Jakob von Zweibrücken-Bitsch

Jakob von Zweibrücken-Bitsch (born  July 19, 1510 - †  March 22, 1570 in Sturzelbronn ) was the last count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch . He tried by all means to increase his fortune and that of his descendants through inheritance, but could not prevent the Zweibrücken-Bitsch line from ending with his death.

Life

Jakob von Zweibrücken-Bitsch was born as the third son of Count Reinhard von Zweibrücken-Bitsch and Lichtenberg (* around 1470 - † 1532) and his wife Anna von Salm (* around 1480 - † 1541).

His eldest brother was Simon V. Wecker (1505–1540), who in 1532 initially inherited the common father as Count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch. The younger brother Wilhelm (* 1507) became canon of Strasbourg at the age of seven and therefore played no role in the succession of the county. In addition, Jabob had two sisters, Elisabeth (* November 4, 1504 - March 8, 1575) and Johanna (* June 10, 1517), who were not eligible for the inheritance of the county, as it was a fiefdom of the Duchy of Lorraine , that could only be inherited in the male line.

The father's inheritance

In the county of Zweibrücken-Bitsch there was an inheritance statute established in 1476, according to which every male descendant received a few castles, the oldest, however, the sovereignty and the main castle Bitsch . In addition, none of the younger brothers was allowed to marry as long as the eldest brother had male legitimate offspring or could hope for.

After Count Reinhard's death in 1532, a dispute about his inheritance began: At first, the two brothers jointly refused their mother several claims from the estate and only reluctantly fulfilled their obligations to set up a widow's residence in Burgaltdorf , so that several relatives intervened , in particular Wilhelm von Hohnstein , Bishop of Strasbourg.

According to the inheritance statute, Simon V. Wecker became the new Count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, but it still remained to be determined how the castles from the paternal inheritance should be divided among the brothers. Promised To this end, Simon alarm clock and Jacob Although the truce in the common Veste Lichtenberg were, but then quickly divided and finally demanded - notwithstanding the Erbstatuts 1476 - the division of all the possessions of the family. During the two-year negotiations, the two brothers jointly administered the county until they signed a new partition treaty on July 24, 1535. Simon Wecker received Bitsch, Medelsheim, Ingweiler, Reichshofen, Wasenburg and Waldeck, Jakob received Lemberg, Landeck, Lindelbol, Kleinarnoburg, Wörth, Bischofsheim and Brumath. The fortress Lichtenberg, the copper mine in Görsdorf and the Kastvogtei in Ingweiler remained in the joint ownership of the two brothers.

Marriage and offspring

Simon Wecker married Barbara von Dun in 1526. The marriage resulted in two daughters: Esther († 1542), who died unmarried, and Amalie (* 1537; † 1577), who married Count Philip I of Leiningen-Westerburg (* 1527; † 1597).

After Jakob's marriage ban had been lifted by the partition contract of 1535, he married Countess Katharina von Hohnstein on April 13, 1536 . Jacob's son Johann Friederich was born a year later, but died on August 22, 1538. In 1540, their daughter Ludovica Margaretha was born, who in 1560 married Count Philipp V. von Hanau-Lichtenberg (* 1541; † 1599).

The legacy of Simon Wecker

On July 7, 1540, Simon Wecker deposited his will with a notary in Hagenau. In it he determined the following: If he should still have male heirs, the eldest son should receive the county and be allowed to marry, the others would have to remain celibate. Otherwise his brother Jacob should inherit everything that cannot be passed on to female descendants, in addition to the county, cities, castles, land and people who are male or family fiefs. His two daughters Esther and Amalia (under the tutelage of their mother Barbara) would receive the rest.

Less than four months later, Simon V. Wecker died on October 28, 1540 at the age of 35 and Jakob became Count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch. Jacob did not recognize his brother's will and claimed his brother's entire estate for himself. In doing so, he relied on the inheritance statute of 1476, according to which female descendants were not entitled to inheritance rights as long as male heirs existed. In this dispute between Jakob and Simon Wecker's widow, Barbara von Dun, as the guardian of their daughters, Elector Ludwig VI mediated . In the so-called Heidelberg settlement of 1541, Jakob was awarded the entire lordship of Bitsch , but with the proviso that it should revert to the daughters of Simon Wecker if Jabob died without a male heir. The sisters received all of Simon Wecker's possessions outside of the Bitsch rulership, as well as a residence in the castle at Reichshoffen and a severance payment of 6,000 guilders.

One year later, in 1542, Jakob von Zweibrücken-Bitsch drew up his will in which he bequeathed all of his property to his daughter Ludovica Margaretha and her heirs. In doing so, he ignored the inheritance statute of 1476, the partition contract of 1535 and the Heidelberg settlement of 1541.

The legacy of Ochsenstein

In 1559 Jakob inherited the possessions of his cousin Count Georg von Zweibrücken-Bitsch and Ochsenstein. However, the Ochsenstein rule had been pledged to Ulrich von Ratsamhausen since 1527 and later passed on to Sebastian von Landsberg . Jakob released the pledge immediately and changed his title to Graf von Zweybrücken, Herr zu Bitsch, Lichtenberg and Ochsenstein .

The last written mention of Jacob is documented in 1566, after which there were weaknesses and attacks of both mind and body . His daughter and only direct heir, Ludovica Margaretha, died during Jacob's lifetime in December 1569. Three months later, Jakob traveled to the Sturzelbronn Monastery , where he died on March 22, 1570. Jacob's wife Katharina died on November 11, 1570. Both are buried in Sturzelbronn.

The legacy of Zweibrücken-Bitsch

After Jacob's death, the husbands of the two cousins ​​Amalie, daughter of Simon Wecker, and Ludovica Margaretha, daughter of Jakob, fought over his inheritance.

Philipp V von Hanau-Lichtenberg, the widower of Jacob's daughter, inherited the Bitsch main estate, first of all the two offices of Lemberg and Bitsch. The former Lichtenberg possessions fell to his father, the ruling Count Philip IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg , due to an older inheritance contract .

Philipp I zu Leiningen-Westerburg, the husband of Simon Wecker's daughter Amalie, however, denied this inheritance claim due to the regulations in Simon V. Wecker's will. However, due to the events that followed, he did not succeed.

After Philip V had introduced the Lutheran confession in his newly acquired rule and began to secularize the Sturzelbronn Abbey in December 1571, the Catholic Duchy of Lorraine intervened as a feudal lord and took over the county of Bitsch by military force in July 1572. Only in 1604 was there a contractual agreement and in February 1606 the peace treaty between Lorraine and Hanau-Lichtenberg.

reception

The Zimmerische Chronik vividly portrays Jacob's character and life at his court in Bitsch. In the spring of 1556, the author of the chronicle, Count Froben Christoph von Zimmer , was on his way to St. Omer , in what was then County Artois (now in the Pas-de-Calais department ). The wedding of Count Philip II von Eberstein to Johanna de Bailleul was to be celebrated there. The travelers met with some other guests, including Count Philipp von Hanau-Lichtenberg, for a three-day stay at the court of Count Jakob von Zweibrücken-Bitsch, from where they traveled on together.

Count Froben reports in his chronicle of an incomparable gluttony at the court of Jacob. This began at 10 a.m. with a four-hour morning meal, went over to dinner around 5 p.m. and culminated in the so-called sleeping potion , which was a full, lavish meal and lasted until 2 a.m.

The guests, who were not used to this extravagant way of life, tried to evade the heavy eating and heavy drinking through various tricks. When Count Jakob recognized this, he urged her to take part in the meals. When they didn’t obey, he threatened his guests to have them locked in the tower. The guests then bribed the cellar master so that he only poured them light wine and not the strongest and best intended by the host. When Count Jakob found out, he imprisoned the cellar master for his disobedience.

Count Froben's descriptions sound very drastic, but they are confirmed in a condolence letter from Count Palatine Richard von Simmern to Young Count Philipp V von Hanau-Lichtenberg on the occasion of Count Jakob's death. It literally says:

"Accordingly, knowing that the imaginary gray Jacob lived with his family, there was a Seltzams rule and order, with eating and eating, going to sleep and standing, even half-afraid of the night's journey, so if we weren't against you, we'd like to be tolerable Wearing parting knowledge, especially because he is said to have died in the Munchs Closter in Sturtzelbrunn. "

The report by Count Froben can be read under the title Der Trunk zu Bitsch as a retelling by Karl Braun in the language of the 19th century.

literature

• Karl Braun : During the war . Stories, sketches and studies. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1871, p. 213-242 ( MDZ ). The chapter Der Trunk zu Bitsch is the retelling of the report from the Zimmerische Chronik, Volume 4, pp. 265–281 in modern language (19th century).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Heinrich Zedler (ed.): Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . tape 64 . Halle and Leipzig 1750, p. 1259-1260 ( Zedler Lexicon ).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Johann Georg Lehmann : Documentary history of the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg . tape 2 . J. Schneider, Mannheim 1863, p. 336-406 ( MDZ ).
3. ^ Hans Ammerich : Zweibrücken-Bitsch . In: Werner Paravicini (ed.): Courtyards and residences in the late medieval empire . tape 4. , Counts and Lords / Teilbd. 2. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7995-4525-9 , p. 1802–1805 ( Academy of Sciences in Göttingen [PDF]).
4. ^ ^{A b} Hans-Walter Herrmann : The county of Zweibrücken-Bitsch . In: Kurt Hoppstädter , Hans-Walter Herrmann (Hrsg.): Geschichtliche Landeskunde des Saarlandes . tape 2 , From the Frankish conquest to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Saarbrücken 1977, ISBN 3-921870-00-3 , p. 323-332 .
5. ^ ^{A b c} Karl Pöhlmann: The last count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch . In: West Palatinate history sheets . tape 21 , 1919, pp. 14-16 .
6. ↑ Zimmerische Chronik, Volume 4, pp. 265–281 (p. 265 in Wikisource) .