Ludwig the Springer

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Copy of the epitaph of Ludwig the Springer on the Wartburg

Count Ludwig von Schauenburg , called Ludwig der Springer (* 1042 ; † May 6/8, 1123 in Reinhardsbrunn ) was Count in Thuringia . Little is known about him, but he is very legendary. Ludwig the Springer is also considered to be the builder of the Wartburg , which became the nucleus of the Landgraviate of Thuringia . His descendants, beginning with his son Ludwig I , were the Landgraves of Thuringia from 1130 to 1247 .

Life

Ludwig was a member of the noble family of Ludowingers , who came from Franconia . He was baptized in the parish church of Altenbergen . Around 1080 he founded the Schönrain am Main monastery together with his brother Beringer . In a document from 1100, both brothers name themselves after the Schauenburg near Friedrichroda built by their father Ludwig the Bearded (now in ruins) .

According to legend, Ludwig got his nickname from a bold jump into the Saale. He is said to have tried to get the Palatinate of Saxony (the Saale-Unstrut area west of the Saale and north of the Unstrut; ancestral seat was the Goseck Castle near Weißenfels), and therefore stabbed Count Palatine Friedrich III. He was then imprisoned at Giebichenstein Castle near Halle . In the third year of his imprisonment he was threatened with execution, after which he used a stay on the castle tower to jump into the river Saale below . A servant was already waiting for him there with a boat and his favorite snow-white horse, the "swan". As atonement for his murder, he had the Ulrichkirche built in Sangerhausen and later founded the Reinhardsbrunn monastery , which developed into the Ludowinger family monastery .

In fact, the legend about the origin of the name "Springer" is a misinterpretation of the Latin name Salicus . This means here that Ludwig is a Salier and was incorrectly translated as Springer in earlier times. Ludwig may never have been stuck on the Giebichenstein.

There is also a legend about the founding of the Wartburg. In 1067 Ludwig is said to have discovered their future location on a hunt and exclaimed: “Wait, Berg, you should carry me a castle!” Since the castle hill was not part of his territory, he had earth created on the mountain from there which then the Wartburg was built. In order to confirm his rights to the Wartburg in front of the emperor, he and twelve of his most loyal knights had to stick “oath swords” in the ground and swear on his honor that this was his rightful land.

In the epoch of the investiture controversy, Ludwig the Springer was one of the most prominent opponents of the Salian emperors Heinrich IV and Heinrich V. The thesis advocated by Wolfgang Hartmann that under the famous donor figures in Naumburg Cathedral are also the statues of the Wartburg builder Ludwig and his wife Adelheid von Stade .

Children of Ludwig and Adelheid von Stade are (probably):

literature

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Ludwig the Springer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count in Thuringia
DATE OF BIRTH 1042
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1123 or May 8, 1123
Place of death Reinhardsbrunn