Otto III. (Waldeck)

Otto III. Waldeck to Landau (* around 1389, † 1458 / 1459 ) was the second ruling of Count since 1397 existing "older Landauer line" of the house Waldeck . He was the son of Count Adolf III. von Waldeck , the founder of the older Landau line, and his wife Agnes von Ziegenhain .

Life

Otto III. resided, like his father, in Landau Castle in Landau . His reign fell in the time of the ousting of Kurmainz and the consolidation of the landgrave's supremacy in Central and Lower Hesse, and his official acts were constrained by the circumstances caused by them. Almost immediately after his father's death and his own accession to the throne he wore on October 8, 1431 the castle and town of Landau with all accessories the Landgrave Ludwig I of Hessen to feudal and got it from this as a hereditary fief for himself and his sons John and Heinrich back. The previous policy of the Waldecker Counts - like the Ziegenhainers - to maintain their own independence between Hesse and Kurmainz was after the Mainz defeats at Fritzlar in July and at Fulda in August in the Mainz-Hessian War of 1427 and the Peace of Frankfurt from December 1427 no longer possible, after even Mainz had to fief almost all of its possessions in Lower and Central Hesse from the landgrave.

In 1431 by Otto III. Pledging of the village of Ehringen to Landgrave Ludwig (increased several times in 1455, 1472 and 1534) later led to a lot of dispute between Waldeck and Hesse and was only ended in a settlement decided in 1635 and confirmed with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 by Waldeck ceded sovereign rights to Hessen, but retained all other rights (mills, church rate, etc.).

On August 30, 1438 Otto renewed and expanded his fiefdom contract to Landgrave Ludwig; He undertook to refuse his consent to any attempt by his Waldeck relatives to transfer their rule to another prince, to sell or pledge it. At the same time he lent the Landgrave 3,100 Rhenish gold guilders, for which he pledged the Hofgeismar office (the city was still in Mainz) and Schöneberg Castle . Otto's son Otto IV still held these pledges in 1495 when he himself died.

After the Ziegenhain family with Count Johann II died out and Landgrave Ludwig took possession of the two counties Ziegenhain and Nidda , which was still controversial until 1495 , Otto III, whose sister Elisabeth was the widow of the last Count Ziegenhain, and his son Otto IV. On September 30, 1455 in all forms in writing and orally before an arbitration tribunal under the chairmanship of the Landgrave-Hessian Marshal Johann von Meisenbug on the counties Ziegenhain and Nidda and on Burg und Herrschaft Lißberg , obviously after receiving compensation; the two stated that they had received 1,000 guilders and the village of Twiste and an annual cash payment from the landgrave and had borrowed 1,000 guilders - a comparatively small consideration for the renunciation of inheritance claims to the two counties.

Domestically, it is remarkable from Otto's reign that he cared for the beguinage founded in Mengeringhausen by a group of beguines called "Süstern" (sisters) and strengthened it economically.

family

Otto III. married Anna von Oldenburg in 1424 and had three sons with her, Johann, Heinrich and Otto († 1495). The two older ones are named in the first Hessian fiefdom letter on October 8, 1431 as co-feuders, but are no longer mentioned in the fiefdom letter of August 30, 1438 and were therefore already deceased. Otto IV succeeded his father as the ruling Count of Waldeck zu Landau.

literature

Individual evidence

↑ Otto's brother-in-law Johann II von Ziegenhain had already signed a protection contract with the landgrave in 1428. In contrast, Otto's uncle remained Henry VII. And his son Wolrad I. from the on Schloss Waldeck resident younger branch of since 1397 divided house Waldeck initially continue to Mainz side and Wolrad was until 1438 chief Mainzer magistrate and bailiff on the main hiss cities , Castles and courts in central and northern Hesse.
↑ Soon afterwards, on October 21, 1438, Heinrich and Wolrad also gave the landgrave their part of the county as a fief.
↑ Jürgen Römer: Disabled people in history (lecture for the 100th anniversary of the Bathildisheim), Bad Arolsen, May 21, 2005 PDF file 11 pages - accessed January 30, 2011
↑ Jürgen Römer, Herbert Voigt and Armin Weber, "Das Süsternhaus in Mengeringhausen", in: Mengeringhausen in the Middle Ages (Stadtgeschichte (n) Mengeringhausen, Volume 2), Waldeckischer Geschichtsverein, Korbach / Bad Arolsen, 2002 (pp. 191-203).
^ History of Hesse, p. 210.

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf III.	Count of Waldeck to Landau 1431 - 1459	Otto IV.

personal data
SURNAME	Otto III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Otto III. from Waldeck; Otto III. from Waldeck to Landau; Otto III. from Waldeck-Landau
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Count of Waldeck zu Landau (1431–1459)
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1389
PLACE OF BIRTH	Waldeck Castle
DATE OF DEATH	1458 or 1459

[1] Otto's brother-in-law Johann II von Ziegenhain had already signed a protection contract with the landgrave in 1428. In contrast, Otto's uncle remained Henry VII. And his son Wolrad I. from the on Schloss Waldeck resident younger branch of since 1397 divided house Waldeck initially continue to Mainz side and Wolrad was until 1438 chief Mainzer magistrate and bailiff on the main hiss cities , Castles and courts in central and northern Hesse.

[2] Soon afterwards, on October 21, 1438, Heinrich and Wolrad also gave the landgrave their part of the county as a fief.

[3] Jürgen Römer: Disabled people in history (lecture for the 100th anniversary of the Bathildisheim), Bad Arolsen, May 21, 2005 PDF file 11 pages - accessed January 30, 2011

[4] Jürgen Römer, Herbert Voigt and Armin Weber, "Das Süsternhaus in Mengeringhausen", in: Mengeringhausen in the Middle Ages (Stadtgeschichte (n) Mengeringhausen, Volume 2), Waldeckischer Geschichtsverein, Korbach / Bad Arolsen, 2002 (pp. 191-203).

[†1431-5] History of Hesse, p. 210.