsenheim 2000.
  5. ↑ See WUB Volume I, No. 222, pp. 263-265 WUB online
  6. ↑ See WUB Volume II, No. 327, pp. 43–45 WUB online .
  7. ^ Adelbert von Keller: Elblin von Eselsberg , Tübingen 1856, p. 8, evidenced by documents in Mones Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 4, pp. 341, 434.
  8. ↑ WUB Volume III, No. 950, pp. 454–455 WUB online
  9. ↑ WUB Volume IV, No. 1049, p. 107 WUB online
  10. ↑ Werner Palmbach: The Rechentshofen Monastery . In: Weinort Hohenhaslach. History and stories from 1200 years of village life . City of Sachsenheim (ed.), Sachsenheim 2000.
  11. ^ According to WUB online Lichtenberg near Oberstenfeld ; Lichtenberg in northern Alsace would also be conceivable . More obvious, however, appears to be a desert in the Gewann Lichtenberg, located above the Gündelbachtal (north-northwest of Gündelbach)
  12. ↑ See WUB Volume IV, No. 979, Pages 28-29 WUB online
  13. ^ According to the Oberriexingen homepage .
  14. ↑ Cf. WUB Volume VIII., No. 3042, pp. 270–271 WUB online (1281) or WUB Volume IX., No. 3518, page 68 WUB online (1286)
  15. ^ Robert Kretzschmar: Württemberg district town and customs station . In: Lothar Behr u. a .: History of the city of Vaihingen an der Enz , Ipa, Vaihingen 2001, p. 101ff.

Web links

Commons : Eselsberg (Stromberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files