Johann von Fürstenberg (Abbot)

Johann von Fürstenberg († 1549 ) was abbot of Siegburg Abbey from 1516 to 1549 .

Life

He came from the Westphalian noble family von Fürstenberg and was a son of Wennemar von Fürstenberg (1417–1484) and his wife Karda von Galen zu Herten (1435–1516). His brother Hermann was canon in Münster , his nephew Friedrich (1510–1567) was a councilor and Drost of Cologne .

It appears in a family document for a family comparison for the first time in 1504. Even then it belonged to the clergy. He was a Benedictine and among other things held the position of waiter in the Siegburg monastery . In 1516 he was elected abbot there and shortly afterwards swore his oath of allegiance to Archbishop and Elector Hermann von Hessen .

During his time as abbot, Charles V confirmed the previous privileges. Among them was the privilege that the monastery protected against charges before the vemes courts or the imperial regional and court courts. In 1517 he sold some tithes and other taxes to the Büdingen monastery . In 1528 there was a plague and famine in the town and monastery. In 1546 he allowed the city of Siegburg to levy excise duties for 25 years . From Duke Wilhelm von Jülich, Kleve and Berg , he was granted mill compulsory over a number of villages for twelve years. He managed to get the bailiwick over the monastery. After that, the attempts of the Bergisch dukes to bring the monastery and town under their rule did not continue. In 1546 he expressly renounced the family inheritance due to him. He had a chapel built in the abbey, which later disappeared when the monastery church was rebuilt.

literature

• Fürstenberg's story. Bd.2 The history of the sex from 1400 to 1600 Münster, 1971 pp. 43–45
• Erich Wisplinghoff : The Benedictine Abbey Siegburg. Berlin, 1973 (Germania Sacra NF 9)