Mathilde von Habsburg

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Mathilde von Habsburg (also called Mechthild ) (* 1251/1253 in Rheinfelden , Duchy of Swabia ; † December 22 or 23, 1304 in Munich ) was a member of the House of Habsburg . She was the wife of Ludwig the Strict , Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine .

family

Mathilde was born as the eldest daughter of Count Rudolf IV von Habsburg , later the Roman-German King , and his first wife Gertrud (Anna) von Hohenberg . She had five sisters and four brothers, of whom she was the eldest. Her brother Albrecht I succeeded his father as Roman-German king in 1298. Brother Hartmann drowned in 1281, his brother Rudolf became Duke of Swabia , but died in 1290.

Choice of father and marriage

Until their father was elected on September 1, 1273 , the Habsburgs were a relatively insignificant family in the empire. After the interregnum phase (1250–1273) Rudolf was unanimously elected by the electoral princes . In order for Rudolf to be able to secure his election and rule as a king, he used a wise marriage policy. He married his daughter Mathilde to the imperial vicar Ludwig II. He was the one among the electoral princes who publicly announced the unanimous election, so that it was in Rudolf's interest to secure the voice of the Count Palatine . On October 24, 1273, the day of Rudolf I's coronation, Mathilde and Ludwig married in Aachen , making her his third wife. Her sister Agnes married the Saxon electoral prince Albrecht II of Saxony on the same day . From now on, the Habsburg dynasty was one of the great princes in the empire.

Mathilde's sister Katharina Otto III later married . von Niederbayern , her sister Hedwig Otto VI., Margrave of Brandenburg - Salzwedel , Klementia Karl Martell, Titular King of Hungary and Guta King Wenzel II. of Bohemia . In this way Rudolf I secured the support of the powerful princes in the empire.

Marriage and offspring

Her father paid a dowry of 15,000 silver marks . For her wedding, Ludwig gave her the castles Wolfsburg and Winzigen and the city of Neustadt . In 1274 Rudolf I gave the couple Wachenheim Castle .

At the Palatinate court, Mathilde had her own court, a court master as well as a judge, notary and her own office. Furthermore, she exercised a patronage over the Dominican monastery Altenhohenau .

The marriage between Mathilde and Ludwig II resulted in five children:

  1. ⚭ 1290 Landgrave Heinrich of Hesse (1264–1298)
  2. ⚭ 1298/99 Margrave Heinrich I of Brandenburg and Landsberg (1256–1318)
  • Anna (* 1280), nun in the Ulm monastery
  • Emperor Ludwig IV (1282-1347)
  1. ⚭ 1308 Beatrix of Silesia-Schweidnitz (1290–1322)
  2. ⚭ 1324 in Cologne Margaret of Holland (1310-1356)

Since her husband and father Rudolf worked closely together politically and Ludwig often took part in her father's farm days , Mathilde traveled with him to her family and was able to maintain close contact with her mother and sisters.

After her father died in 1291, Adolf von Nassau became Roman-German king - to the reluctance of her brother Albrecht and her husband, who supported Albrecht. Since Ludwig wanted to bind the Nassau royal family to his principality after the election , Adolf von Nassau and Ludwig II signed a marriage contract for their children Rudolf I and Mechthild von Nassau .

Widowhood

After Ludwig's death in 1294, Mathilde found it difficult to make decisions for her Wittelsbach family not to the detriment of her brother Albrecht I of Austria . In several conflicts between her brother and Adolf von Nassau, who was supported by her son Rudolf I, she tried herself as a mediator.

Her Wittum , which was distributed around Heidelberg and along the Rhine , had to be exchanged for Upper Bavarian and Upper Palatinate areas for the marriage between her son and Mechthild von Nassau .

In accordance with the division of inheritance of the Wittelsbach territories, Upper Bavaria was to be given to the minor Ludwig IV , but Rudolf I tried to take over the guardianship of his brother and thus also exercise claims on Upper Bavaria. This led to conflicts between Mathilde and Rudolf I, whereby Mathilde was arrested by her son in Munich in 1302 and forced not to interfere in government affairs. After she was released again, she broke the promise and secured the support of her brother Albrecht.

She died on December 23, 1304 in Munich and was buried with her husband in the Fürstenfeld monastery .

literature

Web links

Commons : Mathilde von Habsburg  - collection of images

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ On the life dates and the number of descendants Michael Menzel: The time of drafts (1273-1347). (= Gebhardt Handbook of German History. Vol. 7a). 10th, completely revised edition. Stuttgart 2012, pp. 290f. The period of the birth of their daughter Mathilde "around 1251", which is widespread there and often in the literature, cannot be correct, since Rudolf's marriage to Gertrud von Hohenberg was only concluded between July 1253 and March 8, 1254. Cf. Gabriele Schlütter-Schindler: Regis filia - comitissa palatina Rheni et Ducissa Bavariae. Mechthild von Habsburg and Mechthild von Nassau. In: Journal for Bavarian State History. Volume 60, 1997, pp. 183–252, here: p. 189 note 30 (digitized version) , according to which Mathilde could be born between April and October 1254 at the earliest or from April / May 1256.
  2. ↑ Karl Friedrich Krieger: The Habsburgs in the Middle Ages: from Rudolf I to Friedrich III. 2nd Edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-17-018228-5 .
  3. ^ Rudolf I. - German biography. Retrieved January 17, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Ludwig II. - German biography. Retrieved January 17, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Habsburg 2. Retrieved January 17, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c Gabriele Schlütter-Schindler: Regis Filia - Comitissa Palatina Rheni et Ducissa Bavariae. Mechthild von Habsburg and Mechthild von Nassau. 1997, accessed January 17, 2020 .
  7. ^ House of Wittelsbach. Retrieved April 14, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Mathilde von Habsburg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mechthild von Habsburg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Member of the House of Habsburg
DATE OF BIRTH 1253
PLACE OF BIRTH Rheinfelden , Duchy of Swabia
DATE OF DEATH December 22nd, 1304 or December 23rd, 1304
Place of death Munich