Lordship of Lichtenberg

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Coat of arms of the Lords of Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg Castle after an engraving by Merian

The rule of Lichtenberg was a territory of the German Empire , which developed under the Lords of Lichtenberg mainly in Lower Alsace around the cities of Strasbourg and Haguenau and later spread to the opposite, right side of the Rhine . At the end of the Middle Ages , the Lichtenbergers gradually succeeded in gaining dominance in this area through a consistent territorial policy. Lichtenberg's history was initially shaped by its position in the area of ​​tension between the diocese of Metz , the diocese of Strasbourg and the up-and-coming city of Strasbourg.

Beginnings in the region

Oldest appropriate certificates prove a territorial features the reign Lichtenberg with allod and from Empire - feud within the imperial city of Hagenau . Around 1230 they build their ancestral castle Lichtenberg there . With the decline of the Hohenstaufen power, the Lords of Lichtenberg leaned closely on the diocese of Strasbourg.

The policy of the Lords of Lichtenberg towards the diocese of Metz was only partially successful: two Lords of Lichtenberg also became canons in Metz and the diocese transferred some fiefs and the bailiwick of the Neuweiler monastery in Metz ( French : Neuwiller-lès-Saverne). But then this form of acquisition policy got stuck and the Lords of Lichtenberg tried violence: They used a vacancy in the diocese of Metz to occupy the area around Neuweiler , but then had to compromise when their military approach threatened to fail. They were allowed to keep their Metz fiefs, but they had to vacate the occupied area. Ultimately, the Lichtenbergers ousted the diocese of Metz from Lower Alsace by giving loans to the diocese of Metz and having territories of the diocese pledged for them. This was successful in the long run and Metz lost its influence east of the Vosges .

The office of bailiff over the city of Strasbourg, which the Lichtenbergers had held since 1249, was increasingly eroded over the years by the city's citizens. The Lichtenbergers let most of the associated rights be bought by the citizens, so that the office increasingly had only symbolic character. On the other hand, the Lichtenbergers gained allies if they wanted to take action against the bishops of Metz or Strasbourg.

rich

In the dispute between Albrecht von Habsburg and Adolf von Nassau , the Lords of Lichtenberg were on the Habsburg side. In the Battle of Göllheim they fought on the side of the victor, Albrechts von Habsburg. Kuno von Bergheim was one of his opponents. The Lichtenbergers destroyed its Crax (Krax) castle and transported their building materials by water to the vicinity of the Schwarzach monastery in the Rhine valley, where they built the Lichtenau moated castle on allodial terrain . After Albrecht's death, the Lords of Lichtenberg largely withdrew from imperial politics in the first half of the 14th century. Getting involved there no longer brought them any advantages in the regional competition.

Territorial expansion

The Lichtenbergers now pursued two goals: the better protection of their ancestral castle Lichtenberg and the connection of their scattered territories left and right of the Rhine. The former succeeded by buying various castles in the vicinity of the ancestral castle, the latter only incompletely: The Lichtenberg rule could never grow together into a closed territory. However, the territory was strengthened by the fact that from the end of the 13th century an internal administration was built up, which brought the individual villages, towns, individual farms, mills and other rights of an area together to form an office as the middle administrative level, a development that in the middle of the 15th century - even after a considerable increase in the area - was completed and led to the following structure of the Lichtenberg lordship:

The Lords of Lichtenberg obtained city rights for the following places in their territory: Buchsweiler (1291), Lichtenau (1300), Lichtenberg (1305), Wœrth (1330), Westhofen (1332), Neuweiler (1337), Brumath (1347) and Gœrsdorf (1348 ). All of these cities received the city ​​charter of Haguenau .

Dynastic division

In the 14th century, the Lichtenberg rule was divided into two parts because there was more than one descendant entitled to inherit.

First division

Johann II and the older line

The first case occurred after the death of Ludwig I von Lichtenberg in 1271. However, the joint management of the family property by the two sons and heirs, Heinrich II. Von Lichtenberg and Ludwig II. (Who, however, died almost at the same time as his father, so that his son Johann I von Lichtenberg entered the inheritance) apparently worked largely without any problems . It was not until 1330 that the rule was actually divided between two great-grandchildren of Ludwig I. These are Johann II. Von Lichtenberg ("Hannemann"), who headed the older line at that time, and Ludwig III. from Lichtenberg . The older line received the office Willstätt and beyond that the places Bosselshausen with the Vogtei over the Neuweiler Klosterhof Waltorf, Bouxwiller (Bas-Rhin) half, Burg Lichtenberg (Alsace) half, Duntzenheim half, Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne , Half of Gibichweiler , Gœrsdorf , Gottesheim , Hattmatt half, Hohatzenheim half, Hohfrankenheim half, Ingwiller half, Kirrwiller half, Lichtenberg (Bas-Rhin) half, Menchhoffen , Mitschdorf (half?), Mittelhausen (Bas- Rhin) half, Neuburg am Rhein , Niedersteinbach (Bas-Rhin) , Obersoultzbach , Printzheim , Reitwiller half, Rothbach , Schwindratzheim (Büttelei), Uttwiller , Waltenheim-sur-Zorn half, Wilshausen , Wimmenau , Wœllenheim (Vogtei) and Half of Wolfisheim .

After 1332 a few other possessions could be acquired, namely: half of Brumath, half of Arnsberg Castle , Gries , Gumbrechtshoffen , Mietesheim (half?), Ringendorf (Bas-Rhin) , Schalkendorf , Weitbruch and Zinswiller .

Ludwig III.

Ludwig III. on the other hand administered the Lichtenau office and also half of the towns of Bischholtz , Bouxwiller (Bas-Rhin), half of Brumath, half of Arnsberg Castle, half of Lichtenberg Castle (Alsace), half of the moated castle of Niederbronn-les-Bains , Schöneck Castle ( Alsace) , Waldeck Castle (Lorraine) , half of Duntzenheim, half of Durningen , Durstel , Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne Geiswiller , Gimbrett , half of Gœrsdorf, half of Griesbach-le-Bastberg , Hagenbach, half of Hattmatt, half of Hohatzenheim , Half of Hohfrankenheim, half of Hüneburg (Alsace) , Imbsheim , half of Ingwiller, half of Kirrwiller , Lichtenberg (Bas-Rhin), half of Littenheim , Lohr (Bas-Rhin) , Mittelhausen (Bas-Rhin), half of Morsbronn-les- Bains , Neuwiller-lès-Saverne , Niedermodern halfway Oberhoffen-sur-Moder halfway Obermodern , Offwiller , Pfaffenhoffen (half?) Reipertswiller , Reitwiller halfway Reitwiller , Riedheim (Bouxwiller) , Rothenbach , Schillersdorf , Schweyen , Schwindratzhei m (village), Sparsbach , Uhrwiller , Waltenheim-sur-Zorn half, Wickersheim (Wickersheim-Wilshausen) , Wilshausen , Wimmenau , Wintersbourg , Wœrth (castle and town), Wolfisheim half and Zittersheim .

Second division

Ludwig III. was at the same time regent for his nephew, Simund von Lichtenberg , who was still underage , son of his brother, Johann III, who died in 1324 . from Lichtenberg . In order to prevent a family conflict, Ludwig III. hence the inheritance again in 1335 between his son and successor, Heinrich IV. von Lichtenberg , and his nephew Simund, who thus established the middle line of the family.

Middle line

He received: Bischholtz, Brumath half, Burg Groß-Arnsberg, Lichtenberg Castle (Alsace) half, Schöneck Castle (Alsace), Durstel, Hagenbach half, Hohatzenheim half, Hohfrankenheim half, Ingwiller half, Lichtenberg (Bas -Rhin) half, Littenheim, Lohr (Bas-Rhin), Mittelhausen (Bas-Rhin) half, Morsbronn-les-Bains, Neuwiller-lès-Saverne, Offwiller, Reipertswiller, Reitwiller half Rothbach, Schillersdorf, Sparsbach, Uhrwiller , Wimmenau, Wintersbourg, Wolfisheim half and Zittersheim.

Younger line

Heinrich IV, on the other hand, received half of the Lichtenau office and half of Bouxwiller (Bas-Rhin), half of Burg Waldeck (Alsace), Durningen, Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne, Geiswiller, Gimbrett, Gœrsdorf half, Griesbach-le-Bastberg, Hüneburg (Alsace), Imbsheim, half of Kirrwiller, half of the moated castle of Niederbronn-les-Bains, half of Niedermodern, half of Oberhoffen-sur-Moder, Obermodern, Pfaffenhoffen (half of?), Reitwiller, Riedheim (Bouxwiller), Schweyen, Schwindratzheim, Wickersheim, Wilshausen and Wœrth (castle and town).

Familiar handling of the division of the country

Such a divided state of domination always contained the potential for a breakup, of conflicts within the family and a loss of importance towards third parties. The family tried to counteract this with an internal alliance of December 31, 1353 and two inheritance contracts 1361/62. The family managed to get through the period of division into different lines without major alienation from property. A further increase in ownership came when the Lichtenbergers succeeded in installing Johann von Lichtenberg (1300 / 1305–1365) in 1353 as Bishop of Strasbourg . He procured numerous fiefs from the stock of the diocese for his family .

Ludwig IV and his successors

Genealogical coincidences also had a centralizing effect: in 1390 the older line died out, in 1405 the middle line, so that Ludwig IV was able to reunite the rule in one hand.

On the other hand, Ludwig IV had to cope with two severe political defeats: In alliance with the Strasbourg bishop, he waged a war against the Electorates . In doing so, he was captured. In order to raise the ransom of 30,000 guilders , he had to pledge a quarter of the Lichtenberg rule to his future father-in-law, Margrave Bernhard I of Baden . The second political disaster was a defeat in a war against the citizens of Strasbourg. This led to his resignation in 1429 in favor of his two sons who were still underage. That was Jakob von Lichtenberg and Ludwig V. von Lichtenberg (* May 12, 1417, † February 25, 1471).

The last Lichtenbergers

The two heirs, Ludwig V and Jakob , were completely opposing characters: The older one, Jakob von Lichtenberg, was primarily interested in "sciences", astrology and alchemy . As an elder, he claimed political leadership of the government but failed to exercise it adequately. Ludwig V, on the other hand, had the political talent to claim the leadership position when he was younger. This constellation gave rise to disputes for years. In 1440 these led to a division of the country between the two. However, since Jacob apparently did not perform his duties as sovereign adequately, the real power in the entire rule again lay with Ludwig V after the division of the country.

In 1450 a war broke out between the Lichtenbergers, the Counts of Leiningen and their respective allies. On June 5, 1451 there was a battle near Reichshofen . The opponents of the Lichtenbergers were completely defeated: The leaders of the opponents, Count Scharfried von Leiningen and Georg von Ochsenstein were taken prisoner, were politically eliminated for years and Lichtenberg emerged from the fight with territorial gains.

Whereabouts of the territory

Jacob had no children from the marriage and Louis V. and had two daughters Anna and Elizabeth, therefore " heiresses were" so her paternal inheritance, the rule Lichtenberg could bequeath to their heirs:

  • Elisabeth married Count Simon IV. Wecker von Zweibrücken-Bitsch . After this line became extinct in 1570, the half of the Lichtenberg inheritance that had first passed to Zweibrücken fell to Hanau-Lichtenberg through its inheritance.

When Ludwig V died in 1471, his brother initially formally inherited the rule. In fact, however, he was forced out of the administration by renouncing the government in 1466 and the two sons-in-law of Ludwig V actually took over the administration of the Lichtenberg rule until they divided the rule among themselves after Jacob's death in 1480.

See also

literature

  • Fritz Eyer: The territory of the Lords of Lichtenberg 1202-1480. Investigations into the property, the rule and the politics of domestic power of a noble family from the Upper Rhine . In: Writings of the Erwin von Steinbach Foundation . 2nd edition, unchanged in the text, by an introduction extended reprint of the Strasbourg edition, Rhenus-Verlag, 1938. Volume 10 . Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1985, ISBN 3-922923-31-3 (268 pages).
  • Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhoven: European family tables III. Marburg 1976, plate 90.
  • Charles Haudot: Les Sceaux des Lichtenberg et des Hanau-Lichtenberg . In: Société d'Histoire et d'Archaeologie de Saverne et Environs (Eds.): Cinquième centenaire de la création du Comté de Hanau-Lichtenberg 1480 - 1980 = Pays d'Alsace 111/112 (2, 3/1980), p 39-46.
  • JG Lehmann: Documented history of the county Hanau-Lichtenberg in the lower Alsace . 2 vol., O. O. 1862 (?). ND Pirmasens 1970.
  • Peter Karl Weber: Lichtenberg. Alsatian domination on the way to becoming a territorial state. Writings of the Erwin von Steinbach Foundation Frankfurt, 12. Guderjahn, Heidelberg 1993. Diss. Phil. University of Bern 1989.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ At Mittelbergheim in Alsace, see: List of castles, palaces and fortresses in Alsace .
  2. ↑ About the Name: While its hilltop castle " Lichten mountain had" called now Wasserburg received in the Rhine valley the name " Lichten au ". The Lichtenthal monastery near Baden-Baden (previously: "Büren Monastery") also got its name from the Lichtenberg House (Eyer, p. 20).
  3. ↑ Every son who did not enter the clergy was entitled to an equal share.
  4. ↑ The exact date has not been determined because the certificate of division has not been received.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eyer, p. 21.
  2. ↑ Eyer, p. 22f.
  3. ↑ Eyer, p. 26.
  4. ↑ Eyer, p. 22.
  5. ↑ Eyer, p. 29.
  6. ↑ Eyer, p. 27.
  7. ↑ Eyer, p. 28.
  8. ↑ Eyer, p. 29.
  9. ↑ Eyer, p. 29f.
  10. ↑ Eyer, p. 238.
  11. ↑ Eyer, p. 160.
  12. ↑ Eyer, p. 228f.
  13. ↑ Freytag von Loringhoven, plate 90; Eyer, p. 30.
  14. ↑ Eyer, p. 78.
  15. ↑ Eyer, p. 78.
  16. ↑ Eyer, pp. 79f.
  17. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  18. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  19. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, half to the older and half to the middle line.
  20. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  21. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  22. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  23. ↑ Eyer, p. 79.
  24. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  25. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  26. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  27. ↑ Eyer, pp. 79f.
  28. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  29. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, half to the older and half to the middle line.
  30. ↑ According to Eyer, p. 78, on the older line.
  31. ↑ Eyer, pp. 87ff.
  32. ↑ Eyer, p. 30.
  33. ↑ Freytag von Loringhoven, plate 90.
  34. ↑ Eyer, p. 32.
  35. ↑ Eyer, p. 32f.
  36. ↑ Eyer, p. 34.
  37. ↑ Eyer, p. 34.
  38. ↑ Eyer, p. 35.
  39. ↑ Eyer, p. 36.