John II (Sagan)

Coat of arms of the Dukes of Sagan, Scheibler's book of arms

Johann II. (Also Hans von Sagan ; nickname the cruel , the bad ; * June 16, 1435 , † June 22, 1504 in Wohlau ) was the last Duke of Sagan and mercenary leader of the Teutonic Order . He came from the Glogau branch of the Silesian Piasts .

Life

Johann II. Was one of the ten children of Duke Johann I von Sagan and ducal Glogau (1385–1439) and the Scholastica von Sachsen-Wittenberg (1391–1463), a daughter of Elector Rudolf III. Like his father and older brother Balthasar (1410–1472), he was a general of the Teutonic Order .

After his father's death in 1439, Johann's brother Balthasar inherited the Duchy of Sagan . In 1450 there was a partition treaty in which Balthasar received the rule of Sagan and the younger Johann the land of Priebus , which was separated from it . Johann contested the property with his brother and in 1461 seized Sagans, which Balthasar recaptured in 1467. In 1472 Johann took Sagan again and had his brother arrested in the round tower (hunger tower) of the city fortress Priebus, where he died of starvation on July 15, 1472. After Balthasar's death, Johann reunited the lords of Priebus and Sagan and sold the duchy that same year on December 12th to the Wettin Albrecht the Courageous .

As with the death of Duke Heinrich XI. von Glogau and Crossen in 1476 the direct line of the Piast dukes of Glogau was extinguished, Duke Johann II registered his claim to the ducal part of Glogau, whose seat was Freystadt . This broke out the Glogau succession dispute , which lasted until 1482 , because Duke Heinrich XI, who died childless. had expressly designated his wife Barbara , a daughter of the Brandenburg Elector Albrecht Achilles , as heiress in his will.

In 1477 Johann Crossen conquered and destroyed the city. In the same year, his troops besieged the cities of Drossen and Reppen without success , as did Cottbus a year later . A settlement concluded with Elector Albrecht Achilles in Guben in 1479 , in which Johann renounced Crossen. The War of Succession ended with the Treaty of Kamenz in 1482.

John's rule was characterized by hostilities with the neighboring duchies as well as raids and encroachments on the rights of the cities. In 1484 he had the Jews expelled from the city of Glogau . Negotiations between the affected towns and duchies in Hochkirch took place in 1480 to take joint action against his brutal rule , after Johann usurped the royal Bohemian part of the duchy of Glogau , which had been divided since 1331 . After the duke had seven Glogau councilors locked up and starved to death in 1488, a joint action against the duke was discussed again in Hochkirch and royal support was requested.

In 1488 Glogau was besieged by the troops of King Matthias Corvinus . The duke was expelled from the city and fled to his Groß-Heinzendorf castle . Matthias Corvinus appointed his illegitimate son Johann Corvinus as Duke of Glogau.

After the loss of his duchy, Johann von Sagan moved with a mercenary army through parts of Lower Silesia and the Neumark at the end of the 15th century . They devastated numerous towns and villages. In 1488 his troops invaded Freystadt .

In 1498 he was granted the right to stay in the city of Frankfurt (Oder) by the Brandenburg Elector Johann Cicero . This ended the long turmoil and looting of the council villages by the wandering former duke. The citizens of Frankfurt were not impressed by his presence.

The duke is also the subject of the song Duke Hans von Sagan and the Glogauz canons .

family

Johann von Sagan was married to Katharina (1443–1505), a daughter of the Troppauer Duke Wilhelm . The marriage had five daughters:

• Margaretha (1465 / 76–1505), married to Miklós Bánffy de Limbow († 1501) and then to Johann Hampo
• Barbara (1470–1539), Abbess of the St. Clara Monastery in Strehlen
• Salomea (1475 / 76–1514), married to Albrecht von Münsterberg-Oels and Glatz (1468–1511) and then with Johann von Kurzbach auf Trachenberg and Militsch († 1549)
• Hedwig (1476–1524), married to Georg von Münsterberg-Oels and Glatz (1470–1502) and then to Siegmund von Wartenberg († 1518)
• Anna (1480 / 83–1541), married to Karl I von Münsterberg-Oels and Glatz († 1536)

literature

• Josef Joachim Menzel:  Johann II., Duke of Glogau and Sagan. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 487 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Hermann Markgraf:  Johann II. In: General German Biography (ADB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 402-409.

Web links

Commons : John II of Sagan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Duke Hans von Sagan and the Glogauz canons (lyrics)

predecessor	Office	successor
Balthasar of Sagan	Duke of Sagan 1461 / 1472–1472	Albrecht the Courageous