East Frisian chiefs

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East Frisia at the time of the chiefs

The East Frisian chiefs ( Frisian Hovetlinge or Hovedlinge ) took over positions of power in eastern Friesland in the course of the 14th century after the old egalitarian constitution from the time of the Frisian freedom had visibly fallen into disrepair.

prehistory

In contrast to what was customary during the feudal period, East Frisia was not subject to any central rule in the Middle Ages . Instead, as early as the 12th and 13th centuries, the "free Frisians", so the self-designation, had organized themselves in regional communities similar to co-operatives, in which in principle every member had equal rights. This fundamental equality applied to all owners of farmsteads and associated land in their respective villages and parishes. The public offices of judges or " Redjeven " (Latin consules ) were filled through annual elections. In fact, some nobiles stood out from this universitas : In particular, the members of the large and rich families held public offices. Status symbols of these nobiles were stone houses ( stins , as forerunners of the later chieftain's castles ) and small mercenary armies from the 13th century .

Development of the chiefdom

Chief in courtly costume, from the house book of Unico Manninga begun in 1561

This egalitarian order was maintained until 1300, despite rivalries between the powerful families. Towards the end of the 14th century, however, a demographic change set in: A multitude of crises (famines, insufficient sales market for goods, epidemics) led to a loss of public order, the climax was the outbreak of the plague in 1349/50 . In addition, (for example, broke with storm surges second Marcellus in 1362) during the High Middle Ages built dikes were flooded which until then inhabited areas: It emerged Ley and Harlebucht and the Jade Bay . These catastrophes resulted in a reorganization of the political area: smaller “districts” such as Stadland and Butjadingen emerged in the east, Bant southwest of the newly created Jadebusen.

These cuts did not leave their mark on the political constitution of East Frisia either. In the late 13th century and up to the middle of the 14th century, the power of the nobiles increasingly solidified and the East Frisian chieftainship began to take shape: the Hovetlings quickly learned to no longer derive their authority from the will of the communities, but to understand it as dynastic property To defend. For many “free Frisians” at that time it was about elementary questions of survival, their involvement in community affairs waned. The cooperative ideals of the Frisian freedom could not be upheld under these circumstances. Individual families, formerly already privileged as nobiles , began to distance themselves more and more from the peasant owners and to form the ruling class. From the middle of the 14th century the title “chief” became common, and its bearers understood it to be a denomination of class.

The power of the chiefs relied primarily on their dynastic possessions. Now towers and castles developed from the stone houses of the redjeven . Stone churches were also used as centers of power. In addition to their military use, the (expansion) construction of castles also testifies to a growing sense of class: the chiefs moved as close to the nobility as existed in the rest of the German Empire and thus once again widened the gap to the peasants who are now were regarded as undersized , as subjects. Seen from outside Friesland, a Hovetling was a nobilis ( Edeling ) anyway ; this is how Sibo Herringa von der Attamansburg is called quite naturally in a certificate issued in Bremen in 1404. The chiefs could easily take on the nobility outside Friesland in terms of their wealth, freedom and independence. In addition, it must be taken into account that in the famous 17 freestyle from the end of the 11th century, it is expressly stated in the 7th charter that King Charles granted all Frisians nobilitatem et libertatem, etheldom and frihels , i.e. nobility and freedom. So every free-born Frisian is noble-like and free. In contrast to the nobiles of Friesland, the lower nobility in the rest of the empire was mostly of unfree origin ( Ministeriale ). However, taxes remained unknown under the rule of the chiefs, a large part of their livelihood won the Hovetlinge by piracy . In addition, feuds quickly began to develop between the chief families, which were to grow into armed conflicts. To finance these disputes, the hijacking of ships served as well as the deliberate stranding of merchants by means of false beacons . The beach right guaranteed to the chiefs the permission flotsam to take possession. Further sources of income for the chiefs were self- farming as well as the leasing of farms and lands, participation in long-distance trade and, increasingly, the sale of their protective powers to the undersaten .

Chief families

The most important East Frisian chief families around 1400
Headquarters family
Broke / Marienhafe tom brok
Dornum Attena
Emden Abdena
Falding Aildesna
Appingen / Greetsiel / north Cirksena
Innhausen / Östringen Tjarksena
Langwarden / Innhausen / Knyphausen Later Onneken, to Innhausen and Knyphausen called
Lütetsburg / Pewsum Manninga
Neermoor / Leer Ukena
north Idzinga
Osterhusen Allena
Rüstringen / Bant Wiemken ( Papinga )
Wittmund / Dornum Kankena
Willum / Grimersum / Pilsum / Groothusen Beninga
Rodenkirchen / Stadland Dide Lubben

tom brok

One of the largest families of chiefs in the first half of the 14th century was the Tom Brok family , who came from the Norderland and were already one of the leading families in East Frisia at the time of the Frisian Freedom. Their power politics surpassed everything previously known in East Friesland: through marriage , the tom Brok gained control of the Emsigerland and, with Keno I. tom Brok, finally appointed the first chief in Brokmerland . The authority of tom Brok finally penetrated large parts of eastern Friesland.

Wiemken, also called Papinga, Beninga

Keno's big rival was the chief of the Rüstringer Frisians and, via Bant and Wangerland , Edo Wiemken the elder . In 1383 he built the Edenborch , later Sibetsburg, in Bant . It was the model for the Grimersum stone buildings of the Beninga chiefs in the Krummhörn , from 1395 onwards the fortification was used several times as a refuge and base of operations for the pirate union of the Vitalienbrüder , which is why the first punitive expedition of the Hanseatic League was directed against him in particular: he had to go on July 4, 1398 Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg assure that he would withdraw his protection from the Vitalienbrothers and expel them from his area.

Tjarksena

Innhausen Castle was built around 1350 by Ino Tjarksena, judge of Östringen . His son was Popko Inen Tjarksena († 1387), chief of Innhausen. Popko was a formerly loyal ally of Edo Wiemken († 1415) and father-in-law of his son Dodo. In the course of disputes after Dodo's death, Popko Inen changed sides and allied himself with Ocko the elder tom Brok , who at the time was trying to unite East Frisia under his rule. Edo Wiemken killed Popko Inen in a dispute over this in 1387 and appropriated his Innhausen Castle.

Onneken, later Innhausen and Knyphausen

In 1387 Edo Wiemken gave Innhausen Castle to Iko Onneken the Elder († 1454), the chief of neighboring Sengwarden , who also married the daughter of the former owner Popko Inen Tjarksena, Hilleda Tjarksena. At the same time, Iko Onneken succeeded his father-in-law Popko Inen as chief in Innhausen. Iko Onneken was a grandson of Onneko ( Unico , documented around 1350) at Castle Gödens , chief of Langwarden , Gödens and Syllhues, who was a relative of Edo Wiemken. Onneko's son was Onneko Grote Onneken († 1405), who was nicknamed Grote, the Great , because of his stature . He was chief to Sengwarden, Langwarden, Rodekerken, Gödens and Syllhues. His son from his marriage to Tiadera von Oldeborg , Sibeth's daughter, was Iko Onneken the Elder, father of Alcos des Evil († 1474), chief of Innhausen. His son, Folef Alksen Onneken († 1531), chief of Innhausen, inherited the neighboring rulership of Kniphausen in 1496 from his cousin, Iko Onneken the Younger, chief of Knyphausen, and thus united both rulers, according to which the sex of the Onneken then only became to Innhausen and Knyphausen called.

Allena

Kenos I. tom Brok's son, Ocko the Elder , united almost all of East Frisia under his power. In 1381 he swore allegiance to Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, Count of Holland . After an unsuccessful negotiation with the chief Folkmar Allena , who besieged him in the Aurich castle , he was murdered (1391). In the following years his wife Foelke, the so-called Quade Foelke (= "bad Foelke"), took over the reign for his two underage sons Widzelt and Keno II.

Abdena

In particular, the feuds between tom Brok on the one hand and Folkmar Allena von Groothusen and the Abdena family from Emden on the other hand determined East Frisian history towards the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century. At the head of the Abdenas was Hisko , the provost of Emden.

Lubben

The gender name Lubben is derived from Lubbe Onneken, son of the "noble Duden" and the oldest known ancestor of this name, according to the seal of 1384 with the heraldic lion in the shield and the inscription: + LVBBE ... KEN IN ◌ RODENKERKEN + . The upright lion indicates an old Frisian family and is a sign of other leading families emerging from the Onneken family, including Lubbe Onneken von Langwarden (later chief of Knyphausen). Lubbe Onneken and son Dide Lubben (also: Dide Lubbensone) are mentioned between 1384 and 1414. Dide Lubben's son and offspring is Dude Didensone. He was beheaded together with brother Gerold in Bremen in 1419 - with the sword, as Edelingen was supposed to do according to their tradition. According to legend, the younger Gerold kissed the already severed head of his brother Dude. They had tried in vain with Frisians and mercenaries to occupy the Vredeborg near Atens . They were captured and transferred to Bremen .

In the introduction to his Lütetsburg Chronicle, Udo von Alvensleben names the barons, counts and princes of Innhausen and Knyphausen as the only surviving chiefs. However, there are two other surviving genders. The lion accompanies the Lübben and Tantzen siblings, which are still in bloom today, as a coat of arms. Both families can be traced back in male line to Lubbe Onneken, the son of the "noble Duden".

Over the centuries, memories of the execution of Dude and Gerold faded. In the 19th century, the local researcher Hermann Allmers rediscovered the story of Gerold and Dude. He wrote them down anew for his country and folk pictures, the Marsh Book. From then on, the legend of the fate of the Frisian brothers was part of the canon of schools in the Wesermarsch . In addition, Allmers recommended that a fresco painting be made in the courtyard of Ummo Lübben, who died in 1890, depicting the legendary “Brother's Kiss”. In the following years the farm became a kind of place of pilgrimage. Today the painting by Hugo Zieger is on loan from the Lübben family in the Museum Nordenham .

Collaboration with the vitality brothers

The Vitalienbrüder, expelled from the Baltic Sea island of Gotland by the Teutonic Order in 1398, exacerbated these feuds: They were used as troops in the fighting by all parties. Both sides benefited from the cooperation: The Vitalien Brothers brought war experience and flexibility with them, but above all, their deployment was extremely cheap in contrast to ordinary mercenaries, as they stole booty for their own account and did not ask for wages or food. The chiefs, on the other hand, offered a safe haven from persecution and a market for stolen goods - both of which are fundamental requirements for building a new base of operations.

The increasing piracy in the southern North Sea also damaged the shipping of the Hanseatic League , especially the cities of Hamburg and Bremen . The conflicts intensified: since every chief family hired pirates to strengthen their own position, no one could do without working with them.

The Hanseatic League is arming against the East Frisian chiefs

Edo Wiemken , the chief of the Rüstringer Frisians, as well as Bant and Wangerland, stood out as the host of the Vitalienbrüder. As a result, the first punitive expedition of the Hanseatic League was directed particularly against him: on July 4, 1398, he had to assure Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg that he would withdraw his protection from the Vitalienbrothers and expel them from his area:

"All those who read this letter or get knowledge of it should be informed that I, Edo Wiemken, chief in the Rüstringen district, confess and testify in this letter, [...] to reject the Vitalienbrothers, old and young, from me, which I have with me at this time and which I left in my castle and my area [...]. "

On February 2, 1400, at a small Hanseatic League in Lübeck, it was decided to send eleven armed cogs with 950 men to the North Sea. Keno II. Tom Brok reacted immediately by apologizing in a letter dated February 25 to the Hanseatic cities for the accommodation of the Vitalienbrüder and promising their immediate release:

"[...] ik Keno [...] confess unde betughe openbar in desem brefe, [...] dat ick wil unde scarf van my laten alle vitallienbroder, old unde young, de ick bette desser tyd hebbe, vnde de ick an mynen sloten unde in mynen ghebheden had suffered, so dat ze van my unde de minen scholet uttheen to lande unde not to watere van hours at [...]. "

Keno's opponents Hisko von Emden and Edo Wiemken, as well as the Count of Oldenburg, immediately gave the unemployed Vitaliens a new job, incidentally those chiefs who had solemnly vowed not two years before never to join forces with the pirates again.

Finally, Keno tom Brok and his allies, especially Folkmar Allena , Enno Haytatisna and Haro Aldesna , hired pirates again. An "armament spiral" had formed, it was hardly possible for the individual chief to do without [the help of the Vitalienbrüder], because he could not possibly balance the military potential of the pirates with his own house power, which was available to his opponents.

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck pressed for action: On April 22nd, the agreed Hanseatic fleet set sail from Hamburg with a course for East Frisia. On May 5th, she met vital brothers hosted by Folkmar Allena on the Osterems and defeated them. 80 pirates were killed, 34 were taken prisoner and later executed.

The Hanseatic League reinforced their request by having the town and castle of Emden transferred to Provost Hisko on May 6th. This laid the basis for further operations, from here further castles and fortresses were conquered. This intransigence made the company a complete success for the Hanseatic League, on May 23, all the chiefs and communities of East Frisia confirmed that they would never accept Brothers Vitality again:

“Witlik sy all the ghenen, de whose bref lakes edder hear, dat wy houetlinge vnde menheyt of the ghantsen land to Ostvreslande, so that is documented is twysschen the Emese vnde the Wesere, vp dat wy schullen and sake number to ewyghen tyden Vytalienbrodere edder others rouere […] husede ofte heghedein vnsen landen ofte ghebede. "

Decline of the chiefdom

Ocko tom Brok is captured in front of Focko Ukena after the battle in the wild fields . Romanticizing history painting by Tjarko Meyer Cramer, 1803.

The armed presence of the Hanseatic League could not eliminate the chief conflicts, it even complicated them. In 1408 the Hanseatic League led another armed expedition against the chiefs of the Frisians. Keno II. Tom Brok sought the alliance with the Hanseatic cities, also to strengthen his own position in the ongoing feuds with the other chiefs. The chiefs could not be eliminated by military means: Keno II. Tom Brok drove Hisko Abdena out of Emden , but died prematurely. Under the rule of his son, Ocko II , the family lost its importance.

At the beginning of the 15th century, however, the chiefs encountered increasing resistance from the peasant class. The economic crisis was over and as the economy stabilized, the self-confidence of the farmers also regained strength. Focko Ukena from Leer knew how to use the growing self-confidence of the peasant class and incited them against tom Brok: He defeated Ocko and his allies in the battle of Detern (1426) and in the battle on the wild fields (near Oldeborg 1427) and put an end to the rule of tom Brok.

The chiefs came under increasing pressure: Hamburg launched a third large punitive expedition against Sibet Lubbenson, Edo Wiemken's grandson. Simon van Utrecht set out for Emden with 21 ships in 1433 and conquered the city. The Sibetsburg was razed in 1435. Against Focko Ukena, meanwhile the most powerful chief in East Frisia, a group of chiefs and rural communities allied under the leadership of Greetsieler Edzard Cirksena . The rural communities themselves apparently lacked the inner strength to fight the now hated chiefs on their own. Nevertheless, the tendency towards freedom was stirred in the communities, Focko had known how to use it in the fight against Ocko tom Brok , now it turned against him. Focko was defeated and driven out. He died in Groningen in 1436 .

With the rise of the Cirksena, the chief rule in East Frisia ended after Emperor Friedrich III. Ulrich Cirksena was raised to the status of an imperial count and had given him East Frisia as a fiefdom. Under his sovereignty, farmers and chiefs could be reassured considerably: the time of the internal feuds came to an end in his sphere of influence. Some chief families managed to be accepted into the service aristocracy . So was z. B. Albert von Rhaude or von Jemgum (1500–1545), a descendant of Ewo Tammena from Jemgum, Drost of the Count of East Friesland in Friedeburg , in Aurich and in Berum . One of his descendants married into the Westphalian nobility.

literature

swell

  • Hanserecesse. The Recesse and other files of the Hanseatic Days 1256 - 1430 . Edited by Hansisches Geschichtsverein, Dept. I, Vol. 4, Leipzig 1872–77.
  • Document book of the city of Lübeck . Edited by the Association for Lübeck History and Archeology, Section I, Vol. 4, Lübeck 1873.
  • East Frisian document book . Edited by Ernst Friedländer, Vol. 1 and 2, Emden 1878 and 1881.

Secondary literature

  • Dieter Zimmerling: Störtebeker & Co. The heyday of pirates in the North and Baltic Seas . The Hanse, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-434-52573-4 .
  • Hartmut Roder : Klaus Störtebeker - Chief of the Vitalienbrüder. In: ders. (Ed.): Pirates - Lords of the Seven Seas. Bremen 2000.
  • Heinrich Schmidt : The eastern Friesland around 1400. Territorial-political structures and movements . In: Wilfried Ehbrecht: Störtebeker: 600 years after his death . Porta-Alba-Verlag, Trier 2005, ISBN 3-933701-14-7 , pp. 85-110.
  • Heinrich Schmidt: Medieval church history . In: Rolf Schäfer (Ed.): Oldenburg Church History . Isensee, Oldenburg 1999, ISBN 3-89598-624-0 .
  • Heinrich Schmidt: Pirates welcome . In: Back then. The magazine for history and culture. Volume 38, April (4) 2006, pp. 30-36.
  • Heinrich Schmidt: Political history of East Frisia . Leer 1975.
  • Matthias Puhle : The Vitalienbrüder: Klaus Störtebeker and the pirates of the Hanseatic era . Second edition, Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-593-34525-0 .

Remarks

  1. ^ Heinrich Schmidt: The eastern Friesland around 1400. Territorial-political structures and movements. In: Wilfried Ehbrecht (Ed.): Störtebeker - 600 years after his death , Trier 2005, p. 86.
  2. ↑ Schmidt (2005), p. 87.
  3. ↑ Heinrich Schmidt: Pirates welcome. In: Back then. The magazine for history and culture , volume 38, April (4) 2006, p. 32.
  4. ↑ See Schmidt (2006), p. 32.
  5. ^ Heinrich Schmidt: Medieval Church History. In: Rolf Schäfer (Ed.): Oldenburg Church History . Isensee, Oldenburg 1999, ISBN 3-89598-624-0 , pp. 120ff.
  6. ↑ Schmidt (2005), p. 89.
  7. ^ Almuth Salomon : Leadership layers in Jeverland ( Oldenburger Schriften NF 19). Isensee, Oldenburg 2004, p. 80.
  8. ^ Almuth Salomon: Leadership layers in Jeverland ( Oldenburger Schriften NF 19). Isensee, Oldenburg 2004, p. 7.
  9. ↑ Dieter Zimmerling: Störtebeker & Co. The heyday of the pirates in the North and Baltic Seas. Die Hanse, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-434-52573-4 , p. 223f.
  10. ↑ a b Schmidt (2006), p. 33.
  11. ↑ a b RODER, Hartmut: Klaus Störtebeker - Chief of the Vitalienbrüder, in: ders. (Ed.): Piraten - Herren der Sieben Meere, Bremen 2000, p. 41.
  12. ^ Tileman Dothias Wiarda: Ostfriesische Geschichte , Volume 1, Aurich 1791, p. 342 .
  13. ↑ a b Friedrich Alexander Bran and Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz: Minerva. A journal of historical and political content , Volume 2, Jena 1827, p. 222 f.
  14. ↑ Bran / Archenholz, Minerva , p. 223, and Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Volume 28 of the complete series (= Graefliche Häuser A , Volume 4), CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1962, p. 216 f.
  15. ↑ Eilert Tantzen: 700 years of chronicle of the Tantzen family. 1300-2000. Published by the Hergen Tantzen family association. Isensee, Oldenburg 1997, 101ff.
  16. ↑ Ibid., 181.
  17. ↑ Radio Bremen: [The brother kiss - fresco in the Stadtmuseum Nordenham http://www.radiobremen.de/nordwestradio/serien/schauplatz-nordwest/bruderkuss-nordenham100.html ], accessed on January 17, 2016.
  18. ↑ Eilert Tantzen : 700 years of chronicle of the Tantzen family. 1300-2000. Published by the Hergen Tantzen family association. Isensee, Oldenburg 1997, p. 228f.
  19. ^ Heinrich Schmidt: Political History of East Frisia , Leer 1975, p. 79.
  20. ↑ Ostfriesisches Urkundenbuch , cited. according to Matthias Puhle: Die Vitalienbruder: Klaus Störtebeker and the pirates of the Hanseatic era , 2nd edition, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-593-34525-0 , p. 111.
  21. ↑ Hanserecesse I 4; No. 570, § 5, p. 522.
  22. ^ Document book of the city of Lübeck , Section I, Vol. 4, No. 692, p. 788
  23. ↑ Hanserecesse I 4, no. 589, p. 534f .: “Keene heft de vitalienbrudere van sych gelaten, […] etlike høvetlinge in Vreesland, alze Ede Wummekens unde de van Emede de vitalgenbroder wedder to be genomen hebben, unde de greve van Oldenborch [...]. "
  24. ↑ Puhle, p. 106.
  25. ↑ Hanserecesse I 4, No. 591, pp. 538-546.
  26. ↑ May 9: Larrelt Castle; May 12th: Loquard Castle (razed on June 14th); between May 16 and 23: Marienfeld Tower (razed at the beginning of June), Wittmund Castle, Groothusen Castle (razed June 14).
  27. ^ Document book of the city of Lübeck , Section I, Vol. 4, No. 699, p. 793.
  28. ↑ Schmidt (2005), p. 92.
  29. ↑ Schmidt (2006), p. 34.
  30. ↑ Schmidt (2006), p. 35.
  31. ↑ Schmidt (2005), p. 104.
  32. ↑ Schmidt (2005), p. 109.