Andreas von Sonnenberg

Andreas von Sonnenberg in the Truchsessen Chronicle (woodcut around 1530)

Andreas von Sonnenberg (also Endress von Sonnenberg ) (* 1472 ; † May 10, 1511 ) was an imperial general and a German nobleman from the Waldburg family and Count von Sonnenberg .

origin

Count Andreas von Sonnenberg zu Friedberg-Scheer was a grandson of the Truchsess Johannes II. Von Waldburg , who succeeded in taking possession of his at the end of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th century with the help of four advantageous marriages and a clever exploitation of the political situation To significantly enlarge the family for himself and his descendants.

One of Johannes' sons was Eberhard I († 1479), who founded the Waldburg-Scheer line and married Countess Kunigunde von Montfort-Tettnang , a daughter of Count Wilhelm IV. Von Montfort-Tettnang from his marriage to Countess Kunigunde von Werdenberg- Heiligenberg-Bludenz . Instead of a dowry, he received from his father-in-law the right to redeem the Grafschaft Friedberg-Scheer, a pledge of the dukes of Austria , which passed into his possession. From Duke Siegmund of Austria he also received the Dinggau (1452) and Dürmentingen with the Bussen Castle and the city of Mengen as a deposit . In 1455 he acquired the Feste und Herrschaft Sonnenberg , the Emperor Friedrich III by buying from Count Wilhelm von Werdenberg-Sargans and his brother Georg (approx. 1427-1504), whom he married to one of his daughters in 1463 . Elevated to a county in 1463, where Eberhard and his descendants were given the title of Imperial Count of Sonnenberg. In 1474 the county of Sonnenberg was occupied by Duke Siegmund of Austria, who later bought it from Eberhard I.

Eberhard and Kunigunde had four sons: Eberhard II (von Waldburg) († 1483), Johannes the Elder (von Wolfegg) († 1510), Andreas von Sonnenberg zu Friedberg-Scheer and Bishop Otto von Konstanz.

Beginnings

Andreas was not only instructed in knightly exercises, but also acquired scientific knowledge. After visiting prestigious courts of his time, he finally entered the service of Duke Siegmund of Austria. Initially active in an advisory capacity, he later served in the field against the Confederates and Venice .

In 1475, while his father was still alive, Andreas von Sonnenberg received the county of Friedberg-Scheer from Eberhard I. By 1493 he was able to increase his property considerably, so in 1483, after the death of his brother Eberhard II, he inherited the rule Bussen including Munderkingen, Nusplingen and Kallenberg. Count Andreas took his seat in Scheer. From 1486 to 1509 he rebuilt the castle and the parish church of St. Nicholas there .

Career

Around 1488 he moved with Emperor Friedrich III. against the Flemish estates in order to free his son and successor Maximilian when he was imprisoned by his own subjects in Bruges . Andreas von Sonnenberg also distinguished himself in the protracted war against the King of France. After the death of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus , already in the service of Maximilian I, he moved with him to the Duchy of Austria under the Enns and to the Kingdom of Hungary, participated in the conquest of Stuhlweissenburg and in other campaigns against the Turks in today's Croatia . Due to his achievements on these military campaigns, he soon led large parts of the army himself and was at least partly responsible for the successes. From now on Maximilian did not want to do without him either in his council or as a general in the battles. In 1504, at an advanced age, he led royal troops into the Landshut War of Succession . After the defeat of the Palatinate and Bohemia, Andreas von Sonnenberg wanted to join Maximillian's army with his soldiers, but was taken prisoner in the Landshut area . After the end of his captivity, he withdrew to his hereditary property in Swabia .

assassination

With the death of his brother Johannes the Elder in 1510, he became the senior of the entire House of Truchess von Waldburg and received the city of Mengen. But he also became a "border neighbor" of the Counts of Werdenberg . There were (border) disputes between them and the Counts of Sonnenberg. The personal enmity between Felix von Werdenberg and Andreas von Sonnenberg came to a head on March 2, 1511 on the occasion of the wedding of Duke Ulrich von Württemberg to Duchess Sabina von Bayern in Stuttgart. Andreas von Sonnenberg had insulted Felix von Werdenberg in public in front of the present party because of his small stature, which prompted Count Felix to have Count Andreas murdered. Count Felix Knechte gathered his brother-in-law, Baron Johannes Werner vonzimmer the Elder, under a pretext . J. zu Meßkirch around himself as well as the forest master of his brother Count Christoph von Werdenberg zu Sigmaringen . When Andreas von Sonnenberg rode off the bus to Scheer on the afternoon of May 10, 1511, together with three farmhands and his local chaplain , Felix fell upon Andreas, who was only armed with hunting weapons, in the wide plain between Hundersingen and Mengen. After Felix's henchmen shot at a sign with crossbows at Count Andreas and hit the group, he fled through the Herbertinger Ried. However, his persecutors pursued him and murdered him with twenty lance and sword stabs. His body was transferred to Scheer and buried in the parish church; there an epitaph was erected for him. Today there is a memorial at the site of the event. The family of the murdered sued the emperor for embarrassing rights, but the emperor had to let the matter rest.

progeny

Andreas von Sonnenberg married Margareta von Starhemberg in 1492 . With his death, his family branch died out in the male line. His heir, Sibylla, married Wilhelm von Waldburg-Trauchburg the Elder. Ä. (1469–1557) from another line of the Truchsesse von Waldburg.

Memorials

• At the crime scene in Breitried near Hundersingen, Count Andreas von Sonnenberg's family built a chapel, which was consecrated to Our Lady of Sorrows on May 1, 1513 . The widow Margareta founded a chaplaincy for this chapel with the task of regularly reading holy masses for the salvation of the murdered man's soul. This Graf Endris Kapell was later also called the Minische Kapelle , before the name Riedkapelle prevailed. In 1745 a hermitage was built next to the reed chapel. The last hermit was Franz Lutz, who, presumably on the night of November 29th to 30th, 1817, was killed in an attack in the chapel. In 1827 the desecrated chapel was demolished. The altarpiece came to Beizkofen in the Church of St. Peter and Paul. Instead of the demolished reed chapel, the mayor from Hundersingen and his wife had a stone cross built in 1859.
• A monument from 1526, which is referred to as the epitaph of expiation of Count Felix von Werdenberg , can be found in the Sigmaringer Tor. There are suspicions that this relief was originally made for the Laiz monastery.
• There is a votive plaque kept at Zeil Castle, which refers to the murder of Count Andreas. He is shown kneeling in the foreground, surrounded by four saints, including St. Andrew. The chapel in the background is likely to be the Ried Chapel .
• A sandstone epitaph for Count Andreas can be found in the choir of the parish church of St. Nikolaus zu Scheer next to the high altar. On their church doors and church clock leaves there is also said to have been a painted slogan on the page against Sigmaringen, which was still to be read in 1880: "Vengeance does not go out!"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Peter Seibold: The murder of Count Andreas
2. ↑ On the policy with which Count Eberhard I von Sonnenberg zu Waldburg-Schneer tried to play off the Habsburgs against one another, see Paul-Joachim Heinig: Kaiser Friedrich III. (1440-1493). Court, government, politics (= research on the imperial and papal history of the Middle Ages. Vol. 17). 3 volumes, Böhlau, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-412-15595-0 (At the same time: Gießen, Universität, Habilitation -schrift, 1993), Vol. 2, pp. 933-936
3. ↑ Michael Jäger / mj: Scheer wants to remember his count . In: Schwäbische Zeitung from December 29, 2010
4. ↑ According to other information, May 9, 11 or 12
5. ^ Edwin Ernst Weber: Customs and Traditions in the District of Sigmaringen . Edited by the district of Sigmaringen, Department of Culture and Archives, 2007
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Hans Peter Seibold: The murder of Count Andreas von Sonnenberg, p. 5f. Link , accessed on February 25, 2017
7. ↑ Information board of the Swabian Alb Association , local group Herbertingen " The murder in the Ried - the cross at this point and the inscription below remind of a murder in May 1511 "

literature

• Andreas comes a Sonnenberg . In: Jakob Schrenck von Notzing : Augustissimorum imperatorum, serenissimorum regum atque archiducum, illustrissimorum principum, nec non comitum, baronum, nobilium, aliorumque clarissimorum virorum, qui aut ipsi cum imperio bellorum duces fuerunt… verissimae succinctae description, etes… . Johannes Agricola (Baur), Innsbruck 1601, sheet 68 ( digitized in the Internet Archive)
• CA Schweigerd: Austria's heroes and military leaders: from Maximilian I to the most recent times, portrayed in biographies and character sketches from and after the best sources and source works, Volume 1. Druck und Verlag des Verlags-Comptoirs, 1854. Page 56 ff.

Web links

Wikisource: Zimmerische Chronik. Volume 2, pp. 235-246

• Hans Peter Seibold: The murder of Count Andreas von Sonnenberg in the Donauried near Hundersingen, Link , viewed on February 25, 2017