Mechtild von Geldern

Mechtild von Geldern (* around 1324 ; † 1384 in Huissen ) was Countess von Kleve (1347–1368) and later a candidate for the title of Duke von Geldern (1371–1379). She came from the Flamenses family .

Life

The second-born daughter of Duke Rainald II of Geldern and Zutphen, from his first marriage to Sophia Berthout, was one of the extraordinary female figures of the late Middle Ages who have largely been forgotten today. But her career initially hardly differed from that of other noble women. She entered into three marriages in the course of her life, but remained childless. Her first husband, Gottfried von Loon , who died on a trip to Prussia in 1342 after only six years of marriage , left her extensive pensions in Maaseik . When her father passed away in 1343 and shortly afterwards her older sister died unmarried, the maternal inheritance, the rule of Mechelen , passed to Mechtild. Now financially well equipped, she married Count Johann von Kleve at the beginning of 1348 .

In their Geldrischen homeland, a power struggle between the two leading aristocratic families broke out at this time, which was to shake the duchy to its foundations. Bronkhorsten and Hekeren each bet on one of Duke Rainald's teenage sons from his second marriage. In the following years Mechtild's husband supported the older of the two, Rainald III. , energetic. In doing so, he not only safeguarded the interests of his wife, whose dowry had not been paid, but also knew how to enlarge the Klevian territory. Mechtild stayed in the background in all these activities, but it was only the pledging of their extensive possessions that made it possible to finance the war. When Edward von Geldern's party was finally able to assert itself in 1363 , the Count of Kleve was heavily in debt and most of his possessions were pledged - not least to his wife. In the last years of his reign, this grew more and more into the role of the deputy regent. After the Count's death, Kleve passed to the von der Mark house, which was also favored by Mechtild . The widow was given, among other things, the Geldrischen pledges. Together with Duke Eduard, she safeguarded monetary interests.

The nearly fifty-year old Countess von Kleve initially retired to Huissen Castle. But the greatest challenge of her life was still ahead of her: when her two half-brothers died childless in 1371, she intervened in the internal monetary conflict that broke out again . Since the duchy had the imperial privilege of female succession, Mechtild could now claim the duchy himself. A representative portrait seal of Mechtild based on a western model comes from this time. In fact, the self-confident candidate was able to win a large following with the Hekeren party. But her younger sister, Duchess Maria von Jülich , also registered a claim to the inheritance on behalf of her son. Lengthy armed conflicts followed. Mechtild pledged the majority of her possessions in order to be able to finance the fight and, in order to increase her acceptance as landlady, even married again with Count John II of Blois , who was almost twenty years his junior .

The fact that Mechtild was able to assert itself for eight years - at least in the north of the duchy - was probably due to her diplomatic skills. A comprehensive collection of national-language letters that were addressed to them still testify to the course of these disputes. Quite a few of the documents come from befriended noble ladies, such as the Duchess Johanna von Brabant , who supported Mechtild's efforts to the best of their ability. The content of the pieces ranges from intimate expression of friendship to secret diplomatic missions. Among these documents are some of the oldest private letters in what is now the Dutch and German-speaking area.

Although Emperor Karl IV had already enfeoffed her seven-year-old nephew Wilhelm von Jülich with the duchy in 1373 , an agreement with Jülich was not reached until 1379 . Mechtild renounced their rights to Geldern and Zutphen , but without losing their titles. In addition, she was assured of the extensive income from the Lobith Customs for life. Mechtild von Geldern died five years later at Huissen Castle .

literature

• Hartmut Beckers: Literature at the Klevischen Hof from 1174 to 1542: Testimonies, traces, conjectures . In: Journal for German Philology 112 (1993). Pp. 426-434.
• Aleid W. van de Bunt: Mechteld, Hertogin van Gelre, in: Gelders Oudheidkundig Contactbericht 33 (April 1967), pp. 1-6.
• Manuel Hagemann: Johann von Kleve († 1368). The acquisition of the Grafschaft Kleve 1347 , Cologne 2007 (Libelli Rhenani 21), ISBN 978-3-939160-10-6
• Ralf G. Jahn : The genealogy, the bailiffs, counts and dukes of money. In: Johannes Stinner, Karl-Heinz Tekath (ed.): Gelre - Geldern - Gelderland. History and culture of the Duchy of Geldern (= Duchy of Geldern. Vol. 1 = Publications of the State Archives of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Series D: Exhibition catalogs of the State Archives. Vol. 30). Verlag des Historisches Verein für Geldern and the surrounding area, Geldern 2001, ISBN 3-9805419-4-0 , pp. 29–50.
• IA Nijhoff: Gedenkwaardigheden uit de geschiedenis van Gelderland , Vol. III, Arnheim 1839, p. IVf .;
• J. Kockelhorm-Nijenhuis & WM Elbers, Mechteld. Hertogin Pretendente van Gelre , in: Gelders Oudheidkundig Contactbericht 57 (June 1973). Pp. 2–11, here p. 4.
• Georg Steinhausen: German private letters of the Middle Ages . First volume: Princes, Magnates, Nobles and Knights (Monuments of German Cultural History I), Berlin 1899, p. VIIf.
• Brigitte Sternberg: Mechtild von Geldern (around 1320-1384). From the coveted marriage object to the self-confident landlady of the late Middle Ages , in: Starke Frauen vom Niederrhein, calendar 2001, ed. of the "Equal Opportunities" working group of the NiederRhein region, Duisburg 2000, October calendar.
• Brigitte Sternberg: The letter collection of the Mechtild von Geldern (around 1320-1384). In: Middle Ages on the Rhine and Maas. Contribution to the history of the Lower Rhine Dieter Geuenich on his 60th birthday. Edited by Uwe Ludwig and Thomas Schilp. (= Studies on the History and Culture of Northwest Europe; Vol. 8). Münster 2004, pp. 107–123, ISBN 3-8309-1380-X
• Brigitte Sternberg: Mechtild von Geldern, Countess von Kleve . In: Van der Masen tot op den Rijn: A manual on the history of medieval vernacular literature in the Rhine and Maas area. Pp. 262f., ISBN 3-503-07958-0
• Bernhard Vollmer: Women's letters of the 14th century to a princess from the Lower Rhine. In: Düsseldorfer Almanach 1929. pp. 55–61

Web links

• Dissertation project: Studies on the chancellery and registry management at the Klevischer Hof under Johann von Kleve (1347-1368)
• Digital women's lexicon in Dutch
• Brigitte Sternberg: The letter collection of the Mechtild von Geldern
• Biography of Johann von Kleve in the portal Rheinische Geschichte
• Dutch genealogy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Illustration in: AP van Schilfgaarde, Zegels en genealogische Gegevens van de graven en hertogen van Gelre, graven van Zutphen (Arnhem 1967), zegel 76 (1343-1368).
2. ↑ z. Partly printed in: Steinhausen, private letters. Today the pieces are stored in the Rijksarchief in Gelderland.