Coat of Arms of N. Hardek Ptuj (N. Hardec von Petau / Herdegen I) on the ceiling of the Castle Chapel of St George, Ljubljanski Grad, Ljubljana. The arms bear the legend 'N. Hardec von Petau A 1350'
"Herdegen I, son of Hartnid II was, besides Friedrich III and Friedrich V, undoubtedly the most prominent representative of the Lords of Ptuj. According to written documents he was literate and most probably attended one of the universities, for at least two documents refer to him as a "student" together with his cousin Konrad of Liechtenstein for whom there are proofs that he was a student at the University of Bologna and became later a bishop in Chiemsee. Again another document mentions Herdegen and Ottokar of Styria (Otacher ouz der Geul) the author of the famous "Rhymed Chronicle of Styria" (Stefrische Reimchronfk). It is possible that Herdegen was first promised a religious career as the level of his education was rather unusual for a laic at that time. His taste for literature found its expression in the first name of one of his daughters - Flortnei, who was named after the heroine of the then popular historical novels. It is therefore assumed that it was thanks to Herdegen that the majority of preserved manuscripts of the "Rhymed Chronicle of Styria" were short of the passage describing the alleged flight and cowardice of his grandfather Friedrich V at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278.
Herdegen proved himself worthy especially in the military and political fields. In 1324 Heinrich, the Carinthian Duke of Gorizia-Tyrol, helped Padua with an army of 1330 armoured cavalrymen and 296 crossbowmen, in which Herdegen took part with 50 cavalrymen and 16 crossbowmen, thus representing the most important contribution of all the noblemen on the territory of present-day Slovenia. The first significant achievement in the career of Herdegen was the acquisition of the title of the Hereditary Marshal of Styria for himself and his brother (half-brother?) Friedrich VII in 1324. The title comprised also the castle of Fram and later the castle of Salk in Upper Styria. The event in itself was important enough to intrigue the most renowned medieval historian in the area of eastern Alps, Janez Vetrinjski (John of Viktring, d1345), to note it in his chronicle Liber certarum historiarum. It seems that the event impressed Herdegen himself, as from 1325 on he used a new already the third coat of arms charged with the anchor which had been primarily used by the Dranegki family.
In the following three decades, Herdegen I was often reported as a confidant of the Habsburgs, which earned him the honour to be present at the signature of bilateral agreements with Hungary in 1328 and Bohemia in 1336. He reached the peak of his career as a provincial governor of Carniola, the position he occupied for ten years, from 1340 to 1350, and which enabled him to acquire numerous estates in the region of Lower Carniola. Janez Vajkard Valvasor (Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor, •1641-1169), a polymath from Carniola, mentioned Herdegen as a provincial governor of Carniola three hundred years later in his work: Slava volvodine Kranjske (The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola), published in 1689. The eminent position of a provincial governor was also immortalised in his coat of arms painted in the chapel of St. George at the castle of Ljubljana in the 18th century.
The real power of Herdegen I was clearly demonstrated in the outcome of the feud over the castle of Rudenek/Rudeneck in the Upper Savinja Valley between him and the Lords of Wallsee from Graz, the bishop of Krgko, Counts of Plannberg, Counts of Celje, Counts of Ortenburg, and Lords of Planina/Montpreis which ended in Herdegen's favour. It seems that the reputation of Herdegen was based on his intellectual capacities, for he was often mentioned in various documents as arbitrator in disputes among noble families, monasteries and citizens. For example, he was one of the arbitrators in 1333 in the litigation between the families of Aufenstein and Zovnek (von Sannegg) in which the latter obtained the landed property in Celje - the name they took on and called themselves the Counts of Celje from 1341 on. In 1334 I Ierdegen administered justice in the dispute between Hungarian magnates Gilssing and the family Zovnek.
His reputation was preserved also after his death, for Peter Suchenwirt (*about. 1325-d.before 1407), a herald and poet, dedicated one of his poems in his work Ehrenrede, to the memory of one of the most eminent representatives of the Ilabsburg nobility in the 14th century."
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