Leonberg (county)

Leonberg , also Lenberg, is the name of a Lower Bavarian noble family that died out in the Middle Ages and whose ancestral seat of the same name was located in today's municipality of Marktl (am Inn) in the Altwies district.

Name and origin

The Castle Leonberg was before 1180 by Henry the Lion at this strategic point high above the bluff of the Inns erected, presumably, for the purpose, collect customs. It received the name of its heraldic animal. The county and castle Leonberg was written in old documents and maps as Lenberg , Leweberc, but also Lenperg and Leumberg . However, it is to be distinguished from the Lower Bavarian county of Leonsberg , which was near Pilsting in the district of Dingolfing-Landau and to which there was also a close family relationship.

The noble family

After the nobles of Tann died out around 1200, their castle and rule (area around Tann ) passed to their closest relatives, the Counts of Leonberg. In the literature, Count (Bernhard) Berengar I von Altendorf is named as a personality , who is Count von Leonberg from 1210. In 1279 Wernhardt II. Count von Leonberg, who died in 1283, gave the Teutonic Order the right of patronage over the parish of Gangkofen and thus founded the Gangkofen Order of the German Order . In 1316, Heinrich VII. Count von Leonberg donated the parish Zimmer and its branch church in Tann to the Teutonic Order. Heinrich von Leonberg is also mentioned as a participant in the Battle of Gammelsdorf , one of the last knight battles in 1313. He fought u. a. with the Counts of Hals and other Lower Bavarian nobles on the Habsburg side who lost the battle. With the death of Henry VII. In 1329, the noble family to which the county assigned to Count von Hals in 1319 became extinct . As a result of further inheritance, the former Grafschaft Leonberg came to the Counts of Ortenburg , who they finally sold to the Duchy of Bavaria in 1386 .

Location of the county

The southern border of the county was formed by the Inn around the towns of Marktl and Stammham . It then extended to the north over parts of today's municipalities of Erlbach , Zeilarn , Tann and the western part of the municipality of Reut . Gangkofen and its surroundings also belonged to Leonberg am Inn.

Area of the county of Leonberg around 1300

The location of their castle was in an exposed position high above the Inn, which here represents the border between the Lower Bavarian, Tertiary hill country and the Upper Bavarian gravel plain. On dry days there is a clear view over the foothills of the Alps to the Berchtesgaden Alps , the Salzburg region and finally the main Alpine ridge . Over the centuries, the raging Inn in combination with the Alz flowing into it undermined the high bank more and more, as a result of which the castle complex began to collapse in the 16th century. According to tradition, they wanted to save the chapel, so it was demolished in 1585, the material was transported to its current location and rebuilt in 1586 at a safe distance of about 1 km. When the foundations of the little church were replaced in 1976 due to moisture, parts of wall pillars with profiles made of sandstone were found, which surely come from the old castle chapel.

Tribe list of the Counts of Altendorf (1183-1265), resp. the Counts of Leonberg (1210-1329)

NN

Heinrich I † October 17 (before 1120);
⚭ Richinza
1. Heinrich I of Ettenstatt , 1129/1142
  1. Heinrich II. Von Ettenstatt, around 1140, extramarital union around 1150
  2. Wolfgang around 1150, illegitimate marriage around 1180
  3. Erchenbert around 1150/1188
2. Erchinbert I. , 1118–1122 von Altendorf, around 1120 von Stirn, extramarital union around 1155;
  ⚭ Bilitza, † June 12, 1135
  1. Erchinbert II., 1158 von Altendorf, 1147, extramarital union around 1158
  2. Friedrich, around 1150 from Altendorf, 1181 from Leonberg, † 1185
    1. Henry III, 1185
  3. Heinrich II. Von Altendorf , 1183 count (on the Schwarzach im Nordgau), 1180 Vogt of St. Emmeram Monastery , 1158, † December 6 (1194) or May 31, 1196;
    ⚭ 1st marriage to Hildegard von Moosbach, † (1172), widow of Hartwig von Hagenau ;
    ⚭ 2nd marriage Bertha von Sulzbach, † December 22nd after 1200, daughter of Count Gebhard III. from Sulzbach
    1. Heinrich IV. Count of Altendorf, 1193/1232
      1. Wolfgang, Count of Altendorf, 1265
    2. Bernger I , 1208 von Leonberg, 1210 Count von Leonberg (donated by Emperor Otto IV. ), 1217 Count von Altendorf, † March 10th after 1231
      1. Heinrich V, Count of Leonberg, 1246, † 1255
      2. Bernger, 1242/45, Canon of Regensburg
      3. Wernhard I, 1237/55, Count von Leonberg, † 1257
        Wernhard II, 1269, Count von Leinberg, † (1283/84) zu Gangkofen ;
        Elisabeth von Schaunberg , daughter of Wernhart II. Von Schaunberg
        
        Wernhard III, 1284 von Leonsberg and Canon of Regensburg, 1291 Count von Leonberg, † after November 1, 1323
        
        Heinrich VI., 1295 Count of Leonberg, † October 16, 1308/3. March 1316
        
        Kunigunde, 1313, prioress of Pettendorf
        
        Bernger II., Count of Leonberg and Leonsberg 1275/96, † April 26, 1296
        
        Agnes 1296, † May 15, 1315, ⚭ Ulrich I. von Abensberg and von Stein
        
        Henry VII., 1296, † after February 2, 1329, ultimus familiae
        
        Elisabeth, 1296

literature

District council of the Rottal-Inn district: The Rottal Inn district . Neue Presse Verlag GmbH. Passau 1975.
Markt Tann: Markt Tann, history and stories . Self-published by Tann 1989.
Karl Heinrich von Lang : Baiern's old counties and areas as a continuation of Baiern's Gauen .

Individual evidence

↑ Franz Tyroller, The Lords and Counts of Altendorf and Leonberg, in ZBLG 14 (1943/44), pp. 63–127.
↑ Master list based on Detlev Schwennike (Hrsg.), Europäische Stammtafeln. Family tables on the history of the European states. New series (Volume XVI). JA Stargardt, Berlin: 1995, plate 94.

48.274339 12.8113Coordinates: 48 ° 16 ' N , 12 ° 49' E

[1] Franz Tyroller, The Lords and Counts of Altendorf and Leonberg, in ZBLG 14 (1943/44), pp. 63–127.

[2] Master list based on Detlev Schwennike (Hrsg.), Europäische Stammtafeln. Family tables on the history of the European states. New series (Volume XVI). JA Stargardt, Berlin: 1995, plate 94.