Johann zu Castell

Johann zu Castell (also Johann II ; * June 14, 1468 ; † September 6, 1528 ) was ruler of the county of Castell from 1498 to 1528 . He shared the rule with his brothers Georg , Friedrich and Wolfgang .

The county before Johann

The fifteenth century was marked by large sales of the count's rights and possessions for the county of Castell. While Count Wilhelm I was still able to obtain the right to mint coins in the city of Volkach from King Wenzel in 1398, his successors lost more and more goods. The main beneficiary was the Duchy of Würzburg , which received most of the goods sold.

On October 24, 1457, the diocese even received the entire county from Wilhelm II in exchange for an annuity of 500 guilders . He also pledged the preserved district of the city of Volkach to the Counts of Limpurg , Henneberg and Weinsberg, so that other parts of Castells were in the hands of foreign rulers. Acquiring new property was also hardly possible at this point, as the great rulers of the area had divided the region among themselves.

Life

Johann was born on June 14, 1468, the second eldest son of Count Friedrich IV zu Castell and his wife Elisabeth von Reitzenstein . The sources are silent about the place of birth of the later count, and the education is not mentioned. For the first time, Johann is proven to be a member of the Bear Knight Society. As part of this society, he attended several tournaments in Ansbach and Bamberg and also fought here himself.

In 1492 Johann started a feud with Kunz Zöllner before he married his first wife in 1496. After the father's death in 1498, the county was split up as the old count did not leave an inheritance contract. The older brother Georg, authorized to do so in a contract with the Margrave of Ansbach , was initially supposed to administer the county, but after a few months passed it on to Johann.

Johann then promised his younger brothers not to sell anything without the knowledge of the other three and paid his siblings forty-six guilders a year from the proceeds of the county. In 1506 Johann received the inheritance office of the Hochstift Würzburg from Bishop Lorenz von Bibra . The bishop tried to settle the disputes that flared up again and again between the brothers.

In addition to his offices in the nearby bishopric, Johann tried to find posts in the Margraviate of Ansbach. In 1516 he became a bailiff in Kitzingen , but continued to live in the castle in Castell. Since the younger brother Wolfgang was also resident here, a dispute arose in the course of 1520. Wolfgang then left Castell and moved to the Stollburg in the Steigerwald as a bailiff in Gerolzhofen .

Since Johann was repeatedly ill in the last years of his life, the Ansbach Margrave Georg the Pious tried to replace him. An attempt to remove Johann from office failed in 1523, but was successful on February 22, 1525. The Casteller Graf resigned, but was compensated with the position of margravial councilor. Johann zu Castell died on September 6, 1528 at the age of sixty and was buried in the town church in Kitzingen.

Marriages

Johann married Magdalena Röder in 1496. The couple remained childless and Magdalena died soon after. Thereupon Johann zu Castell married again, this time Dorothea von Oberweimar, who in turn did not give him any children.

literature

• Wilhelm Engel: House u. Reign of Castell in Franconian history . In: Society for Franconian History (ed.): Castell. Contributions to the culture and history of home and dominion. New Year's Sheets XXIV . Würzburg 1952. pp. 1-19.
• Otto Meyer: The Castell house. State and class rule over the centuries . In: Otto Meyer, Hellmut Kunstmann (ed.): Castell. State rule - castles - status lordship . Castell 1979. pp. 9-53.
• August Sperl: Castell. Pictures from the past of a German dynasty (reprint from 1908) . Neustadt an der Aisch 1993 ( original edition online ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meyer, Otto: The Castell House . P. 22.
2. ^ Sperl, August: Castell . P. 50.
3. ^ Sperl, August: Castell . P. 55.
4. ^ Sperl, August: Castell . P. 50 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich IV.	Count of Castell 1498–1528	Conrad Heinrich IV. George II.