Augustin Perwanger

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Augustin Perwanger (* in the last third of the 15th century in Günzlhofen / Bavaria ; † January 7, 1528 in Munich ) was a Bavarian court lord and martyr of the Anabaptist movement .

Life

Günzlhofen Castle (around 1701)
Title page of the Perwanger script: All crist believers (1521)

Augustin Perwanger came from a Günzlhofer noble family. There are different assumptions about the original place of origin of the Perwanger family. While some refer to the Tyrolean village of Berwang near Reutte , others see Perwang am Grabensee ( Upper Austria ) as the place of origin of the noble family.

Augustine's father was the court lord Jeronimus Perwanger († 1507), his mother was Anna Hörmann († 1488) from Tyrol . The parents' marriage, from which two other sons emerged, was concluded in 1475. Augustin Perwanger was the eldest of these three sons. His younger brother Christoph later found himself involved in the Anabaptist movement and was martyred with him on January 7, 1528 . The youngest brother Gregor donated an annual memorial for his late father in 1514. The still-preserved deed of foundation shows that the three brothers jointly inherited Günzlhofen Castle, built by their father in 1500, and the property belonging to it. A synopsis of the available data makes it likely that Augustin Perwanger was born around 1480.

Little is known about Augustin Perwanger's childhood, youth and education. In 1504 he married Anna Soiter, who was born in Landsberg and belonged to a regionally important patrician family. Their marriage had two children: Eustachius and Anna.

Perwanger became known to a wider public through a long-term dispute with Georg Kittl, the pastor of Günzlhofen. This began in 1508 and was caused by the occupation of the branch in Hattenhofen belonging to the parish of Günzlhofen . Kittl had refused to provide pastoral care to the branch, whereupon Perwanger filled the vacant position with a vicar and at the same time tried to remove Kittl from his position. After he had turned to the Freising Bishop Philipp , Duke Wilhelm IV and other authorities twice without result , he wrote a 16-page letter in 1521 and published it in print. This letter, with which he addressed “all crist believers, spiritual and secular”, is now in the Bavarian State Library in Munich and was digitized in April 2006.

From the end of 1525 the Anabaptist movement coming from Tyrol and Augsburg reached the Lechrain and gained increasing followers here. They also included Augustin and - a short time later - Christoph Perwanger. The question of how they came into contact with the radical Reformation movement and through whom they received baptism cannot be answered for lack of sources. Just a year and a half later, Duke Wilhelm IV issued a mandate against the Anabaptist movement, on the basis of which the two Perwanger brothers were captured in 1527 and brought to Munich. There they were executed by the sword on January 7th of the following year. In a contemporary comment it says: “[...] anno 28 (= 1528) on Wednesdays after the newen jar, gemelter prince Zwayen had noble brothers in Minchen [= Munich] cut off their heads from the Lutterian [sic!] Heresy because of, from irem family called Berwanger [= Perwanger], iren have the seat and property of Ginzenhofen [= Günzlhofen] ”. Another Anabaptist, the Müller von Mittelstetten , was beheaded, Augustin and Christoph Perwanger . The sources are silent about his name. The history book of the Hutterite Brothers tells of another six Anabaptists who were burned at the stake that day . Among them was Hans Feirer , servant of the Christian community . Three of the latter's wives were also drowned that day. The Perwanger brothers and the already mentioned miller are also mentioned in this entry: "[...] also two of the nobility, the Bergwangerin [= Perwanger] called, including a miller beheaded".

Another source quoted by Drexler reports that the Perwanger brothers revoked their Anabaptist views in court. According to Drexler, this revocation is supported by the fact that Augustin and Christoph were not burned alive, but - as an act of grace, as it were - were condemned to be executed by the sword. In addition, her property was not confiscated, but left to the Perwanger family. However, the chronicle entry for the year 1528, written by Prior Kilian Leib, found in the Rebdorf Abbey (near Eichstätt ) speaks against a revocation : “Those who were sentenced to death in Munich have two biological brothers from the noble family named Perwanger were beheaded because the Anabaptists could not be induced by any reason to admit their error [sic!], and so they were baptized a third time, admittedly with blood [...] ”.

After the death of his father, Eustach Perlwanger took over the office of Hofmarkherr von Günzlhofen and at the same time provided it with that of Meringerzell . His sister Anna married Heimeran Nussberger zu Bremberg. She died on May 29, 1571.

literature

  • Toni Drexler: The Perwanger of Günzlhofen and Vogach. Hofmarksherren, Anabaptists and Canons at the turn of the modern era , in: Amperland magazine . Local history quarterly for the districts of Dachau, Freising and Fürstenfeldbruck , 41st and 42nd year / 2005 and 2006, Dachau 2006, p. 279ff.
  • Siegmund von Riezler: History of Bavaria , Volume III, p. 811; Volume IV, p. 193.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Unless otherwise noted, the data and facts are taken from the following article: Toni Drexler: Die Perwanger von Günzlhofen and Vogach. Hofmarksherren, Anabaptists and Canons at the turn of the modern era , in: Amperland magazine . Local history quarterly for the districts of Dachau, Freising and Fürstenfeldbruck , 41st and 42nd year / 2005 and 2006, Dachau 2006, pp. 277–280.
  2. ^ Compare with Max Prokop Freiherr von Freyberg (Ed.): Dr. Wigoleus Hundt's Bavarian Stud Book Third Part , in: Collection of Historical Writings and Documents , Volume 3, Stuttgart / Tübingen 1830–1835, pp. 250 f.
  3. ↑ Christoph von Stinglhaim zu Thürtenning: The extinct and still blooming old noble families of Bavarian families. A manuscript , Regensburg 1798, p. 25.
  4. ↑ In 1490 the widowed father married Anna Dichtlin, who was born in Tutzing . There were four other children from this connection; see also Toni Drexler: Die Perwanger von Günzlhofen and Vogach. Hofmarksherren, Anabaptists and Canons at the turn of the modern era , in: Amperland magazine . Local history quarterly for the districts of Dachau, Freising and Fürstenfeldbruck , 41st and 42nd year / 2005 and 2006, Dachau 2006, p. 277
  5. ↑ Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, call number: 4 Bavar. 3001-6 (The publication date given by the State Library (1508) needs to be corrected; it must read 1521. Compare this to Toni Drexler: Die Perwanger von Günzlhofen and Vogach. Hofmarksherren, Anabaptists and Canons at the turn of the modern age , in: Amperland magazine . Local history quarterly for the districts of Dachau, Freising and Fürstenfeldbruck , 41st and 42nd year / 2005 and 2006, Dachau 2006, p. 287, note 39)
  6. ^ Augustin Perwanger's letter in digitized form ; accessed on April 3, 2013.
  7. ↑ Klaus Kopfmann: The religious mandates of the Duchy of Bavaria (1522-1531) , Munich 2000, p. 34
  8. ↑ Quoted from Toni Drexler: Die Perwanger von Günzlhofen and Vogach. Hofmarksherren, Anabaptists and Canons at the turn of the modern era , in: Amperland magazine . Local history quarterly for the districts of Dachau, Freising and Fürstenfeldbruck , 41st and 42nd year / 2005 and 2006, Dachau 2006, p. 279
  9. ↑ Rudolf Wolkan (Ed.): History book of the Hutterite brothers , Mac Millan Colony (Cayley / Alberta) 1982, p. 45.
  10. ↑ Quoted from Andreas J. Friedrich Zieglschmid: The oldest chronicle of the Hutterite brothers , Ithaka 1943, p. 63
personal data
SURNAME Perwanger, Augustin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hofmarkherr, martyr of the Anabaptist movement
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Gunzlhofen
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1528
Place of death Munich