Ukena (family)

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Ukena family coat of arms

The Ukena were a powerful East Frisian chieftain family and in the 15th century ruled almost all of East Frisia and parts of today's Netherlands . The Ukena have their origins in the Ripperda family , their ancestral castle was in Edermoor ( Leer ). Parts of the family still live in East Frisia today.

origin

The Ukena found their first documentary mention with Beno Ukena chief of Neermoor at the beginning of the 13th century. From then on, the Ukena provided several generations of chiefs in large parts of East Frisia. In Edermoor (Neermoor) were the two ancestral castles of the family that moved their headquarters to Leer (East Friesland) at the beginning of the 14th century . As a result, the city experienced a considerable political and economic boom.

The Ukena's skilful marriage policy means that they are closely related to almost all East Frisian chief families and, in some cases, related several times, as well as distant from almost all European Protestant royal families. With the marriage of Theda Ukena and Ulrich Cirksena extensive claims to power and possessions went into the marriage, as Theda was the sole heir of Focko Ukena . Thereupon, Emperor Friedrich III. both in the hereditary imperial count of East Friesland. Their descendants were later elevated to the rank of imperial prince over East Frisia.

Major wars

During the reign of the Ukena, numerous wars were waged between the chief families and especially against the Oldenburg, the Count of Holland and the Hanseatic League. In the Battle of Detern around 1426, the army of Focko Ukena defeated the Bremen-Oldenburg army of knights, including the Archbishop of Bremen, the Counts of Oldenburg, Hoya, Diepholz and Tecklenburg. Focko Ukena went to war again in 1427 at the Battle of the Wild Fields and defeated the chief Ocko II. Tom Brok , the Counts of Oldenburg and Holland and the Duke of Bavaria. In particular through the victory, the subsequent capture and the takeover of power by Ocko II. Tom Brok, Focko Ukena now ruled over almost all of East Frisia.

Due to the increasing disempowerment and the suppression of the other chief families, the Freedom League of the Seven East Friesland was formed (1430) under the leadership of Chief Edzard Cirksena against Focko Ukena and his sons and son-in-law Sibet von Rüstringen . After the Fockenburg was besieged for more than six months , leader Focko Ukena fled to his castle in Dijkhuizen in the Ommenlanden. His son Uko Fockena was murdered.

Coin and coat of arms law

The coat of arms of the Ukena shows an upright silver lion. The older form of the coat of arms shows a crowned lion and thus demonstrates the rule of the Ukena over almost all of East Frisia. Probably only with the decline of the reign of Focko Ukenas was the coat of arms modified so that the lion is now depicted with a symbolically overturned crown.

A crown of ears is placed on the escutcheon, which stands for the fertility of the dominated areas. The four-leaf clover placed in the center shows the original domain of the Ukena and embodies the four lands, called the Moormer, Oberledinger, Lengener and Rheider lands. The coat of arms of the chief family was awarded to the district of Leer on August 12, 1952 by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and approved with the district's first main statute on October 22, 1958. As part of the Ostfriesland coat of arms , which was created during the reign of the great-great-great-grandson Theda Ukenas Count Rudolf Christian , the coat of arms of the Ukena is shown in the center right next to the coats of arms of the other ruling families.

As early as the beginning of the 13th century, coins with the image of the chief Beno Ukena were minted as a general currency. From then on, the Ukenasian chiefs minted coins with the lion's shield, which served as a means of exchange and payment beyond the respective territory. The official right to mint was however only in the course of the elevation to the imperial count status by Friedrich III. awarded. The coins minted during the time of the chiefs remained valid. One of the most widespread coins is the Krummstert, which was popularly known because of the lion's "crooked tail".

Castles and Palaces

Oldersum Castle (1585)
Excavation site of the former Fockenburg in Leer / East Friesland (2017)

In the course of the reign of the Ukena, in addition to the two family castles in Moormerland and the Fockenburg in Leer, numerous other castles and palaces fell into the possession of the Ukena. Due to the wars of conquest of Focko Ukena, in addition to large parts of East Friesland, he also owned the Oldersum and Aurich castles. In the years from 2014 the foundations of the ancestral castle in Neermoor and the Fockenburg were discovered and archaeologically examined.

Well-known namesake

  • Beno Ukena, chief of Neermoor
  • Theda Ukena , Countess and Regent of East Frisia
  • Focko Ukena , chief of Leer, Neermoor, Borkum, Aurich and Emden
  • Uko Fockena Ukena, chief of Oldersum
  • Udo Fockena Ukena, chief of Aurich and the north

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.leer.de/P Politik-Verwaltung/Verwaltung/Dienstleistungen/Von-Hleri-bis-Leer.php?object=tx,2586.6&ModID=7&FID=2586.7097.1&NavID= 2586.36.1
  2. ↑ https://www.uni-marburg.de/fb19/partner/mgg/publikationen/jahrbuch_2014.pdf p. 28
  3. ↑ https://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/ui24.htm#a2432
  4. ↑ http://www.nazatendevries.nl/Genealogie/NazatenDeVriesWeb/huninga-000266-pframeset.htm?huninga-000266-p.htm
  5. ↑ http://1820diekunst.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EJ21.pdf p. 5
  6. ^ Heinrich Schmidt: The Eastern Friesland around 1400. Territorial-political structures and movements, in: Wilfried Ehbrecht (Ed.): Störtebeker - 600 years after his death, Trier 2005, p. 33.
  7. ↑ Heinrich Schmidt: The eastern Friesland around 1400. Territorial-political structures and movements, in: Wilfried Ehbrecht (Ed.): Störtebeker - 600 years after his death, Trier 2005, p. 109
  8. ↑ https://www.landkreis-leer.de/Ppolitik-Verwaltung/Mehr-%C3%BCber-den-Landkreis/Geschichte-Wappen
  9. ↑ https://www.landkreis-leer.de/Ppolitik-Verwaltung/Mehr-%C3%BCber-den-Landkreis/Geschichte-Wappen
  10. ↑ Manfred-Franz Albrecht: Black, red, blue - East Frisia colors. In: Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH Dept. Verlag (Hrsg.): The Ostfriesische Wappen The prince coat of arms and the landscape coat of arms. Aurich, Ostfriesland, ISBN 978-3-940601-44-5 , p. 53.
  11. ↑ https://www.ostfriesenelandschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/BIBLIOTHEK/Emder_jahrbuch/EJ21.pdf p. 2
  12. ↑ http://1820diekunst.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EJ21.pdf p. 2
  13. ↑ http://1820diekunst.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EJ21.pdf p. 15
  14. ↑ East Frisian Document Book, No. 389 of November 5, 1430.
  15. ↑ https://books.google.de/books?id=i12YxoizDsIC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=ukena+upstalsboom&source=bl&ots=OsqompOiGD&sig=ACfU3U2ezEQ-yzN3qZXWPC_FMlFnYtDjzw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTydKBnMPgAhUQ3qQKHTuaA7cQ6AEwCHoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=ukena%20upstalsboom&f=false S. 151