Marquard von Ahlefeldt

Marquard von Ahlefeldt (born January 9, 1571 , † July 18, 1608 in Uetersen ) was the master of Haselau , Kaden and the murderer of Detlev von Ahlefeldt .

Life

Marquard von Ahlefeldt was born on January 9, 1571. He was the eldest son of Wulff von Ahlefeldt and Ollegard (born von Buchwaldt) and was raised by his grandfather Jasper von Buchwaldt, Lord of Borstel and Sierhagen, from the age of 11. Later he made a big trip through Germany , France , Italy and the Netherlands . He died on July 18, 1608 as a result of a shot he had received from his drunken cousin Detlev von Ahlefeldt on Haseldorf in 1599. His wife was Magdalena von Pogwisch , daughter of Henning von Pogwisch at Gut Farve and Margaretha von Rantzau from the Neversdorf family. His children Wulff and Hennig died at an early age, one son (also named Wulff) died at the age of 21 in April 1629.

The cousin murder

The memorial plaque for the murder at Haseldorfer Church

Benedikt von Ahlefeldt auf Haseldorf got into a violent dispute with his brother Wulff von Ahlefeldt over various things, in particular about the ownership and use of the outer dike on the Elbe. This fraternal dispute did not only result in lawsuits and legal disputes, but also in severe acts of violence and passed on to their sons Detlef and Marquard. A bloody family feud broke out between the cousins. At a reconciliation meal in Haseldorf, the drunken Detlev shot his cousin "with a pistol in two pieces of the bowels in his stomach, which he then had healed with a silver tube". Detlev then literally announced a feud to his cousin.

At the beginning of March 1599 Detlev rode with his cousin Hans Brockdorff and some servants to a funeral in Eckernförde. On the way they stopped in a farmhouse in Braak , a village near Hamburg. In the evening the house was surrounded and shot at by Marquard and a number of horsemen. Some of Detlev's servants fell victim to the bullets. Then Marquard and his companions broke into the house and Detlev von Ahlefeldt and Brockdorff were discovered in a box where they had been hiding. Then fire was opened on the box. When the two wounded later rose and opened the lid of the box, their clothes and the box caught fire and both perished miserably in the flames. A memorial plaque on the outer wall of the Haseldorfer Church still reminds us of this "very uncrystalline and pathetic murder" (old chronicle).

What happened to Marquard afterwards has not been recorded, he probably “went abroad for a year”, which was often the only consequence of such a bloody act at that time. Later a “fine” was paid and influential relatives obtained a pardon from the sovereign Marquard and reconciled with the murdered man's clan through solemn atonement. The Herzhoren Chronik of Pastor Saucke reports on the death of Marquard: “That Marquard von Ahlefeldt once romped on his horse in Uetersen in 1608, while the entrails, which he had healed over a silver tube, were broken and he fell from the horse , thrown into the sword and died […] gentle, blessed and full of godliness ”.

swell

• Louis von Ahlefeldt, Wulf August von Rumohr Drilles: The Schleswig-Holstein knighthood. A contribution to the nobility history of Germany and Denmark. Book 1: The von Ahlefeldt family. Heiberg, Schleswig 1869, p. 9 ( digitized version ).
• Wilhelm Muhs: Detlev v. Ahlefeldt (1617 - 1686) on Haseldorf, Haselau and Kaden and his memoirs (prehistory) . In: Yearbook for the Pinneberg district in 1968.