Leonhard zu Castell

Leonhard zu Castell (also Linhart ; * 1379 ; † June 16, 1426 ) was ruler of the county of Castell from 1399 until his death .

The county before Leonhard

The successor to the founder of the line, Hermann, Friedrich II. Zu Castell , extended the fiefs that had been given to him by the Bishop of Würzburg. In addition, he combined some offices on his person. Under his heirs, Friedrich and Hermann, the rule was divided and for the first time in the history of the county offices were accepted in other dominions in the area. Both were employed as district judges in Nuremberg .

Leonhard's direct predecessor, his father, Count Wilhelm I, moved together with the larger lords of the area, including the Bishop of Würzburg, against the city of Windsheim , which had just become an imperial city . In 1398 he was granted an important privilege by the king: Volkach , the only town in the county, was now given the right to mint, and penny and lighter coins could be minted.

Life

Count Leonhard was born in the second half of the 14th century as the son of Count Friedrich III. zu Castell and his wife Adelheid von Nassau. The siblings are also not mentioned, only brother Albrecht is named. Count Leonhard appears for the first time in 1379. In 1399, after the death of his father, he took over the government of the county.

However, the first official acts that have been handed down to us cannot be grasped until the 15th century. In 1414 the Roman-German King Sigismund granted the castellischen village Großlangheim to the market town. Leonhard had probably planned Großlangheim as a city to replace Volkach, which had come more and more into the hands of the Würzburg bishops. A city survey was never carried out, however, since the founding of dynastic cities was already a thing of the past and the less central position of the place did not seem appropriate for a city to be founded.

Earlier, as early as 1412, after the death of his wife Anna von Hohenlohe-Speckfeld , Count Leonhard inherited many goods that were now incorporated into the county. In 1417 he was given an imperial loan letter listing the entire county's possessions. Count Leonhard zu Castell died around 1426.

Marriage and offspring

Count Leonhard married Anna von Hohenlohe-Speckfeld, who died before 1426. The sources are largely silent about the couple's children. Only the successor Wilhelm II is mentioned in detail.

• Wilhelm (* around 1415; † around 1479)
• Friedrich († 1431)
• Elisabeth († July 1, 1419)
• Barbara († 1434)
• Anna († 1432 in Kitzingen )

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.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meyer, Otto: The Castell House . P. 19.
2. ↑ Engel, Wilhelm: Haus u. Reign of Castell . P. 6.
3. ↑ Worldroots.com: Web Archive, Family Tree ( August 7, 2007 memento in Internet Archive ), accessed April 23, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilhelm I.	Count of Castell 1399–1426	Wilhelm II.