Mechthild from the Palatinate

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Portrait of Mechthild von der Pfalz from the Codex Ingeram
Mechthild von der Pfalz in a red robe with Margarethe Württemberger, her granddaughter on a leaded glass window of the collegiate church in Tübingen, made around 1477 by the Strasbourg workshop of Peter Hemmel von Andlon
Mechthild von der Pfalz on a leaded glass window of the collegiate church in Tübingen
Face of the Mechthild of the Palatinate. Detail of the burial place with her first husband, Count Ludwig I of Württemberg, in the collegiate church of Tübingen

Mechthild von der Pfalz (* March 7, 1419 in Heidelberg Castle ; † August 22, 1482 there) was an electoral Palatinate princess and, by marriage, Countess of Württemberg and Archduchess of Austria .

She was one of the outstanding personalities of the German late Middle Ages and was closely connected to the educational movement of early humanism north of the Alps, without ever having appeared on the front lines.

Mechthild's importance for German history does not stem from her dynastic interdependencies, but rather from her work for higher education in the German south-west .

Until the death of her first husband Ludwig I of Württemberg

She was the second child of Elector Ludwig III. von der Pfalz, known as the bearded one , the first of his (second) marriage to Countess Matilda of Savoy - Achaja and thus older sister of Elector Ludwig IV.

On November 25th of her year of birth (i.e. as an infant at the age of eight months) she was engaged to the then seven-year-old (* 1412) Count Ludwig I of Württemberg . She grew up in Heidelberg, the city in which her ancestor Ruprecht II and his uncle Ruprecht I founded the oldest university in present-day Germany, the " Ruprecht-Karls-Universität ", in 1386 .

On October 21, 1436, the marriage agreed 17 years earlier with Ludwig von Württemberg was concluded in Stuttgart . He followed his father in the Urach region in 1419 . They had five children together:

  1. Mechthild (* after 1436; † 1495), married since 1454 to Ludwig II , Landgrave of Hesse (1438–1471)
  2. Ludwig II (* 1439; † 1457), from 1450 Count of Württemberg-Urach
  3. Andreas (* and † 1443)
  4. Eberhard V. im Bart (* 1445; † 1496), from 1457 Count of Württemberg-Urach, from 1482 Count of all of Württemberg, from 1495 as Eberhard I Duke of Württemberg
  5. Elisabeth (* 1447; † 1505), married 1st since 1470 to Johann III. , Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1423–1472), and 2nd from 1474 with Count Heinrich the Elder of Stolberg (1436–1511)

Her husband died of an epidemic on September 24, 1450, so that her influence at the Urach court was very weak. As a 31-year-old widow with four children between the ages of three and thirteen, this was a delicate situation for her.

Widow's residence in Böblingen

Her brother-in-law, Count Ulrich V. von Württemberg ( the much-loved ) immediately tried to get guardianship over the fatherless count's children (it can be assumed that his paternal care was primarily aimed at children with inheritance rights). In the same year, Mechthild moved into her widow's residence in Böblingen , which she was entitled to under the marriage contract as "Wittum".

As was customary at the time, all the relevant details were specified in the engagement contract in 1419, so that from the marriage - as compensation for their dowry  , which was certainly not small - as a " morning gift ", i.e. as a later widow's property in the event of her husband's death, the cities of Böblingen, Sindelfingen , Dagersheim and a number of other places have been contractually guaranteed.

This not only meant that she could reside at Böblingen Castle and dispose of all the income from the taxes of the allocated areas, but also that she was entitled to actual, legally valid rule over precisely this area. In 1419, it was also stipulated in the above-mentioned contract that all residents there have to pay homage to you, and that they have to swear their obedience to you. In addition, like her future daughter-in-law Barbara Gonzaga , she presided over her own court court, which was the highest court of appeal for the Böblingen city court and the village courts.

Böblingen, which was still quite small at the time, was definitely attractive for the beautiful count widow, because it was part of a popular hunting district, so that Mechthild may have pursued hunting activities there that were befitting of her class. At the beginning of the 20th century, Theodor Schön assumed at least: "Proud to be on horseback, with the hunting falcon in her beautiful hand, she went to heron picking in the lakeside area of ​​Böblingen."

Second marriage to Archduke Albrecht VI.

In 1452 she married Archduke Albrecht VI for the second time . of Austria (December 18, 1418 - December 2, 1463). This was a brother of the emperor Friedrich III. - so certainly not a bad choice for a widow with four children.

The high rank of her husband was already evident at the wedding on August 10, 1452 - the “ Böblingen Prince Wedding ” was the most splendid event in the history of the city. Through the wedding, Mechthild became the emperor's sister-in-law and thus, after his wife, the highest-ranking lady in the entire empire. Despite her marriage, she kept her Böblingen widows estate and kept coming back to Böblingen and the Böblingen area.

In 1457 she persuaded her second husband, Archduke Albrecht, to found a university in Freiburg im Breisgau, Austria at the time , the Albertina or today's " Albert Ludwig University ". There is no serious evidence for the common claim that Albrecht's intellectual abilities were hardly sufficient for this step; his training will also have met the standards customary for the princes of the Holy Roman Empire at the time. Furthermore, the oldest scepter of the university shows next to the Austrian shield as a reference to Archduke Albrecht VI. also the coat of arms of the Palatinate, which is said to refer to the Countess Palatine Mechthild. However, Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier contradicts this in his recently published Albrecht biography: According to Langmaier, the university was founded solely by Albrecht VI. back, who wanted to promote the highly indebted city of Freiburg economically. Dieter Speck's detailed, source-based description of the founding of the University of Freiburg im Breisgau also shows that Mechthild's role as the actual founder of this university can be classified as a legend.

After Albrecht's death in 1463, she moved into her widow's residence in Rottenburg am Neckar , again becoming a widow at the age of 44 . She set up a court of muses there, gathered poets, musicians, scholars and artists around her and encouraged translators to translate the decameron into German. She did not enter into another marriage. In 1477, Mechthild persuaded her son Eberhard to found a university in Tübingen , where the executive part (albeit centuries later) was named after: Duke Carl Eugen (1728–1793) named the university " Eberhard Karls University Tübingen ".

She died on August 22, 1482 at the age of 63 in Heidelberg and was buried in the Güterstein Charterhouse at the side of her first husband. In 1554 both coffins and tombstones were transferred to the choir of the collegiate church in Tübingen .

literature

  • Erwin Frauenknecht and Peter Rückert (eds.): Mechthild 1419-1482 in the mirror of the times. Catalog for the exhibition of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Stuttgart Main State Archives . Stuttgart 2019.
  • Clemens Fuchs: "We, Mechthild ..." 600 years of Mechthild (1419–2019). Princess, Countess and Archduchess of Austria. Traces of a fabulous woman . Narrenzunft Rottenburg e. V., Rottenburg am Neckar 2019 (80 pages)
  • Renate Kruska: Mechthild von der Pfalz in the field of tension between history and literature (= European university publications. Series 1: German language and literature . Volume 1111). Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1989, ISBN 3-631-40892-7 .
  • Hans-Martin Maurer (Ed.): Eberhard and Mechthild. Studies on politics and culture in the late Middle Ages (= living past . Volume 17). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-17-013124-9 .
  • Gerhard Raff : Hie good Wirtemberg all the way . Volume 1: The House of Württemberg from Count Ulrich the Founder to Duke Ludwig. 6th edition. Landhege, Schwaigern 2014, ISBN 978-3-943066-34-0 , pp. 275-294.
  • Dieter Stievermann:  Mechthild (Mathilde). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 580 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Philipp Strauch: Count Palatine Mechthild in her literary relationships. A picture from the Swabian literary history of the 15th century . Laupp, Tübingen 1883 ( digitized version ).
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Habsburg, Mathilde von Württemberg . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 7th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1861, p. 89 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince in the field of tension between dynasty, regions and empire (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Vol. 38). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-50139-6

Remarks

  1. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince in the field of tension between dynasty, regions and empire (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Vol. 38). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-50139-6 (partly also: Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, dissertation, 2013), pp. 326–334 and pp. 418–424.
  2. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328118666_Erzherzog_Albrecht_VI_von_Osterreich_1418-63_Ein_Furst_im_Spannungsfeld_von_Dynastie_Reich_und_Regionen
  3. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne et al. 2015, p. 24f.
  4. ↑ Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463). A prince caught between dynasty, regions and empire. Cologne et al. 2015, p. 424ff.
  5. ↑ Dieter Speck: Provincial Government and University - On the establishment of a regional university in Freiburg in front of Austria. In: Franz Quarthal and Gerhard Faix (eds.): The Habsburgs in the German Southwest. New research on the history of Upper Austria. Stuttgart 2000, pp. 217-271.

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personal data
SURNAME Pfalz, Mechthild von der
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobles
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1419
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1482
Place of death Heidelberg