Siege of Grüningen (1440)

Siege of Grüningen (1440)

Part of: Old Zurich War

Overview map of the Old Zurich War

date	November 10, 1440 to November 16, 1440
place	Grüningen , Canton of Zurich , Switzerland Coordinates: 47 ° 17 ′ 4 "  N , 8 ° 45 ′ 45"  E ; CH1903:  700151  /  237906
output	Victory of the Confederates
consequences	Surrender of Grüningen

Parties to the conflict
City of Grüningen Imperial City of Zurich Hzt. Habsburg – Austria	Confederation of VII. Locations : Schwyz Glarus City of Lucerne City and Office of Zug Land Unterwalden Reichsland Uri Reichsstadt Bern and Toggenburg ( Raron ) City Wil Gft. Werdenberg – Sargans Republic of Gersau Village Weggis Landscape Saanen
Commander
Vogt Jakob Murer	Landammann Ital Reding d. Ä.
Troop strength
Forty man castle crew	1100 men
losses
unknown	unknown

The Siege of Grüningen (1440) , also known as the First Siege of Grüningen , was a military conflict that took place from November 10th to November 16th, 1440 in what is now the Canton of Zurich during the course of the Old Zurich War . The opponents were on the one hand the garrison of the city of Grüningen , on the other hand troops from the federal towns .

prehistory

The office and city of Grüningen have been part of the Habsburg Empire since 1279 . In 1314 Count Friedrich IV of Toggenburg was employed as a caretaker . In the 14th century the rule Grüningen was pledged several times by the Habsburgs. a. 1331 to the Lords of Landenberg - Greifensee , 1374 to the Gessler von Meienberg . Without consultation and with Duke Friedrich IV. And thus against the will of the Habsburgs - and also the Grüninger - the brothers Wilhelm and Hermann Gessler sold the pledge in 1408 due to ongoing defensive battles against Zurich. After consolidation of the confused political situation following the conquest of the Aargau Heinrich Hagnauer was in 1416 for Governor to administer the rule in Schloss Grüningen used and Grüningen was henceforth managed as Outer bailiwick or bailiwick of the city of Zurich. These new legal relationships in the rule of Grüningen were confirmed by the Luxembourg emperor Sigismund in 1433.

After the battle on the Etzel , which was unfortunate for Zurich , a ceasefire was agreed on May 13, 1439, which lasted until April 3, 1440. After the recapture end of October with Zurich in Burgrecht standing Sargans by Schwyz and Glarus for them in the country legal standing count Heinrich II. Von Werdenberg-Sargans († ca. 1447) on the part came the Confederates and their allies a whole series of declarations of war on Zurich, which started the war on November 2, 1440. After the army of Zurich had withdrawn prematurely and without a fight over Lake Zurich to its city at the meeting near Pfäffikon on November 5, the city of Zurich territory was left to its fate and in the following two weeks the opponents waged war on several sides.

The siege

Siege of November 1440 or June 1443.

The Grüninger Vogt Jakob Murer defended the castle with 40 men. He was well aware of the uncomfortable situation and sent a messenger to Zurich to request reinforcements and informed that Grüningen would otherwise have to surrender to Schwyz and Glarus. City clerk Michael Stebler (called Graf) replied that in this case the Zurich residents everything that the Schwyz and Glarus left over would be devastated and burned. The Grüninger's low willingness to resist, who obviously did not want to turn their heads for the less popular people of Zurich, was further undermined. In addition, the fear grew, the Toggenburgern, which now Kyburg besieged, or by the troops, the plundering of a still November 5 forest to be afflicted undertook.

In this situation, the Grueningers sent the message to the Schwyzers in Hurden that they would like to come over and receive the homage. They reacted immediately and reported this to the Schwyz and Glarner main contingent in Kilchberg under Landammans Ital Reding and Jost Tschudi , who sent 80 Schwyz and 50 Glarus to Hurden, where they were reinforced by some warriors from the March . This contingent crossed Lake Zurich and reached Rüti , which served as a meeting place. There, the troops from the County of Uznach , the Gasterland and the 400-strong contingent of Count Heinrich II von Werdenberg-Sargans, who declared war on Zurich on November 11th, joined them. On the evening of that day, the now 1,100-strong army made the town and rule of Grüningen Schwyz and Glarus swear an oath of loyalty. The town was enclosed, but the castle was kept. The large Zurich rifle stolen in Walenstadt , which had meanwhile been brought to Schwyz , was shipped back to the March and then to Grüningen for the siege of Grüningen.

On November 12, Schwyzer and Glarner soldiers marched in front of Liebenberg Castle , which Zurich had pledged to Rudolf Netstaler. She was handed over to the two places against safe conduct and destroyed.

Petermann von Raron , who besieged Kyburg with his Toggenburgers, was warned by the Schwyzers and Glarners to move. In doing so, he made the mistake of taking most of his crew with him and leaving only 200 men behind. After midnight, 500 people from Zurich and some mounted men under the leadership of Heinrich Schwend managed to attack Petermann's entrenchments in front of Kyburg and to take 40 Toggenburgers prisoner. The others used the night's darkness to flee. The mayor of Zurich, Rudolf Stüssi , also moved out of Zurich with 500 men, with whom he intended to harm the Confederates and to distract them from Grüningen. He got as far as Kaltenstein above Küsnacht , where he got into an ambush in which 7 warriors were captured, so that he withdrew with his contingent to Zurich.

Due to the hopeless situation, Vogt Jakob Murer, who had been wounded in one cheek, finally surrendered on November 16. Not a single shot is said to have been fired during the siege. The castle garrison of Grüningen escaped capture; the confederates gave them free retreat, keeping their weapons and other property. The possessions of the city of Zurich, on the other hand, were to go to the Confederates; this included rifles, crossbows, powder and other military equipment that was shipped to the castle in Pfäffikon .

consequences

The people of Schwyz and Glarus decided not to have their own garrison. Instead, the city was asked by the Confederates to take on any defense themselves.

Schwyz tried to prevent a return of rule to Zurich by sending a messenger to the newly elected King Friedrich III on February 2, 1440 . sent. In this situation, the latter, who saw the conflict as a possibility to regain territories lost to the Confederates, demanded on January 13, 1441, by means of two mandates, the return of the rule Grüningen to Habsburg. He informed them that he had forbidden Bern and Schwyz to pass them on to others and called on the Grüninger country folk to obey. At the same time, he informed the cities of Winterthur , Rapperswil and St. Gallen that the lords of Grüningen, Andelfingen , Ossingen , Elgg and Pfäffikon had been taken from the people of Zurich and ordered them to protect the people of Grüningen against their refusal to oath against Zurich until he himself went into the country come and make his dispositions.

On February 15, 1441, a Grüninger delegation appeared before the assembly in Lucerne ; They complained about the treatment of the people of Zurich, which was contrary to the traditional privileges, and asked that the Confederates protect them under the king's mandate. Since the population of Grüningen paid homage to the Schwyz and Glarners, they did not want to return rule to Zurich directly. Therefore, the Swiss decided - in accordance with the peace treaty - that the Grüninger and Freiamt, on the other hand, had to pay homage to the Bernese so that they could return the territories to Zurich. With the “Berner Spruchbrief” of March 17, 1441, the castle and the rulers came back to Zurich. The conquests of Petermann von Raron, the city of Wil and “Bös” -Beringer VIII. Von Landenberg-Greifensee should be returned directly to the people of Zurich.

After the war broke out again in May 1443, Grüningen was again besieged .

See also

• List of wars and battles in Switzerland

Web links

• Martin Illi: Grüningen (municipality). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Martin Illi: Old Zurich War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klingenberg Chronicle (around 1460)
2. ↑ Hans Fründ : Chronicle of the Old Zurich War from 1447.
3. ↑ Aegidius Tschudi : Chronicon Helveticum Part 2: Anno 1415-1470 Basel 1736, pp. 317-318
4. ↑ Johannes Wieland: History of the war events in Helvetia and Rhaetia, Volume 1 1827, pp. 154–158
5. ↑ Joseph Thomas Fassbind: History of the Canton Schwyz, Volume 2 1833, pp. 263-266
6. ^ Josef Anton Henne : New Swiss Chronicle for the People 1833, p. 210
7. ↑ Bruno Meier : A royal family from Switzerland 2008
8. ↑ Alois Niederstätter: The Old Zurich War 1995, pp. 90–93