Mechthild from Giessen

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Mechthild von Gießen (* around 1155 - 12 January after 1203 ) was Countess von Gießen .

Live and act

Mechthild was a daughter of Count Wilhelm von Gleiberg and Salome von Isenburg . Her parents founded the moated castle in Gießen in 1152 and moved their residence there when Gleiberg castle passed to the Merenberg family through the marriage of Wilhelm's grandniece Irmgard von Gleiberg with Hartrad II von Merenberg . Mechthild's siblings did not survive childhood and that is why Mechthild later inherited the entire eastern part of the county of Gleiberg, including the bailiwick, through the Schiffenberg monastery . Since her father died when she was a toddler, she grew up alone under the care of her mother, Salome.

During Mechthild's youth, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa expanded his influence on the Wetterau . He had the cities of Gelnhausen , Friedberg and Wetzlar with the castle Kalsmunt on his side as well as the lords of Büdingen , the lords of Peilstein on Cleeberg , the Ludowingen landgraves of Thuringia and the imperial servants of Munzenberg . When the rift between the Staufer Barbarossa and his cousin, the Guelph Heinrich the Lion , became apparent, the area around Gießen gained strategic importance as it lay between Staufer positions of power.

It was therefore politically explosive who Mechthild von Gleiberg would marry. Before July 30, 1181 she married a distant relative of Barbarossa, the future Count Palatine of Tübingen Rudolf I , who founded the Bebenhausen monastery around 1183 . The two resided in Tübingen from then on, while Mechthild's mother Salome continued to administer Gießen. The last sign of life from Mechthild's mother Salome is the first documentary mention of Giessen in 1197: she is at the forefront of witnesses on the occasion of an exchange of goods between the Arnsburg monastery and the Schiffenberg monastery. The certificate from 1203 was issued by Abbot Meffried von Arnsburg. There is also the seal of the Reich treasurer Kuno I von Munzenberg . Mechthild's mother Salome must have died between 1197 and 1203. At that time there was already a settlement around their moated castle in Giessen.

Salome's death occurred at a time of political turmoil: Emperor Heinrich VI. , the son of Barbarossa, died in 1197 without having secured the rule for his son Friedrich. Therefore, a throne dispute broke out between the Staufer Philipp of Swabia and the Guelph Otto IV. In this dispute Rudolf I of Tübingen, now Count Palatine of Swabia, supported the Staufer. In 1198 he campaigned for Philip to be elected king and in 1212 enabled Frederick II to cross the Rhaetian passes.

progeny

Mechthild had the following six children with Rudolf I.

  • Gottfried
  • Hugo III (V.) (* approx. 1185, † July 26, 1216)
  • Rudolf II. (* Approx. 1185, † November 1, 1247), Count Palatine of Tübingen
  • Wilhelm (* approx. 1190, † after September 28, 1256), Count of Asperg-Gießen
  • Elisabeth, nun of Waldkirch
  • NN ∞ Gottfried II., Margrave of Bonsberg († 1208)

Mechthild's husband Rudolf I died in 1219. Her first surviving son, Rudolf II, received rule over Horb , Herrenberg and Tübingen after his father's death . The youngest son, Wilhelm, became Count of Tübingen and Gießen and founded the Asperg-Gießen-Böblinger line of the Tübingen Count Palatine.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Martin Hiebl: Mechthild von Gießen.
  2. ↑ Ludwig Schmid: History of the Count Palatine of Tübingen: after mostly ungedr. Sources, together with document book; e. Contribution to schwäb. U. German history.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Denise Lehtisaari: pouring in the Staufer time. ( Memento from August 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Mechthild from Giessen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mechthild von Gleiberg, Countess Palatine of Tübingen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Countess von Gießen, wife of the Count Palatine of Tübingen Rudolf I.
DATE OF BIRTH around 1155
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: pour
DATE OF DEATH January 12 after 1203
Place of death uncertain: Tübingen