Jens Grand - Grand's Deteriorating Relations To His Subjects and Neighboured Princes

Grand's Deteriorating Relations To His Subjects and Neighboured Princes

The Bremian clergy south of the river Elbe yielded and paid the donum, but north of the Elbe the old rivalry with the subchapter in Hamburg resurged, demanding the same treatment as the Bremian Chapter. Grand convened for a provincial synod, but the representatives of the suffragan dioceses and Hamburg's Subchapter refused to come. Grand then decided, to ignore the complaints of the absent clergymen. To make the things worse, Grand appointed his own candidates with prebends of the Lübeck Cathedral. He disentangled the new Archdeaconry of the Land of Wursten from the existing Archdeaconry of the Land of Hadeln, so that he could provide the canon Johannes Lütke as Wursten's Archdeacon with his own prebend. On 23 November 1311 Pope Benedict XI appointed Grand as arbiter in the dispute between the Prince-Archbishopric of Riga under Prince-Archbishop Friedrich von Pernstein and Teutonic Prussia under Grand Master Karl von Trier. At the beginning of the next year he participated in the Council of Vienne. There he was confronted with proceedings, instituted by Lübeck's Chapter on his unconsented appointments.

When in 1312 Grand returned his clerical opponents had united. His stubbornness and invideousness earned him the Low German nickname Fürsate (Engl. literally: fire-seed(er), the Firebug). The provost of Hamburg's Subchapter refused to pay, declaring the donum to be illegal, the suffragan prince-bishops Burchard of Lübeck, Marquard of Ratzeburg, and Godfrey I of Schwerin assented to that view. In 1313 Clement V adjudicated Grand the subsidium caritativum from Hamburg's Subchapter, but it still refused to pay. Grand in return inflicted excommunications on his opponents. The clergy again ignored the excommunications.

Meanwhile Grand also fell out with the Bremian Chapter, the city of Bremen, the Bremian nobility and ministerialis, the neighboured rulers over (1) the high taxes to sanify the ruinous state budget, (2) the appointment of the former robber baron Martin von der Hude as officialis of the Prince-Archbishopric and bailiff of the castle in Langwedel (Count Otto II of Hoya and Count John XI of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst protested, because Hude had earlier also ravaged their territories with his brigandages.), (3) a charge, preferred by the Bremian Chapter, that Grand ordered the arrest of the priest Ubbo, whom - once in jail - Grand allegedly put to death. The city of Bremen assented to the Chapter's view.

His opponents set the settlement close to his castle in Vörde on fire and maltreated one of his clerics. In early 1314 Grand fled under acute threat of arrestment to the castle in Langwedel, held by his vassal Martin von der Hude, who was known for exploiting and maltreating the population in his bailiwick. The opposition also demanded to rehabilitate Isarn Hinnerk.

On 21 July 1314 Prince-Bishop Burchard, Prince-Bishop Marquard, Hamburg's Subchapter, the Chapters of the Prince-Bischoprics of Lübeck, Ratzeburg, and Schwerin concluded an alliance against Grand's immoderate tax collections. Soon after Prince-Bishop Godfrey joined the alliance. The alliance started a series of lawsuits against Grand at the curia, while Grand banned the allies with anathemata. Grand did not wait for the curia to react, but himself chose Prince-Bishop Nicolaus Ketelhot of Verden and his treasurer as judges. On 3 January 1315 they admitted the litigants to be correct and annulled Grand's anathemata. Grand ignored the judgement. This even brought together the rivalling Chapters of Bremen and Hamburg, which agreed upon a common way of proceeding in February 1315. Grand, out of funds, now incurred debts with Count John XI of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst, while Grand's debtors increasingly refused to pay, playing for time, hoping Grand to be deposed soon.

On 19 August 1314 Count Otto II of Hoya, Count John XI of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst, and the Esquire of Diepholz confederated themselves against Grand. The city of Stade and the Count of Stotel later joined. The confederates and Grand appealed for an arbitration and on 6 October 1314 the arbitrators, prelates, knights and city councillors, delivered the judgement that Grand should adhere to the practices and respect the privileges, which were usual under his predessor Giselbert of Brunkhorst.

On 1 November 1314 Prince-Bishop Godfrey had died, and Grand took his revenge on the Chapter of Schwerin. He refused to consecrate Hermann of Maltzan, the Chapter's Prince-Bishop elect. On 22 May 1315 Martin von der Hude informed Schwerin's Chapter, that Grand demanded 42,000 Bremian Marks in advance, then the price of a silver weight of 1,000 marks, for Hermann II's investiture. Grand requited the refusal to pay with an anathema, which he soon revoked. Meanwhile also the city of Hamburg litigated Grand at the curia.

Grand started travelling within the Prince-Archbishopric proper, at its fringes (such as Ditmarsh and Rüstringen) and beyond in other parts of his diocese, hastily searching for a hideout and funds to pocket. In summer 1315 Grand participated in a synod of the archdeaconry in Jever outside of the Prince-Archbishopric proper, where representatives of the Bremian Chapter threatened Grand to depose him, if he would not reside again within the boundaries of the Prince-Archbishopric, as it were his duty. The public opinion about him sharply deteriorated: A prostitute in Norden (East Frisia), a part of his diocese but outside of the Prince-Archbishopric, recognising Grand in the street, and beat him up - a very embarrassing event. He was arrested twice (once in Wildeshausen). Finally he rested in the monastery in Wildeshausen, an exclave of the Prince-Archbishopric.