Rutger Raitz from Frentz

Rutger (III.) Raitz von Frentz († 1369 ), knight, famous war hero under King Philip of Valois , Count Wilhelm III. of Holland, Duke of Brabant, King John of France and King Charles V of France. He took part in a total of 35 so-called " Prussian trips" (32 winter and 3 summer trips). No other knight took part in trips to Prussia more often. His heroic deeds are described in the work of Gelre.

Rutger (III.) Rait von Frentz was married to Irmgard von Vischenich. They had four children: 1. Rutger (IV.) Raitz von Frentz; 2. Johann (IV.) Raitz von Frentz; 3. Elisabeth Raitz von Frentz; 4. Irmgard Raitz from Frentz.

Rutger (III.) Raitz von Frentz took over from his stepfather, Count Ruprecht III. von Virneburg, Burg und Herrlichkeit Frentz ad Erft (now called Schloss Frens ). As a councilor, Rutger retained his office of lay judge in Cologne, but spent most of his life in the war. Standing one after the other in the service of different warlords, the Cologne knight fought with distinction in numerous battles and storms of fixed places. So in 1328 under King Philipp Valois of France, the ally of Count Wilhelm III. from Holland, against the Flemings at Mont-Tassel, north of Hazebruck; soon afterwards under the latter against the Frisians. At Dolbenhofen am Zuidersee, Rutger was particularly valiant. Under Wilhelm III. from Holland and the Teutonic Order he fought in Lithuania with holy Aa and Hasenpot near Libau; furthermore again in the west in France under King Philip of Valois against the Flemish cities on July 26, 1346 at Trech en Ponthieu; under the Duke of Brabant on August 21, 1347 in the victorious battle of Tourinnes near Brussels against the rebels of Bishop Engelbert of Liège .

On the sea voyage to the east, Rutger was shipwrecked and saved the four-day siege and storming of Willum Castle (northeast of Pirallen). Soon afterwards he fought again in the west in the service of King John II of France at St. Jean in Normandy, Gasconne, Saintogne and led his - Raitz-Frentzer - banner first into the stormed fortress Lamothe; but he is wounded in the battle of Poitiers on September 19, 1356 and taken prisoner with his king, but is soon freed again. In 1369 Rutger died in the battle of Aerden (today's Ardres, southeast of Calais) at the side of his master, King Charles V of France .

Sources and literature

• Emmerich Leopold Freiherr Raitz von Frentz: line of tribe, position and coat of arms of a thousand-year-old imperial knight family of the former free imperial city of Cologne. In: Communications of the West German Society for Family Studies. Volume 5. Cologne 1927, columns 145-188.
• Werner Paravicini: The Prussian journeys of the European nobility. Part 1, Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1989, ISBN 3-7995-7317-8 , p. 34. Online at perspectivia.net Volume 1 Volume 2
• Armonial Gelre (also: Codex Gelre, Wappenbuch Gelre, Wappenbuch des Herold Geldern, Dutch: Wapenboek Gelre)