Konrad von Winterstetten

Konrad von Winterstetten - Waldburg († probably 1242/43) was an imperial tavern under the Hohenstaufen kings Heinrich (VII.) (1220–1235) and Konrad IV. (1237–1254). He came from the Upper Swabian noble family of the Waldburg-Fir .

Life and offices

Konrad von Winterstetten was in the service of the Staufers and exercised the office of gift giving at the king's court . King was then Heinrich (VII.), Who in April 1220 at the instigation of his father, King Frederick II (1212–1250), had been elected ruler by the German princes in Frankfurt am Main . While Frederick returned to Italy to pursue his plans for the coronation of the emperor (1220) and the crusade (1228/1229), Heinrich, who was still a minor and also Duke of Swabia , represented the Hohenstaufen dynasty in Germany as co-king under the tutelage of two “regents “, Of Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne (1218–1225) and Duke Ludwig I of Bavaria (1183–1231). Konrad von Winterstetten played a part in the king's education and politics, along with a few loyal bishops, clergymen, nobles and (imperial) ministerials such as Heinrich von Tanne , Eberhard von Waldburg, Gerhard von Sinzig , Heinrich von Neuffen and Werner von Bolanden . Konrad came from the Upper Swabian noble family of the fir-Waldenburg (Ravensburg) and called off in 1214 after at Biberach nearby castle Winterstetten . The relationship between the fir and the Staufers was close, the imperial regalia are said to have been kept at Waldburg Castle between 1220 and 1225 , Konrad has appeared in the (imperial) tavern office since 1220, later he was Suevie procurator et prefectus Suevie and temporarily administered probably around or shortly after 1220, by royal commission from Villingen .

Political activity

Konrad von Winterstetten was involved in highly political decisions such as the German-Danish negotiations in September 1223 in Nordhausen after the capture of the Danish king Waldemar II (1202–1241) by Count Heinrich I of Schwerin (1200–1228) in May of the same year. The negotiations ended with the contract of September 24th, according to which Denmark had to pay 52,000 marks in silver and Waldemar had to forego the Danish conquests south of the Eider . Konrad was subsequently present at the royal court day in Bardowick and Bleckede at the end of September, beginning of October 1224, but the Danish ruler was not released there either. In February 1225 - after the court conference in Ulm - Konrad accompanied his king to Augsburg , in April he was in or near Villingen. In March 1226, King Heinrich (VII), accompanied by Eberhard von Waldburg and Konrad, traveled from Frankfurt to Hagenau , then from Alsace to Upper Swabia . Even after the assassination of Cologne's Archbishop Engelbert the Holy, remained under the "reign" of the Bavarian Duke Konrad von Winterstetten so close to the king. He also accompanied the king in his independent government activities after the end of the reigns and politically survived Heinrich's indignation against the father and the overthrow of the king in the spring and summer of 1235.

Cultural work

Commemorative plaque for the monastery founder Konrad von Winterstetten, erected in 1961 in the Baindt monastery church of the former Baindt monastery

Konrad had long since become a confidante of the emperor. Friedrich II. And Konrad were enthusiastic about literature and minnesang , and Konrad, as Heinrich's tutor (VII), had aroused the king's interest in poetry, so that important minstrels such as Gottfried von Neuffen , Rudolf von Ems , Ulrich von Türheim or maybe the Tannhauser had also appeared at the royal court. In addition, after the overthrow of Heinrich and the election of Staufer Konrad IV as king, the Reichsschenk took care of Italian affairs. In 1238 he was able to lead an army of knights to Italy together with Gottfried and Heinrich von Hohenlohe , which was financed with the help of a special tax from the imperial cities . Around 1240, the imperial tavern founded a nunnery in Baindt (north of Weingarten), and Konrad von Winterstetten is also mentioned in the famous imperial tax register from 1241 . Konrad probably died around 1242/1243, but parts of historical research assume that he lived until the end of the 1240s and is said to have left the Staufer party after the Battle of Frankfurt (1246). A grandson of Konrad was then Ulrich von Winterstetten, known from the famous Heidelberg Manesse manuscript .

Sword of Konrad von Winterstetten

His sword is in the collection of the armory (Dresden) . On March 19, 1568, Hans Jörg Graf von Mansfeld wrote to the Elector August von Sachsen that he would give him a sword as a present at the time of the battle in front of the Welfesholze . The following slogan is engraved on both sides of the sword of the Reichsschenken Konrad von Winterstetten, probably written by Rudolf von Ems :

(Front)

CHUNRAT VIL VERDER SHENKE / HIE BI OU MIN GEDENKE

(Back)

VON VINTERSTETEN HOHGEMUT / LA GANZ DAHAINE IISEN HUT

Translation: Konrad, much esteemed tavern von Winterstetten, in high spirits, here you think of me, don't leave a monkshood at all

From an epigraphic point of view, the engraved capital letters are roughly similar to the Prüferen inscription , a capitalis monumentalis, and appear post-processed on the historical recordings; this can also be a retouching of the photos.

It can be assumed that this sword is probably a replica from the 16th century.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hubert Graf Waldburg-Wolfegg: From the southern empire of the Hohenstaufen. 1954, p. 10. (with black and white illustrations)
2. ↑ Erich Heanel: The sword of Konrad von Winterstetten. In: Messages from the Saxon art collections. Vol. III, Dresden 1912, pp. 12-23.

literature

• P. Thorau: Yearbooks of the German Empire under King Heinrich (VII.), Part I: King Heinrich (VII.), The empire and the territories. Investigations on the phase of minority and the "Regencies" Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne and Duke Ludwig I of Bavaria (1211) 1220-1228. Berlin 1998, pp. 110-121, 202-207, 216-226, 271f, 282.
• Rudolf Rauh: The inscription on the sword of the Schenken Konrad von Waldburg-Winterstetten. An epigraphic attempt at interpretation In: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte Vol. 14 (1955) pp. 306–308
• Hubert Graf Waldburg-Wolfegg: From the southern empire of the Hohenstaufen. 1954.
• J. Vochezer: History of the Princely House of Waldberg in Swabia. Volume 1, Kempten 1888, pp. 79-106.