Wilhelm IV of Eberstein

Epitaph for Wilhelm IV. Von Eberstein and Johanna von Hanau-Lichtenberg in the St. Jakobskirche Gernsbach

Count Wilhelm IV of Eberstein (* May 3, 1497 - July 1, 1562 ) comes from the Swabian noble family Eberstein . His father Bernhard III. (1459–1526) was President of the Imperial Court of Justice from 1510 to 1520 ; his mother was Countess Kunigunde von Waldburg - Sonnenberg (1482–1538).

On November 6, 1522, he married Countess Johanna von Hanau-Lichtenberg (* 1507; † 1572), the eldest daughter of Count Philipp III. von Hanau-Lichtenberg (* 1482; † 1538) and the Margravine Sibylle von Baden (* 1485; † 1518). From this marriage emerged:

1. Philip II (* 1523; † September 11, 1589 in Remlingen ), imperial councilor, captain and governor in Upper Alsace , married to Johanna de Bailleul , Dame de Douxlieu († April 12, 1565). In 1577 Philip was placed under guardianship because of "madness" .
2. Anna (* 1524; † 1546)
3. Elisabeth (* 1526; † 1555)
4. Felizitas (* 1527; † 1565), abbess of the Gerresheim canonical monastery
5. Kunigunde (* 1528; † 13 July 1575), married to Count Froben Christoph von Zimmer (* 1519; † 1566)
6. Wilhelm (* 1529 - † June 3, 1561), canon in Strasbourg (later also cathedral cantor and cathedral dean) and Cologne
7. Sibylla (* 1531; † 1589), married to Count Markus Fugger (* 1529; † April 18, 1597).
8. Bruno (* 1532)
9. Otto (* 1533 - † December 4, 1576), drowned in Antwerp . He was first canon in Strasbourg and then became secular, later imperial councilor and colonel.
10. Anna (* 1536; † 1537)

Wilhelm IV was - like his father - President of the Imperial Court of Justice from 1546 to 1555. He and his wife are mentioned several times in the Zimmerische Chronik , whose author, Count Froben Christoph von Zimmer, was his son-in-law.

Wilhelm officially introduced the Reformation in the county of Eberstein in 1556 . Unofficially, he had promoted Protestant teaching long before. As lord of the castle, he was responsible for the significant expansion of Neu-Eberstein Castle . An epitaph for Wilhelm and Johanna, which they represent together, is preserved in the St. Jakobskirche in Gernsbach .

literature

• Klaus Lötzsch: Historical relations of the county Hanau-Lichtenberg to Swabia in the 16th century. Dynastic connection to the Fugger family - Count Philipp IV at the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1566. In: Babenhäuser Mosaik = Babenhausen once and now 20. Babenhausen 1990. pp. 7-19.
• Detlev Schwennicke : European family tables: Family tables for the history of European states . NF Vol. 12. 1992. Plate 29.
• Reinhard Suchier : Genealogy of the Hanauer count house . In: Festschrift of the Hanau History Association for its 50th anniversary celebration on August 27, 1894. Hanau 1894.
• Zimmerische Chronicle

References

1. ↑ Goltzené, p. 65
2. ↑ Lötzsch, p. 7ff.
3. ↑ [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] .
4. ^ Siegfried Diemer, Evang [elische] St. Jakobskirche Gernsbach (a tour) = Schnell Kunstführer 1171, Munich 1984, pp. 14, 16; Lötzsch, p. 8; Reformation in the Murgtal , Cornelia Renger-Zorn .