Margarete Weißkirchner

The lovers from Gotha, with a high probability: Count Philipp I (the younger) and Margaret Weißkirchner

Margarete Weißkirchner (* around 1460; † after 1500) was the - not befitting - life companion of Count Philip I (the younger) of Hanau-Münzenberg after the death of his wife Adriana von Nassau-Dillenburg (1477). Margarete Weißkirchner was a Hanau subject.

meaning

It is particularly important because it is represented together with Count Philip I on the oldest surviving large-format double portrait in art history , the so-called Gotha lovers .

biography

In addition, it is relatively well documented - but still much worse than is the case with equal marriages. At the same time, evidence of this size for a non-class companion of a nobleman in the 15th century is rare. However, neither the year of birth nor the year of death have been recorded.

The relationship between her and the count was evidently generally accepted. He appeared with her publicly and considered her in his will. There he describes her as a prostitute , which was certainly not meant derogatory in the sense of the later use of the word, but makes it clear that the two were not married. Elsewhere she is even referred to as his wife .

The couple had children together who were not entitled to inheritance with regard to the county and who did not follow their father's status:

1. Else von Hanau , married in 1508 to Heinrich Rabe, Count of the Hanau "civil servant" ("servant")
2. Johann von Hanau-Münzenberg , pastor in Ober-Roden , beneficiary in Niederdorfelden . He carried the Hanau coat of arms with bastard thread .
3. Anna von Hanau (dates of birth and death not known). Philip's son from his first marriage and his successor, Count Reinhard IV , took care of his half-sister even after his father's death. She married Dietz Reuter († 1537), Keller zu Ortenberg , in 1517 or 1518 .

Philipp also considers these children in his will, and the count's family ensured their income and good marriages after his death.

After his death, Margarete Weißkirchner married Hermann Zeiler. For the wedding, they received ten eighths of grain and five guilders from the Ortenberg winery from Count Reinhard IV von Hanau-Münzenberg , which should be returned to the county if there was no child. The gift was worth 200 guilders.

literature

• Johann Adam Bernhard : Acta & Historiae of the Hern and Counts of Hanau . [Manuscript from the 18th century in the Marburg State Archives: H 146]
• Reinhard Dietrich : The state constitution in the Hanauischen = Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 34, Hanau 1996, ISBN 3-9801933-6-5
• Josef Heinzelmann: The “Gotha lovers” are lovers . In: Archives for Hessian History and Archeology . Volume 57, 1999, pp. 209-236.
• Daniel Hess: The lovers from Gotha . Frankfurt, 1996. ISBN 3596130905
• Gertrud Rudolff-Hille: The double portrait of a pair of lovers under the Hanau coat of arms in the Gotha Castle Museum . In: Fine arts . 1968, p. 19.
• Hans Martin Schmidt : The caretaker's lovers . In: 675 years of Hanau . Catalog no. 89, fig. 135.
• Allmuth Schuttwolf: Seasons of Emotions. The Gotha couple and love in the late Middle Ages . Hatje Cantz Verlag, 1998. ISBN 3775707336
• Karl-Heinz Spieß: Family and relatives in the German nobility of the late Middle Ages = supplement to the quarterly journal for social and economic history 111, Stuttgart 1993, pp. 387, 389. ISBN 3-515-06418-4
• Ernst Julius Zimmermann : Hanau city and country . 3rd edition, Hanau 1919, ND 1978.

References

1. ↑ The most detailed information can be found in Bernhard, p. 354
2. ↑ Marburg State Archives: OIa 1500 May 4
3. ↑ Zimmermann, p. 672; the marriage contract dates from December 29, 1517: Marburg State Archives, OIa
4. ↑ Spieß, p. 390, note 372, interprets the name literally and assumes that he was a groom.
5. ^ Johann Adam Bernhard: Acta and Historiae of the Lords and Counts of Hanau . [Handwriting], 18th century: Marburg State Archives , signature: H 146, p. 354.