Meinhard von Neuhaus (Oberstburggraf)

Meinhard von Neuhaus (also Meinhard von Hradec , Czech Menhart z Hradce ; * 1398 ; † February 3, 1449 in Říčany ) was one of the political leaders of the moderate Utraquists and since 1437 Oberstburggraf von Bohemia . He came from the Witigon family branch of the Lords of Neuhaus .

Life

His parents were Johann d. Ä. von Neuhaus auf Velhartice ( Jan starši z Hradce ) and Katharina / Kateřina, née von Velhartice . While his father was still alive, Meinhard took part in the administration of his parents' property. He was also interested in public affairs and made friends with Ulrich II von Rosenberg, who was related to him . With the inheritance of his father's possessions in 1417, he became regent of the Velhartic line of the Lords of Neuhaus. In 1418 he donated two altar priests for Neuhaus . Although his father was a supporter of the Hussites , Meinhard was on the side of the moderate Utraquists and the Catholic nobility. After the death of King Wenceslas in 1419, he hoped for a political renewal of Bohemia through an extension of the status rights.

After he inherited his rule Neuhaus and the Moravian possessions around Bílkov in 1421 from his cousin Ulrich V. von Neuhaus , who died without male descendants , he resided at Neuhaus Castle , which reunited the Velhartice line with the Neuhaus family branch.

During the defense of Rabí Castle in July 1421 against the armies of the Hussite captain Jan Žižka , Meinhard was captured and held for some time in Příběnice Castle. In 1423, during the siege of Křemže , Žižka ordered the captain Jan Hvězda von Vicemilic to take Telč , where Zdeňek von Sternberg took over the guardianship of the underage sons of John the Elder. Ä. von Neuhaus, Johann and Heinrich, exercised. Meinhard and Johann von Guttenstein ( Jan z Gutenstejna ) and other nobles as well as 3000 fighters came to the aid of the desperately fighting Teltschers . In the battle that was victorious for Meinhard, 300 Taborites are said to have died.

On October 31, 1425 Meinhard fought near Kamenice against the united army of the Taborites Prokop Holý and Bohuslav von Schwanberg . Subsequently, the Taborites are said to have devastated several properties belonging to the Neuhaus rulership and the town of Počátky . In November 1426 Meinhard agreed an armistice with Prokop Holý. Around this time Meinhard was reconciled with Jan von Neuhaus auf Teltsch, son of the father of the same name, who had been chased away from Neuhaus to Teltsch by Ulrich V. , although he owned half of Neuhaus. In 1427 Meinhard went on the side of the Taborites against the Crusaders in the fourth crusade, which ended with the Battle of Mies . In 1428, with the support of Meinhard, an encounter between King Sigismund and the Hussite leader Prokop Holý took place.

In 1431 Meinhard fought below the Herštejn Castle near Neugedein against the Crusaders in the Battle of Taus . The Hussite defeat increased the willingness to negotiate among the moderate Utraquists and also on the royal Catholic side. Meinhard now publicly turned away from the Taborites and asked the Kuttenberg state parliament to send educated men to the Council of Basel , where they should campaign for the recognition of the Prague compacts . The Taborites, disappointed as a result, besieged Catholic Pilsen, but were finally defeated in the Battle of Lipan in 1434.

After King Sigismund's return to Bohemia, Meinhard was appointed Oberstburggrave of Bohemia in 1437 and was entrusted with the office of administrator , which he had to hold during Sigismund's absence. After Sigismund's death Meinhard supported the candidacy of his son-in-law Albrecht von Habsburg , who was crowned King of Bohemia in mid-1438. Meinhard moved with him against Tábor , who had opposed Albrecht's election. After his death in October 1439 Meinhard belonged with Georg von Podiebrad , Ulrich II. Von Rosenberg, Hynek Ptáček von Pirkstein and others noblemen in 1440 to a delegation that led the Bavarian Duke Albrecht III. offered the Bohemian crown, but this refused.

The subsequent vacancy of the throne, which came about when Albrecht's widow Elisabeth of Luxemburg asserted claims for the later son Ladislaus Postumus , broke the religious differences between the Catholics and the moderate Utraquists on the one hand and the strict Utraquists on the other on. The captain of the Bunzlauer Kreis, Georg von Podiebrad , rose to be the leader of the Utraquists . In 1448 he succeeded in taking the capital of Prague and the castle and having himself recognized as provincial administrator through military pressure.

Meinhard was captured in Prague's Old Town on September 9, 1448 and initially imprisoned in the Old Town Hall, from where he was taken to Poděbrady Castle . The office of Oberstburggrafen was transferred to Zdeňek von Sternberg on Konopischt . In a letter dated September 20, 1448, Meinhard's son Ulrich von Neuhaus († 1453) requested the release of his father. Georg von Podiebrad refused the release with the reference that Meinhard should be brought before an ordinary court.

During the following civil war-like conflicts Meinhard fell ill and was finally released on February 1, 1449 with the obligation to surrender as soon as he was asked to do so. He died two days later near Říčany on the way to Karlstejn Castle . His body was brought to Neuhaus, where he was buried in the parish church.

The Strakonitzer Alliance was formed on February 6, and its members included Heinrich IV von Rosenberg , Zajíc von Hasenburg , Johann von Lichtenburg , Zdeněk von Sternberg , Wilhelm the Younger from Ryzmberk and Zdeněk Kostka von Postupic . At the state assembly on August 3, 1450, the alliance raised the charge that Georg von Podiebrad had Meinhard poisoned. However, this allegation could not be proven.

family

Meinhard was married to Margarethe von Walsee . Children came from marriage

• Johann / Jan, died in childhood
• Ulrich / Oldřich († 1453), married to Margarethe / Markéta von Pottenstein
• Heinrich / Jindřich, died in the child's altar

literature

• František Teplý: Dějiny města Jindřichova Hradce . Dílu I. svazek 1., Jindřichův Hradec 1927 ( with master list )
• Adolf Bachmann:  Neuhaus, Meinhard von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, pp. 502-506.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to other sources on the way to Neuhaus