John of the Mountain

Johannes von dem Berge , also Johannes vom Berge , Johannes de Berge , Johannes de Bergen , Johannesde Monte (born before 1251; died after 1288, on July 25th) was a German councilor and feudal man in Hamburg .

Live and act

John of the mountain was the son of Ecberts of the mountain. He is the first member of a rich patrician family to be documented in sufficient detail. The family owned extensive lands that stretched from Langenhorn via Altrahlstedt to Wandsbek . During the 13th to 15th centuries, this also included the villages of Fuhlsbüttel , Ohlsdorf , Winterhude , Langenhorn, Bramfeld and Alsterdorf . The first Hamburg city law already forbade knights from residing in the city area or its soft landscape . Members of the von dem Berge family, as Hamburg citizens who also held the leanings of a neighboring liege lord, were an exception to this. Existing documents on Johannes von dem Berge suggest that the persons described could be two people with the same name from successive generations . A "son of Ecbert" is mentioned for the last time in 1256, from 1266 the addition can no longer be found.

Johannes von dem Berge is recorded as a councilor and witness of negotiations on the implementation of the Hamburg customs system with the Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein , which took place in 1254. In 1256 he bought a mill in Schiffbek from these counts . When the Hamburg citizen Henye Rese acquired the new mill in Hamburg from Count Gerhard von Holstein in 1266 , von dem Berge again acted as a witness. In 1281, Count Gerhard von Holstein and his son of the same name promised the city of Hamburg protection in foreign disputes and confirmed all existing privileges. Here too, von dem Berge appeared as a witness, albeit for both parties. In 1283 the Reinfeld monastery acquired lands in Fuhlsbüttel, which Count Gerhard von Holstein confirmed as a liege lord. If necessary, it was a concession to Hamburg's city law. In 1284 von dem Berge, his wife and their sons Johannes and Heinrich von Duke Albrecht von Sachsen-Lauenburg received property in Neuengamme . Linked to this fief was the payment of tithes .

In 1251, as a citizen of Hamburg, von dem Berge expanded his father's foundation to include a vicarie in Hamburg Cathedral . In 1255 the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck allied for three years. Von dem Berge appeared here as a citizen of Hamburg, who made a formal vow to representatives from Lübeck. In 1274, as one of two Hamburg councilors, he testified to Duke Johann von Sachsen's promise not to have to pay any unpayment . Von dem Berge is documented as Hamburg councilor in 1286 and 1288. Around this time, "Johannes de Monte senior" is recorded as Hamburg mayor, for which there are only sources dated later. A squire (famulus) named "Johannes" named in 1294 was probably not Johannes von dem Berge.

Johannes von dem Berge left behind a son named Bruno, who was active as cathedral choirmaster at the Hamburg cathedral . In 1325 he put a soul device in his will for the deceased father.

literature

• Gerhard Theuerkauf: Johannes von dem Berge . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 1 . Christians, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7672-1364-8 , pp. 151-152 .