Count Frederick of Isenberg (Friedrich von Isenberg) [1] (1193 – 15 November 1226) was a German noble, the younger son of Arnold of Altena (died 1209).[2] Before the split between Arnold of Altena-Isenberg the eldest and his brother Friedrich Altena-Mark the younger son of Everhard von Berg-Altena. His family castle was the Isenberg near Hattingen, Germany.
According to recent research, Frederick of Isenberg was a leading figure in the opposition of Westphalian nobles to the aggressive power politics of the Archbishop of Cologne,[3] Engelbert of Berg.
In 1225 at the Nobles' Assembly in Soest, Count Frederick met his cousin Count Engelbert von Berg, Archbishop of Cologne, in order to bring about a peaceful agreement concerning the stewardship (Vogtei) of Essen Abbey, which Count Frederick, according to contemporary complaints, was abusing to his own benefit and to the detriment of the abbey. No conclusion was reached.
During their return together from Soest to Cologne, Count Frederick arranged to ambush his cousin, in a defile at the foot of the Gevelsberg between Hagen and Schwelm in the late afternoon of 7 November 1225, in the course of which the Archbishop was killed.[4]
There is no consensus as to whether it was a deliberately planned murder, or whether the Archbishop was killed in the heat of combat. Current research assumes the latter, and that it was intended to take him into "knightly detention" so that the political demands of the opposing nobility could be pushed through. This was in accordance with the customs of the medieval feuding ethos.
Frederick of Isenberg was outlawed and excommunicated. He was stripped of all offices and stewardships and his entire personal wealth.[5] In the winter of 1225/1226 the new Archbishop of Cologne, Heinrich von Müllenark, besieged and destroyed his castle.
Frederick travelled with his brothers Dietrich and Engelbert, bishops of Münster and Osnabrück (both also implicated in the death of the Archbishop), and the notary of Isenberg with the necessary documents to the Curia in Rome, in order to have the excommunication lifted.
On the return journey Frederick was taken prisoner at Liège and sold for 2,100 silver marks to the chapter of Cologne Cathedral. On 14 November 1226 he was executed in front of the Severin Gate in Cologne. His arms and legs were smashed and he was broken on the wheel, after which he was displayed on a stone pillar. He did not die until the next day.
His son, Count Dietrich von Altena-Isenberg, later fought to recover his paternal inheritance and founded the house of the Lords of Limburg Styrum and the house of the Counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg and the County of Limburg at Hohenlimburg.
Frederick married c. 1210 Sophie of Limburg, a daughter of Waleran III, Duke of Limburg and Cunigunde of Lorraine. They had issue:
