Johann von Efferen

Johann von Efferen († November 24, 1606 ) was the first-born son of Hieronymus von Efferen and Anna von Nesselrode . He had married Agnes von Virmund zu Neersen. Johann had four siblings. Andreas, who died in the battle of the Mooker Heide in 1574 , and Wilhelm , a Teutonic Knight who stayed in Livonia . Two other brothers were Carthusians in the Vogelsang monastery in Jülich . Johann was lord of the glory of Stolberg and Stolberg Castle from 1559 .

Johann, the first-born, asked the Duke of Jülich for the first time in 1559 to enfeoff him with Stolberg. Even numerous further attempts showed no response to the request. It can be assumed that Jülich's passivity was the result of ongoing legal disputes between Stolberg and the Reich Abbey of Kornelimünster . In addition, the duke tried to exclude the financially important mining rights from the feudal contract. Johann opposed this because he feared great disadvantages. Only after the Imperial Court of Justice had passed a judgment did the Duke of Jülich enfeoff Johann and his brother Wilhelm with the property in Stolberg on January 28, 1573. The mining rights remained in the feudal contract. During this transition period, Johann took over the task temporarily.

Wilhelm lived in Livonia and, as a document drawn up thirteen years later shows, left the rule of Stolberg to Johann.

The entire tenure of Johann von Efferen was marked by disputes with the Kornelimünster Abbey. This included the ownership structure in the Stolberg coal mining areas in the Schnorrenfeld. At the same time, Johann tried to increase the importance of Stolberg by attracting copper masters. In 1571 he succeeded in persuading Leonhard Schleicher to build a copper courtyard in the immediate vicinity of the castle, the still existing Adler pharmacy today . Numerous others followed at the end of the 16th century.

In 1572 there was a break between Stolberg and the mother church in Eschweiler when Johann forbade the priest who had arrived to enter the church. In addition, cash payments were stopped. Attempts to celebrate Catholic services in the chapel were sometimes even fought off with violence. In 1590 the lord of the castle brought a Lutheran priest to Stolberg and offered the citizens of Stolberg the opportunity to practice the Lutheran faith in his chapel, which was previously used by Catholics. However, Johann himself did not change his faith. It can be assumed that he only wanted to make it easier for the copper masters to relocate from neighboring Aachen to Stolberg, since in Stolberg, unlike in the nearby town, they were not subjected to any religious compulsion. As a possible consequence, the number of copper yards grew to twelve by 1600.

Johann died on November 24th, 1606. He left two daughters. Catharina, who was married to Conrad Raitz von Frentz , and Sibille von Efferen, who had married Heinrich von Streithagen zu Welten.

The glory of Stolberg and the castle remained a fiefdom of Wilhelm von Efferen, as Johann's wife Agnes had died six years earlier.

See also

• Ellermühle

literature

• Helmut Schreiber (Ed.): Stolberger Burgherren and Burgfrauen 1118–1909. Contributions to the history of Stolberg, Volume 25. Burg Verlag Gastinger 2001, ISBN 3-926830-16-6