Robert III from Virneburg

Robert III von Virneburg (also Ruprecht ; * 13th century ; † 1352 ) was Count of Virneburg from 1308 to 1352 and Marshal of Westphalia from 1318 to 1331 .

family

He was the son of Robert II von Virneburg and Kunigunde von Neuenahr. One uncle was Archbishop Heinrich II of Cologne and he was brother of Heinrich III. from Mainz . He himself married Ida von Heppendorf (who had been married to Ruter I. Raitz von Frentz for the first time) and Agnes von Westerburg for the second. Numerous children resulted from the marriages. The heir Heinrich died in 1335. The younger brother Gerhard became the actual successor. There were a number of clergymen among the sons. Among them was Johann von Virneburg ( Bishop of Münster later of Utrecht ).

Life

After he had succeeded his father, oriented Robert III. adhering to his uncle's policy. Like him, he supported the Habsburg Frederick the Beautiful in the upcoming election of a king. Duke Leopold of Austria secured the support of the Virneburgers with considerable monetary payments. In addition, his sister was to be married to a brother of the duke. Robert also supported efforts to win more supporters of the Habsburgs for the election. He also attended the coronation ceremonies. Friedrich could not prevail against Ludwig the Bavarian . When he announced a land peace for the Rhineland in 1317, Archbishop Heinrich joined it.

In Westphalia, where Robert had been Marshal of Westphalia since 1318, the ambiguous election of the king had triggered conflicts. Only Archbishop Heinrich and the Counts of the Mark had stood on Friedrich's side. The Graf von der Mark also went over to the opposing party. Heinrich and Count Robert stood alone and had to fight their opponents. Count Robert had disputes with Count Wilhelm von Arnsberg over the city of Neheim . He apparently wreaked havoc in Westphalia, as the provost of the Meschede Walram monastery was demanding compensation from Arnsberg . In Westphalia there was an agreement and a peace treaty in 1319. Heinrich von Virneburg had meanwhile terminated the peace in the Rhineland and, among other things, pressed the imperial city of Cologne . In 1320 he was forced to restore peace in the country by Kurtrier , the Duchy of Jülich and the city of Cologne. Robert III and the entire family joined it. Nevertheless, there soon came a conflict with the Duchy of Jülich. As Marshal of Westphalia in 1322 he allied himself with Bishop Ludwig von Munster to protect the rights and possessions of the Cologne and Munster churches. However, numerous princes were named for whom the alliance did not occur. This alliance was renewed by the successors up to the time of the Soest feud .

Finally, King John of Bohemia , Count Wilhelm of Holland , Adolf von Berg and Engelbert von der Mark stood on the side of Jülich against the Virneburgers . Robert von Virneburg and the archbishop were in Soest with their troops when the allies besieged, conquered and destroyed the castle of Volmarstein in 1324 . An agreement was only reached in 1325 and 1327 respectively. In 1326 Archbishop Heinrich, Marshal Robert and the Burgmannen of various (Cologne) castles in Westphalia and a number of cities including Soest, Brilon and Dortmund concluded a country peace.

In 1326 Robert was one of the ambassadors on behalf of Duke Albrecht von Habsburg who were to intervene in Rome on behalf of Frederick the Fair. In 1331 the Archbishop gave Robert the supervision of the public roads in his Westphalian domain and warned him to take care of security.

In 1327 he was the mediator when the city of Boppard submitted to the Archdiocese of Trier. When his brother Heinrich tried to become archbishop in Mainz, there was an open conflict with Trier Archbishop Baldwin of Luxembourg . Pope John XXII. recognized Heinrichs and treated Robert with great benevolence. He apparently saw the Virneburg as allies in his quarrel with Ludwig the Bavarian. However, Baldwin was elected archbishop by the Mainz cathedral chapter. Since Heinrich did not want to give up, there was a dispute until Baldwin gave up in 1336. Pope Benedict XII. planned to move Archbishop Heinrich from Mainz to Passau. Count Robert himself traveled to Rome in 1334 to intervene for his brother. In 1336 he had to sell Virneburg Castle temporarily to Baldwin of Luxembourg. After Bishop Heinrich von Virneburg had reconciled with King Ludwig, Robert also approached the king. This showed him his favor and granted the income from the customs duties in Koblenz and Lahnstein to reduce the debt . Robert's debts were substantial and he had to sell goods. He was now a close ally of Archbishop Baldwin, but soon got into a dispute over certain rights again. An agreement was reached in 1348.

literature

• Wilhelm Iwanski: History of the counts of Virneburg. From its beginnings to Robert IV (1383) . Koblenz 1912, pp. 45-51
• Johann Suibert Seibertz : The Land Marshal of Westphalia. In: General Archive for the History of the Prussian State 1835, pp. 74f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Regesta Habsburgica 3 n.800, in: Regesta Imperii Online (accessed December 18, 2012).
2. ↑ "27. October 1322 Alliance between Münster, Cologne and Rupert von Virneburg ”, Landgrave Regests online No. 744. Regests of the Landgraves of Hesse. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
3. ^ Wilhelm Kohl: The diocese of Münster. The Diocese 1. Berlin, New York, 1999 (Germania sacra NF 37) p. 393
4. ^ Johann Suibert Seibertz: State and legal history of the Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1, third section, part 3 Arnsberg, 1864 p. 18
5. ^ Regest February 23, 1326 (on DWUD)
6. ^ Regesta Habsburgica 3 n. 1743, in: Regesta Imperii Online , (accessed December 18, 2012)
7. ↑ Max Jansen: The ducal power of the archbishops of Cologne in Westphalia. Reprint Paderborn, 2011 (first published 1895) p. 136