Johann (Hanau)

Johann von Hanau was a redirect to this article. For other people see Johann von Hanau (disambiguation) .

Johann von Hanau (* around 1377; † March 4, 1411 in Frankfurt am Main ) was - together with his brother, Reinhard II. Von Hanau - co-ruler of the Hanau rule from 1404 .

origin

Johann von Hanau was a son of Ulrich IV. Von Hanau and his wife Elisabeth von Wertheim . In addition to Reinhard II, he had two other brothers, Ulrich V. and Konrad . Johann remained unmarried for dynastic reasons, as in Hanau primogeniture was valid and until the end of the Middle Ages only the oldest brother was allowed to marry and inherit. Normally, later born children entered the spiritual state . It is noticeable that with Johann and his brother, Reinhard II, male family members born afterwards remain secular for the first time. One of Ulrich IV's sons, it could have been Johann, was enrolled as a student at Heidelberg University in 1390 . The corresponding entry in the matriculation does not give a nickname, but only speaks of a " domicellus de Hanaw ".

Pedigree of Count Philipp Ludwig II of Hanau-Munzenberg
Great grandparents	Ulrich II. Von Hanau (* 1280; † 1346) ∞ Agnes von Hohenlohe (* before 1295; † 1343)	Gerlach von Nassau (* 1283; † 1361) ∞ Agnes von Hessen (*?; † 1371)	Rudolf III. von Wertheim (* 1302; † 1355) ∞ Elisabeth von Breuberg (*?; † 1358)	Friedrich IV of Hohenzollern (* 1287; † 1332) ∞ Margaret of Carinthia (*?; † after 1348)
Grandparents	Ulrich III. von Hanau (* approx. 1310; † 1369/70) ∞ Adelheid von Nassau (*?; † 1344)		Eberhard I. von Wertheim (*?; † 1373) ∞ Katharina von Hohenzollern (*?; † n. 1369)
parents	Ulrich IV. Von Hanau (* 1330/40; † 1380) ∞ Elisabeth von Wertheim (* 1347; † 1378)
Johann von Hanau

For the family cf. Main article: Hanau (noble family)

Taking office

requirements

The immediate heir of Ulrich IV of Hanau was Johann's older brother, Ulrich V. This ruled the Hanau rule formally from 1380 (there was a guardianship because of his minority ) and from around 1388 personally. However, he remained without male heirs.

Due to the Primogeniture applicable in Hanau, only the oldest son was allowed to marry. The childlessness of the ruling Herr von Hanau threatened the continued existence of his family. A family contract from 1391 was supposed to compensate for this: Among other things, it stipulated that Reinhard (II), Johann's next older brother, should be able to marry after ten years if Ulrich V had not fathered any male heirs by then. This period expired in 1401.

A coalition of Reinhard II and his brother Johann has been established since around 1395, appearing independently and separately from Ulrich V and pursuing a policy directed against him. This led to an open dispute, which had to be settled for the first time with a settlement in 1398. Nevertheless, there were further disputes up to and including a feud . Furthermore, since 1394, and increasingly since 1396, it can be proven that Ulrich V got into economic difficulties. That finally reached up to a pledge of the two cities of Hanau and Babenhausen to the Archbishop Johann II of Mainz , who then became in fact co-regent in the Hanau rule. It is difficult to evaluate this process. On the one hand, the Archdiocese of Mainz was a political competitor and neighbor of the Hanau rulership. On the other hand, it must be taken into account that Ulrich V and his brothers were second degree nephews of the Archbishop of Mainz - so everything stayed in the family.

Coup of 1404

From 1400 onwards, and increasingly from 1402 onwards, Reinhard (II) and his brother Johann seem to have moved closer politically to Archbishop Johann II of Mainz, who finally changed fronts in the family dispute in Hanau and dropped Ulrich V. In 1404 Ulrich V was gradually deposed until Reinhard II and his younger brother Johann jointly forced the older brother to abdicate on November 26, 1404. Reinhard II and Johann ruled together until Johann's death in 1411, Reinhard II then alone.

rating

The role of Johann in all these processes is difficult to assess. In the archival records, he takes a back seat to his older brother, Reinhard II. This is already the case in the surviving documents and is reinforced by the fact that Johann died forty years before his older brother, who also plays a dominant role in the history of the rule and county of Hanau - among other things as the first Count of Hanau.

literature

• Reinhard Dietrich : The state constitution in Hanau. The position of the lords and counts in Hanau-Münzenberg based on the archival sources (= Hanauer Geschichtsblätter. Vol. 34). Hanau History Association, Hanau 1996, ISBN 3-9801933-6-5 .
• Reinhard Dietrich: The abdication of Ulrich V. von Hanau. Causes and consequences. In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter. Vol. 31, 1993, ZDB -ID 957666-6 , pp. 7-33.
• Reinhard Suchier : Genealogy of the Hanauer count house . In: Festschrift of the Hanau History Association for its 50th anniversary celebration on August 27, 1894 . Hanau 1894.
• Ernst Julius Zimmermann : Hanau city and country. Cultural history and chronicle of a Franconian weatherwave city and former county. With special consideration of the older time. Increased edition. Self-published, Hanau 1919 (Unchanged reprint. Peters, Hanau 1978, ISBN 3-87627-243-2 ).

References

1. ^ Gustav Toepke : The register of the University of Heidelberg from 1386 to 1662. Part 1: From 1386 to 1553. Winter et al., Heidelberg 1884, p. 43, (reprint. Kraus Reprint, Nendeln / Lichtenstein 1976); Adolf Stölzel : The development of the learned judiciary in German territories. A legal historical investigation with preferential consideration of the conditions in the area of ​​the former Electorate of Hesse. Volume 2: Attachments. Register. Cotta, Stuttgart 1872, p. 52, (Neudruck. Scientia-Verlag, Aalen 1964), mistakenly puts this mention on the year 1389.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ulrich V.	Mr. von Hanau 1404–1411	Reinhard II.