Wirich VI. by Daun-Falkenstein

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Wirich VI. Daun-Falkenstein (* around 1542, † 11. October 1598 ), a nobleman from the line was down-Falkenstein family down . He worked as a diplomat, statesman and politician. Due to his descent and legacy of Herr von Broich and Bürgel , he also became a member of the Bergisch knighthood and the Bergisch Landtag , as well as leader and promoter of the Reformed party on the Lower Rhine.

ancestry

Wirich was born around 1542 as the son of Count Philipp II von Daun-Falkenstein (* around 1514; † 1554) and his wife Maria Caspara von Holtey (* 1520; † 1558).

Life

After the death of his father Philipp in the spring of 1554, Wirich inherited the Broich estate and the Bürgel family. Although his uncle Sebastian von Daun-Falkenstein fought against his legitimacy and contested his inheritance, Wirich's guardian Wilhelm V (III.) Von Bernsau (1514–1572), Lord of Hardenberg , Bergischer Marshal and bailiff of Solingen , was already on On September 29th, the Archbishop of Cologne , Adolf von Schaumburg, enfeoffed Haus Bürgel.

Together with his sister Magdalena (around 1546–1582) Wirich enjoyed school education from a schoolmaster Heinrich at Broich Castle . Wirich attended schools in Duisburg and Düsseldorf from 1557 to 1559, followed by a study trip to France in 1562. Until 1564 he studied at the University of Ferrara .

In 1563, Duke Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg recognized Wirich's legitimacy and enfeoffed his guardian Wilhelm V (III) of Bernsau with the castle and glory Broich and with the Hof zum Biege in the Bergisch office of Angermund .

Although Wirich had been doing his business without a guardian for a long time, Duke Wilhelm only enfeoffed him with the rule of Broich and the Court of Biege on August 24, 1568. In March 1573, Archbishop Salentin von Isenburg was enfeoffed with Bürgel .

In view of the threatening situation on the Lower Rhine, Count Wirich had the rulers upgraded with 70 rifles from Essen in 1572 and secured the military forces and barriers.

In January 1573, Wirich was asked by Duke Wilhelm to accompany his newly engaged daughter Princess Marie Eleonore to Königsberg in the summer for her wedding with Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia on 23 August. However, this date could not be kept, so that the stately train did not set off until August 4th and arrived in the Prussian capital on October 8th. The festivities suffered greatly from the condition of the bridegroom, who was suffering from melancholy and could only be brought to the wedding with great difficulty, which finally took place on October 14th. The idea of ​​leaving the princess alone with this man will have been difficult for Wirich. In mid-December he was back at Broich Castle.

The following year the Duke asked him again to accompany his daughter Princess Anna to the wedding in Neuburg an der Donau . His aunt Countess Amöna von Daun, widow of Gumprecht II von Neuenahr-Alpen , also took part in this trip . The marriage with Count Palatine and Duke Philipp Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg took place on September 28, 1574.

On February 13, 1575 Wirich married his only sister Magdalena to Wilhelm VI. (IV.) Von Bernsau (1550–1595 / 96), the son of his former guardian. Magdalena received a dowry of 8,000 thalers from her brother in  exchange for renouncing the Broich rule. Since Wilhelm V (III.) Von Bernsau died in the following year , Wirich's brother-in-law became the heir of the Hardenberg estate .

In the summer of 1576, Wirich took part in the christening of the Duke's granddaughter Anna on his behalf. But this did not seem to have been the only reason to travel to Konigsberg, since the letter of safe conduct said: "... in terrible matters and business ..." . On the part of Duchess Marie Eleonore, Wirich was commissioned to send her an ambassador who was to come to the court in Königsberg as "... friendly and comforting support ..." . This determination was later assigned to the Klevian councilor Dietrich von Eickel. At the beginning of November Wirich returned to the Bergisch court and reported verbally to the duke.

At the beginning of November 1577, all kinds of complaints from the duchies about the impairment of Protestant co-religionists were presented to the state parliament in Grevenbroich. The justification of Duke Wilhelm was that as sovereign he had to determine the denomination of his subjects. He put the Reformed on the same level as sectarians and Anabaptists and threatened the worst punishments. In keeping with his Reformed sentiments, Wirich has been more on the side of the opposition since the Duke's declaration and developed into the Protestant spokesman.

As a representative of Duke Wilhelm, Wirich attended the wedding of the resigned Archbishop Count Salentin von Isenburg with Countess Antonia Wilhelmina von Arenberg in Bonn on December 10, 1577 . Wirich had tried to free himself from this task, but the Duke insisted on it because he had relied on him in every way.

On December 18, 1578, Wirich married Elsabeth (Lisia) (1544–1586), the sister of his friend Count Hermann von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (1535–1604). Elsabeth had been abbess of the imperial monastery of Essen since 1575 and resigned herself before the wedding on May 14, 1578 in the presence of her brother, Bishop of Strasbourg, Johann IV. Von Manderscheid-Blankenheim .

In the autumn of 1579, Wirich was asked again by Duke Wilhelm to accompany one of his daughters to the wedding. This time Princess Magdalena was to marry Duke Johann von Zweibrücken in Bergzabern . But Wirich did not want to leave because of his heavily pregnant wife Elsabeth Broich and apologized to the Duke in a letter dated September 10th. In that month the first child of the count couple was born, a daughter who was named Margarete.

Since 1578, the threat to the Duchy of Berg from Spanish and state mercenary troops as a result of the Eighty Years' War had increased. At the state parliaments in Düsseldorf in November 1579 and in Urdenbach in April 1580, Wirich, who was emphatically on the Protestant side, took an active part. In doing so, he distinguished himself so strongly within the knighthood that he was regarded as an important representative of the Bergisch and Niederrhein Protestants. Regardless of this, however, he regularly demonstrated his military neutrality and tried to keep the Broich rule out of direct fighting by means of warnings and petitions.

After the death of his sister Magdalena in 1582 and at the request of his brother-in-law Wilhelm VI. (IV.) Von Bernsau In 1586 he took over the guardianship of his first marriage children, Philipp Wilhelm (1576 / 77–1633), Amöna Walburg and Wirich (1582–1656).

In 1585 Wirich was repeatedly involved in the peace talks between his cousin Count Adolf von Neuenahr and the Cologne Archbishop Ernst von Bayern . During the Truchsessian War, Adolf was the commander-in-chief of the troops of the excommunicated former Archbishop Gebhard von Waldburg .

On July 3, 1597, Duke Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg enfeoffed Wirich von Daun as guardian of the underage Philipp Wilhelm and Wirich von Bernsau with rule and Castle Hardenberg .

The murder of Wirich by the Spaniards, copper engraving by Jan Luyken from 1698

Because of the danger posed by the Spanish mercenaries quartered in Orsoy under Admiral Francisco de Mendoza , Wirich sent his family to the rule of Hardenberg on October 4, 1598. The following day, on Mendoza's orders, a force of 5,000 mercenaries moved in front of Broich Castle and began to besiege it. Wirich insisted on his neutrality in vain and, after unsuccessful negotiations, was finally forced to open fire. After heavy fire from the enemy, Wirich had to capitulate the next morning. In spite of the oath of free retreat, the 200 or so castle people including servants, maidservants, women and children were massacred in front of the gates and Wirich was taken prisoner. On October 11, he was knocked down and stabbed to death by his two Spanish guards while he was outside the castle. The corpse was beheaded , sprinkled with black powder, and finally burned beyond recognition. The news of Wirich's murder quickly spread across Germany, provoking outrage and sympathy. On February 6, 1607, Wirich's son Wirich jun. killed by Spaniards. He was robbed and shot at Sterkrade . Since 1605 Wirich jun. as an officer in the army of the Dutch regent Moritz von Orange and fought with him against the Spanish troops.

Marriages and offspring

⚭ (I) 1578 with Countess Ursula von Pfalz-Veldenz (born April 3, 1543; † 1578), daughter of Count Palatine Ruprecht von Veldenz

⚭ (II) December 18, 1578 with Countess Elsabeth von Manderscheid- Blankenheim (born April 3, 1544 at Dillenburg Castle; † September 3, 1586), sister of the Bishop of Strasbourg Johann IV. Von Manderscheid-Blankenheim , abbess of the imperial monastery Essen , resigned since 1578 . They had the following children:

  • Wirich (* 1582; ​​murdered February 6, 1607)

⚭ (III) March 9, 1596 with Countess Anna Margarethe von Manderscheid-Gerolstein (* August 10, 1575 - March 4, 1606), canon at the Imperial Monastery of Essen. They had the following daughter:

  • Margarete Maria (* 1597; † 1620)
    ⚭ March 12, 1616 with Walram von Brederode (* 1597; † January 1620)

literature

  • Helmut Dahm:  Daun, Wirich von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 530 ( digitized version ).
  • Erich Glöckner: A genealogical treatise on the Daun-Falckensteiner family. In: Mülheim an der Ruhr. Yearbook. 1964, ZDB -ID 400096-1 , pp. 80-87.
  • Erich Glöckner: An ancestral revival was a mystery. In: Mülheim an der Ruhr. Yearbook. 1964, pp. 102-104.
  • Woldemar Harleß :  Dhaun, Wirich VI. from . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 113-115.
  • Rolf-Achim Mostert: Wirich von Daun Graf zu Falkenstein (1542–1598). An imperial count and the Bergisch state in the tension between power politics and denomination. Düsseldorf 1997 (Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University, dissertation, 1997).
  • Otto Redlich : Mülheim ad Ruhr. Its history from the beginning to the transition to Prussia in 1815 . City of Mülheim an der Ruhr self-published, city of Mülheim an der Ruhr 1939.
  • Brigide Schwarz : The Petrikirche in Mülheim as a stately burial place (= magazine of the history association Mülheim ad Ruhr. Issue 78, ISSN  0343-9453 ). History Association, Mülheim ad Ruhr 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Grevel : Elsabetha, née Countess von Manderscheidt and Blankenheim, prince-abbess of the Essen monastery from 1575-1578 . Bädeker, Essen 1889 ( Google Books )
predecessor Office successor
Philip II Mr. zu Broich and zu Bürgel
1554–1598 		Johann Adolf
personal data
SURNAME Daun-Falkenstein, Wirich VI. from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ulrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobleman, diplomat, statesman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH around 1542
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1598
Place of death at Broich Castle