Individual Details
Ulrich III von Hanau
( - 1370)
Ulrich was the son of Ulrich II, Herr von Hanau, and Agnes von Hohenlohe-Weikersheim. About 1329 he married Gräfin Adelheid von Nassau, daughter of Gerlach, Graf von Nassau, and Agnes von Hessen. Their gravestone has been preserved in the Abbey of Arnsburg. They are known to have had two sons and three daughters, of whom his successor Ulrich IV would have progeny.
Ulrich was already politically active before the death of his father in 1346. In 1343, together with Kuno von Falkenstein, archbishop and prince-elector of Trier, he took on the guardianship of Philipp VII, Graf von Falkenstein-Münzenberg, the son of his late brother-in-law Philipp V von Falkenstein-Münzenberg, who was only ten on his father's death. Archbishop Kuno was the younger brother of Philipp V.
In the years 1349 and 1357 there raged the first of the great medieval outbreaks of the plague. There is no record of them in Hanau, but in neighbouring Frankfurt am Main 2000 people died within 200 days. Ulrich and his family appear not to have been affected, but deaths in his family which could have been associated with the plague cannot be identified as such. In connection with the plague a pogrom against the Jews nevertheless took place in the town of Hanau, and they were expelled completely, accused of arson.
Financial policy in Hanau was very successful under his rule. Despite the costly war campaigns and feuds he always had sufficient funds to grant loans to his allies and to acquire securities.
In 1368 he won town rights for his villages of Bruchköbel and Marköbel from the king, which in practice had no effect on their development. For his town of Babenhausen he received the right to mint coins.
His rule featured increasing disputes between himself and other regional lords, and in particular with the city of Frankfurt, triggered by a significant migration from the country to the city, taking away the lords' subjects and taxes.
Ulrich III followed the same policy as his predecessors of close support for the emperor. This enabled him to strengthen his authority all around Frankfurt, in particular in the province of Bornheimerberg. In 1349 he succeeded in gaining the office of imperial bailiff of Frankfurt am Main and of the Frankfurt city forest in 1360, as securities for a loan to the emperor. With this he threatened to enclose Frankfurt from without and undermine its independence from within, particularly as a long-term conflict had developed between its upper class and tradesmen. In 1358 he had already worked as an arbitrator between the parties.
However in 1363 the Frankfurt patrician and future mayor Siegfried zum Paradies used his excellent relationship with the imperial court to take over both securities on behalf of the emperor. The long-term interests of the emperor probably lay more with a financially secure city than with a powerful landed lord.
Ulrich succeeded in acquiring interests in the jurisdictions of Ortenberg and Altenhasslau and the province of Jossa. He consolidated the landholdings of Hanau by additional purchases and loans against securities. These included fiefs from the Abbey of Fulda (1357), interests in Somborn, Alzenau, Wilmundsheim vor der Hart and Hörstein - all villages in the jurisdiction of Alzenau - from the knights of Rannenberg, a sixth of Münzenberg and Assenheim, and interests in Gronau. In 1367 he succeeded in increasing by a half the interest of Hanau in Rodheim, which it shared with Falkenstein.
In 1356 Ulrich took part in the imperial Diets in Metz and Nürnberg. At the latter the Golden Bull, the decree of Emperor Karl IV fixing important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire for the next 400 years, was finalised. From the emperor he received taxing rights in Steinau on the trade route between Frankfurt and Leipzig, Sterbfritz (on the road between Fulda and Würzburg) and Kesselstadt (Main). In 1363/64 he took part in military actions of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. He helped actively in the land peace policy of his time.
On 8 June 1349 Emperor Karl IV appointed Ulrich governor in the Wetterau. From this position between 1356 and 1366 he fought repeatedly against other important regional lords, for example against Philipp von Isenburg-Grenzau whose castle Vilmar he captured in 1359, and against Philipp 'the Older' von Falkenstein from 1364 to 1366; in the latter conflict his allies were the four imperial cities of Frankfurt, Friedberg, Wetzlar and Gelnhausen and Archbishop Kuno von Falkenstein of Trier.
Ulrich died in 1370 and was buried in the Abbey of Arnsburg.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Ulrich was already politically active before the death of his father in 1346. In 1343, together with Kuno von Falkenstein, archbishop and prince-elector of Trier, he took on the guardianship of Philipp VII, Graf von Falkenstein-Münzenberg, the son of his late brother-in-law Philipp V von Falkenstein-Münzenberg, who was only ten on his father's death. Archbishop Kuno was the younger brother of Philipp V.
In the years 1349 and 1357 there raged the first of the great medieval outbreaks of the plague. There is no record of them in Hanau, but in neighbouring Frankfurt am Main 2000 people died within 200 days. Ulrich and his family appear not to have been affected, but deaths in his family which could have been associated with the plague cannot be identified as such. In connection with the plague a pogrom against the Jews nevertheless took place in the town of Hanau, and they were expelled completely, accused of arson.
Financial policy in Hanau was very successful under his rule. Despite the costly war campaigns and feuds he always had sufficient funds to grant loans to his allies and to acquire securities.
In 1368 he won town rights for his villages of Bruchköbel and Marköbel from the king, which in practice had no effect on their development. For his town of Babenhausen he received the right to mint coins.
His rule featured increasing disputes between himself and other regional lords, and in particular with the city of Frankfurt, triggered by a significant migration from the country to the city, taking away the lords' subjects and taxes.
Ulrich III followed the same policy as his predecessors of close support for the emperor. This enabled him to strengthen his authority all around Frankfurt, in particular in the province of Bornheimerberg. In 1349 he succeeded in gaining the office of imperial bailiff of Frankfurt am Main and of the Frankfurt city forest in 1360, as securities for a loan to the emperor. With this he threatened to enclose Frankfurt from without and undermine its independence from within, particularly as a long-term conflict had developed between its upper class and tradesmen. In 1358 he had already worked as an arbitrator between the parties.
However in 1363 the Frankfurt patrician and future mayor Siegfried zum Paradies used his excellent relationship with the imperial court to take over both securities on behalf of the emperor. The long-term interests of the emperor probably lay more with a financially secure city than with a powerful landed lord.
Ulrich succeeded in acquiring interests in the jurisdictions of Ortenberg and Altenhasslau and the province of Jossa. He consolidated the landholdings of Hanau by additional purchases and loans against securities. These included fiefs from the Abbey of Fulda (1357), interests in Somborn, Alzenau, Wilmundsheim vor der Hart and Hörstein - all villages in the jurisdiction of Alzenau - from the knights of Rannenberg, a sixth of Münzenberg and Assenheim, and interests in Gronau. In 1367 he succeeded in increasing by a half the interest of Hanau in Rodheim, which it shared with Falkenstein.
In 1356 Ulrich took part in the imperial Diets in Metz and Nürnberg. At the latter the Golden Bull, the decree of Emperor Karl IV fixing important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire for the next 400 years, was finalised. From the emperor he received taxing rights in Steinau on the trade route between Frankfurt and Leipzig, Sterbfritz (on the road between Fulda and Würzburg) and Kesselstadt (Main). In 1363/64 he took part in military actions of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. He helped actively in the land peace policy of his time.
On 8 June 1349 Emperor Karl IV appointed Ulrich governor in the Wetterau. From this position between 1356 and 1366 he fought repeatedly against other important regional lords, for example against Philipp von Isenburg-Grenzau whose castle Vilmar he captured in 1359, and against Philipp 'the Older' von Falkenstein from 1364 to 1366; in the latter conflict his allies were the four imperial cities of Frankfurt, Friedberg, Wetzlar and Gelnhausen and Archbishop Kuno von Falkenstein of Trier.
Ulrich died in 1370 and was buried in the Abbey of Arnsburg.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Marriage | 1329 | Countess Adelheid von Nassau | |||
| Death | 1370 | ||||
| Burial | Abbey of Arnsburg |
Families
| Spouse | Countess Adelheid von Nassau ( - 1345) |
| Child | Ulrich IV von Hanau ( - 1380) |
| Father | Ulrich II von Hanau (1280 - 1346) |
| Mother | Agnes von Hohenlohe-Weikersheim ( - 1342) |