Meingote

The Meingote were an important ministerial family in the service of the Archdiocese of Mainz in the 12th and early 13th centuries. After building their castle in Weisenau ( Middle High German  Wizenowe ), right outside the gates of medieval Mainz , they called themselves von Wizenowe . The male line died out in 1215 or its possessions passed into the family of those of Bolanden by marriage .

The most important representative of the Meingote was the Archbishop of Mainz, Christian II von Bolanden (actually Christian von Weisenau, 1249–1251), brother Embrichos of V von Weisenau, and Dudo von Weisenau , builder of Weisenau Castle.

Origin and career

The Meingote were wealthy in the Rheingau as well as in and near Mainz. Originally simple ministerials in the episcopal service, in the course of the 12th century they were able to secure increasingly important municipal offices such as the vice dome or city treasurer.

Meingot the Elder and Burchard

Meingot the Elder (also: Meingot I.) was vice cathedral and city treasurer of the city of Mainz at different times. It is attested several times in documents with these characteristics, for example 1133 and 1135. In 1145 and again in 1152 it is mentioned in documents as Vice Cathedral. He was one of the greatest adversaries of Arnold von Selenhofen , who also came from a Mainz ministerial family, initially competed with him for offices, possessions and influence. For example, Arnold himself replaced him as city treasurer in 1139. After he was appointed archbishop in 1153, he filled important offices of the archbishopric, which members of the Meingote held, through his own relatives. Meingot himself had to cede the office of vice cathedral to Helferich, a brother of Arnold von Selenhofen, in 1155. In 1155 Meingot was involved as the leader of a group of dissatisfied ministerials in disputes with Arnold von Selenhofen. Meingot lost property and influence as a result, but shortly afterwards reconciled with Arnold while retaining his property. Until his death around 1156 or shortly thereafter, Meingot no longer appeared as an opponent of the archbishop. This was reserved for two of his sons and his brother Burchard.

Meingots brother Burchard was from 1144 to 1193 dean at the influential Canons of St. Peter and Paul in Jechaburg in Thuringia and St. Peter in Mainz. Burchard was also in opposition to Arnold and, together with Gottfried, the abbot of the St. Jakobskloster in Mainz, represented the clerics in Mainz who were hostile to Arnold. Although von Arnold was entrusted with the governorship of the western part of the Archbishopric of Mainz before his trip to Italy in 1158, he played a leading role in the unrest that broke out in the absence of the Archbishop. When Arnold was exiled from the city after his return from Italy at the end of 1158, Burchard was nevertheless a leader in unrest and revolts against the archbishop in the following period. With his nephews Meingot (the younger) and Dudo he was one of the main leaders of the Mainz uprising in 1160, which was to lead to the murder of Arnold von Selenhofen. Apparently, however, Burchard had good relations with Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa or his environment. His involvement in the uprising and murder of the archbishop resulted in no known punishment. Like other ringleaders of the unrest, Burchard is named without interruption in the period after 1160 as a witness for archbishopric documents and still occupied the office of ecclesiastical chamber in 1197. Under Arnold's successor, Christian I von Buch , who, due to his work as Imperial Chancellor of Friedrich I Barbarossa, stayed only a little in his Archdiocese of Mainz, he was even its official governor in Mainz.

A second brother of Meingot, Dudo, is only mentioned as a witness at the parchment of the Adalbert privilege in 1135 and listed there as the brother of Meingot the city treasurer.

Dudo, Embricho and Meingot the Younger

Meingot the Elder's sons were Meingot the Younger, Dudo and Embricho. Dudo is mentioned in a document in 1145 as the brother of Meingot and in 1147 as a mayor ( centurio ) in the archbishopric service.

Meingot and Embricho, together with their uncle Burchard, were leaders of the revolt of Mainz ministers, clerics and citizens against their Archbishop Arnold von Selenhofen in 1160. He was killed in the St. Jakobskloster on the Jakobsberg in front of the city (today's citadel ). According to tradition, Meingot himself killed Dudo, the archbishop's brother. As the only representatives of the ministerial party, Meingot and Embricho were ostracized in succession and since then have no longer been found as witnesses in archbishop's documents. Another measure was the removal of the meingote witness names from already issued documents. For example, the name of the city treasurer Meingot (the elder) and his brother Dudo were removed from the document of Adalbert's privilege from 1135. In the version of the privilege engraved in the bronze cathedral doors of Willigis , however, they can still be found.

Dudo von Weisenau

Whether Dudo, builder of Weisenau Castle and later referred to as Dudo von Weisenau , is identical with the brother Meingot the elder, the third son Meingot the elder, or even belongs to the next generation of the Meingote, cannot be clearly determined. He was the son of Dudo and Gisela and also had a brother named Meingot. He succeeded this in the office of city treasurer and is documented in the period from 1162 to 1197.

Under Dudo the power of the Meingote dynasty reached its preliminary climax. Sometime between 1153 and 1183 he was able to build his own castle in his bailiwick of Weisenau . After it was built, Dudo had to offer the castle to the emperor as a fief, although it was under the control and on the soil of the Archbishop of Mainz. With this, Emperor Friedrich I extended his own sphere of influence to directly in front of the gates of Mainz and Dudo possibly obtained the emperor's grace for himself and his family after the events of 1160 (Werner II. Von Bolanden, who later married Guda von Weisenau, had as a constant companion in the emperor's entourage quite influence and was possibly also involved in this matter). The Archbishop of Mainz Konrad von Wittelsbach was later able to get the castle back from the Emperor to the still living Dudo.

Dudo had two sons, Embricho V. and Christian von Weisenau. The latter became Archbishop of Mainz under the name Christian II von Bolanden in 1249, but only held the office until 1251 and then resigned voluntarily. Guda, who later married Werner II von Bolanden and thus into the noble Bolander family, was either a sister or a daughter of Dudo. Since Embricho died without a male successor and Christian, as a cleric, could not continue the family, the Meingote and von Weisenau died out as early as 1215 with the death of Embrichos von Weisenau in the male line. Via Guda, the titles and possessions of the Meingote / von Weisenau were now transferred to the Bolanden line, which was able to significantly expand their sphere of influence.

literature

• Ludwig Falck : History of the city of Mainz. Part 2: Mainz in the early and high Middle Ages (middle of the 5th century to 1244). Rau, Düsseldorf 1972.
• Jan Keupp : Service and Merit. The Ministerials Friedrich Barbarossas and Heinrich VI. (= Monographs on the history of the Middle Ages. Vol. 48). Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7772-0229-0 (also: Bielefeld, University, dissertation, 2002).

Web links

• Burgenlexikon.de - Stefan Grathoff: Weisenau. Vanished castle in Mainz-Weisenau.

Remarks

1. ↑ Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch 1, 517 No. 600.
2. ↑ Full text with mention of the two Meingote brothers and their offices
3. ^ Stefan Grathoff: Weisenau. Vanished castle in Mainz-Weisenau. ( Memento of the original from March 20, 2017 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. at Burgenlexikon.de. 
4. ^ Peter Acht :  Christian II. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 227 ( digitized version ).