Margaret of Tyrol

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Margarete von Tirol, called Margarete Maultasch
Document of the transfer of Tyrol to the Habsburgs, 1363

Margarete von Tirol-Görz (first mentioned around 1366 as Margarete Maultasch ) (* 1318 in Tyrol ; † October 3, 1369 in Vienna ) was the daughter of Heinrich Duke of Carinthia and Count of Tyrol and Gorizia from his marriage to Adelheid von Braunschweig and from 1335 to 1363 Countess of Tyrol and Gorizia.

Life

Duke Heinrich of Carinthia and Tyrol, who had no male descendants, signed a contract with Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1330 , which guaranteed him female succession for his daughters if they were married with the emperor's approval. Margarete, born in 1318 , was betrothed to Johann Heinrich von Luxemburg (* 1322), the younger brother of the later Emperor Charles IV , in 1327 and was married on September 16, 1330 in Innsbruck. Johann Heinrich, who was four years younger than him, was sent to Tyrol by his father at the age of five (1327) with a large retinue. The two children were unsympathetic from the start. The adolescent was also a not exactly friendly husband who was unwilling to learn German. He behaved wildly towards his wife, he scratched, bit and bullied her, and gradually the mutual antipathy turned into downright hatred.

When Margarete's father died in 1335, she was the only one who could succeed her in Tyrol, as her older sister Adelheid had died in 1325 at the age of eight. After an agreement with Ludwig at the Reichstag on November 26, 1330, Duke Albrecht II of Austria occupied the Duchy of Carinthia in Augsburg , where the Habsburgs and Wittelsbachers had also agreed that the latter would receive the north of Tyrol and that Margarete and Johann Heinrich should rule only in South Tyrol . The Tyroleans, however, refused to be divided between the Habsburgs and Wittelsbach, and there were military conflicts between the Habsburg dukes and Ludwig of Bavaria, to which then, sent by his father, Margarete's brother-in-law Karl , at the time Margrave of Moravia , intervention. In the Peace of Enns on October 9, 1336, the situation was clarified. Only then could Margarete take over her inheritance.

However, her young husband Johann Heinrich began to act like the Lord of Tyrol, as she learned from her Tyrolean advisors. Margrave Karl, who was more politically gifted and skilful than his younger brother, stayed in Tyrol to advise the inexperienced and uninterested. At that time he was already known everywhere as a womanizer. Karl had already taken over the reign of Tyrol for three years in 1335, he had brought along Bohemian advisers who soon held important offices. Karl was on a journey to Prussia with his father in 1336/37 and then took over the administration in the county in 1341.

The Bohemian administration was rejected by Margarete's Tyrolean friends and they then also helped Margarete get rid of her hated husband. From May 1340, Johann Heinrich also stayed in Bohemia and Poland for some time , at which time there was a first uprising against the rule of Luxembourg . He was put down by Nikolaus von Brünn , Bishop of Trento and entrusted with the administration of Tyrol.

Margarete then expelled her husband Johann Heinrich from Tyrol in November 1341 together with her Tyrolean councilors. At the same time she announced that the marriage had never been consummated and that Johann must therefore have been impotent. The husband had come home late at night after a hunt on All Souls Day, had rumbled to be allowed in and stood in front of locked gates. Nor did he find a place to stay in other castles in Tyrol. The Patriarch of Aquileia , Bertrand de Saint-Geniès , took pity on him and gave him shelter. This and the fact that she married his son Ludwig I of Bavaria-Brandenburg on February 10, 1342 in Meran , despite admonitions from the curia , in the presence of the emperor , caused a sensation all over Europe. The wedding was met with great approval throughout Tyrol, as the future husband Ludwig, in agreement with his future wife , granted the nobles many privileges in the Tyrolean Letter of Freedom , but these were not kept in the long term.

For political and canonical reasons, Pope Clement VI recognized. but does not indicate the invalidity of the first marriage. In addition, Margarete and Ludwig were also related in the third degree. The Pope was not willing to issue a dispensation because he was also at odds with the Emperor and had already banned him several times . Since the latter now had the nerve to have this second marriage carried out and once again opposed the curia, there was no doubt that the Pope could not validate this marriage. For these reasons, the two unrecognized spouses were banned by the Pope and an additional interdict was imposed on the state of Tyrol. Marsilius of Padua and William of Ockham , however, defended this "civil marriage" in tracts, which, in contrast to Margaret's first marriage, was blessed with children. Ludwig the Brandenburger asserted himself with a hard hand as regent in Tyrol. An attempt to overthrow the Pope and the Luxembourgers , who were also able to win some electors against him, failed. Ludwig's rule became even stricter after that and many nobles had to return lands and goods.

When Karl, from Luxembourg , besieged his ex-sister-in-law in March 1347, when he was already a Roman king, in Tyrol Castle, Margarete successfully defended it. While retreating from the failed war campaign, the Luxembourger had the cities of Merano and Bozen burned down in revenge. Ludwig chased him away successfully. Only when Karl was elected emperor did he reconcile himself with Margarete and Ludwig.

In 1348 the expelled Johann, now Margrave of Moravia , who only bore the title of Duke of Carinthia and Count of Tyrol, but without being able to make realistic claims to it, and as a husband without a wife, sought the curia in order to comply with his brother Karl to dissolve his marriage to Margarete. At that time, Karl had no heir and therefore had to be interested in ensuring that his brother could enter into a lawful marriage and father legitimate sons, if the Bohemian lands were not to fall to his son-in-law Rudolf IV of Habsburg after his death . The Bohemian project will also have met with approval from Margarete and her husband Ludwig, because only in the event of an ecclesiastical dissolution of Margarete's first marriage could they legally marry and officially declare their children who had already emerged from this relationship as legitimate. Johann Heinrich asked Pope Clement VI. to annul his marriage to Margarete and justified his request first with the reference to the marriage hindrance of consanguinity and sisterhood in the fourth degree, of which they would not have known. Second, Johann was of the opinion that although a lawful marriage had taken place between him and Margarete, the marriage had never actually been consummated. Johann Heinrich's apparent admission of his impotence was problematic, but at the same time he admitted that Margarete's complaints were not unfounded. The attacks on Margarete's personality did not take place, as did the accusation that the Tyrolean countess had entered into an incestuous relationship with Ludwig the Brandenburger. The reason for this attitude may be to be found in the fact that Margarete's wish for children corresponded to the Church's teaching, according to which the meaning of marriage lies in the generation of offspring. If Johann wanted to get papal permission for a new marriage, as it was planned, then he had to be sure that his inability to consummate a marriage with Margaret was caused only by a maleficium , an enchantment. Since he grew up with her, this reason for his impotence can be found in Margarete's psychological and social sphere. He had rather built up a kind of "sibling love" for her, if at all. Therefore, Johann confirmed again and again in the documents that his impotence only related to Margarete, and even confessed to adultery. Eventually, on July 21, 1349, both were divorced under secular law. But Margarete's marriage to Ludwig was still not recognized by the curia. They were still under the spell. It was ten years before the curia agreed to lift the ban.

Only in 1359 was after the mediation of Albrecht II on the part of Pope Innocent VI. the spell released. After the surprising death of her husband Ludwig in 1361, Margarete visited Charles IV in Nuremberg. During this visit, Chancellor Johannes von Neumarkt referred to the Duchess as "Kriemhild". After both Margarete's husband in 1361 and her son Meinhard III. After they died childless in 1363, Tyrol transferred them to their next of kin, the Habsburg Rudolf IV of Austria , and handed over government power to him in 1363. The Wittelsbachers then invaded Tyrol, which they ultimately renounced in the Peace of Schärding in 1369 in return for high financial compensation.

Margaret spent her last years in Vienna , where her Leibgedingsitz to have given a whole suburb named "Margaret reason" (district Vienna- Margareten ). Rudolf arranged that she should no longer come to Tyrol so that the Tyroleans would not again see Margarete as their real mistress. She had never left the longing for her homeland Tyrol. She was buried in the Minorite Church in Vienna .

The nickname "Maultasch"

In the documents of the Rudolfin- Habsburg chancellery, Margarete was referred to in 1362 as "Fuerstinn frow Margret, duchess of Payrn vnd grefinne ze Tyrol" . In contrast, the pejorative surname “Maultasch” was first mentioned around 1366 in the third Bavarian continuation of the “ Saxon World Chronicle ” and in 1393 in the “Austrian Chronicle”. It means something like "whore, dissolute woman" and was mainly used in papal and Bohemian propaganda.

Since 1425 the epithet has been taken literally and Margarete has been imagined with a misshapen mouth. The following view that Margarete was generally extremely ugly is in all probability wrong, because contemporary witnesses such as Johannes von Winterthur described Margarete as a particularly beautiful woman. The idea that she possessed particularly offensive vocabulary is also historically untenable. Furthermore, on a seal with her likeness, her mouth is by no means disfigured. However, there are no contemporary pictures showing Margarete von Tirol. All of the pictures in which she can be seen are from a later period.

A third explanation derives the name from Margarete's favorite place of residence, Neuhaus Castle in Terlan , popularly known as “Maultasch Castle” . According to this, this castle took its popular name from the customs station below, called “mala tasca” (mousetrap) and was subsequently passed on to the countess.

Another possibility is that the dubious nickname “Maultasch” was given by her first husband Johann Heinrich, who did not shy away from spreading the worst rumors about her.

The Italian author Filippo Villani referred to it around 1400 as "Medusa". The alleged siege of Hochosterwitz Castle goes back to the “Carinthian Chronicle” Jakob Unrest ; such legends were published in 1816 by Jacob Grimm in the "Deutsche Sagen" and popularized in Lion Feuchtwanger's novel The ugly Duchess (1923).

Ultimately, as the sole heir to Tyrol, Margarete was the pawn of the three dynasties of Wittelsbach, Luxembourg and Habsburg, all of whom sought their favor in order to get the strategically important Tyrolean passport into their hands.

Marriage and offspring

Margarete married Johann Heinrich von Luxemburg on September 16, 1330 . The childless marriage was divorced in 1341 by Ludwig the Bavarian. The divorce under canon law took place in 1349.

On February 10, 1342, she married Ludwig the Brandenburger from the House of Wittelsbach , Margrave of Brandenburg and Duke of Upper Bavaria, for the second time at Castle Tirol . The marriage had four children:

  • Hermann (1343-1360)
  • Meinhard (1344–1363) ⚭ 1359 in Passau, Duchess Margarete of Austria (1346–1366), daughter of Duke Albrecht II and the Countess Johanna von Pfirt
  • Daughter (* / †?)
  • Daughter (* / †?)

Fiction representations

literature

  • Wilhelm Baum : Margarete Maultasch. The fate of women in the late Middle Ages. Kitab-Verlag, Klagenfurt / Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-902005-43-2
  • Julia Hörmann-Thurn and Taxis (ed.): Margarete “Maultasch” - on the world of a princess and other Tyrolean women of the Middle Ages. Lectures at the scientific conference in the South Tyrolean State Museum for Cultural and State History Schloss Tirol, Schloss Tirol, November 3rd to 4th, 2006. Wagner, Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7030-0438-4

Lexicon articles and compilations

Literature on partial aspects

  • Christina Antenhofer: The so-called " Bridal Cup of Margarete Maultasch" in view of cultural-historical questions about the material culture of the late Middle Ages . In: Christoph Haidacher, Mark Mersiowsky (Ed.): 1363–2013 . 650 years of Tyrol with Austria. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner 2015, ISBN 978-3-7030-0851-1 , pp. 255–280 (with images)
  • Julia Hörmann: The decision of 1363 or the power and impotence of a princess . In: Christoph Haidacher, Mark Mersiowsky (Ed.): 1363–2013 . 650 years of Tyrol with Austria. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner 2015, ISBN 978-3-7030-0851-1 , pp. 55–89 (with a list of the certificates issued by Margarete)
  • Magdalena Hörmann-Weingartner: image and missile - the portraits of Margarete Maultasch . In: Christoph Haidacher, Mark Mersiowsky (Ed.): 1363–2013 . 650 years of Tyrol with Austria. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner 2015, ISBN 978-3-7030-0851-1 , pp. 297-307
  • Ellen Widder : Reflections on the Political Effectiveness of Women in the 14th Century. Margarete Maultasch and Agnes of Hungary as heirs, wives and widows. In: Christoph Haidacher, Mark Mersiowsky (Ed.): 1363–2013 . 650 years of Tyrol with Austria. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner 2015, ISBN 978-3-7030-0851-1 , pp. 91-134.
  • Andreas Zajic: Inscription palaeographic notes on the so-called "Bridal Cup of Margarete Maultasch" . In: Christoph Haidacher, Mark Mersiowsky (Ed.): 1363–2013 . 650 years of Tyrol with Austria. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner 2015, ISBN 978-3-7030-0851-1 , pp. 281-295

Web links

Commons : Margarete von Tirol  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Cassian Anton von Roschmann: History of the princes of Tyrol: for the use of the studying youth in the kk states . Published 1781, p. 61ff ( Google eBook, full view )
  2. ^ Werner Paravicini : The Prussian journeys of the European nobility . Part 1 (=  supplements of the Francia . Volume 17/1 ). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1989, ISBN 3-7995-7317-8 , pp. 147 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ History of the Minorite Church
  4. ^ Hannes Obermair : Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 1 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2005, ISBN 88-901870-0-X , p. 352, no.717 .
  5. ^ Lion Feuchtwanger: The ugly Duchess. 7th edition. Berlin 2008.
predecessor Office successor
Henry II Countess of Tyrol
1335–1361
1335–1341 ⚭  Johann Heinrich
1342–1361 ⚭  Ludwig 		Meinhard III.
personal data
SURNAME Margaret of Tyrol
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Margarete Maultasch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Countess of Tyrol-Gorizia
DATE OF BIRTH 1318
PLACE OF BIRTH South-Tirol
DATE OF DEATH October 3, 1369
Place of death Vienna