Ludwig von Erlichshausen

Ludwig von Erlichshausen

Grand Master's coat of arms of Ludwig von Erlichshausen

Ludwig von Erlichshausen (also Ludwig von Ellrichshausen ; * around 1410 or 1415; † April 4, 1467 in Altstadt (Königsberg) ) was Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1450 to 1467 .

Life

→ Main article : German Order  and Teutonic Order State

Ludwig von Erlichshausen came from a ministerial family (also Ellrichshausen ) in Hohenlohe ( Crailsheim / Feuchtwangen area ). Konrad von Erlichshausen was a cousin.

Ludwig joined the order in 1434. First he was Vogt von Leske, then Vogt von Grebin and Leipe . From 1436 to 1440 he was the compan of Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf . He held the position of Commander of Schönsee from 1442 to 1447 and that of Commander of Mewe from 1446 to 1450.

On March 21, 1450 he was elected 31st Grand Master . As a rather weak personality he was under the influence of the uncompromising rulers under the leadership of Colonel Spittler Heinrich Reuss von Plauen . The order fought against the Prussian estates and sought settlement with the Prussian Confederation . Already at the end of 1450 Ludwig von Erlichshausen got caught between the fronts of a dispute between the Bund and the Holy See through clumsiness . That meant a loss of credibility and assertiveness. In 1453, after a long quarrel between the Reichstag and the Kaiser, he achieved the repeal of the Prussian Confederation, but in doing so triggered its rebellion and led the country into the Thirteen Years' War .

Ludwig did not understand how to use the favorable situation for the order that arose after the Battle of Konitz in 1454 and to bring about a reasonable balance with the estates. The war dragged on for years with no results, until after the defeat in the Battle of Schwetzin and Zarnowitz the order was exhausted and in 1466 had to conclude the Second Peace of Thorner . This led to the fact that the order of Pomerania , the Kulmerland , Warmia and part of Pomesania ceded to Poland and the Grand Master had to pay homage to the Polish king. Thanks to Ludwig, however, the area of ​​what would later become East Prussia did not become Polish like West Prussia did during the Second Peace of Thor .

The Bohemian mercenaries under Ulrich Czerwinka illegally sold the Marienburg Castle , which had been pledged to them, in 1457 to the King of Poland ( Casimir IV. Andreas ). Ludwig drove them out after taking his oath. The city of Marienburg defended itself until 1460. Seriously ill, Ludwig saved himself laboriously through swamps and forests, over the lagoon and the Vistula to Königsberg . In 1457 he took up residence in the marshal's apartment in the north wing of Königsberg Castle . He was buried in the Königsberg Cathedral .

literature

• Lohmeyer:  Ludwig von Erlichshausen (in the article Konrad von Erlichshausen) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 225 f.
• Friedrich Borchert: The Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. In: "Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung" from March 1, 2003.
• Bernhart Jähnig :  Ludwig von Erlichshausen. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 407 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Bernhart Jähnig: Ludwig von Erlichshausen. In: Udo Arnold (Ed.): The Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order 1190–2012 (= sources and studies on the history of the Teutonic Order, vol. 40), 2nd edition, Weimar 2014, pp. 134–142.

Web links

Commons : Ludwig von Erlichshausen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1415 according to the NDB
2. ^ Herbert Meinhard Mühlpfordt : Königsberg from A to Z. A city dictionary. 2nd Edition. Munich 1976, ISBN 3761200927 .