Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY
Eberhard was born about 1223, the younger son of Diether IV, Graf von Katzenelnbogen, Graf von Lichtenberg, and Hildegunde von Eberstein. His marriage to Elisabeth von Eppstein produced four children, of whom his sons Gerhard and Berthold III and daughter Berta would have progeny.
About 1260 Eberhard and his elder brother Diether divided the family estates. Diether became the head of the 'Niedergrafschaft' (lower county) of Katzenelnbogen und Sankt Goar, with Burg Rheinfels as the seat of the older line, while the 'Obergrafschaft' (upper county) around Darmstadt was ruled by Eberhard, who became the head of the younger line. The reunion of both lines would occur in 1402 under Johann IV.
About 1270 Eberhard succeeded in acquiring the castle and town of Braubach as a palatinate fief from the lords of Eppstein.
In 1310 he received for his town of Ramstadt the same freedoms and rights as the 'urban municipality of Frankfurt'. These included the holding of a weekly market. However, neither imperial privileges nor favourable economic circumstances like copper and silver mining or the water power of the river Modau, which drove the county's iron foundry as well as many flour mills, led to a change from the agricultural orientation of the economy of Eberhard's county.
Eberhard died on 23 August 1311.
|