Johann I of Plettenberg

Seal of Johann von Plettenberg from 1296

Johann I von Plettenberg (* before 1270 , † after 1314 ) was Marshal of Westphalia and as such a representative of the Archbishop of Cologne in his capacity as Duke of Westphalia . During his tenure, he asserted, consolidated and expanded Cologne's power, not least through the building of castles and the founding of towns, against competing forces such as the Counts of the Mark .

family

He came from the Westphalian knight family von Plettenberg .

Johann was married to Oleke von Büren . Heidenreich, Johann and Berthold are known by name of your children. The first two appear as knights and Berthold was canon.

Marshal of Westphalia

Johann von Plettenberg was considered belligerent and fearless and was Marshal of Westphalia from around 1293 or 1294 to 1298, initially in the service of Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg and his successor. The exact year of his inauguration is not entirely clear because no certificate of appointment has been received. His activity as marshal from 1295 is documented. He was in this year Bonn in attendance as a witness as the Count of Wittgenstein its castle and the town Laasphe Archbishop for 500 marks to feudal auftrugen.

In 1297 Johann von Plettenberg wrote to the pastors in the Soest area , emphasizing that he saw the protection of the churches and the clergy as one of his most important tasks. In the case of an asset at Ampen that had been withdrawn from the church , he threatened the use of secular means of power after church admonitions and even excommunication had not been successful.

He was a witness when Count Werner von Wittgenstein sold the court, the mint, the customs and the bailiwick of Medebach for 200 marks to Archbishop Wigbold von Holte . During this time, Johann left the coin to the city of Medebach, without giving up the archbishop's claim to ownership, on the condition that three quarters of the income should go to the marshal and the remaining quarter to the city council. He secured the position in the area when he acquired the Gogericht there , which after all comprised fifteen parishes, from Heinrich von Itter . All in all, he had placed the Cologne claims to power in this area on a solid and competitive basis.

For unknown reasons, Johann von Plettenberg either temporarily resigned from the Marshal's office or the archbishop appointed another marshal alongside him. Berthold von Büren was named as such in a document from 1298. He also appeared as marshal in 1299, while no documents are known from Johann from this time.

Since 1302 at the latest, Johann von Plettenberg was again marshal.

Conflict with County Mark

In the first phase of Johann's activity as marshal, Count Eberhard von der Mark and his allies such as the Lords of Bilstein threatened archiepiscopal territories . The Counts of the Mark used the persistent weakness of the Archbishops of Cologne to expand their position after the Battle of Worringen (1288). The threat came primarily from the castles of Waldenburg and Schwarzenberg . The ministerials of the archbishop in turn operated by Attendorn and the castle Schnellenberg . In 1296, Johann's engagement led to the final acquisition of the Waldenburg, which had previously served as the basis for the Count's operations against the archbishopric territory. Johann von Plettenberg received support not only from the archbishop, but also from the bishops of Osnabrück and Paderborn as well as Count Wilhelm and Ludwig von Arnsberg. The conflict was also ended through the mediation of King Adolf von Nassau .

Stock ledger

In 1307 he had a register of the possessions and rights of the Archbishops of Cologne in Westphalia created in his stock book. Organized by city and administrative district, it contains information about the archbishop's income from this. It also contains historically significant news from the past of the places and areas listed as well as an outline of the ducal rights.

The income from these properties was very substantial. But the possessions from which they came was very fragmented and some of them were located far outside the Duchy of Westphalia. The regular income was 1300 Marks, there were further gradients and 2910 Malter grain. It is unclear how much of it had to be paid to the archbishop.

The offices listed did not yet correspond to the later delimitation . These rural areas also played a subordinate role in power politics at that time compared to castles and fortified cities. The stock book is a reflection of the Cologne territorial policy of the 13th century, which was primarily based on the expansion of fortified squares as bases and crystallization core for the spread of archbishopric rule.

Those registered in the stock ledger income in respect of the Jews imposed levy indicate that in addition to Soest in Brilon, Attendorn, Geseke, Werl and Medebach Jews gave.

Peace policy

In 1305, as marshal alongside the city of Soest and the other archiepiscopal cities in Westphalia, he concluded a one-year country peace with the bishops of Paderborn and Munster . A short time later, the city of Recklinghausen also joined the alliance. In the corresponding document, Johann von Plettenberg was named Dominus Johannes de plettenbree miles, Westfalie marescalcus .

To safeguard the various peace alliances, the contracting parties appointed special representatives who were supposed to ensure that the alliance was maintained. Johann von Plettenberg and Berthold von Büren also took on this role. In 1309, both settled a dispute between the von Holthausen brothers and the Benninghausen monastery . Even independently of the peace alliances, he endeavored to resolve disputes. Several of these efforts are documented.

Castles and founding cities

Siegfried von Westerburg had the Waldenburg as a pledge to Count Adolf III in 1289 . from Berg , who mortgaged the castle to the hostile Count Eberhard I. von der Mark . The Archbishop then had the Schnellenberg Castle repaired by Johann so that he could make failures in the Mark from there. The work appears to have ended in 1294. If one follows Johann Suibert Seibertz , Johann can even be seen as the builder of the castle. This emerges from a document of his son Heidenreich, in which he ceded the jurisdiction over Attendorn , which Johann had acquired, as well as the castle to the archbishops of Cologne. The construction of Schnellenberg Castle was an essential aspect of supporting the swaying south-west pillar of the Cologne rule in Westphalia by Johann von Plettenberg.

It was of considerable importance that he increased the number of fortified cities to strengthen the archbishopric influence. The city of Belecke was officially founded as early as 1296 . However, this decision was not implemented immediately. In 1307 there were no fortifications. This was only made up for in the following years. At the same time, the rights of the city and the abbot of the Grafschaft monastery to which the church was subordinated were delimited.

During his second term in office, Johann had the town and castle Hallenberg , which had been destroyed by the Counts of Waldeck , rebuilt after they had been uninhabited for about ten years. He also had Kallenhardt put on. Due to the border location, the place Olpe was strongly endangered by attacks. Mainly on the advice of Johann von Plettenberg, Archbishop Heinrich Olpe granted Soest town charter in 1311 and had the town fortified.

literature

• Johann Suibert Seibertz : The Land Marshal of Westphalia. In: General archive for the history of the Prussian state. 16th volume. Mittler, Berlin 1835, p. 73 f. ( Digitized in the Google book search).
• Johann Suibert Seibertz: Johann von Plettenberg. Marshal of Westphalia. In: Contributions to the history of Westphalia. Paderborn, 1866 pp. 46–54

Individual evidence

1. ^ Anton Fahne: The dynasts, barons and current counts of Bocholtz: Contribution to the ancient geography, legal, moral and cultural history of the Lower Rhine. History of one hundred and six Rhenish, Dutch and Westphalian eminent families. 1,2 Cologne, 1859 panel XII
2. ^ Wilhelm Janssen: Marshal Office Westphalia - Office Waldenburg - County Arnsberg - Dominion Bilstein-Fredeburg. The creation of the Duchy of Westphalia territory. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: The Cologne Duchy of Westphalia from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to the secularization of 1803. Münster 2009 p. 248
3. ↑ 1307 Directory of the Archbishop Marshal Johann von Plettenberg
4. ^ Wilhelm Janssen: Marshal Office Westphalia - Office Waldenburg - County Arnsberg - Dominion Bilstein-Fredeburg. The creation of the Duchy of Westphalia territory. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: The Cologne Duchy of Westphalia from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster 2009 p. 235
5. ↑ Diethard Aschoff: The Jews in the Electoral Cologne Duchy of Westphalia. In: Harm Klueting (Hrsg.): Das Herzogtum Westfalen, Vol. 1: The Cologne Duchy of Westphalia from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster 2009 pp. 670, 676
6. ^ Johann Suibert Seibertz: Johann von Plettenberg. Marshal of Westphalia. In: Contributions to the history of Westphalia. Paderborn, 1866 p. 53
7. ^ Wilhelm Janssen: Marshal Office Westphalia - Office Waldenburg - County Arnsberg - Dominion Bilstein-Fredeburg. The creation of the Duchy of Westphalia territory. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: The Cologne Duchy of Westphalia from the beginnings of Cologne's rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster 2009 p. 245
8. ↑ Stefan Enste: 725 years of the city of Warstein?