Rütger from the Horst

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Rütger von der Horsts by an unknown artist, around 1553

Rütger von der Horst (*  1519 - †  March 10, 1582, perhaps at Neuhaus Castle near Paderborn ), also written as Rutger von der Horst , was a Lower Rhine nobleman from the von der Horst ministerial family . From 1560 he held the office of marshal of the Electorate of Cologne and on April 15, 1576 was also awarded the title of governor for Vest Recklinghausen . Rütger worked as a consultant and in various diplomatic missions for a total of five Cologne electors . The Horst Castle he built in what is now Gelsenkirchen is considered the most important Renaissance castle in north-west Germany. With the style he chose for the castle, the builder shaped the architectural style that is known today as the Lipper Renaissance .

Life

Rütger von der Horst was the oldest child of Johann von der Horst († 1532) and his first wife Margarethe von Haus († 1521/1522), probably in the second half of 1519. Since there is no written evidence of his birth from that time, his date of birth can only be deduced from his parents' marriage certificate, which dates from September 2, 1518. When he was only two years old, he lost his mother in late 1521 or early 1522. His father's death in 1532 made him orphaned at the age of 13. Guardianship over him and his three younger siblings Heinrich (1520– approx. 1589), Dietrich (1521–1589) and Anna (approx. 1520–1586) was taken over by a second cousin of his mother, Wilhelm von Haus. In 1535/1536 he sent Rütger and his brother Heinrich to the traditional and strictly Catholic collegiate high school in Emmerich on the Lower Rhine, which was headed by the humanist Matthias Bredenbach . The curricula that have survived from the 1620s and 1630s show what Rütger's training consisted of: In addition to the works of Greek poets and writers such as Homer , Aesop and Plutarch , Roman authors such as Cicero , Virgil and Terence were also on the program. The students were also taught Greek, Latin and theology , as well as ethics , antiquity , astronomy , mathematics and music. At the age of 19, Rütger left school in 1539 to round off his extensive training from the beginning of May of the same year to the beginning of April 1541 on a cavalier tour in France, especially Paris.

In the War of the Geldr Succession , Rütger von der Horst fought on the side of his liege lord , Duke Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg in 1543 . Although fighting on the anti-imperial and thus ultimately defeated side, he managed to secure the favor of Emperor Charles V after the end of the war. A few weeks after the Schmalkaldic War , in which Rütger's brother Heinrich had stood on the side of the loser, the Schmalkaldic League , the three Horster brothers divided the family property on May 21, 1547. Rütger received, among other things, the rule of Horst including the parental castle, "dat Hueß zor Horst". Presumably the division was supposed to prevent a possible imperial punishment against Heinrich from extending to all of von der Horst's possessions.

Alliance coat of arms Rütger von der Horsts and Anna von Palandts

Between 1547 and 1549 Rütger married the widow Anna von Palandt , who brought five children from her first marriage. Presumably under their influence, he decided to rebuild the run-down castle in Emscherbruch (today: Horst Castle), which he described in 1549 as desolate and of bad appearance ("gans woste and ungestalt"). Initial start-up funding for the costly construction project consisted of the inheritance of his mother-in-law, Elisabeth von Palandt, who died in October 1554. From 1571, Rütger paid for the cost of the elaborate and valuable interior fittings of his castle from the income from his extremely profitable participation in a West Frisian salt and peat company.

The marriage with Anna von Palandt had two children:

  • Johann († summer 1570)
  • Margarethe (* between 1552 and 1554; † 1625), ⚭ March 15, 1575 Bertram von Loë (* 1542; † 1611)

Probably through the mediation of his influential second degree uncle, Degenhardt von Haes, Rütger von der Horst was appointed in October 1559 to succeed Adolf von Quadt as bailiff of Rheinberg . This marked the beginning of his successful career in the service of the Electorate of Cologne, which at the beginning was closely linked to the person of the Archbishop of Cologne, Johann Gebhard von Mansfeld . Between December 19, 1559 and February 24, 1560, Rütger received the title and powers of the Elector of Cologne Marshal. When Gebhard was unable to personally take part in the election of Maximilian II as Roman-German king for health reasons in 1562 , the elector appointed Horster one of twelve representatives of the cathedral chapter and his court to represent him in the election in Frankfurt.

Archbishop Salentin von Isenburg was also happy to use the services of his marshal. With diplomatic support, Rütger helped him to return Vest Recklinghausen , which had been pledged to the Counts of Schaumburg since 1476, into possession of the Electorate of Cologne. The assistance was rewarded on April 15, 1576 with the vestic governorship.

Rütger von der Horst died on March 10, 1582 at the age of 62, perhaps in the residence of the Paderborn bishops, Neuhaus Castle . He was buried in the chapel of his castle Horst. Because his only biological son Johann had died in the summer of 1570, Rütger's son-in-law Bertram von Loë, who had married Johann's sister Margarethe in 1575, took over the inheritance.

literature

  • Elmar Alshut, Hans-Werner Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 3-7954-1483-0 ( Castles, palaces and fortifications in Central Europe . Volume 15), pp. 11, 14–15.
  • Klaus Gonska: Dat Hueß zor Horst. The noble family von der Horst im Emscherbruch and their heirs in the 16th and 17th centuries . Jonas, Marburg 1994, ISBN 3-89445-166-1 ( Materials on Art and Cultural History in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 10), pp. 23–74.
  • Klaus Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582). A résumé . In: Elmar Alshut, Guido von Büren, Marcell Perse (eds.): A castle is being built ... From Jülich in the Rhineland to Horst in Westphalia . Jülich Geschichtsverein 1923 eV, Jülich 1997, ISBN 3-930808-06-4 , pp. 33-38.

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b K. Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582) , p. 36.
  2. ↑ a b c K. Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582) , p. 33.
  3. ^ State Archives Darmstadt (StA), Hs 290, Volume IV, fol. 161/162.
  4. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , p. 11.
  5. ↑ a b K. Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582) , p. 34.
  6. ↑ Gonska states in his 1997 essay 1548 or 1549 as the wedding year.
  7. ↑ K. Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582) , p. 37, note 16.
  8. ↑ Klaus Gonska: The construction diaries of the Rütger von der Horst . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, p. 54.
  9. ↑ Klaus Gonska: The construction diaries of the Rütger von der Horst . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, p. 56.
  10. ↑ K. Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582) , pp. 34–35.
  11. ↑ K. Gonska: Rütger vd Horst (1519–1582) , p. 35.
  12. ↑ Richard Klapheck : The Masters of Horst Castle in Broiche. The final chapter on the history of the school of Calcar . Wasmuth, Berlin 1915, p. 48 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Horst, Rütger from the
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Horst, Rutger from the
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Elector of Cologne marshal, governor of Vestes Recklinghausen, builder of Horst Castle
DATE OF BIRTH 1519
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1582
Place of death uncertain: Neuhaus Castle, Paderborn