Praunheim (noble family)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The lords of Praunheim were a knight and ministerial family who had their headquarters in what is now Frankfurt-Praunheim since the late 12th century , but were also wealthy beyond that. Later on, members of the family also called themselves "von Sachsenhausen", "von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen", "von Praunheim-Wolfskehlen" and "von Klettenberg" after the property they bought.

Coat of arms of those of Praunheim on the epitaph of Rudolf von Sachsenhausen

meaning

The lords of Praunheim can be traced back to the 12th century. They are not related to a family with a similar name, the Lords of Praunheim-Bommersheim . The first tangible representative of the family was Wolfram I. von Praunheim , who was also the first of the family to hold the office of Reichsschultheissen of Frankfurt am Main . The lords of Praunheim then provided a number of mayors to the city until the 14th century.

Imperial and City Schools of Frankfurt

Since the occupation of the Reichsschultheissenamt was in the hands of the German king, this initially indicates that the family was very close to the Hohenstaufen family . But also in the following years the family was able to acquire extensive property in the Wetterau .

Other

Economic basics

The family owned extensive property, rights and privileges, both allodial and fiefdom , the latter being to a large extent imperial fiefs . The inventory changed over the years through purchase, exchange and passing on in the course of dowries and pious foundations.

The family had a strongly developed position in Sachsenhausen , where they had a manor house, and the imperial forest bordering to the south , where they were granted a number of usage rights, hunting rights , milling rights and the right to drive sheep through . The latter was important because wool and cloth production was an important line of business in Frankfurt and Friedberg . The estates owned by the family included the manor farm in Praunheim , which comprised 100 acres of arable land, scattered over the district , 22 acres of pasture land, the Brülwiese and a fish pond . In the villages of Oberrad and Niederrad they had jurisdiction and in Niederrad they had another estate. The family sold this Niederräder Gutshof to Ulrich III in 1374 . from Hanau . In contrast, the inner-city property in Frankfurt was partially sold as early as the middle of the 13th century. It was mainly a mansion, a building formerly belonging to the royal palace of Frankfurt , which had been the seat of a ministerial . The Münzhof remained the family residence in the city . As Reichsschultheiße they collected a number of taxes, such as the customs revenue at the Frankfurt city gates, the "small customs", a tax on bars and retail stores, and the leasing of the mills and mill waters. They were also responsible for protecting Messe Frankfurt , as well as maintaining security and order in general - also with regard to the Jews in the city. Wolfram III also opened up. the Lindau by clearing and established a 250-acre farm for their own use. Here, too, sheep breeding played a major role. In addition, there was jurisdiction over the farmers who settled here, a mill and a bar. In the list of Rudolf II. From 1339, property and rights in 16 places are then mentioned. Overall, the family owned land beyond that, including in: Bürgel , Dortelweil , Echzell , Eichen , Frankfurt, Harheim , Hausen , Heldenbergen , Karben , Kilianstädten , Kriftel , Niederrad , Offenbach am Main , Praunheim , Preungesheim , Roßdorf , Sachsenhausen , Sossenheim , Sulzbach and Wachenbuchen .

family

The von Praunheim family is today largely documented by documents that attest to legal acts. Literary testimonies or personal testimonies from individual members have not survived. The marriage of Heinrich I with Adelheid von Echzell was rich in descendants. She had at least seven sons. With them, the family divided into three branches, which also differed in titles, names and coats of arms, namely the

  • Inheritance of Praunheim (-Sachsenhausen)
  • Lords of Praunheim-Wolfskehlen. The name addition was taken over from the bride's family after a marriage.
  • Reichsschöffen von Praunheim (-Sachsenhausen).

Inheritance of Praunheim

The family branch of the Erbschultheißen von Praunheim (-Sachsenhausen) provided a number of Reichsschultheißen in Frankfurt. The possession of this branch of the family was brought into the Praunheim family by an heir daughter from the von Sachsenhausen family, without any details being known. As a result, a number of members of the von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen family or simply von Sachsenhausen called themselves . These members of the noble von Praunheim family should not be confused with members of the original noble family von Sachsenhausen.

The last of this richly wealthy branch of the family was Rudolf IV von Praunheim . Since he had no heir and his siblings who were entitled to inherit only fathered daughters, the fight for the expected estate began even before his death. Peter Wacker , protonotary of the emperor, had him transfer the entitlement to the imperial fiefs held by Rudolf IV. However, since it was not clear whether it was a question of male fiefs or whether the daughters could inherit, the inheritance dispute was mapped out. The emperor asked both the Castle side of the castle Roedelheim as well as the the Imperial Castle Friedberg , as the legal situation is information about it so that he could administer justice. These counterclaims, initially only championed by the descendants of Frederick II, also encouraged the desire of other relatives for the rich inheritance, especially the children of Christine von Ingelheim , a sister of Rudolf IV. The emperor sided with Peter Wacker , rejected all claims of the (potential) heirs and commissioned Count Philipp I von Katzenelnbogen in 1429 to execute the imperial judgment . But it failed. So there was a second trial before 1431, but with the same outcome and the same failure in execution. Wenzel von Cleen , who married one of Friedrich II's daughters, Irmel, appears here for the first time . The process continued. In 1433 there was a judgment that rejected Peter Wacker's claims and confirmed the claims of the sons-in-law of Friedrich II and Rudolf IV: Wenzel von Cleen and Wilhelm von Ingelheim. In 1434 they were finally able to take over the inheritance, but both were enfeoffed with imperial fiefs in 1440.

Due to this legal succession in the possession of the Lords of Praunheim, Wenzel von Cleen - in the tradition of the family of his father-in-law - 1445–1455 became the city scholar of Frankfurt. Another success for him was that in 1465, after the death of Wilhelm von Ingelheim, he succeeded in taking possession of the entire holdings of the former Praunheim-Sachsenhausen imperial fiefs. After 1520, they were inherited by the von Franckenstein family through a daughter of the von Cleen family . The archival legacy of the von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen family also followed this inheritance, so that a considerable part of these documents is now stored in the von Frankenstein family archive.

Reichsschöffen von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen

The founder of the line of the Reichsschöffen von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen was Rudolf I. Also in this branch of the family a number of members called themselves von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen or simply von Sachsenhausen . These members of the noble von Praunheim family should not be confused with members of the original noble family von Sachsenhausen. Among the descendants of Rudolf I were a number of aldermen of the city of Frankfurt. In contrast to the Reichsschultheissen line that his brother Wolfram II founded, he and his descendants played a less prominent role in urban politics and that of the German Empire . This line split into branches at the end of the 14th century

  • von Praunheim (younger line) and
  • von (Praunheim-) Klettenberg, named after the Klettenburg near Frankfurt-Praunheim. The first of this name was Henne von Prumheim, called von Clettenberg (Henne von Praunheim called Klettenburg). King Wenceslas had him and his brother in 1387 for the services and faithfulness the former fiefdom of the later Velcro Castle gnediglich suitable . This line became extinct in 1618 with the death of Philipp Wolf von Praunheim-Klettenburg.

coat of arms

Later forms of coat of arms in the 16th and 17th centuries

Originally: A three-stemmed green climbing shrub as a sign of the origin of the Klettenburg in Praunheim. From Henry IV onwards, it was shown on a gold shield separated by a red crossbar. This shows a striking resemblance to the coat of arms of those of Hagen-Münzenberg . In the middle of the 14th century, from Rudolf II onwards, the coat of arms was supplemented by a gold helmet with a white swan's head and a long flight. This coat of arms became part of the coat of arms of the von Franckenstein family , descendants of the von Praunheim family.

Others

Rosa von Praunheim does not belong to this family, it is a stage name.

See also

literature

  • Euler: The Lords of Sachsenhausen and Praunheim. A genealogical attempt . In: Archive for Frankfurt History and Art 1854, pp. 38–113.
  • Alfred Friese: The Lords of Praunheim-Sachsenhausen, inheritance of the Reich in Frankfurt am Main: Property, social and cultural history of an imperial family of the high and late Middle Ages . Masch. Diss. 1952.
  • Wather Möller: Family tables of West German noble families in the Middle Ages . Vol. 3 = Manfred Dreiss (Hrsg.): Library of Classical Works of Genealogy Vol. 2.3. Darmstadt 1936. ND: Neustadt an der Aisch 1996, p. 261f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friese, p. 108ff.
  2. ↑ Friese, p. 101.
  3. ↑ Friese, p. 107f.
  4. ↑ Friese, p. 112f.
  5. ↑ Friese, p. 113.
  6. ↑ Friese, p. 116.
  7. ↑ Friese, p. 113; he calls him Wolfram II.
  8. ↑ Friese, p. 120ff.
  9. ↑ Friese, p. 150, assumes that the family members were usually illiterate .
  10. ↑ For the details cf. Friese, pp. 135f.
  11. ↑ Friese, p. 136.
  12. ↑ Friese, p. 52f.
  13. ↑ Friese, p. 57ff.
  14. ^ Alfred Hansmann: 1200 years of Praunheim. 804-2004. A journey into Praunheim's past , Pollinger Schnelldruck, ed .: Vereinsring Praunheim eV and A. Hansmann, Frankfurt am Main 2004, p. 46