Johann IV. (East Frisia)

Johann IV. Von Ostfriesland-Rietberg (* May 31, 1618 - † August 7, 1660 ) was Count of Rietberg from 1640 to 1660 .

Life

He came from the Rietberg branch of the House of Cirksena . He was the son of Count Johann III. and the Sabina Catharina von Ostfriesland.

As a later son, he entered the clergy and became a canon in Cologne. After the death of his brother Ernst Christoph , he and his brother Ferdinand Franz inherited the county in 1640. The beginning of the rule was overshadowed by an old feudal dispute with the Landgraviate of Hesse , which was not decided until 1645. A year earlier, Johann, whom the Pope had dispensed from his spiritual dignity, had taken over the rule. He married Anna Katharina Ernestine von Salm-Reiferscheid in 1647. The marriage resulted in: Maria Leopoldine Catharina (1649–1718) married to Oswald Graf von dem Bergh, Friedrich Wilhelm (1650–1677), Franz Adolph Wilhelm (1651–1689), Ferdinand Maximilian (1653–1687), Bernhardine Sophie ( 1654–1726) Abbess of Essen .

Towards the end of the Thirty Years' War he commanded a regiment in the imperial service. He was also the Spanish War Councilor and Imperial Chamberlain.

In the county of Rietberg he tried to raise the prosperity and to repopulate the desolate parts of the county. The Franciscan monastery of Rietberg , which had become uninhabitable due to the effects of the Thirty Years' War, and the church were restored. In 1654 he founded a vicarie there .

After his death he was buried in the crypt of the Franciscan Church.

See also

• Cirksena tribe list

literature

• Georg Joseph Rosenkranz: Contributions to the history of the country Rietberg and its counts. In: Journal for patriotic history and antiquity . NF. Vol. 3 Münster, 1852 p. 172f. ( Google Books )

Web links

• Entry on kaunitz-rietberg.de ( Memento from February 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

predecessor	Office	successor
Ernst Christoph	Count of Rietberg 1640–1660	Friedrich Wilhelm