Johann Christoph von Freyberg-Eisenberg

Johann Christoph von Freyberg-Eisenberg (* 1551 ; † December 24, 1620 in Ellwangen ) was a prince provost of the prince provost of Ellwangen in the 16th century .

Life

His parents were Hans Sigmund von Freyberg zu Hopferau , carer in Rettenberg , and Sybilla von Knöringen . His uncle was the Augsburg and Ellwang canon Christoph von Freyberg († 1584), who was the provost of Ellwang before him.

On August 8, 1561, the 10-year-old Johann Christoph received the canonical in Ellwangen for the resigned canon of Augsburg and Ellwang canon Marquard von Bienzenau. At the age of about 12 he was enrolled at the University of Dillingen on November 1, 1563 . In 1575 he stayed in Leuven to study . After completing his studies, he became (voting) capitular in 1576 in the Propstei Ellwangen ; Since the transformation into a secular, imperial monastery in 1460, the chapter consisted of twelve aristocratic canons and the prince provost. In 1584/85 he was the provost's scholaster for a year . After Provost Johann Christoph von Westerstetten was elected Bishop of Eichstätt at the end of December 1612 and therefore renounced the Provost's Ellwangen on March 8, 1613, von Freyberg-Eisenberg was elected by the Chapter as his successor on March 20, 1613 and moved into Ellwang Castle. Under him, as under his two predecessors, there were witch burnings in Ellwangen , which came to an end under him in 1618.

After a little more than seven and a half years, Prince Provost von Freyberg-Eisenberg, “a man of princely virtues and an extraordinarily strict way of life” (Burr, p. 148), died unexpectedly quickly at around 69 years of age. He bequeathed 6,000 guilders to convert the Ellwangen mission station, built by the Jesuits in 1611, into a Jesuit college with a high school; his wish was only fulfilled decades later because of the Thirty Years' War . He was buried on December 29, 1620; his grave slab with his coat of arms (fields 1 and 4 the miter of the Propstei, fields 2 and 3 the three spheres of Freyberg) is in the floor of the north transept of the former monastery church, today's Basilica of St. Vitus , near the grave of his uncle Christoph from Freyberg.

A total of 20 people of the noble family von Freyberg-Eisenberg-Justingen-Öpfingen-Hürbel were canons of the princely provost of Ellwangen.

Web links

• On the witch hunt in Ellwangen Abbey

literature

• Joseph Zeller: Looking back on earlier centuries. In: Ellwanger yearbook 1920/21. Published by the Ellwangen History and Antiquity Association. Ellwangen: Commission publisher by Franz Buchner. Pp. 101-103, especially pp. 102f.
• Paul Burr: Death and solemn burial of the prince provost and Mr. zu Ellwangen Johann Christoph II. Von Freyberg and Eisenberg on December 29, 1620. According to an Ellwanger protocol from 1620. In: Ellwanger yearbook 1950–1953. Ellwangen: Commission publisher by Franz Buchner. Pp. 146–148 (ill. P. 146)
• Karl Fik: The canons and capitulars (canons) of the princely provost of Ellwangen (1460–1802) . In: 1967–1968. Ellwanger Yearbook, Vol. XXII . Pp. 74-97, especially p. 81
• Wolfgang Mährle: "Oh woe to the poor souls", persecution of witches in the prince provost of Ellwangen (1588–1694) . In: Johannes Dillinger, Thomas Fritz, Wolfgang Mährle: Damned to fire. The witch hunts in the county of Hohenberg, the imperial city of Reutlingen and the prince provost of Ellwangen . Stuttgart 1998 (= Hexenforschung; 2), pp. 325-500

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Christoph von Westerstetten	Prince Provost of Ellwangen 1613–1620	Johann Jakob Blarer from Wartensee