Treaty of Berum

Last updated

The Treaty of Berum was a treaty concluded on 28 January 1600 at Berum Castle between the Count Enno III of East Frisia and the County of Rietberg, which regulated the sale of the Harlingerland to East Frisia.

Contents

Background

With the death of Balthasar Oomkens von Esens in 1540, the Attena line of East Frisian chieftains ruling Harlingerland died out and the Harlingerland fell to the Counts of Rietberg, who were related to the Attenas. From 1540, Harlingerland was ruled by Count John II of Rietberg, the son of Balthasar's sister. After his death, the Harlingerland went to his second daughter, Walburgis. She married in 1581 Count Enno III of East Frisia. They had two daughters, who, by the Treaty of Berum, waived their right to inherit Harlingerland, in favour of Enno's son Rudolf Christian, from his first marriage.

Contents

Sabine Catharine and her sister Agnes sold the Lordships of Esens, Stedesdorf and Wittmund and thus the entire Harlingerland, to their father, for 200000talers. The payment was later increased to 300000talers. Sabina Catherine, the elder sister, would inherit the county of Rietberg. The Treaty was confirmed on 19 September 1600 by Emperor Rudolph II and later also by Archduke Albert, who was nominally Duke of Guelders and thereby liege lord of the Harlingerland.

Aftermath

In 1622 Ernst von Mansfeld stole the 300000talers, packed in barrels, which Enno III had prepared as payment for Agnes and her husband Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein. So the payment could not be made then.

In 1663, demands for payment were renewed. Since East Frisia under Prince George Christian still could not pay, the liege lord of the County if Rietberg, the Prince-Bishop of Münster, try to collect the debt. He attacked East Frisia and occupied the sconce at Diele. The States-General and Duke Eberhard III of Württemberg intervened. They drove out the Münster troops from Diele and mediated a compromise in which the payment was raised by another 200000talers.

Related Research Articles

Wittmund Place in Lower Saxony, Germany

Wittmund is a town and capital of the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Balthasar Oomkens von Esens was an East Frisian nobleman who died during the siege of his castle in Esens by the Bremen army. He was described by his partisans as the last true Frisian freedom fighter, although some decried his seemingly insatiable appetite for violence.

Hero Oomkens von Esens was a Frisian nobleman, the Earl of Harlingerland. He inherited the title upon the death of his father, Sibet Attena von Esens, in 1473.

Enno III, Count of East Frisia Count of East Frisia

Enno III of Ostfriesland or Enno III of East Frisia was a Count of Ostfriesland from 1599 to 1625 from the Cirksena family. He was the elder son of Count Edzard II of Ostfriesland and his wife Princess Katarina of Sweden, eldest daughter of King Gustav I of Sweden.

Catherine Vasa of Sweden Countess consort of East Frisia

Catherine Vasa of Sweden was a Swedish princess, and the Countess consort of East Frisia as the spouse of Edzard II, Count of East Frisia. She was the oldest daughter of Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud. She was the autonomous Regent of Berum and Norden in Ostfriesland from 1599 to 1610.

Edzard II, Count of East Frisia Count of East Frisia (1532–1599)

Edzard II, Count of East Frisia was count of East Frisia, and the son of Enno II of East Frisia and Anna of Oldenburg.

County of East Frisia

The County of East-Frisia was a county in the region of East Frisia in the northwest of the present-day German state of Lower Saxony.

Ulrich I, Count of East Frisia Counts of East Frisia

Ulrich I of East Frisia, first count of East Frisia, was a son of the chieftain Enno Edzardisna of Norden and Greetsiel, and Gela of Manslagt.

Edzard I, Count of East Frisia Count of East Frisia (1462–1528)

Edzard I, also Edzard the Great was count of East Frisia from 1491 till his death in 1528.

Enno II, Count of East Frisia Counts of East Frisia

Enno II of East Frisia was the son of Edzard I of East Frisia. In 1528 he became count of East Frisia. For most of his life he ruled together with Johan I of East Frisia, who remained Catholic, while Enno was Lutheran.

Cirksena

The Cirksena are a noble East Frisian family descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel.

George Christian, Prince of East Frisia

George Christian was a member of the Cirksena family and succeeded his brother Enno Louis as ruler of East Frisia. He ruled from 1660 to 1665. Under his reign, the Cirksena family acquired on 18 April 1662 the hereditary title of Imperial Prince.

Christian Everhard, Prince of East Frisia

Prince Christian Everhard of East Frisia was a Prince of East Frisia from the House of Cirksena from the day he was born in 1665, but remained under guardianship until 1690.

Walburgis, Countess of Rietberg

Countess Walburgis of Rietberg was 1565–1576 and 1584–1586 Countess of Rietberg.

Berum Castle

Berum Castle is located in the Berum district the East Frisian town of Hage in Germany. It is one of the most important sites in East Frisian history.

John III of Rietberg was a member of the Cirksena family. He founded the Catholic side line of the Cirksena in the Westphalian County of Rietberg, the so-called house of East Frisia.

Sabina Catharina of East Frisia was a Countess of Rietberg in what is now Germany.

The Saxon feud was a military conflict in the years 1514–1517 between the East Frisian Count Edzard I, 'West Frisian' rebels, the city of Groningen, and Charles II, Duke of Guelders on the one hand and the Imperial Frisian hereditary governor George, Duke of Saxony – replaced by Charles V of Habsburg in 1515 – and 24 German princes. The war took place predominantly on East Frisian soil and destroyed large parts of the region.

Count John II "the Mad" of Rietberg, called "the Great," was the son of Count Otto III of Rietberg and his second wife, Onna Esens.

Count Otto III Rietberg was Count of Rietberg from 1516 to 1535.