Nassau-Beilstein

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The county of Nassau-Beilstein , under a branch of the Ottonian line of the House of Nassau , existed from 1343 to 1561 and then again from 1607 to 1620.

First County (1343–1561)

Beilstein Castle during the expansion in 2002

The castle Beilstein itself is documented for the first time 1,129th The place was originally owned by the Lords of Beilstein, who also built the castles Greifenstein and Lichtenstein (today a ruin above the Ulmbach dam ) in the course of dividing their property , but both of them were destroyed as robber barons' nests in 1298. How and when the Beilstein reign came to the House of Nassau is not exactly known; However, there is a document from 1287, according to which it was owned by Otto I of Nassau at that time.

After the death of Count Otto I , the founder of the Ottonian line of the House of Nassau, in 1290, after a long dispute, his inheritance was divided among his sons in 1303: the eldest, Heinrich (around 1270-1343), received Nassau-Siegen , Emich got Nassau-Hadamar , and Johann got Nassau-Dillenburg . Johann fell during the Dernbach feud in 1328 in the field battle against Landgrave Heinrich II of Hesse near Wetzlar, and his inheritance fell to his brother Heinrich, who moved his residence to Dillenburg and named his county Nassau-Dillenburg. Heinrich's marriage to Adelheid von Heinsberg and Blankenberg (1280–1347) had two sons, Otto II and Heinrich .

Heinrich's son of the same name, Heinrich I. Von Nassau-Beilstein, was initially intended for a spiritual career. However, he left his office as provost of the cathedral in Speyer and married Imagina von Westerburg against the will of his father and brother. As a result, there was a dispute between the brothers Heinrich I and Otto II von Nassau-Dillenburg, which in 1343 finally ended in a division of the country. The older brother Otto received the greater part with the rule area around Siegen and Dillenburg, Heinrich was resigned with a relatively no part, the Kalenberger Zent around Beilstein and the rule to the Westerwald .

With the establishment of the County of Nassau-Beilstein, Beilstein, which had already received city rights on February 18, 1321 and whose castle the Nassau Counts began to expand from 1320, became the capital and administrative center of the eastern Westerwald. In the rulership of the Westerwald, the Nassau-Beilstein family had to prevail against the Westerburg family .

The counts could only earn little income from the small rulership. Parts of the land had to be pledged repeatedly. The low income prevented a sustainable expansion of rule through the acquisition of new areas. Far-reaching inheritance claims could also not be enforced against other dynasties. From the legacy of Adelheid von Heinsberg and Blankenberg († 1347) only small capital payments remained. Inheritance claims to the rule of Isenburg-Grenzau could not be realized due to the early death of Philipp von Nassau-Beilstein († 1446) in the Soest feud . From the inheritance of Johanna von Gemen († 1450/51), Heinrich IV received the rule of Gemen . The house of Nassau-Beilstein could not hold this acquisition against the Counts of Holstein-Schauenburg .

The only gain that fell in love was the village of Niedernhausen , which Maria von Solms brought into marriage to Johann II in 1492 and the former Sayn serfs in the rulership of the Westerwald.

The cooperation with Kurköln developed more successfully for the Nassau-Beilstein house . Numerous members of the house were on duty in Cologne. Especially Heinrich III. achieved an outstanding position as archdeacon of Cologne Cathedral . This made it possible for the counts to acquire extensive pledges throughout the entire electoral state, with a focus on Linz on the Rhine . However, it was not possible to incorporate these pledges into the county of Nassau-Beilstein.

Presumably, the proximity to Kurköln was the reason that Nassau-Beilstein was assigned to the Kurrheinische Reichskreis . In contrast, the county of Nassau-Dillenburg belonged to the Lower Rhine-Westphalian Empire and the neighboring county of Nassau-Weilburg in the south to the Upper Rhine Empire .

Younger brothers of the Counts of Nassau-Beilstein resided in Liebenscheid Castle - initially from around 1380 Reinhard († 1414/18), the brother of Heinrich II, and after him his son Heinrich III. († 1477), and from 1537 to 1556 then Bernhard († 1556), Johann's brother. II.

With the death of Johann III, who had only illegitimate descendants, the first Nassau-Beilstein line was extinguished in 1561 and the county fell back to Nassau-Dillenburg. Johann's brother Heinrich was a Maltese knight and died in May 1525 before Pavia . His sisters Hermanna († 1584) and Eva († 1575) had become nuns in Engelthal and Walsdorf respectively and without descendants. The brothers of his father Johann II were already different before him: Gerhard in 1506 as a monk in Fulda , Bernhard , who was Landdrost of Westphalia in 1556, the other three (Reinhard, Ludwig and Otto) at a young age.

Counts of Nassau-Beilstein (1343–1561)

  • 1343–1378: Heinrich I (1307–1378), ⚭ 1339 Imagina von Westerburg († before 1380)
  • 1378–1412: Heinrich II. (1335–1412), son of Heinrich I, ⚭ 1366 Katharina von Randerode
    • 1378–1418: Reinhard as co-regent of his brother
  • 1412–1473: Johann I (1385–1473), son of Heinrich II .; ⚭ (1) Mechthild von Isenburg-Büdingen-Grenzau († 1436); ⚭ (2) 1447 Johanna von Gemen († around 1451)
  • 1473–1499: Heinrich IV. (1449–26 May 1499), second son of Johann I .; ⚭ around 1475 Eva von Sayn-Hachenburg (1455 – around 1525)
  • 1499–1513: Johann II. (1475–18 August 1513), son of Heinrich. IV .; ⚭ (1) 1492 Maria von Solms-Braunfels (1471–1505), ⚭ (2) 1510/11 Anna zur Lippe († after 1533)
  • 1513–1561: John III. (November 17, 1495– December 13, 1561), son of John II; ⚭ 1523 Anna of Nassau-Weilburg (1505–1564)

Second County (1607-1620)

After the death of Johann VI. von Nassau-Dillenburg , who was able to unite all Ottonian areas of the House of Nassau again in one hand, in October 1606 his five surviving sons shared the inheritance. Wilhelm Ludwig , the eldest, got the county of Nassau-Dillenburg, Johann got Nassau-Siegen , Ernst Casimir got Nassau-Diez , and Johann Ludwig got Nassau-Hadamar .

The third son, Georg (1562–1623), received the County of Nassau-Beilstein. Georg had the castle in Beilstein expanded into a palace and the palace church was built in 1616. Until 1612, his brother Wilhelm Ludwig, who was in Holland, resided in Dillenburg as governor ; only then did he move to Beilstein, which he left in the plague years of 1614/15. On the basis of an agreement made in 1618 with his next elder brother Johann, he inherited Nassau-Dillenburg after the death of his brother Wilhelm Ludwig in 1620. He moved back to Dillenburg and became the founder of the new Nassau-Dillenburg line. The county of Beilstein was divided among the remaining brothers, with the largest part, along with Beilstein himself, going to Ernst Casimir von Nassau-Diez; Georg only kept the Burbach and Hickengrund grounds .

Counts of Nassau-Beilstein (1607–1620)

  • 1607–1620: Georg (1562–1623), then until 1623 Count of Nassau-Dillenburg; ⚭ (1) 1584 Anna Amalia of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1565–1605); ⚭ (2) 1605 Amalia von Sayn-Wittgenstein (1585–1633).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nassau "House Nassau": From the Beilstein rule in general, and how it came to the House of Nassau. ( MS Word ; 83 kB)
  2. ^ Hellmuth Gensicke : Landesgeschichte des Westerwaldes . 3. Edition. Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-922244-80-7 , p. 283 .