Adolf VIII, Count of Holstein

Adolf VIII of Holstein (German: Adolf von Schauenburg, Danish: Adolf 8. af Holsten) (1401 – 4 December 1459), Duke of Southern Jutland (Danish, Sønderjylland), i.e. Slesvig, and Count of Holstein, was the mightiest vassal of the Danish realm.[1]

Contents

Background

Adolf descended from a branch of the family of Schauenburg, who had for centuries been counts of Holstein, and as such, vassals of the Holy Roman Empire. His great-grandfather, having also been a Regent of the Kingdom of Denmark, had received the Duchy of Sønderjylland from the Danish crown as a hereditary fief. It had been lost, but Queen Margaret I of Denmark had returned it, although with restrictions of power.

Count Adolf's parents were Catherine Elisabeth of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Wolfenbüttel), daughter of Magnus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Gerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg, who as Gerhard II was also Duke of Schleswig. Adolf was only three years old when his father was killed in action against the Ditmarsians in the Battle at Hamme, in Schleswig-Holstein near Heide, on 4 August 1404. Adolf was educated at the court of the Margrave of Brandenburg at Hohenzollern Castle.[2][3][4]

Career

Adolf's elder brother Henry IV, Count of Holstein succeeded their father. As Duke of Schleswig, he was under the tutelage of the Danish crown due to his minority until 1414. However, then the crown denied Henry's claim to dukedom. Henry and his mother and brothers stood together and fought for his claim. Henry was killed in action beleaguering Flensburg on 28 May 1427.[5]

Adolf and his younger brother Gerhard VII then succeeded Henry as Counts of Holstein-Rendsburg, continuing their efforts to receive the Duchy of Schleswig. However, Gerhard died in 1433 in Emmerich upon Rhine. The second Treaty of Vordingborg (Freden i Vordingborg) concluded in July 1435 at Vordingborg Castle between the Danish King Erik of Pomerania and Adolf. In 1439, the new Danish King Christopher III acquired the loyalty of Adolf by granting him the entire Duchy of Schleswig as a hereditary fief but under the Danish crown. Adolf's lands were located in both sides of the border between Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire.[6]

The current branch of Danish royal house became extinct in 1448 with the death of Christopher III of Denmark. Adolf was a cognatic descendant of King Eric V of Denmark, whose mother Queen Dowager Margaret Sambiria had obtained a papal confirmation of the right of also female descendancy of Christopher I of Denmark to succeed to the throne of Denmark. The throne was offered by Statsraad to Adolf, who as Duke of Schleswig, was the vassal with the biggest holdings in the Danish realm. Adolf, by that time old and childless, declined and supported the candidacy of his own nephew the Count of Oldenburg who became Christian I of Denmark.

Adolf was married to Margarete von Höllenstein of the German noble family of Hohnstein. In 1459 Adolf died and left no descendants to inherit. His sisters were the late Helvig (Hedwig), who was married with Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg and had left children, and the elderly Ingeborg of Holstein, Abbess of Vadstena, who lived as a nun, was both unmarried and childless. His brother Gerhard had mixed twins, with the son drowned still young and the daughter a nun in Preetz. There were several claimants to Schleswig and Holstein, since several branches of the Schauenburg family, counts of different parts of Holstein, had left female offspring and their cognatic heirs. Furthermore the Schauenburgs still continued to rule the County of Holstein-Pinneberg in the male line. Adolf's branch was not genealogically very senior.

The representatives of Schleswig and Holstein (nobility and some delegates of the Estates) convened in Ribewhere, on 5 March 1460, the succession was confirmed to Christian I of Denmark, the eldest nephew of the late Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein-Rendsburg.

See also

References

  1. ^ Adolf VIII (Neue Deutsche Biographie)
  2. ^ Elisabeth, -1404-, Hertuginde af Sønderjylland (Dansk biografisk Lexikon)
  3. ^ Magnus II, Herzog von Braunschweig-Lüneburg) (Paul Zimmerman: "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie". 1884)
  4. ^ Gerhard VI. Graf von Holstein (Karl Jansen: "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie". 1878)
  5. ^ Heinrich IV. Graf von Holstein (Karl Jansen: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. 1880)
  6. ^ Adolf VIII (Karl Jansen: "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie" (Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig: 1875)

Source

This article derives mainly from the Salmon Konversationsleksikon 2nd edition (JH Schultz Forlag. 1915 to 1930).

Other sources

Ancestry

Adolf of Schauenburg
Born: 1401 Died: 4 December 1459
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Henry IV
disputed as Duke of Schleswig by its Danish liege lord		 Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg
1427–1459
as Adolf VIII
joint rule with his brother Gerhard VII 1427-1433		 Succeeded by
Christian I
Duke of Sleswick (de: Schleswig, dk: Slesvig)
1427/40–1459
as Adolf I
disputed in claiming dukedom until 1440; joint claim with his brother Gerhard III 1427-1433