Reign of Ardey

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The rule Ardey was a historical territory in today's Unna district between Haarstrang and Ruhr . The noblemen of Ardey were feudal men of the Archbishop of Cologne , but the Arnsberg counts also regarded themselves as overlords. The Ardey family died out in the 14th century.

coat of arms

The coat of arms is divided four times over the cross into eight fields with alternating tinctures.

possession

The ancestral seat was Ardey Castle on an elevation of the mountain range of the same name between Dellwig and Fröndenberg Monastery . Only a few remains of the castle wall have survived.

The Ardey dominion essentially comprised the parishes of Dellwig, Fröndenberg , Bausenhagen and Frömern north of the Ruhr .

In addition, the noblemen had extensive possessions in other areas, particularly in the county of Arnsberg. This included possessions in part mixed with the noblemen of Rüdenberg near Arnsberg. These possessions and rights consisted of churches, main courtyards, mansions, fishing rights, tithe, pensions, free chairs, and more. The noblemen also had many ministerials and vassals in the area around Arnsberg, especially in Wicheln , Hüsten , Neheim , Ober - and Niedereimer , Herdringen , Bruchhausen , Reigern, Müschede and a number of other places. The core of this property in the county of Arnsberg was the Curtis Wicion. This was originally in the possession of the Counts of Werl and later went to the Archbishop of Cologne, who gave it to the ancestors of the noble lords of Rüdenburg and Ardey as a fief.

In addition, the noble lords had owned some possessions in the Münsterland by marriage since the 13th century.

Apart from the Münster estates, the rest of the property was essentially fiefdom from the Cologne church. In contrast, the high and low jurisdiction lay with the Counts of Arnsberg. The Counts of Arnsberg saw the bailiffs of the noble lords of Ardey as only a delegated part of their royal deputy function and therefore regarded themselves as the actual overlords of the Ardey lordship. The up-and-coming Counts von der Mark also tried to influence the Ardeyans' possessions.

history

The chroniclers of earlier centuries made numerous speculations about the early history of the family. It cannot be proven, for example, that it is a family of counts that goes back to the 7th century.

The first representative of the family known from sources was Boland von Ardey around 1130. Around 1150, his widow Wiltrudis and son Eathard gave up the border property and the castle Scheda for the construction of the Premonstratensian monastery Scheda . The family had bailiwick rights over the monastery and the church became their burial place. Eathard later became a lay brother in Scheda. His brothers also entered the clergy.

A younger line of the lords of Ardey probably descended from the nobles of Rüdenburg. With the property she also took over the name and coat of arms of the Ardeys. Eberhard von Ardey , who initially called himself von Wiclon, appears in the sources for the first time in 1177. In the following decades he appeared as a witness in documents of the Counts of Arnsberg, the Archbishops of Cologne and other lords. In 1190 Eberhard donated the tithe of one of its possessions to Wedinghausen Monastery . In 1202, Eberhard was no longer alive, as suggested by a deed to donate a main courtyard and three farms with the approval of the Archbishop of Cologne as liege lord to the Scheda monastery.

He was succeeded by the brother Jonathan I of Ardey . Since 1195 this appeared in documents next to his brother. After his death, Jonathan appeared as a witness in various legal acts. In 1215 there was the patronage right of the church in Mengede , which was a fief of the Cologne church. At Jonathan's request, the patronage was transferred to the Scheda monastery. In 1221 he renounced a fiefdom near Uentrop in favor of the Wedinghausen monastery. He probably died in 1254.

He was succeeded by his son Jonathan II, whose marriage remained childless and withdrew after the death of his wife. His brother Wilhelm I first issued a document in 1277. In 1289 he sold his farm in Hüsten to Count Ludwig von Arnsberg . A year later he transferred the Scheda monastery and the church of Hüsten to the Count of Arnsberg, which had previously been donated to the monastery by Wilhelm. In 1310 he sold Gut Wildshausen . In the following years there were further donations and sales. Wilhelm I died around 1318. Through his sales, the importance of the noble lords of Ardey was greatly reduced.

His successor was the son Wilhelm II of Ardey , who was first mentioned in a document in 1282. After the death of his father he called himself vir nobilis in a document from 1318. After that there is no news about the gender. A large part of the possessions near Arnsberg fell to the Counts of Arnsberg. The different legal claims over the core area of ​​rule led to conflicts between Count Gottfried IV. And Archbishop Wilhelm , which ended in 1354 with a settlement that practically meant the waiver of the Arnsberg claims. The property fell to the County of Mark.

literature

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