Heinrich von Bülow (Grotekop)
The knight Heinrich von Bülow also called Grotekop (* mid-14th century; † before 1395 or in 1415 ) was a commercially very successful Mecklenburg Landadliger and war captain of Duke Albrecht III. of Mecklenburg. Outside of Mecklenburg he is still considered representative of many other its peers as the quintessential robber baron for his Fehdelustigkeit today.
Origin and family
The family von Bülow is an old North German noble family. Heinrich von Bülow was first mentioned in 1376 as a witness to a conclusion. Because of the location of its headquarters, the castle Preensberg, about ten kilometers east of Wismar and close to the trade route to Rostock in the territory of the present municipality Benz ( in Wismar ), he got to better distinguish often the further suffix to Preensberg. He was the son of the knight on Plüschow and had five brothers. With all he worked all his life together economically closely.
Life
Historically known Heinrich von Bülow became especially by an incident in the Brandenburg town of Wilsnack in 1383rd In the course of a dispute with the bishop of Havel mountain he and other nobles were burning the place including the then existing church down completely. Surely they promoted with this inadvertently destroying a strong growth of the economy in Wilsnack, which lasted until shortly after the Reformation. The reason for this development was the discovery of three, untouched by the fire hosts. More than 170 years therefore wandered hundreds of thousands of pilgrims on several pilgrimage routes to Wilsnack to the newly formed blood miracle church to visit the Holy Blood. In November of the same year a report besieged v. According Hoinkhusens Armed Wismar from the Möllenbeck castle. They tore down the wall, destroyed and devastated Breske on the fourth day Veldenze, "because of the renewed favorable attitude that their special patrons Hinrich von Bülow, otherwise called Grotekop, enjoyed by them. "
1385 's fate turned against him. The Mecklenburg Duke Albrecht III. , Also King of Sweden, allied himself with the powerful Hanseatic city of Lübeck and fitted together with this and its Hanseatic cities of Wismar and Rostock on a punitive expedition against the trade disruptive, annoying hijacker. Twenty castles Mecklenburg knights were occupied by the allies under the command of Lübeck Mayor Thomas Morkerke and the councilman and war captain Hinrich Westhof and destroyed, including Henry's castle Preensberg. The latter one has probably, like most others, imagine built in the form of a moth. It was probably not built by Heinrich again. Today, by this, by the previous owners, the Knights of Preen, named Castle hard to imagine anything else. It is believed that this moist spot could have been in the field too Slav time of settlement.
1389 Heinrich von Bülow is then referred to as a war captain of the Swedish king ( and Mecklenburg sovereign ). Bulow's importance in the Mecklenburg power structure becomes apparent when he 's already held Plau am See as a pledge together with his brothers, in 1391 these were common on record because of the mortgage acquisition of Neustadt- Glewe and Doemitz. The sovereign was given by a pledge from them in return the very high for that time amount of 14,000 Lubeck marks. Henry should henceforth have taken up residence on the Old Castle in Neustadt- Glewe.
Also in the Mecklenburg Country peace of the Year 1392 Ritter Heinrich should be together with the Archbishop of Magdeburg, which the diocese Havel mountain shelter as suffragan was added because of Wilsnacker matter. However, the Grotekop refused and also tried to keep out his close relationship of this alliance. Even the Schwerin Bishop Rudolf could not retune it. Consequence of this country was peace in the context of captivity Albrecht III. , That the adventurous part of the country Mecklenburg nobility of the Baltic Sea and turned as Vitalienbrüder the sovereign's family came to the rescue. The supply of the remaining territory in Stockholm should be ensured.
The information on the year of death of Henry are contradictory. Should he have died before 1395, he did not live to ransom his sovereign Duke Albrecht from captivity at Queen Margaret I of Denmark by the Treaty of Helsingborg ( 1395 ).