Wichmann III.

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Wichmann III. (* probably between 955 and 960, † October 5, 1016 near Upladen Castle , today Montferland ) was a Saxon count from the Billunger clan .

Origin and family

For the first time it was documented with certainty on February 9, 989, when he was mentioned in a document by Emperor Otto III. appears as Vogt of the Borghorst monastery . Perhaps it appeared in the sources as early as 979, when Emperor Otto II gave the place Pateleke (Bilderlahe, east of Bad Gandersheim) to his wife Theophanu in pago Ambraga in comitatu Wichmanni . The assumption that Wichmann was a son of Count Ekbert the One-Eyed cannot be substantiated from historical sources. Wichmann's mother is unknown. His possible uncle Count Wichmann II fell in 967 as an enemy of the Reich in the fight on the side of the Slavs against the Piast prince Mieszko I. Wichmann III. was closely related to both the Ottonians and the Saxon dukes. His alleged grandfather, Count Wichmann the Elder, was a brother of Hermann Billung . The wife of Wichmann the Elder and thus grandmother of Wichmann III. was a sister of Queen Mathilde .

Wichmann III. was married to a daughter of Prefect Gottfried, who is presumably identified with Reinmod (Reinmoud, Reginmuod, Reginmodis, Renmed, Richmoet, Richmod), a cousin of Count Balderich von Drenthe . For his part, Balderich was married to Adela von Hamaland , the mother of Bishop Meinwerk von Paderborn, in his second marriage .

Wichmann III. had a daughter Frederuna (Vrederuna) and a son who was still underage when he died in 1016, whose name was Gottfried (like his mother's father) or also Wichmann. Older sons or brothers of Wichmann III. could not have lived after his death, because Duke Bernhard II took over the guardianship . Wichmann's son probably died early because he did not take over any of his father's bailiwick offices. A daughter or granddaughter of Wichmann III. Richenza is likely to have been, who first married Count Hermann von Werl and then Otto von Northeim , temporarily Duke of Bavaria.

Live and act

Wichmann must also have had sovereignty rights in Friesland , as extensive minting took place there with the name WICHMAN COMES, which was previously erroneously attributed to Vreden , but must be from Friesland according to the design and location.

In 1001 Otto III. the Diocese of Hildesheim the Dahlum Castle (in Königsdahlum , south of Hildesheim) in pago Hastfala sive Ambargau in comitatu filiorum Ekbrahti comitis et nepotis nostri . 1009 was Wichmann III. owned by Dahlum.

Wichmann accompanied Otto on his third campaign in Italy and, after his death in 1002, led the dead regent back to Germany together with the imperial insignia.

In addition to the bailiwick of the Borghorst monastery (founded in 968), Wichmann also had rights over the Metelen monastery (founded in 889), and probably also the Vreden monastery (founded in 839), all of which were influenced by Billung. In 993 the future Emperor Otto III determined. At the request of the two cousins, Duke Bernhard I and Count Ekbert, the Duke's daughter Godesti became abbess and Wichmann III. to the Vogt of Metelen Monastery . 1014 prevented Wichmann III. in the royal court of Allstedt that Emperor Heinrich II. awarded an Elbe island from the legacy of Margrave Werner to his enemy and successor, Margrave Bernhard.

At the beginning of 1016 Wichmann took part in Balderich's atonement and his wife Adela for the murder of Adela's son Dietrich von Hamaland , whom they had killed in 1014 by his own ministerials .

Death and burial

On October 5, 1016, Wichmann III fell. victim even to the intrigues of Balderich and his wife Adela. He was slain on the way home from a meeting at Balderich's Upladen Castle , not far from the castle. In the house monastery of the Billunger he was commemorated that day with Vuichmannus com et occisus . Wichmann III. was not buried in St. Michael in Lüneburg, but after Thietmar von Merseburg in Vreden ( Fretheni civitatem ) with his ancestors . In fact, during excavation work in the years 1949–1951, a grave was found under the crypt of the Vreden parish church of St. George , which was destroyed in the war , which with a certain probability can be attributed to Wichmann, especially since the skull of the deceased had a fracture. Thietmar's formulation that Wichmann was buried ad patres suos can be understood if the founder of the monastery, Walbert , was a member of the Billunger himself, as there is some evidence.

Aftermath

Wichmanns III. The widow and her daughter donated seven churches in Münsterland between 1022 and 1032:

  • Bentlage (Rheine)
  • Ichter (Nordkirchen-Capelle)
  • Handorf
  • Uentropic
  • Coerde
  • Apple pods
  • Varlar

literature

  • Gerd Althoff : The Necrolog from Borghorst. In: Publications of the Historical Commission for Westphalia, Westphalian commemorative books and necrologies. Volume 1. Münster 1976.
  • Gerd Althoff: Noble and royal families in the mirror of their memorial tradition. In: Studies on the commemoration of the dead of the Billunger and Ottonians. Munich 1984
  • Ruth Bork: The Billunger. With contributions to the history of the German-Wendish border area in the 10th and 11th centuries. PhD thesis phil. mach. Greifswald 1951
  • Hans-Joachim Freytag: The rule of the Billunger in Saxony, Göttingen 1951. In: Studies and preparatory work for the historical atlas of Northern Germany. 20th issue
  • Reinhard Wenskus: Saxon tribal nobility and Frankish imperial nobility. Göttingen 1976 (Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, phil.-hist. Class, 3rd episode No. 93)
  • Edeltraud Balzer: Nobility - Church - Foundation studies on the history of the diocese of Münster in the 11th century

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Volker Tschuschke: Die Billunger im Münsterland , in sources and studies on the history of Vreden and its surroundings , Volume 38, pp. 15–43, Heimatverein Vreden (ed.) Self-published, Vreden 1990. ISBN 3 -926627-06-9
  2. ↑ RI II, 3 n.1010 , in: Regesta Imperii Online, accessed June 1, 2020.
  3. ^ RI II, 2 n.793 , in: Regesta Imperii Online, accessed on June 7, 2020.
  4. ↑ Harald Weiß: The building history from St. Georg to the late Romanesque church , in contributions by the Heimatverein zur Landes- und Volkskunde , Volume 69, pp. 99-138, especially p. 121f., Heimatverein Vreden (ed.) Self-published, Vreden 2005. ISBN 3-926627-44-1
personal data
SURNAME Wichmann III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wichmann III. by Billung
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saxon Count, Billunger
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1016
Place of death near Upladen Castle , today Montferland