Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen
Coat of arms of the Truchseß von Wetzhausen family
Grand Master's coat of arms Martin's Truchsess von Wetzhausen

Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen zu Dachsbach (* around 1435; † January 5, 1489 in Königsberg ) was the 34th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order .

Origin and family

He came from the Dachsbach line of the Franconian noble family of Truchseß von Wetzhausen and, according to the genealogy of Johann Gottfried Biedermann, was the son of Lorenz Truchseß zu Wetzhausen and his wife Gertraud, née von Lauffenholz. His nephews were the Speyer cathedral dean and humanist Thomas Truchseß von Wetzhausen († 1523) and his brother Georg Truchseß von Wetzhausen († 1552), last abbot of the Auhausen monastery . Two other nephews also entered the Teutonic Order, namely Georg Truchseß von Wetzhausen (Grand Commander in Prussia) and Jobst Truchseß von Wetzhausen († 1524, Landkomtur of Austria). Her brother Erhard Truchseß von Wetzhausen († 1519) officiated as cathedral dean in Eichstätt .

Life

Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen joined the Teutonic Order, was mentioned in 1461 as Vogt von Stuhm and since 1462 was also the lower compan of Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen .

Since 1467 Komtur in Osterode , he was elected Grand Master of the Teutonic Order on August 4, 1477 (other sources cite July 26 and August 10, 1477 as the date of the election). He came into a difficult inheritance, because the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466 had resulted in the loss of the independence of the order and about half of the former area of ​​the order had fallen to the Kingdom of Poland as a Prussian royal share, to which the Prussian Confederation was already subject would have. As a result, the political importance of the order had fallen sharply, and the Grand Master had in fact become a vassal of the Polish king.

Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen tried to improve the situation of the Teutonic Order in relation to the Thorner Peace Treaty. So he entered into a protective alliance with the Warmia prince-bishop Nikolaus von Tüngen and the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus . In the latter he found a like-minded ally against the Polish king Casimir IV , who fought with him over the Bohemian royal crown. Immediately after his election as Grand Master von Wetzhausen had made preparations for a war against Poland, but he found no ally for his plans in the estates of the royal Polish Prussia.

"Before he will be difficult for the King of Poland, he will be before in his blood" (before he wanted to take the oath to the King of Poland, he wanted to drown in his own blood), the Grand Master had once said and the Polish king had refused obligatory oath of allegiance. Casimir IV therefore tried to call his stubborn liege man to reason by military means and moved into the land of the order with troops. At the first arbitration meeting, however, the negotiations dragged on for several weeks without success. Only when his ally, Matthias Corvinus had made peace with the German Emperor and the Bohemian King Vladislav II , a son of Casimir IV, did Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen enter into serious negotiations with the Polish crown.

As a result, he paid homage to the Polish king in Nowe Miasto Korczyn (Neustadt-Korczyn) in Lesser Poland (today in Powiat Buski ) on October 9, 1479 . According to Johannes Voigt in his history of the Teutonic Knight Order in his twelve balles in Germany (see literature ), this was "the hardest day that Martin Truchsess counted in his life". The chronicle praises him as a serious, wise and high-minded man, also bold and courageous, who was able to withstand the storms of the time in every way.

After his defeat, the Grand Master only devoted himself to reducing the burden of debt and increasing discipline. Nevertheless he could not stop the further decline of the order. Domestic political reforms could not be implemented because the branches of the order in Germany and Livonia refused to do so.

Since the summer of 1488, Martin Truchsess was severely weakened by an ongoing illness. In autumn and winter his condition worsened, so that the famous doctor Sebaldus Erckel from Elbing was called. But even he could not bring relief and Martin Truchsess succumbed to his suffering. He found his final resting place in Königsberg Cathedral with his predecessors.

From 1938 to 1945 the East Prussian village Napierken ( Neidenburg district ), founded under his government in 1484, was renamed "Wetzhausen" after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ NDB data page for the Teutonic Order Commander Georg Truchseß von Wetzhausen
  2. ↑ Epitaph of Jobst Truchseß von Wetzhausen in the Teutonic Order Church in Vienna
  3. ↑ Gustav Knod:  Steward of Wetzhausen, Erhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 682.
  4. ^ Johann Gottfried Biedermann: genealogical register of the Reichsfrey immediate knighthood of the Landes zu Franken praiseworthy place Baunach, panel CXCVII, Kulmbach, 1747; (Digital scan)
  5. ↑ Website on the Königsberg Cathedral, with a reference to his grave and a window with his coat of arms ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sobor-kaliningrad.ru
  6. ↑ Napierken website
personal data
SURNAME Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martin Truchsess from Wetzhausen zu Dachsbachs
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
DATE OF BIRTH around 1435
DATE OF DEATH January 5, 1489
Place of death Koenigsberg