Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort

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Count Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort

Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (born January 31, 1585 in Wertheim am Main ; † March 6, 1644 ibid) was, as Count von Löwenstein, a descendant of the Palatinate Elector Friedrich I. He converted to the Catholic faith and founded the Catholic faith today still flourishing noble family Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (from 1813 renamed Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg ).

Live and act

The Löwenstein-Wertheim house is a side line of the Wittelsbach family . The descendants of Elector Friedrich I were not entitled to inheritance in the Electoral Palatinate , from them the dynasty of the imperial counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim, who later became princes, arose.

Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort was the youngest of seven sons of Count Ludwig III. (often also called Ludwig II. ) Born von Löwenstein-Wertheim (1530–1611) and his wife Anna zu Stolberg-Stolberg (1531–1599). The mother Anna zu Stolberg was in turn the daughter of Count Ludwig zu Stolberg .

In addition to the usual training of the nobles of the time, which mostly included fencing, horse riding, music and dance, Count Johann Dietrich also received instruction in dialectics , moral philosophy and astronomy.

On November 6, 1611 he married Josina von der Marck (1583-1626) in Kerpen ; after her death Maria Sibylla von Dummermünden (1600–1656). There were only offspring from the first marriage, a total of seven children: five sons and two daughters. Josina von der Marck's brother Ernst (1590–1654) was the son-in-law of Count (later Prince) Johann Georg von Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1577–1623), a staunch representative of the imperial and Catholic party.

Count Johann Dietrich also received the rulership of Rochefort in what is now Belgium from his mother's inheritance . In 1621, shortly after the outbreak of the Thirty Years War , he converted to the Catholic faith in Belgium and fought in the army of the Catholic League from 1622 . It was not until 1634 that he was able to return to his home in Wertheim.

The county of Wertheim belonged to Johann Dietrich (from 1621 Catholic) and his nephew Friedrich Ludwig (Protestant) together. In Johann Dietrich's absence, the Swedish king Gustav Adolf had illegally released the subjects of his homeland from their duties towards Count Johann Dietrich and made his Protestant nephew Friedrich Ludwig the sole ruler.

After the battle of Nördlingen (1634) won by the Catholic camp , Friedrich Ludwig (1598–1657) had to flee, and Emperor Ferdinand II appointed Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein as sole ruler in return. He reintroduced the Catholic faith in the county and called the Capuchins to his country. In accordance with the imperial edict of restitution , the forcibly expropriated religious orders were largely given back their property.

In the Westphalian Peace Treaty of 1648, the edict of restitution was repealed and the denominational status of 1624 was established as a binding norm everywhere. Count Johann Dietrich did not experience this anymore, however, as he died in 1644. His son Count Ferdinand Karl (1616–1672) and his returned cousin Friedrich Ludwig resumed the joint government. The county became Protestant again, with the exception of the Wildeck (Abstatt) office .

The official castle Löwenstein, in the Palatinate Albersweiler

Count Johann Dietrich was able to acquire the old Löwenstein rulership Scharfeneck in the Palatinate for his family line in 1634 , as the Protestant family line Löwenstein-Scharfeneck had it revoked by the emperor in 1622 and died out in the male line in 1633. The official seat of the area on the left bank of the Rhine was in Löwenstein Castle in Albersweiler , St. Johann district , today the BASF study center

The historians Siegfried Hänle (1814–1889) and Karl Spruner von Merz (1803–1892) describe Count Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein in their Handbook for Travelers on the Maine (1845) as "a man who is as learned as he is brave, agile and well-traveled" .

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Source on the training of Count Johann Dietrich
  2. ↑ Source on joining the Catholic League and returning to Wertheim in 1634
  3. ^ Source on the reintroduction of the Catholic Confession
  4. ↑ On the development of Löwenstein-Wertheim during and after the Thirty Years War
  5. ^ Emil Friedrich Heinrich Medicus: "History of the Protestant Church in the Kingdom of Bavaria" , Supplementary Volume Rheinpfalz, Erlangen 1865; Scan from the source
  6. ^ Website on the Scharfeneck rule
  7. ↑ Website of the municipality of Albersweiler with its own section on Löwenstein Castle in the St. Johann district and a photo that can be enlarged
  8. ↑ To Siegfried Hänle
  9. ↑ Cf. Karl Theodor von Heigel:  Spruner v. Merz, Karl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 325-328.
personal data
SURNAME Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort, Johann Dietrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Imperial Count from the House of Löwenstein-Wertheim; Founder of the Catholic line Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1585
PLACE OF BIRTH Wertheim am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1644
Place of death Wertheim am Main