Johann von Rohrbach

The county of Neuburg am Inn by Georg Matthäus Vischer from 1674.

Johann von Rohrbach zu Rohrbach Reichsgraf zu Neuburg am Inn (* before 1426, † 1467 ) was an Austrian nobleman who, through his services to Emperor Friedrich III. In 1463 he was promoted to imperial baron and a few days later to imperial count, but died four years later as the first - and last - count of his house.

Live and act

origin

Johann von Rohrbach came from the Lower Austrian noble family von Rohrbach. This first appeared in a document with Conrad von Rohrbach in 1168. It was named after the now abandoned headquarters in Rohrbach, which was located between Seitenstetten , Haag and St. Peter in der Au and in the place of which today is Rohrbach Castle. Because of the similar coat of arms, the family could have a common origin with the Bavarian aristocratic family named after Rohrbach an der Ilm .

ancestors

Hans Burgkmair the Elder : Emperor Friedrich III., Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.

Johanns von Rohrbach was a son of Ulrich II von Rohrbach († 1426), caretaker of the Seisenegg estate . His grandfather was Ulrich I. von Rohrbach, Vogt zu Haag and district judge in Austria on the Enns . His mother Anna (?) Von Lasberg (cl. 1444) came from the Upper Austrian nobility, who appeared for the first time in 1309 with Benesch von Lazperg, whose headquarters were in the area of ​​the municipality of Lasberg . Anna was a daughter of Georg von Lasberg (cl. 1391–1398) and Elisabeth von Au (cl. 1392).

siblings

Johann had a younger brother, Georg von Rohrbach († 1467), who was in the service of Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria stood. Georg received from Albrecht VI. on December 13, 1458 a bond for 7000 ducats, secured in the town of Gmunden on the Traunsee . He received various goods in the Gosau for this . In 1462 Georg acquired the rule of St. Peter in der Au from his brother Johann. He died in 1467 as a caretaker of the Salzkammergut in Wildenstein in Bad Ischl .

In the service of Duke Friedrich III. from Austria

Piccolomini's coronation by Friedrich III. (Detail from a fresco by Pinturicchio ).

After extensive training, Johann von Rohrbach entered the service of Duke Friedrich III. of Austria , who had been Roman-German king since 1440 . He therefore stayed primarily at Friedrich's court in Wiener Neustadt and Graz . As a result, Johann was in contact with the humanist, historian and writer Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II. Piccolomini was in the service of King Friedrich for over ten years from 1443, who crowned him " Poeta laureatus " in Vienna . It was also this that contributed significantly to the spread of humanism in Austria and north of the Alps.

Johann served as royal, later imperial, councilor and chamberlain as well as personal advisor in the shaping of the policy of King Friedrich III. involved. However, it cannot be determined to what extent he was able to make a specific contribution to shaping this policy. There was no shortage of important topics, as an imperial reform was being discussed at the time. There was a danger that the electors - because of the rejection of the reform by the emperor, who wanted to prevent his position from being weakened - elected another prince as Roman-German king. At the same time, relations between the empire and the Holy See also had to be regulated. This took place in the year 1448 between King Friedrich III. and Pope Nicholas V concluded the Vienna Concordat , which remained valid until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

After 1450, Johann von Rohrbach became a pawn at St. Peter in der Au . In 1452 Johann von Rohrbach accompanied King Friedrich on his trip to Rome , where he and many other followers received the knighthood from him personally in Rome on the Angel's Bridge . On March 16, 1452, Johann stayed at the celebrations for the wedding of Frederick III. with the Infanta Eleanor of Portugal in Rome. A few days later, on March 19, 1452, Johann also took part in the coronation of Frederick III. by Pope Nicholas V share in St. Peter's Church .

Attitude in the "brotherly dispute" in the House of Austria

The hereditary lands of the House of Austria were divided into two lines and three parts at that time. From the older " Albertine line " of the house that ruled in " Lower Austria ", Duke Albrecht V , who had been Roman-German king since 1438, succeeded in anticipating the later Austrian Danube monarchy for around two years . When he died in 1439, he bequeathed his son, Ladislaus Postumus, who was born after his death . The " Leopoldine Line " was split into two branches, the older branch that ruled in " Inner Austria " and the younger branch that ruled in " Upper Austria ".

In 1439, with the death of King Albrecht II and the almost simultaneous death of Duke Friedrich IV of Austria in Tyrol, Friedrich became the de facto head of the house, as he was appointed guardian of the heirs of the two deceased and thus had control over them took over the entire hereditary lands as well as over the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. This happened to the displeasure not only of the Hungarian and Bohemian estates, which effectively removed their countries from its control, but also of the Lower Austrian estates, which merged in the Mailberger Bund in 1452, Duke Ladislaus Postumus of Austria by force out of the control of Frederick III. freed.

In addition, there was the protest in-house, since Friedrich's younger brother, Duke Albrecht VI. Austria firmly insisted on a share in the hereditary lands. After the death of Ladislaus Posthumus in 1457 it came to an open conflict, since Friedrich III. As a senior of the house, he incorporated his lands, while Albrecht insisted on the transfer of his share in the hereditary lands.

Johann von Rohrbach was among the councils that the claims of Friedrich III. unconditionally supported in the interests of strengthening the emperor's power. He was even involved in military measures to prevent Frederick from taking possession of the duchies of Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns . This was only partially successful, as Albrecht succeeded in asserting himself in Austria above the Enns and Emperor Friedrich forced this to be recognized in a peace treaty on August 21, 1458.

Rise to imperial count

View of the outer bailey of Neuburg am Inn Castle .

The support provided by Johann von Rohrbach to the emperor in defending his claims was rewarded by the latter in 1459 when he - together with Johann von Ungnad von Weißenwolff - gave him the honor of receiving homage from the Lower Austrian estates on behalf of the monarch .

The climax of the mentioned fratricidal dispute in the Habsburg house came in autumn 1462. At that time, after having occupied Vienna with his troops, Albrecht VI besieged the emperor, his family and his closest confidants, including Johann von Rohrbach, with the support of the Viennese population. in the Vienna Hofburg . Despite the defense efforts of Johann von Rohrbach and the occupation of the castle, Emperor Friedrich III. surrender in the face of superior power and finally his brother Albrecht VI. still transferred the Duchy of Austria under the Enns with the capital Vienna .

Wernstein Castle, from the suspension bridge

Johann von Rohrbach was rewarded for his loyalty when the emperor sold him the rulership of Neuburg am Inn with its castles, Wernstein , Frauenhaus and Neuenfels on May 18, 1462 , and granted him duty-free for all household needs.

A few days later, Johann von Rohrbach was given an imperial deed of May 28, 1462 because of his services - "an admirer of our procession against Rome and Naples, since we received our imperial crown - also for the faithful bystander whom he gave us, the most transparent princess, frawn Leonoren Roman Kayserin, our dear consort and the high-born Maximilian, our dear sun with other sampt our counts, lords, knights and servants in our Burgkh in Vienna, in which she has done by those of Vienna that were herticulously ardent and troubled " - raised to the baron status as "Lord of Rohrbach and the Holy Empire noble free at Newnburg on the Inn". One day later, Johann was given the privilege to display the imperial eagle on his shield. A week later, on June 5, 1462, Emperor Friedrich III. the rulership of Neuburg am Inn including all affiliations to a county of the Holy Roman Empire “as it was before ages” and Johannes Herr von Rohrbach, Christoph his son and all their marital heirs to counts and countesses of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1463 Johann signed with Friedrich III. a contract of inheritance, in which it was stipulated that the imperial county should fall back as soon as the male line of Johanns should die out. Daughters entitled to inheritance should be paid out with 2,000 guilders each.

The End

Johann's happiness did not last very long. Shortly afterwards, Johann von Rohrbach was standing at the grave of his only son Christoph, with whom he had to bury the hope of handing over his quickly acquired high title and his great fortune to a male descendant in order to permanently maintain the newly acquired rank of his family to be able to. However, he was able to enjoy the rise of his family once again, as he succeeded in marrying his daughter to the imperial count Sebastian I. von Ortenburg .

Soon after, Johann von Rohrbach died in 1467, he was buried in the Vornbach monastery . In the absence of male descendants, the count's line of the Rohrbach family also died out with him, which eventually went out in the male line with Hanns Adam von Rohrbach († after 1637).

marriage

Johann Herr von Rohrbach was married to Scholastika von Weißpriach, who comes from the Salzburg noble family Weißpriach. Scholastika was a daughter of Erasmus von Weißpriach and his wife, Afra Späufer, and a granddaughter of Bernhard von Weißpriach from his marriage to Sophia von Auersperg.

Succession

Coat of arms of the county of Neuburg am Inn depicted on the outer castle gate of Neuburg .

When he died, Johann von Rohrbach had left no male offspring, only two daughters. One of them, Maria, was married to the neighboring Count Sebastian I. von Ortenburg. First, however, his widow Scholastika von Weisspriach followed as the owner of the county. Two years later, imperial soldiers appeared in Neuburg to implement the inheritance contract of 1463. They penetrated the castle and took the widow and daughter Maria of Johann von Rohrbach prisoner. Sebastian I von Ortenburg then hurried to Neuburg, gained entry into the castle and with the help of recruited soldiers was able to drive out the imperial occupation troops and subsequently defend the castle successfully. The question of the succession remained pending, however, as the emperor refused to enfeoff Sebastian von Ortenburg with the Grafschaft Neuburg , but insisted on drawing it in as a settled fief.

The dispute was only resolved through the mediation of Duke Ludwig IX. of Bavaria-Landshut in 1473 because a contract between Count Sebastian and Emperor Friedrich was concluded at the Reichstag in Augsburg on July 28, 1473, through which the County of Neuburg von Sebastian and his wife returned to the Emperor for compensation of 2,000 guilders has been.

progeny

• Christoph von Rohrbach Imperial Count of Neuburg am Inn, († young before 1476)
• Maria von Rohrbach Imperial Countess of Neuburg am Inn († after May 8, 1496), ⚭ 1467 Sebastian I Imperial Count of Ortenburg zu Neu-Ortenburg († 1490/1491). Children among others:
  • Ulrich II. , Count von Ortenburg († March 7, 1524 in Söldenau ), ⚭ (I) October 21, 1500 Veronika von Aichberg († 1517), ⚭ (II) Barbara von Starhemberg (around 1470–1519)
    • Alexander Graf von Ortenburg (1501–1548), ⚭ Regina Bianca Freiin von Wolkenstein-Trostburg († 1539), the progenitor of the still flourishing line of the Counts of Ortenburg

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry about Rohrbach Castle on Lower Austria Burgen online - Institute for Reality Studies of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, University of Salzburg
2. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch , Volume 27; Reprographic reprint of Siebmacher's Wappenbuch IV. Volume, 5th section "The Upper Austrian Aristocracy". Edited by Alois Freiherrn (Weiß) von Starkenfels and Johann Evang. Kirnbauer von Erzstätt (Nuremberg 1904); Verlag Bauer and Raspe, Neustadt ad Aisch 1984, ISBN 3-87947-027-8 , page 300.
3. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch, Volume 27 Upper Austria , p. 174.
4. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch, Volume 27 Upper Austria , page 301.
5. ^ Entry about St. Peter in der Au - Castle on Burgen-Austria
6. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch, Volume 27 Upper Austria , page 300f.
7. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch, Volume 27 Upper Austria , p. 300.
8. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch, Volume 27 Upper Austria , p. 301.
9. ↑ Siebmacher's Wappenbuch , Volume 26 Lower Austria , page 530.

literature

• Siebmacher's Wappenbuch , Volume 27. Reprographic reprint of Siebmacher's Wappenbuch IV. Volume, 5th section: “The Upper Austrian Aristocracy”. Edited by Alois Freiherrn (Weiß) von Starkenfels and Johann Evang. Kirnbauer from Erzstätt. Nuremberg 1904; Verlag Bauer and Raspe, Neustadt ad Aisch, 1984, ISBN 3-87947-027-8 .
• Friedrich Hausmann : The Counts of Ortenburg and their male ancestors, the Spanheimers in Carinthia, Saxony and Bavaria, as well as their branch lines. In: East Bavarian border marks. Passau Yearbook for History, Art and Folklore , No. 36. Passau 1994.
• Josef Hofbauer: The county of Neuburg am Inn. (Historical Atlas of Bavaria, part of Old Bavaria, Series I, Issue 20), Munich 1969. ( digitized version )
• Eberhard Graf zu Ortenburg-Tambach: History of the imperial, ducal and counts' entire house of Ortenburg. Part 2: The Count's House in Bavaria. Vilshofen 1932.