Katharina von Pommern-Stolp

Katharina von Pommern-Stolp (* 1384 ; † March 12, 1426 in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz ) was the daughter of Duke Wartislaw VII of Pommern-Stolp and the first wife of Count Palatine Johann of Pfalz-Neumarkt . Together with her husband she donated the Birgittenkloster Gnadenberg ; her son Christoph later became king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden .

Life

Katharina was born in 1384. Her parents were Wartislaw VII, who belonged to the Pomeranian ruling house of the Griffins and had ruled the partial duchy of Pomerania-Stolp since 1377, and Maria von Mecklenburg , a niece of Margaret I , the regent of Denmark and Norway . Katharina was the second child of her parents, she had a brother named Bogislaw about two years older .

When Margarethe's only son Olav died in 1387, Margarethe became queen of Denmark, Norway and, after she had prevailed against Albrecht of Mecklenburg , of Sweden as well . Margarethe built her next surviving male relative Bogislaw under the name Erik as a successor and also took his sister Katharina under her wing. In 1394 she tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to get Katharina's admission to the Vadstena monastery , which was founded by the recently canonized Birgitta of Sweden .

Margaret's project of a Nordic-English double wedding was only partially realized: although Erik married Philippa , a daughter of King Henry IV of England in 1406 , negotiations about a marriage between Catherine and Philippa's brother, who later became King Henry V , failed in 1402. During her brother's wedding celebrations, a spouse was finally found for Katharina: Johann , about the same age , a younger son of the Roman-German King Ruprecht from the Palatinate line of the Wittelsbach family . Katharina and Johann married on September 15, 1407 in Ribe, Denmark .

The couple initially lived in Amberg , because Johann administered his father Ruprecht's Upper Palatinate territories from there . Preserved account books from this period show that Katharina had her residence carried out several times, a garden with vines laid out, schnapps distilled and ointment made. She was regularly out and about in the area and visited Neumarkt , Neunburg , Burglengenfeld and the imperial city of Nuremberg , among others .

After King Ruprecht's death in the spring of 1410, Johann and his three surviving brothers divided up their late father's territory. Johann received the Pfalzgrafschaft Pfalz-Neumarkt , which included most of the Upper Palatinate, which he had already ruled as governor of his father. Since Amberg to his older brother Ludwig III. had fallen, from now on Johann and Katharina resided in Neumarkt in the west and Neunburg in the east of the new Palatinate County.

Remains of the Gnadenberg monastery church, where Katharina was buried

Like her great aunt Margarethe, her brother Erik and her sister-in-law Philippa, Katharina also sponsored the Order of Savior founded by Birgitta of Sweden . In the summer of 1420, Pope Martin V allowed the count palatine couple to found a monastery of this order. The Eichelberg between Neumarkt and Nuremberg was chosen as the location for the new monastery, which was now named Gnadenberg . Since the establishment of new double monasteries was forbidden by the papal in 1422 , initially only one male monastery was built; a women's convent did not follow until a few years after Katharina's death. At Katharina's request, Pope Martin V instructed the Birgitten monastery Paradiso near Florence to send some monks to the new monastery.

Katharina died on March 12, 1426 in Neumarkt a good month after the Gnadenberg Monastery was issued. She was first buried in the court church there and, like her deceased children, transferred to the monastery church of Gnadenberg as soon as construction progressed allowed. Johann survived his first wife by 17 years and entered into a second marriage with Beatrix von Bayern from the Munich line of the Wittelsbach family.

The marriage between Katharina and Count Palatine Johann resulted in a total of seven children, of which the eldest six, daughter Margarete and sons Adolf, Otto, Johann (II.), Friedrich and Johann (III.), Shortly after the birth died. Only the youngest son, Christoph , born in 1416 , survived his parents. In 1439 Christoph took control of Denmark, Norway and Sweden from his uncle Erik. Like his parents, he founded a Birgitten monastery, which was called Nådendal and is located near Turku in what is now Finland .

See also

• Family table of the Danish kings

literature

• Sandra Frauenknecht: Katharina von Pommern-Stolp (1384–1426). Nordic princess, countess palatinate and monastery donor . In: Rainald Becker, Daniel Burger et al. (Ed.): Actors - Relationships - Ideas. Bavarian history in an inter-territorial context. Festival ceremony for Alois Schmid on his 65th birthday . Laßleben, Kallmünz 2010, ISBN 978-3-7847-1218-5 , p. 17-34 .

Web links

Commons : Katharina von Pommern-Stolp  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ^ So Sandra Frauenknecht, Katharina von Pommern-Stolp (1384–1426), p. 17 with reference to the Stockholm Imperial Archives; In older literature, the year of birth is usually 1390.
2. ↑ There is no evidence that Katharina actually entered this monastery or was brought up there, cf. Sandra Frauenknecht, Katharina von Pommern-Stolp (1384–1426), pp. 18–19 with notes.
3. ↑ See the explanations in Sandra Frauenknecht, Katharina von Pommern-Stolp (1384–1426), pp. 20–21 with comments on the Amberg State Archive's accounts , Oberpfälzisches Accounting 2594.
4. ↑ In detail on the founding history of the Gnadenberg Monastery with references to Katharina's role in the founding process of Sandra Frauenknecht: Gnadenberg Monastery (=  Middle Franconian Studies . Volume 17 ). Historical Association for Middle Franconia, Ansbach 2004, ISBN 3-87707-633-5 , p. 15–43 (also dissertation, University of Eichstätt 2001).
5. ↑ See Sandra Frauenknecht, Katharina von Pommern-Stolp (1384–1426), p. 21 with note 20.