Thonis from Palant

Thonis von Palant (also Thonys , actually Anton , * after 1431, before 1446; † 1502 ) was co-lord of Reuland from 1456 to 1466 , pledger of Monschau from 1460 to 1472 and, through marriage from 1487, lord of Neersen .

Origin and first division of the Reuland estate

He was the eldest son of Johann the Elder von Palant († 1444) from the Rhenish noble family Pallandt . His mother was Agnes von Pyrmont. He had a brother, Gerhard, and three sisters, Margarete, Alveradis and Sophia. Together with his siblings Gerhard and Margarete, he inherited the Reuland Castle in the Eifel and the rulership that belonged to it from his father (partition contract dated July 24, 1456) . At that time Alveradis was a nun in the Marienberg monastery near Boppard, Sophia had apparently already died. Margarete married Johann von Hoemen, Burgrave of Odenkirchen in 1468.

First engagement and first dispute about Monschau

After his father died, his mother became engaged to Wilhelm von Sombreffe († 1475), Herr zu Recken and Kerpen, in 1446 , and at the same time the underage Thonis was engaged to his daughter Gertrud von Sombreffe (marriage contracts of September 29, 1446). Wilhelm von Sombreffe hoped that the connection would provide easy access to the Palant'sche Pfandschaft Monschau , against which Thonis however strongly opposed. The marriage between Gertrud and Thonis was never concluded and by 1460 at the latest Thonis had forcibly taken the pledge to himself, upon mediation by the city council of Aachen, Wilhelm waived his claims in 1461 in exchange for compensation in favor of Thonis. The Monschau reign actually belonged to the Duke of Jülich, who once pledged it to Thoni's father in exchange for a loan.

Second inheritance from Reuland

In 1466, Thonis and his siblings agreed on a division of their total hands. Gerhard received the castle and rule of Reuland, while Thonis received the Monschau pledge and Margarete was compensated with a pension (partition contract of April 9, 1466).

Second engagement and second dispute over Monschau

Around 1466/67, Thonis got engaged to the daughter of Rasse de La Rivière , to whom he assured military aid against everyone and that he would not give Monschau Castle to anyone without Rasse's consent. However, Rasse was banished from his countries by Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy and Luxembourg in December 1467 and fled to France. Thonis then renounced his race and there was no marriage with his daughter. Instead, Duke Gerhard von Jülich-Berg or his wife and regent Sophia demanded that Thonis, who was in breach of contract, return the Monschau pledge, which Thonis refused. The dispute escalated and in 1469 Thonis had to withstand a four-week siege by the Duke of Jülich at Monschau Castle, until the overlord of Monschau, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, forced the parties to the dispute to cease the fighting and brought the dispute to his ducal-Burgundian council . Thonis repeatedly defied the authority of the council; the latter finally decided in favor of the Duke of Jülich, who took possession of Monschau in 1472 against redemption of the pledge and paid homage to Duke Karl.

Feuds, Marriage and Reign Neersen

Despite his resistance, Thonis retained the grace of Charles the Bold and continued to serve him in military offices. In 1473 he participated in his campaign to Geldern (Second War of the Geldr Succession) and in 1474/75 in the unsuccessful siege of Neuss as part of the Cologne collegiate feud .

Around 1476 Thonis married Agnes (or Anna) von der Neersen, the eldest daughter of Bailiff Heinrich V. von der Neersen . He had a daughter with her, Agnes von Palant.

After the death of Charles the Bold, Thonis stood in the Liège collegiate feud in 1480 on the side of Wilhelm von der Marck-Arenberg, who was supported by France, against Maximilian of Austria-Burgundy . Attempts to mediate by the Archbishop Elector of Cologne , the feudal lord of Neersen, were unsuccessful and the feud only ended for Thonis when Maximilian succeeded in taking him prisoner in 1485. He remained in custody until 1487 at the latest. In 1490, as a diplomat from the Electorate of Cologne, Thonis negotiated the final settlement of the Liège collegiate feud with Count Vincenz von Moers to a French embassy in Maastricht .

When his brother-in-law Heinrich VI. von der Neersen died around 1487, Thoni's wife Agnes had also died. In 1488, Thonis concluded a contract with Heinrich's widow, Grete Grüter, and their three surviving daughters, according to which he (as regent for his daughter) should receive the castle and rule of Neersen. The bailiwicks of Anrath and Uerdingen also belonged to the rule at that time .

On December 31, 1499, his daughter Agnes married the Hessian knight Ambrosius von Viermund, who was in the service of the Electorate of Cologne . When Thonis died in 1502, Ambrosius succeeded him in Neersen. Ambrosius' descendants ruled there until 1744.

literature

• Gisela Meyer: The Palant family in the Middle Ages . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-35852-0 .
• Detlev Schwennicke (ed.), Wilhelm Karl Prince of Isenburg, Frank Freytag von Loringhoven: European family tables. Family tables on the history of the European states. Volume 8, JA Stargardt, Berlin / Marburg 1980, plate 63.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See G. Meyer, p. 183 f.
2. ↑ See G. Meyer, pp. 184-186
3. ↑ See G. Meyer, pp. 187-189
4. ↑ Cf. Petra Ehm: Burgundy and the Empire. Late medieval foreign policy using the example of the government of Charles the Bold (1465–1477). Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-486-56683-0 , p. 76 f.
5. ↑ See G. Meyer, p. 193.
6. ↑ See G. Meyer, pp. 196-197.
7. ↑ See G. Meyer, pp. 197-199.

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann von Palant	Herr von Reuland (with Gerhard and Margarete von Palant ) 1456–1466	Gerhard von Palant
Johann von Palant	Lord of Monschau 1460–1472	Gerhard von Jülich-Berg
Henry VI. from Neersen	Lord von Neersen (de iure uxoris ) 1487–1502	Ambrose of Viermund (de iure uxoris)