The Raitenbuch / Hohenfels / Ehrenfels family that appears on this website is as a result of the marriage in about 1360 between Praxedis von Ehrenfels (ca. 1340 – 1380) and Johann IV. Nothaft von Wernberg (ca. 1330 – 1391) who were the ancestors of the Three Loeck Sisters.
The Hohenfels / Ehrenfels family, for our purposes, begins with Heinrich who was born in about 1200 and it ends with Konrad the Youngest, who died in 1349 without sons. The line continues through the female line via Konrad’s daughter Praxedis who married Johann IV. Nothaft.
By about 1390, because there were no more male Hohenfels / Ehrenfels left, and because of their increasing indebtedness, as well as their failure in politics, their estates were gradually dismantled and distributed to other families; especially the Stauff / Stauffer family of Regensburg who later styled themselves Stauff(er) zu Ehrenfels. Thus, by the end of the 14th Century the family had ceased to exist, at least on the male line.
The problem with describing this family is that within the space of three generations which consists of about thirty individuals – ELEVEN – were named Conrad / Konrad. As a result, it is sometimes impossible to distinguish among these Konrads. Furthermore, the Hohenfels family tended to change its name according to where it lived. The family started out as Raitenbuch but when it built a castle at Hohenfels, in the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria, it called itself Hohenfels, dropping the Raitenbuch altogether. Then, when it built another castle at the village of Ehrenfels (Ehrenfelden near Beratzhaußen) it called itself Ehrenfels, and when it possessed a castle at Falkenstein it called itself Hohenfels zu Falkenstein Another castle that came into the possession of the family at Hohenburg prompted some of the family to name themselves after that place as well, e.g. Konrad Ehrenfelser zu Hohenburg.
The family divides roughly between Heinrich von Hohenfels who married Hedwig Gütlein and his brother Konrad who is said to have married Barbara von Wolfstein.
The branch of the Hohenfels that is of direct relevance to the descent of the Three Loeck Sisters is that of Heinrich whose marriage to Hedwig must have occurred around 1220, as their son Konrad was born around that time. This branch began to call itself Ehrenfels around 1256 as is discussed below. The branch descending from Heinrich’s brother Konrad retained the name Hohenfels.
The castle that the von Hohenfels built at Hohenfels, in the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria, is not to be confused with another Hohenfels Castle, built by a family also called von Hohenfels, which is located at Überlingen, toward the north-western part of Lake Constance, nor yet another castle called Hohenfels in the Rhineland-Palatinate. Nor should the Ehrenfels we speak of here be confused with a family of the same name in Styria, Austria.
The Raitenbuch family, before it began to call itself Hohenfels, had some important ecclesiastical members such as: Kuno I. Raitenbuch (* around 1070; † May 19, 1132 in Regensburg ) who was abbot of the Siegburg monastery and 20th bishop of Regensburg from 1126 to 1132. His nephew was Kuno II von Raitenbuch (* before 1167; † June 11, 1185 ) who was the 24th bishop of Regensburg from 1167 to 1185.
The Hohenfels descend from Kuno I’s brother Nizo I von Raitenbuch whose son Nizo II married Judith von Hernstein-Falkenstein. Judith was one of the last descendants of the von Falkenstein family and she accounts for the fact that Falkenstein castle was later received by the Hohenfels family, after which some in the family styled themselves Hohenfels-Falkenstein.
The hamlet of Hausraitenbuch was the seat of the Raitenbuch family, first mentioned in 1126/29, as ministerials of the Bishopric of Regensburg.
In 1160, Nizo II von Raitenbuch appeared as a witness to the settlement of a disagreement between a monastery at Grub, near Munich and a local noble. Otherwise, his presence is not noted anywhere else.
After Nizo II died, his widow Judith married Albero Wolf von Bocksberg. Their son Albero II makes frequent appearances in documents at the turn of the 12th century, some of which occurred alongside his von Hohenfels cousins.
In 1198 Albero Wolf vouched 50Mk for Wirnto von Plankenstein of Helfenberg. Other guarantors included Konrad von Hohenfels. They also became guarantors when Count Ulrich von Velburg was enfeoffed by the diocese of Regensburg with Helfenberg Castle. Ulrich died childless in Egypt in 1217.
Later on there were further Hohenfels / Ehrenfels familial inter-connections with the Bishops of Regensburg and Eichstätt. It is said that the mother of Bishop Heinrich II von Rotteneck (died 1297) was a Hohenfels and thus the nephew of Konrad von Hohenfels, whom the bishop called his “avunculus”, i.e. his mother’s brother. Wikipedia says Heinrich’s mother was Beatrix, born Countess of Moosburg.
The son of Heinrich and Hedwig was Konrad I who in about 1254 married Osanna von Ortenberg. Osanna was born ca. 1238, and died on 17 January 1288. She was the daughter of Heinrich I von Ortenburg (1160? – 1241) and her mother was Božislava Jutta Přemysl (ca. 1187 – 1237), the daughter of Ottokar I (1155 – 1230), King of Bohemia, one of the most eminent members of the Přemyslid dynasty. Božislava Jutta’s mother Adelaide of Meissen (c. 1160 – 1211).
The source for the claim regarding Konrad and Osanna can be found in: Die Ahnen und Nachkommen der Osanna, Gräfin von Ortenberg …. by Herbert E. Lemmel. [This can be read HERE ]. There are numerous academic articles that discuss the Hohenfels / Ehrenfels but Osanna is barely mentioned, let alone her being an Ortenberg.
Konrad deceased before March 1285 / 1286 and Osanna died ca. 1280. They were buried at the monastery at Pielenhofen. The sons and grandson of Konrad and Osanna were:
- Konrad who was provost of the monastery of St. Johann’s at Regensburg. And his brother was:
- Heinrich I, A knight, as well as a Mayor of Regensburg 1311-1313. He married Kunigunde von Reicheneck. He died in 1318. He had a son Heinrich II. Heinrich I’s brother was:
- Konrad a pastor at Oberwiesenacker, in 1307 he appears as a cathedral canon at Passau and in 1337 at Freising and then at the so-called Ehrenfelser Hof at Regensburg. He died circa, 1341. And his brother was:
- Konrad called ‘The Younger’, a knight, born around 1260 and died on 1st November 1332 (an alternative date is 21.02.1324). His wife’s name is not known. Their son was:
- Konrad The Youngest Lord of the Ehrenfels castle near Beratzhausen who was born circa 1320 at Regensburg (he was a minor when his father died) and Konrad V died on 21st February 1349. His wife appears to have been Agnes von Stauff. Their daughter was Praxedis (Beatrice) (ca.1340 – 1380) who married Johann von Nothafft.
Konrad and Osanna von Ortenberg had two daughters:
i) Adelheid, wife of Walter Schenk von Reicheneck (1275-1326) and
ii) Agnes, wife of Konrad I von Reicheneck (Schenken von Reicheneck).
Adelheid and Walter had a daughter who became engaged to the son of Adelheid von Hohenfels and Gottfried Wolfstein / Sulzbürg.
Agnes and Konrad von Reicheneck were the parents of Heinrich Schenk von Reicheneck who was prince-bishop of Eichstätt from 1329 to 1344. Heinrich was succeeded by Albrecht von Hohenfels.
The brother of Water and Konrad Schenk von Reicheneck was Werntho / Werner Schenk von Reicheneck – prince-bishop of Bamberg from 1329 until his death in 1335.
He was canon in Regensburg from 1301, provost from 1325, then bishop of Bamberg from 1329 to 1335, buried in front of the Catherine altar in Bamberg Cathedral. Werntho’s nephew Heinrich was prince-bishop in Eichstätt almost at the same time. Through these daughters many estates of the Helfenberg dominion came to the Reichenecker dynasty which became extinct in 1412.
Lords of Clingenburg, Henneburg and Reicheneck
Konrad I Schenk Von Reicheneck and Agnes von Ehrenfels had a daughter Elisabeth Maier Von Reicheneck who married Konrad Von Hohenfels (see chart).
To accommodate the births and deaths of the above we will have to assume the following dates: Konrad I was probably born around 1220 and Osanna around 1230. Their children: Konrad the provost, Heinrich I, Konrad the priest, and Konrad the Younger were probably born between 1251 to 1260. This would make Osanna of childbearing age during the time that she was giving birth – an important fact to take into account when doing genealogy! However, her mother Božislava Jutta Přemysl was born in about 1187 and so she would have to have been 43 when she gave birth to Osanna which is stretching it a bit.
Contemporaneously with these Ehrenfels (above), was a branch of the same family that retained the name Hohenfels AND who were named Konrad and Heinrich and who were referred to as ‘cousins’ of the above Ehrenfels.
We assume that this branch descends from Konrad who styled himself ‘Hohenfels zu Falkenstein’ and who was the brother of Heinrich. The father of Konrad and Heinrich was the first to style himself ‘von Hohenfels’ and their grandfather was von Raitenbuch – Hohenfels.
In later generations it is often difficult to know if we are dealing with an ‘Hohenfels’ or an ‘Ehrenfels’. We will use ‘Hohenfels / Ehrenfels’ where it is unclear which branch of the same family is being referred to.
The historical record of the Hohenfels / Ehrenfels for the most part follows a series of property transactions and what follows below is a time line based on these transactions. However, there was one very disruptive event that occurred in December 1250 in which Konrad von Hohenfels, the son of Heinrich, attempted to assassinate King Conrad IV of Germany. Details of this event are given below.
In the 13th century, the bishop of Regensburg became a prince of the Holy Roman Empire with a seat and vote at the Imperial Diet. As an enclave of the Duchy of Bavaria, the prince-bishopric was not able to expand territorially, and it remained one of the smallest of the Empire. To maintain order within their territorial boundary, small though it was, the Bishops often relied on the ‘Hohenfels / Ehrenfels’ as their ‘foot soldiers’ to enforce their rule. Such a role in Medieval Germany was known as a ‘ministerial’. For a definition of a ministerial see Wikipedia.
Numerous Regensburg fiefdoms in the Danube area around Regensburg and imperial fiefdoms north of the Danube are mentioned as belonging to the ‘Hohenfels / Ehrenfels’ family. At one time they were considered the most powerful noble family in the region northwest of Regensburg.
1217. At some point, Wirnto von Plankenstein had married a Hohenfels and when he died the castle at Helfenberg which was in his possession passed through from his wife to the Hohenfels. After which, the castle passed back and forth between the Hohenfels and the Bishops of Regensburg.
The possession of Helfenberg by von Plankenstein was probably because of an earlier marriage between that family and the von Velburg family who had originally built the castle. Such castles did not pass willy-nilly from family to family but rather tended to follow lines of marriage. However, castles could change hands at dizzying speeds; so for example the Helfenberg and Falkenstein possessions moved between the Bishops of Regensburg and the ‘Hohenfels / Ehrenfels’ frequently.
For a while the ‘Hohenfels / Ehrenfels’ also ‘owned’ the castles of Sengersberg (approximately 3 km north of Falkenstein) and Schönberg.
One of the earliest documents attesting to the activities of the Lords of Hohenfels is in 1224 in which they founded a hospital at Pollenried on the high plateau of the Upper Palatinate Jura. This served to create a ‘receptaculum peregrinorum aliorumque pauperum et egeneorum supervenientium’, i.e. a place for the reception of wanderers (pilgrims) and other passing poor and needy. The hospital was of great importance for the care of those travelling on the main road from Regensburg to Nuremberg or Bamberg. Later, (1240) the Hohenfels donated the hospital to the Pielenhofen monastery.
A document from 1226 dealing with a Hohenfels land transaction:
In 1232, Bishop Siegfried of Regensburg loaned the Hohenfels 100 pounds to support the Hohenfels in an ongoing feud with their neighbors in Brennberg.
It was also at this time that Bishop Siegfried, having earlier regained possession of Helfenberg from the Hohenfels, decided to swap it for the Falkenstein dominion of Konrad von Hohenfels for a charge of 100 pounds of Regensburg pfennigs.
After this, Helfenberg remained in the possession of the ‘Hohenfels / Ehrenfels’ for a long period, but gradually with the separation of the family into two branches: a Hohenfels and an Ehrenfels in the middle of the 13th century, the Helfenberg came into possession of the Ehrenfels line.
We use ‘possessed’ because often ownership remained in the hands of the Bishops of Regensburg or the dukes of Bavaria who permitted the Hohenfels / Ehrenfels to occupy certain properties. The castle at Helfenberg was retained by the family until about 1370.
1240, March 10, the Cistercian monastery in Pielenhofen was founded by the brothers Konrad and Heinrich van Hohenfels and other servants of the Regensburg bishop.
In 1242, on the occasion of the foundation of the Cistercian monastery of Seligenporten by Gottfried von Wolfstein / Sulzbürg, Konrad von Hohenfels, along with his sister Adelheid von Hohenfels, the wife of Gottfried, stood as witnesses. In 1259 Gottfried and Adelheid found their final resting places there.
In 1244 a conflict broke out between the Hohenfels family and the Counts of Hirschberg over the appointment of a Vogtei (church office holder) at the Kastler monastery, during which numerous monastery properties were destroyed.
The ambitious plans of the Hohenfels family to oust the Counts of Hirschberg from the Kastler Bailiwick only ended when Gebhard IV von Hirschberg made peace with the bishop of Eichstätt (in 1245) and switched to the side of the emperor.
This dispute was part of a wider ongoing conflict between emperor Frederick II (reigned 1220 – 1250) with Pope Gregory IX (ruled 1227 – 1241). The Hohenfels family were allied with Bishop Frederick II of Eichstätt (ruled 1237–1246), who, like the Bishop of Regensburg, was on the imperial side. At least at this point.
Then, in the summer of 1245, Bishop Siegfried of Regensburg, and with him the Hohenfels family, switched over to the Pope’s side. However, this meant that the two were now in direct conflict with the citizens of Regensburg who were allied to the German king Conrad IV, the son of the emperor Frederick II.
With the intensification of the power struggle between the imperial and the papal parties, Gottfried von Wolfstein / Sulzbürg, (Konrad and Heinrich’s brother-in-law) also changed sides around 1245 and took the lead in the region’s anti-imperial forces.
As a part of the political alliances, a promise of engagement was sealed between the Wolfstein / Sulzbürger’s son and the daughter of Walter and Adelheid (von Hohenfels) von Reicheneck, who was still strictly loyal to the imperial family. However, this engagement was broken by the Pope, and the latter (Walter) was branded a “persecutor of the Church”.
Bishop Siegfried died in 1247 but his conflict with the citizens of Regensburg, the Duke of Bavaria, the King [Conrad IV], and the Emperor [Frederick II], was continued by his successor Albert I, Count of Pietengau, who was Bishop of Regensburg from 1246 to 1259, and who was supported above all by the Hohenfels; not only in word but also by deed.
In order to punish the Bishop of Regensburg for having thrown his support to the papal side. the emperor began giving privileges to the citizens of Regensburg which ended the episcopal rule of the city.
In the process, the king’s people desecrated the cathedral and laid waste to the bishop’s properties, forcing Bishop Siegfried to leave the city. This so enraged one member of the Hohenfels – Konrad – that he decided that the best thing he could do was to devise a plan to assassinate the Emperor’s son King Conrad IV.
Conrad IV
On December 28, 1250, Conrad IV of Germany spent the night in the Regensburg monastery of St. Emmeram. Von Hohenfels had been told how many people to expect to be sleeping in the King’s room, so that after capturing or murdering the total number of sleepers that he was told would be in the room, he would need to look no further. However, there was one more person in the room than he had been told – the king – who was hiding under a bench.
Another version has Konrad with 6 of his companions creeping into the bedchamber and stabbing a servant (Ewesheim) to death who just happened to be occupying the royal bed. This suggests some premonition on the King’s part.
After the unsuccessful assassination attempt, Konrad von Hohenfels fled to Bohemia and sought the protection of King Wenzel I (1205 – 1253). It is said that on his way to Bohemia Konrad was struck by lightning but nonetheless survived, at least well enough to have married Wenzel’s niece Osanna von Ortenberg.
As a result of his botched assassination attempt, Konrad’s castle at Hohenfels was destroyed, but it was later rebuilt by the Stauffer family. What one sees today are the remains of this later re-building.
King Conrad IV’s father, the Emperor Frederick II, had died on 13 December 1250 in Italy, two weeks before the attempted assassination. News of this only reached Germany well after Christmas causing King Conrad to leave Germany to become King Conrad II of Sicily on which occasion it is said that he very generously reduced the amount of retaliation that he could have inflicted on the bishopric. Unfortunately for Conrad, he was only able to escape death for a short time: he died four years late of malaria on May 21, 1254, in Lavello, Basilicata, Sicilly. He was only 26 years old at the time of his death. Conrad had been excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV earlier that same year. After 1254 and up to 1272, without a King in Germany, there was no royal power to assert itself and the political situation became quite fluid.
Because of this and despite his failed assassination attempt, Konrad returned from Bohemia to Bavaria (in 1256) with his wife and family and, after a time, Konrad’s name began to appear frequently on documents. There was also living contemporaneously a cousin of the failed assassin’s by the name of Konrad von Hohenfels and so distinguishing between these two, as well as other cousins named Heinrich becomes problematic.
Starting around 1256, the would-be-assassin Konrad began constructing a castle of his own at a place called Ehrenfels near the town of Beratzhausen located some 10 miles south of the original Hohenfels castle and closer to Regensburg. Having constructed his castle, Konrad began calling himself Ehrenfels as opposed to Hohenfels (“Chunradus de Ernvels”) and it is from this Konrad von Ehrenfels that the Three Loeck Sisters are descended.
In documents, the Hohenfels branch and the Ehrenfels branch sometimes distinguished between themselves so that for example in 1256 Konrad von Hohenfels (brother of Heinrich and uncle of the would-be assassin) wrote a deed in which he calls himself Chunradus de Hohenuels, and refers to his nephew who acts a witness as: ‘Chunradus de Ernuels [Konrad von Ehrenfels] my brother’s son’.
On 25 April 1256 Konrad I von Ehrenfels (Chunradus de Ernuels) appears in a deed of donation to the Pielenhofen Monastery in which he hands over his estate in Dettenhofen to redeem the tithes on all his possessions.
It also mentions his mother Hedwig, who bequeathed a house and a farm in Anzenhofen (near Dietkirchen) to the monastery on the condition that they should only become the property of the monastery after her death. In 1339 there were 75 nuns, 10 girls, 12 lay sisters and 20 lay brothers in the monastery. The nuns mostly came from the landed nobility or the Regensburg patriciate. The document shown below reads: I Konrad van Ehrenfels:
To all to whom the present writing has reached, Chunradus de Ernvels greetings in the name of the savior of all. People’s actions are often forgotten and turn into a pointless quarrel if they do not read the testimony of a piece of writing to be preserved forever. And so that this does not happen unintentionally in the current legal transaction, I want to make it known to all that, as compensation for the tithe payments, which I deducted every year from the proceeds of all my possessions to pay to the monastery of St. Mary in Pielenhofen (Regensburg district), for the salvation of my soul and that of my parents, I give my estate of Dettenhofen (municipality of Pielenhofen) to the said monastery completely, unencumbered and voluntarily and irrevocably given to eternal possession under the legal title of personal property. Moreover, the mistress Hedwig, my beloved mother, has donated the farm and the manse in Anzenhofen to this very monastery of Pielenhofen with my consent and goodwill as my own property and I have given them the farm during their lifetime [and] after her death the ownership of the said goods to the said mentioned monastery which should fall free and unencumbered. And so that this is legally binding and firmly, as well as completely inviolable, I have by attaching the Seal of my Lord Albert, the venerable bishop of Regensburg, who was present at the aforesaid [businesses], and with care taken to confirm the present document by mentioning the witnesses below. These are the witnesses: Herr Konrad von Hohenfels, Friedrich von Berge, Rudolf von Wibeldorf, Kuno von Hofdorf, Heinrich von Wiesent, … etc. This was negotiated in the court of the bishop mentioned, in the year of Incarnation of the Lord 1256, in the 14th indiction, on the kalends of [month] May.
The Lordship of Ehrenfels had extensive possessions such as: the Nützleinsmühle (coal mill); a farm and an estate at Ruxhofen; a yard, a semi-yard and six estates at Mausheim; a courtyard at Willenhofen; a farm at Hardt; a Courtyard at Rechberg; two farms in Oberpfraundorf; an estate at Illkofen; two farms at Winden; the Prüfing monastery and a farm and goods at Hatzenhof, etc. This last is important as the Hatzenhof was originally an Ortenberg possession which eventually became a Nothafft one on the marriage of Praxedis von Ehrenfels to Johann Nothafft.
The land on which the Scottish monastery of St. Jakob in Regensburg was founded was originally leased from the Ehrenfels and included three farms: in Uttenhofen, the Mittermühle near Beratzhausen, and five Fiefs in Hardt.
The Ehrenfels castle at Beratzhausen known as Burg Ehrenfels has to be distinguished from other castles by the same name such as Burg Ehrenfels situated on the Rhine River and another Burg Ehrenfels in Styria, Austria.
Around 1260, an Ehrenfelser noble lady took a liking to a squire, Heinrich, married him, and brought him, besides other goods, a property known as the Edelfiß Helmsreut, after which he named himself – Heinrich Helmsreut. As a result, Knight and Freiherr Chunrad von Ehrenfels zu Helfberg and his descendants were his relatives. (see 1284 below).
Seal border: bold line – seal inscription – bold line. Seal inscription: (Gothic majuscule in Latin:) SIGILLUM CHUNRAD(I) DE ERNVE[LS]. The Ehrenfels’ seal:
Damage to the seal image on the bottom right and in the upper and lower edge area. The seal image shows an armored rider on a horse galloping to the left. Its hooves intersect the delimiting line for the inscription. The knight wears a great helmet; as a crest: a crown ring with 15 peacock feathers arranged like a fan. The slits in the helmet face the viewer frontally. The rider holds a triangular shield tilted to the left (rhombuses can be seen on it) with his right hand in front of his upper body with his left a sword raised to attack. Equestrian seals are characteristic of the high nobility from the 11th to the 16th century. The seal’s image was used by both Konrad the would-be-assassin and his brother Heinrich I.
On July 12, 1265 Konrad von Hohenfels stands as a witness to a treaty between the Bishop of Regensburg (Leo Tundorfer 1262-1277) and the Duke of Bavaria.
On July 17 1265 the cousins Konrad von Hohenfels and Konrad von Ehrenfels are named in a document of the young Conradin (King Conrad IV’s son) settling property on the sister of Conrad von Bruckberg, wife of Arnold von Säkeudorf.
On 30th April 1267 Bishop Leo confirms the sale of the Eplis Curia in Ahbach by Chunrado de Hohenfels to the hospital of St. Johann of Regensburg. As part of the exchange, the bishop agreed to help the Ehrenfelser family strengthen some of their castles’ fortifications. And, they hang three seals; one showing an Ehrenfels on horseback (as above).
In 1268 Konrad von Ehrenfels is named as an advisor to Leo the bishop of Regensburg and is appointed by the bishop as one of the arbitrators to settle a dispute between bishop Leo and Duke Ludwig of Bavaria.
On February 1, 1270, Konrad von Hohenfels (the cousin of the ‘would-be-assassin’) sold to Bishop Leo his castle at Falkenstein, as a result of Konrad’s indebtedness but he then tried to re-conquer the Falkenstein Castle to satisfy his other creditors, thereby tearing apart the county of Donaustauf.
Konrad was captured, subdued, and made once more to swear allegiance to the bishop. Even so the trust of the Regensburg bishops in the Hohenfels family appears to have been profoundly shaken by these events. It is hard to know which Konrad was involved in this conflagration with Bishop Leo as he states that Konrad had plunged into great debts as a result of his youthful lightheartedness, (quod iuvenili motu ductus incurrisset gravia onera debitorum); although it could not have been Konrad-the-would-be-assassin as he was old by 1270.
In 1275 the bishop requires that both the Hohenfelser and Ehrenfelser together support him in a dispute he had with the monastery of St. Emmeram. The granaries of the monastery are plundered; Abbot Haimo and two monks were arrested, and Wolfgang I. Sturm was installed as abbot instead.
In 1276 the Duke of Bavaria (Louis the Strict) appointed magistrates to put a stop to the robberies that prevailed in the terrible time without an emperor. As such, ‘our Konrad” received the district from Riedenburg to the Bohemian Forest.
On July 30, 1277, Konrad I’s servant, Wrinto von Ruger von Helfenberg, the son of Wrinto von Plankenstein, stood as witnesses to a document that gave the Pielenhofen monastery a manor in Mothersdorf (Mittersdorf near Hohenfels) on Konrad’s behalf.
On December 27, 1281, Chvnrad of Ernvels donated the farm in Albrechtshofen to the church of Sanctae Mariaethe at Pielenhofen / Pulnhofen monastery to be held in pious memory of his wife Osanna, with the consent of his sons and heirs, namely: Konrad Provost to St. Johann in Regensburg, Heinrich I the Knight (Ritter), Konrad the pastor at Weisenacker and Konrad the Younger.
1284 Hermann and Heinrich von Helmsreut, brothers (Heinrich’s sons), had received the patronage of the Church of St. Maria zu (Kloſter) Pielenhofën, from their mother’s brother, Lord Chunrad of Ehrenfels. It seems the Helmsreut died out soon after.
On 6 February, 1286, Konrad v. Ehrnfels (Ernvells) and his wife Osanna, the daughter of Count von Ortenberg, consent to all her heirs being given their inheritance or feudal rights to the castle of Wildenegg / Wildeneck and all other rights in the area around Mondsee (in territorio et districtibus Maense), which the count of Ortenberg had surrendered to the bishop of Salzburg for 200 Pounds Regensb.
This donation had been originally made by Konrad’s brother-in-law Diepold Count von Ortenberg [1238–1272] in Salzburg on 7th July, 1285, and was carried out and renewed by them. (Austrian Archives) The document containing this agreement is shown below:
In 1288 Konrad von Ehrenfels died and his sons Konrad the Younger and Heinrich I begin to appear together in legal and state affairs. Note that there were two sets of brothers both by the same names (Konrad and Heinrich ) who were cousins!
1288, Bishop Heinrich of Regensburg confirms that Konrad v. Ehrnfels (Ernuells) (the would-be-assassin), his heirs, and his widow Osanna, sister of Diepold Count von Ortenberg, had for 200 pounds possession of the castle Wildenegg with belongings, that had originally come to Konrad by episcopal investiture and succession or that had belonged to Osanna.
In 1288, Heinrich von Rotteneck, Bishop of Regensburg decided in a dispute between the brothers Heinrich and Konrad von Ehrenfels ‘The Younger’ and duke Ludwig of Bavaria that some of the Ehrenfels property had to be given to the duke while at the same time duke Ludwig had to give the people of Ehrenfels various rights to properties in compensation.
On September 14, 1290 Heinrich and Konrad von Hohenfels (the sons of the would-be assassin) swore to Bishop Heinrich to volunteer their protective services to him but they were also able to serve someone else if they so wished, unless the Bishop forbade them.
However the brothers also had to promise that they would not marry without the bishop’s permission. Among others, their uncles Konrad von Ehrenfels, provost von St. Johann in Regensburg, and Heinrich der Reitter von Ehrenfels bore witness. However, these relationships do not match up with the way they do on the family charts so, if we follow the charts, then for ‘uncles’ we would have to say ‘cousins’, etc.
On September 14, 1290, a quarrel arose between the Bishop of Regensburg and the Ehrenfels. Konrad von Ehrenfels, provost to St. Johann in Regensburg and his brother Heinrich I der Reitter (the knight), had to swear that their errant cousin Konrad von Hohenfels would mend his robbery ways and keep the peace.
After Konrad (IV) of Hohenfels (not Ehrenfels) died, in 1290 his widow Kunigunde (von Schlüsselberg) inherited a set of properties leased for life; the certificate of inheritance was signed by Bishop Heinrich, stating that Kunigunde was his Aunt, and the brothers Konrad IV and Heinrich von Hohenfels he calls his uncles.
In 1292 the Hohenfelser became involved in a feud with the Palatine Ministerial Baldwin and Ekbert von Drauhpach; this feud was ended thanks to Bishop Heinrich of Regensburg and the Count Palatine Otto.
The following year the bishop and the palatine settled yet another feud of Konrad von Hohenfels’, this time with Ulrich the steward von Ekkenmüll, Konrad von Sattelbogen, Ekhbrecht dem Drauchpekch, and Ulrich von Pesing during the course of which arson, robbery, manslaughter, and mutual captures (kidnappings) had occurred.
It goes without saying that with so many feuds the family experienced an increasingly desolate economic situation.
1293 Konrad von Hohenfels renounced the tithe in the community of Lenkofen to end a dispute but in order that the agreement could be made ” … and be brought to its due effect …” he has to also ensure that his brother Heinrich de Ernvels binds himself as well and they promise together, etc. The agreement is shown below:
On September 6, 1297, Heinrich v. Ehrenfels and his brother-in-law Konrad Schenk v. Reicheneck appear on a legal document which thereby confirms their relationship.
On January 26, 1299, the brothers Heinrich I and Konrad IV leased to the abbess Elspet zu Pielenhofen their property in Harcenhofen / Haitzenhofen / Haecenhofe and an estate in Ruckshofen for 33 Pf.dl. for ten years. The Ehrenfels took advantage of being able to re-claim the property in 1309 as the Hatzenhofen eventually became part of the dowry of Praxedis von Ehrenfels.
On December 13, 1299, Heinrich I von Hohenfels swore an oath of allegiance again to the Bishop of Regensburg and vowed not to marry or to ‘turn strangers away from the church’; with the express mention that he still owes the pledges mentioned above in 1290. If he were to break his oath, he would be given an additional penalty of £500 Regensburg pennies to pay.
In 1301 the Duke of Bavaria feuded with the Count of Hirschberg causing the Count Palatine Rudolf on April 24 to march with an army over the Danube and plunder the Hirschberg’s domain for 8 days. No sooner had the Count Palatine left than Count Gebhard v. Hirschberg called upon the lords of Hohenfels, Ehrenfels zu Helfenberg, and others, to help him carry out a counter-attack on the ducal lands. Hostilities lasted three months, but in the end the Duke won and the v. Ehrenfels zu Helfenberg were obligated to carry out various personal services for the Duke to make up for their rebellious ways.
1302 Konrad von Ehrenfels the Younger of the Upper Palatinate bears witness that Jakob, Gaedel, Fraendel and other Jews from Regensburg give a receipt to Archbishop Konrad von Salzburg for more than 50 pounds of Regensburg pfennigs, which the latter owed them.
On June 21, 1304, the brothers Heinrich I and Konrad von Ehrenfels the Younger sold a property they owned to the parish church in Illschwang. They also confirmed on the 5th October that Archbishop Konrad von Salzburg had paid 42 silver marks that he owed them.
In 1311 Heinrich I von Ehrenfels zu Helfenberg was elected mayor of Regensburg. As such, he acquired a commercial patent and a letter of protection for the Regensburg merchants from King Henry of Bohemia in 1312.
In 1312 he settled a dispute between King Otto of Bavaria and Bishop Konrad.
On November 9, 1313, a battle took place in the fields of Gammelsdorf (near Moosburg), in which Duke Ludwig v . Upper Bavaria defeated the Duke Friedrich von Desterreich and the Lower Bavarian nobility thus ending a long running quarrel. The Nordgau nobility stood by Ludwig and as his vassals, our Helfenbergers (the Ehrenfels) also had to take part in the fight, this meant that Heinrich was among the 24 knights and nobles who signed the peace between Duke Ludwig IV of Bavaria and his brother Rudolf I on the one hand and Frederick of Austria on the other.
1314 Heinrich I von Ehrenfels was a member of the entourage that accompanied the victorious Ludwig IV to his election at Frankfurt as the new German king.
In 1315 Heinrich I received the ‘festivals of Pfaffenhofen’, for his services against Austria (in 1313).
One practice that was under the control of the emperor was to offer protective escorts on the emperor’s behalf to those passing through their territory. Eventually, the Ehrenfels began to practice this right of escort in the area of their castles themselves. However, they did so without special imperial confirmation which led to further examples of the Ehrenfels tangling with the authorities.
1315 August 15 King Ludwig pledged to Heinrich I von Ehrenfels and his cousin Heinrich the Younger von Ehrenfels and their heirs for the debt of 200 pounds Regensburger Pfennigs for past and future services of his castle at Pfaffenhofen with all accessories, people, goods, visited and unvisited, and with all rights as he himself possessed them. The King determined that they may own the castle and use it until redeemed by him or his heirs for the said sum, etc. …
In 1317 Heinrich von Ehrenfels the old and Heinrich the young, his cousin, sell and “wither” all their rights to bailiwick, tax, interest, court, and other benefits on the Chage to Mr. Gumpreht on the Haide, his wife Iremgard and their daughters … for 15 pounds with all the rights that they themselves held, etc.
1317/18, Heinrich the old dies, leaving left two sons Heinrich II and Konrad VI and a daughter Hedwig, who taught as a nun in Pielenhofen.
Pictured below: Heinrich and Kunigunde (Reicheneck) von Ehrenfels altar in the 3rd bay of the northern aisle in Regensburg cathedral. It is the oldest altar in the cathedral, created around 1319. In the figural tabernacles are Saints Henry (ruled 1002-1024, emperor from 1014) and Kunigunde (ca. 980-1033) above are the coats of arms of the donors and the symbols of the evangelists. The altarpiece shows the baptism of the Bavarian Duke Theodo II (ruled c. 680-717) by St. Rupert (ca. 650 – prob. 718).
In 1320 Heinrich II. (son of Heinrich I) and his uncle Konrad the Younger are mentioned as citizens of the city of Neumarkt.
The Bavarian fiefdoms held by the Ehrenfels family are listed in the ducal hall book of the Vicedomamt Lengenfeld created in 1326.
At the end of 1326 Konrad von Ehrenfels the Younger presented the Bishop of Regensburg with an official statement in which he promises to pay the bishop with six soldiers and his castle at Ehrenfels for 20 pounds of Regensburg pfennigs a year and to support the bishopric militarily – except against King Ludwig (the Bavarian).
1332 Heinrich II von Ehrenfels pledged loyalty to Bishop Nikolaus with six men in arms and four pikemen for one year for 70 pounds in return for payment.
Around 1332 (some say as early as 1326) the renegade robber Konrad von Hohenfels dies. Some say he never married. He is not to be confused with his cousin Konrad von Ehrenfels the Younger who also died around this time.
On November 11, 1332, the von Ehrenfels family endowed the Pielenhofen monastery with the village of Lengenfeld near Amberg which included fish ponds, pastures, as well as large and small tithes for distribution to those people whom their now deceased cousin Konrad von Hohenfels, the well-known robber baron, had inflicted with robbery and taxes (blackmail), various acts of arson, and Vanchnuzze (i.e. with extortion or imprisonment). Also in 1332, Heinrich and Konrad von Ehrenfels donated their estate in Willenhofen with all income and the court, with the exception of the Great Court, to the convent Pielenhofen near Regensburg.
In 1333 Heinrich II was appointed the caretaker of the episcopal fortress and lordship of Hohenburg.
In 1335, Heinrich II was forced to give up his castle of Ehrenfels, as well as his share in the market town of Beratzhausen, because of his debts to Ludwig of Bavaria but he did not have to ask the Regensburg bishop’s permission to do so. The only things excluded from the sale were the Regensburg fiefdoms, the tithes of Beratzhausen, the Bailiwick and the tithes of the church in Beratzhausen.
In 1336 Henrich’s brother Konrad was already called canon of Regensburg.
1338, Konrad III who was provost of the old chapel and cathedral canon of Regensburg occupied the Ehrenfelser Hof.
In 1340 Konrad von Ehrenfels gave the cathedral chapter of Regensburg his bailiwick and tithe rights at Beratzhausen and the bailiwick there of various tithe farms. The Bailiwick and rights to tithes soon passed to the Stauffer family and as a result the cathedral chapter no longer enjoyed these rights.
On March 19, 1340, Heinrich II Ehrenfels gave the convent of Pielenhofen the patronage of OberWiesenacker, i.e. the right to appoint the pastor. A relation of Heinrich’s at Oberwiesenacker confirmed this donation on April 23, 1340. The first pastor of OberWiesenacker had been appointed by the Ehrenfels and was a son of Konrad I von Ehrenfels (the would-be-assassin).
1343 Konrad the Youngest (father of Praxedis) confirms the endowment of the village of Lengenfeld near Amberg to the Pielenhofen monastery with the remark that it uses 2 pfennigs for the altar wool, which Heinrich and Konrad, donated to Pielenhofen for their burial in the middle of the minster.
In 1344 Heinrich II, like his father Heinrich I, was appointed mayor of Regensburg, for which time he received a salary of 200 Pf.dl.
1344 Albrecht I von Hohenfels, was made Prince Bishop of Eichstätt until his death in 1355. From 1322 he is verifiable in high ecclesiastical offices in the diocese; he also took over offices in Regensburg from 1342. In 1344 Albrecht was unanimously elected bishop by the cathedral chapter. However, as a follower of Ludwig IV of Bavaria, as opposed to the pope, he was excommunicated and never ordained and always signed as an elect.
When his successor, Berthold von Zollern, was elected bishop in 1351, Albrecht’s retreat began. Albrecht and Berthold ruled together for a while in some indefinable way. At the end of 1353, Albrecht finally renounced his rights in exchange for three castles. He died two years later. Albrecht’s predecessor was Heinrich Schenk von Reicheneck († February 10, 1344 in Nuremberg) who was Prince Bishop of Eichstätt from 1329 to 1344. Heinrich’s mother was Agnes von Ehrenfels the daughter of Konrad the would-be assassin and Osanna von Ottenberg.
Albrecht I. von Hohenfels, was elected bishop of Eichstatt in part because of the consent of the Pielenhofen monastery and the parish church of Wiesenacker, which were under the patronage of Heinrich the Elder von Ehrenfels of Helfenberg ‘uncle’ of the bishop. Heinrich was called ‘The Elder’ (senior), not because there was a younger person with that same name living, but he was the most senior member of the family as a whole.
On April 13, 1344, the Bishop of Eichstätt, Albrecht von Hohenfels, bestowed the parish of Wiesenacker on the Pielenhofen monastery in the Helfenberg dominion. Previously, the patronage was due to Heinrich II von Ehrenfels, who lived in Helfenberg. On April 24, Heinrich II renounced this right to which he was entitled in favor of the Pielenhofen monastery, to which his wife Adelheid also gave her consent.
Soon after, in 1345, Heinrich II died. His widow Adelheid was requested by the Regensburg council, to pay his debts in two terms. Heinrich II. and Adelheid’s sons were: Peter and Johann (Hans).
In 1350, while still a minor, Albrecht II von Hohenfels, was married to Barbara, the daughter of Hilpolt von Stein‘s who were a rich merchant family that, unlike the Hohenfels / Ehrenfels, was not dependent on the Bishops of Regensburg. Since von Stein was wealthy, the marriage to his daughter brought some fortune to the Hohenfels, but even this was not enough to alleviate the family’s debt burden. It was also at about this time that the Hohenfels / Ehrenfels began to enter the service of the Bavarian dukes rather than the Bishop’s.
1349/50 Konrad Ehrenfels the Youngest (the son of Konrad the Younger) acknowledges to the bishop of Regensburg all the money that he still owes him; soon after which Konrad seems to have died. His wife was Agnes von Stauff. Their son, Konrad, brother of Praxedis was the last male of the tribe. Konrad the youngest’s daughter Praxedis married Johann v. Nothafft who were the direct ancestors of the Three Loeck Sisters. The fact that the Stauff family took over the Ehrenfels property and name can be accounted for, in part, by the marriage between Konrad von Ehrenfels and Agnes von Stauff. The source for this: Leonhard Graf (1875) Helfenberg: die Burg und Herrschaft am Faden der Geschichte der Oberpfalz Lengenfeld : Selbstverlag.
In the year 1354, the Ehrenfels property was estimated at 12,000 guilders.
In 1358/63 Johann (Hans) von Ehrenfels married Dorothea von Sulzburg-Wolfstein, the daughter of Albrecht d. A. von Sulzburg-Wolfstein, which brought him 1000 fl. It is probably the case that Dorothea died, and Hans then married Anna Marschalkin von Biberbach / Bibrach, as Anna is referred to in documents as Hans’ widow.
In 1363, looking for an additional source of income, Albrecht III von Hohenfelser (a cousin of Hans von Ehrenfels’) found a rich merchant from Regensburg and kidnapped him for 112 axles.
From 1358 to 1374 Hans and Peter von Ehrenfels zu Helfenberg (sons of Heinrich II and Adelheid and Konrad the Younger’s great nephews) were busy selling their father’s inheritance, which they did not completely succeed in doing until the end of their lives. Among these was a ‘castle’ originally built by the von Plankenstein family.
In 1364 a long simmering dispute between the Kastl monastery and the Ehrenfels over ownership of the Mitter and Göhren mills in Wiesenacker erupted and turned violent.
On the 11th On November 13, 1368, Peter von Ehrenfels and his wife Ibilis sold their farm in Krondorf for 120 pounds.
On August 15, 1373, Hans was forced to give up his part of Helfenberg, along with a share of his belongings at Guntzenhofen, Plankenstein, Heilsberg, a court of Neusezz (Neuseß), a court of Lengenfeld, the tithe shares of Teysenpaur, Petzersberg, Harungshofen, the bailiwick of Oberwiesenacker all to the Count Palatine, Ruprecht, for the price of 8,000 guilders. Peter did what his brother Hans had done and also sold his share of the said properties to the Count Palatine. Even after the sale of their ancestral castles, the Ehrenfels were still living at Helfenberg, but they soon began to sell off parts and parcels of the land there too. Hans soon died and in 1380 Peter followed his brother in death.
In 1375, Albrecht and Hilpolt von Hohenfels followed their cousins Peter and Hans’ example and sold their land at Hohenfels to the Count Palatine Ruprecht. .
On March 13, 1380, Anna Marschalkin von Biberbach / Bibrach, widow of Hans von Ehrenfels, sold her possessions of “the Veste zu Helfenberg and the forecourt with all belongings” for 1000 guilders to the Palatine Elector Ruprecht.
In 1380, Anna Marschalkin von Biberbach, still owned the rights of the festivals and enjoyed half of the income from the village of Deusmauer which she now ceded to the Count Palatine as well as the previously pledged part of the Lordship of Helfenberg. For her renunciation she received once more 4000 guilders.
In 1383 Albrecht von Hohenfels sold their ancestral fortress Hohenfels with the market below and everything that goes with it to the Count Palatine Ruprecht the Elder for 17,700 fl.
1387?? October 27, Karl Paulsdorfer hands over to his uncle Heinrich Nothaft von Wernberg land at Taferne and the estate at Pomsendorf. Sunday before Allerheyligen. – The witnesses are: Heinrich and Konrad von Ehrenfels, Ulrich the Marshal of Lengenfeld, etc. [Source: Nothaft. Family-Arch. Ihg. VII p. 288. s113.]
In 1403, an abbess of Seligenporten monastery came from the family of the founders, namely Cecilia von Hohenfels.
1435 Hilpolt von Hohenfels was the last of the Hohenfels to cling on to the remaining vestiges of their property before finally becoming extinct.
Thus, in less than fifty years one of the most important ministerial rulers of the Regensburg Church in the Laber region had lost everything.
The chart below which also contain “our” Konrad shows the descent of his elder brother, another Konrad.
The house known as the Ehrenfelser Hof in Regensburg, located near the cathedral and the old chapel, was built in 1200. Its north portal faces Schwarzen-Baren-Strasse created around 1210. The property faces the street with an elaborate portal accessible house chapel, the servants’ wing and the other parts of the building grouped around two inner courtyards form a representative urban one HerJlensitz. The property was named after its first verifiable inhabitant. Konrad von Ehrenfels, provost of St. Johann between 1280 and 1298. In 1390, Ulrich von Hohenfels appears as the last canon from the Hohenfels family.
Below, a chart showing Osanna’s ancestors starting at the top with her father Heinrich I von Ortenberg and her mother Princess Bozislawa (Jutta).
In 1419 one of the last of the Hohenfels – Ulrich, provost in Regensburg and cathedral scholar in Eichstätt – as collector of the apostolic chamber for the city and diocese of Eichstätt, for Abbot Georg zu Castell for 3 gold guilders papal interest “MarcoBottini” for 3 years.
Sources for this page include:
Parsberg Pflegamter Hemau Laaber Beratzhausen Lupburg Velburg Mannritterlehengut Lutzmannstein Amter Hohenfels Helfenberg Reichsherrschaften Atlas von Bayern – Ehrenfels – Author: Manfred Jehle
Helfenberg: die Burg und Herrschaft am Faden der Geschichte der Oberpfalz Graf, Leonhard, 1843 Lengenfeld : Selbstverlag, 1875. – VIII, 296 Seiten