Reinhard II (Hanau)

Grave slab Reinhard II in the Marienkirche in Hanau

Reinhard II of Hanau (* around 1369; † June 26, 1451 in Hanau ), Lord and since 1429 Count of Hanau , was one of the most important representatives of his house.

youth

The exact birthday and even the year of birth of Reinhard II are unknown, because from a medieval perspective the date of death was much more important than the birthday because of the commemorative masses.

He was the second son of Ulrich IV of Hanau (* 1330/40; † September or October 1380) and Countess Elisabeth von Wertheim (1347-1378). Primogeniture existed in the family of the Lords von Hanau , expressly reworded in the “Primogeniturstatut” of 1375. According to this, only the eldest son was allowed to take office and marry. As the second son, Reinhard II was perhaps originally intended for a spiritual career. He received a suitable education: in 1387 he was registered as a student at the University of Bologna . One of Ulrich IV's sons, it could also have been Reinhard II, was enrolled as a student at Heidelberg University in 1390 . The corresponding entry in the matriculation does not give a nickname, but only speaks of a " domicellus de Hanaw ". A spiritual career was soon abandoned, however, because in 1391 Ulrich V , who was now in power in Hanau, and his brother Reinhard signed a contract with which his maintenance was secured from secular pensions. At this point, at the latest, the family gave up Reinhard's spiritual career. This was also due to the fact that Ulrich V's marriage remained without sons and Reinhard was to be retained as a possible successor. In the contract he was awarded 400  florins and shares in the Hanau offices in Partenstein , Rieneck , Bieber and Haßlau .

In this generation it happened for the first time in the family of those from Hanau that younger sons did not enter the clergy. In 1398 the contract was confirmed with the involvement of the younger brother Johann . In the meantime there had been a solid argument with physical confrontations.

Pedigree of Count Reinhard II of Hanau
Great grandparents	Ulrich II. Von Hanau (* 1280; † 1346) ∞ Agnes von Hohenlohe (* before 1295; † 1343)	Gerlach von Nassau (* 1283; † 1361) ∞ Agnes von Hessen (*?; † 1371)	Rudolf III. von Wertheim (* 1302; † 1355) ∞ Elisabeth von Breuberg (*?; † 1358)	Friedrich IV of Hohenzollern (* 1287; † 1332) ∞ Margaret of Carinthia (*?; † after 1348)
Grandparents	Ulrich III. von Hanau (* approx. 1310; † 1369/70) ∞ Adelheid von Nassau (*?; † 1344)		Eberhard I. von Wertheim (*?; † 1373) ∞ Katharina von Hohenzollern (*?; † n. 1369)
parents	Ulrich IV. Von Hanau (* 1330/40; † 1380) ∞ Elisabeth von Wertheim (* 1347; † 1378)
Reinhard II of Hanau

For the family cf. Main article: Hanau (noble family)

Taking office

requirements

The immediate heir of Ulrich IV von Hanau was Reinhard's older brother (II), Ulrich V. This ruled the County of Hanau formally from 1380 (there was a guardianship because of his minority ) and from around 1388 personally. However, he remained without male heirs. Since only the eldest son was allowed to marry due to the “Primogeniture Statute”, this threatened the continued existence of the family. The aforementioned family contract of 1391 was supposed to create compensation here. It also stipulated that Reinhard (II.) Should be able to marry after ten years if Ulrich V had no male heirs. This period expired in 1401. A coalition of Reinhard II and his brother Johann has been established since around 1395, appearing independently and separately from Ulrich V and in some cases pursuing a policy directed against him. There was an open dispute, which had to be settled for the first time with a settlement in 1398. Nevertheless, there were further disputes up to and including a feud .

Furthermore, since 1394, and increasingly since 1396, it can be proven that Ulrich V got into economic difficulties. That finally reached up to a pledge of the two cities of Hanau and Babenhausen to the political competitor and neighbor, the Archbishop Johann II of Mainz , who in fact became a co-regent in the rule of Hanau. On the other hand, it must be taken into account that Ulrich V and his brothers were second degree nephews of the Archbishop of Mainz - so everything stayed in the family.

Coup of 1404

From 1400 onwards, and increasingly from 1402 onwards, Reinhard (II) and his brother Johann seem to have moved closer politically to Archbishop Johann II of Mainz, who finally changed fronts in the family dispute in Hanau and dropped Ulrich V. In 1404 Ulrich V was gradually deposed until Reinhard II and his younger brother Johann forced the older brother to abdicate on November 26, 1404.

Reinhard II and Johann ruled together at first, Reinhard II later alone after Johann died in 1411.

Marriage and children

Reinhard II could now marry. He did this on January 18, 1407 with Katharina von Nassau-Beilstein († September 6, 1459). From this marriage emerged:

1. Katharina (1408–1460), married: 1.) 1421 with Count Thomas II. Von Rieneck (before 1408–1431), 2.) 1432/34 with Count Wilhelm II. Von Henneberg-Schleusingen (1415–1444, hunting accident)
2. Anna (born June 15, 1409; †?)
3. Margarethe (1411–1441), married in 1440 to Gottfried VIII von Eppstein († 1466)
4. Reinhard III. (1412–1452), succeeded his father in 1451 in the government of the County of Hanau
5. Elisabeth (1416–1446), married since May 4, 1432 with Wild and Rhine Count Johann IV. Von Dhaun (1422–1476)
6. Philip I, "the elder" (1417–1480), founder of the Hanau-Lichtenberg line

government

An outstanding dynastic event in the reign of Reinhard II is the elevation to the rank of imperial count on December 11, 1429 by King Sigismund .

Reinhard II has been involved in imperial affairs since 1400. He co-signed the document attesting to the deposition of King Wenceslas . He was present at the election of King Sigismund in 1411. In the election of King Albrecht II in 1438 and Frederick III. In 1442 he appears as a witness. In 1401 he and his brother Johann received the invitation to take part in the Roman procession. In 1414 he attended the Council of Constance .

Reinhard II was repeatedly involved in feuds with nobles from the area. In 1405 he took part in an action by King Ruprecht against robber barons in the Wetterau area , against the castles Rückingen , Höchst (near Lindheim) , Mömbris , Wasserlos , Hüttelngesäß , Karben and Hauenstein . But he also took part in regional land peace , that is, agreements on the peaceful, judicial settlement of disputes that should prevent feuds. So in 1434 between Mainz, Eppstein , Isenburg-Büdingen and Rieneck . In the county of Rieneck he was also active as a guardian for a short time.

His long reign is marked by an upswing in rule and later county in many areas. This is for instance reflected in the fact that the dowry of his daughters is higher the more, the later they married. There are reforms of the administration and the judiciary. In 1434 the county of Hanau was freed from all foreign jurisdiction by the privilege of the emperor. The church and school system is promoted. For Hanau, Reinhard II's reign marks the beginning of the successful transition from the late Middle Ages to the modern era , the beginning of the transition to the modern territorial state.

Territorial expansion was also recorded: in 1434 he was given the Bornheimerberg fiefdom, which he previously held as a pledge of the empire, in 1435 Reinhard II acquired half of the imperial pledge of Gelnhausen (the other half was in the Electoral Palatinate ), in 1446 a share in the Falkenstein inheritance and further acquisitions are recorded.

Within his rule and later county, the focus shifted locally to Hanau - even if the rumor that the residence had been moved from Windecken to Hanau does not apply in this stringency. An “official” act of relocation - given in older literature for the year 1436 - cannot be proven. The city of Hanau is growing. There is an expansion of the city in the area of ​​today's Hospitalstrasse. Reinhard II had the late Gothic Marienkirche , a collegiate church consecrated to Maria Magdalena in Hanau, expanded with three aisles. It increases the number of altarists in the church and the foundations that maintain them. Under him it becomes the parish church and in this function replaces the church in Kinzdorf .

Relationship to the Archdiocese of Mainz

During the reign of Ulrich V, Hanau became increasingly dependent on the Archbishop of Mainz. The Archbishop of Mainz speaks thus z. B. from "his" city Hanau, has apparently - possibly through a pledge - gained control of the city. Reinhard II tried successfully in the early years to reverse this dependency.

The climax of this development was reached when Reinhard II succeeded in regaining control of the cities of Hanau and Babenhausen after the Archbishop's death in 1419. The dramatic and anecdotal decoration of this action in Hanau and the allegedly associated emergence of the custom that the rulers had Martini wine served there in the old town for centuries do not correspond in this form to historical facts.

Mainz's expansion policy is more successful on the banks of the Main opposite the city of Hanau : in 1425 the Archbishop was able to buy the Steinheim von Eppstein office . The Mainz threat remains for the County of Hanau.

death

Reinhard II died on June 26, 1451 and was buried in the Marienkirche in Hanau as the first of the Hanau family. His grave slab is preserved there. All of his ancestors were buried in the Arnsburg monastery .

literature

• Reinhard Dietrich : The state constitution in Hanau. The position of the lords and counts in Hanau-Münzenberg based on the archival sources (= Hanauer Geschichtsblätter. Vol. 34). Hanau History Association, Hanau 1996, ISBN 3-9801933-6-5 .
• Reinhard Dietrich: The abdication of Ulrich V. von Hanau. Causes and consequences. In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter. Vol. 31, 1993, ZDB -ID 957666-6 , pp. 7-33.
• Reinhard Suchier : Genealogy of the Hanauer count house. In: Festschrift of the Hanau History Association for its 50th anniversary celebration on August 27, 1894. Heydt, Hanau 1894.
• Ernst Julius Zimmermann : Hanau city and country. Cultural history and chronicle of a Franconian weatherwave city and former county. With special consideration of the older time. Increased edition. Self-published, Hanau 1919 (Unchanged reprint. Peters, Hanau 1978, ISBN 3-87627-243-2 ).

References

1. ^ Gustav Toepke : The register of the University of Heidelberg from 1386 to 1662. Part 1: From 1386 to 1553. Winter u. a., Heidelberg 1884, p. 43, (reprint. Kraus Reprint, Nendeln / Lichtenstein 1976); Adolf Stölzel : The development of the learned judiciary in German territories. A legal historical investigation with preferential consideration of the conditions in the area of ​​the former Electorate of Hesse. Volume 2: Attachments. Register. Cotta, Stuttgart 1872, p. 52, (Neudruck. Scientia-Verlag, Aalen 1964), mistakenly puts this mention on the year 1389.
2. ^ According to Suchier: Genealogy of the Hanauer Grafenhaus. 1894, p. 12, Anna was abbess of the Patershausen monastery after 1439 . However, according to recent research , this is apparently not the case.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ulrich V.	Lord of Hanau from 1429 Count 1404–1451	Reinhard III.