Siege of Grüningen (1443)
Overview map of the Old Zurich War
| date | June 11, 1443 to June 16, 1443 |
|---|---|
| place |
Grüningen , Canton of Zurich , Switzerland 
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| output | Victory of the Confederates |
| consequences | Surrender of Grüningen |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
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| Commander | |
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| Troop strength | |
| 55–64 men castle crew | 7,000-12,000 men |
| losses | |
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1 dead |
unknown |
Etzel · Pfäffikon · Grüningen I · Freienbach · Blickensdorf · Hirzel · Bremgarten · Regensberg · Grüningen II · St. Jakob an der Sihl · Greifensee · St. Jakob an der Birs · Erlenbach I · Koblach · Sargans · Wil · Kirchberg · Wolfhalden · Obertoggenburg · Wigoltingen · Erlenbach II · Männedorf · Wollerau · Ragaz
The Siege of Grüningen (1443) , also known as the Second Siege of Grüningen , was a military conflict that took place from June 11 to June 16, 1443 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
After the renewed outbreak of war in November 1440 and the devastation of the city of Zurich territory , Grüningen was besieged and conquered by the Confederates for the first time during the Old Zurich War , but they decided not to deploy their own garrison. Instead, the city was asked by the Confederates to take on any defense themselves. Due to the conditions of the Kilchberg Peace , the castle and the rule of Grüningen came back to Zurich on March 17, 1441 through the "Berner Spruchbrief".
After the renewed outbreak of war in May 1443, 300 men from Grünigen were relocated from Breitenlandenberg to Rapperswil under the command of the knight Albrecht . He was killed in the following battle near Freienbach . After the Battle of the Hirzel , which was devastating for Zurich, and the neutralization of the common lords in what is now the canton of Aargau after the siege of Bremgarten , the federal army, made up of contingents from Lucerne , Schwyz , Glarus , Uri , Unterwalden , Zug and the cities of Bern and Solothurn, continued persisted, the campaign against the city of Zurich territory continued. After a two-day siege of Regensberg , the federal army moved into the rule of Greifensee via Kloten and Bassersdorf . It reached Grüningen on June 11th, bypassing the town of Greifensee .
The city of Zurich had the fortress occupied by 64 men, mercenaries and peasants from different areas, and commanded by Vogt Peter Kilchmann (also Kilchmatter ) and Colonel Johann Iberger (also Iburg ), who was also part of the Zurich Small Council . The captains of Grüningen were asked to take the population under oath for defense and to send away those who were not well-disposed.
The siege
As before in Regensberg, the residents of the town negotiated with the confederates the day after their arrival, which resulted in a quick handover of the town. The captains, who were loyal to Zurich and who were ready to defend the castle, asked Zurich for help. Zurich replied that reinforcement was not possible and that one should endure in the strong castle.
The crew of the castle resisted and defended the well-equipped castle for several days without problems, since the bombardment with the Berne and Lucerne Artillery hardly wreaking damage: "hinin schu send about quantities protection and ouch hinuss, but beschach nit big malicious" Nevertheless started the negotiations all over again; the heated discussion of the surrender within the castle's crew was tearful and led to an open vote. The minority argued with the sworn oath and the threat of disgrace and punishment from the Zurich leadership; the majority considered the oath no longer binding because the city had abandoned them. Above all, several fathers said they had “a wib und vil little children” at home who were more important to them. Finally, the vote ended 45 to 15 for the handover of the property, so that Vogt Peter Kilchmann was no longer able to maintain the defense and had to consent to the surrender on June 16 against the assurance of safe conduct. In contrast to Regensberg, 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 wine, guns, weapons, armor, and powder. The Grüninger contingent stationed in Rapperswil had previously returned to the city, but it should not have been used.
consequences
Originally it was planned - at the instigation of the Schwyzer in particular - to besiege and capture the city of Rapperswil after the capture of Grüningen . When the Zurich Vogt Peter Kilchmann - as before in Regensberg - was slain in the break of the escort of two Unterwaldners, who then fled, this also led to some resentment in the federal camp. Bern, Lucerne and Solothurn declared that they did not want to undertake any further campaigns if the order was not observed. The majority of the places opted to punish the fugitive murderers if they were captured; in general, anyone who willfully broke peace and escort should in future be judged by bike .
Anyway, Bern and Solothurn intended to withdraw from the campaign as soon as possible, which also corresponded to the behavior of the two cities before the outbreak of war. Schwyz and Glarus, who feel particularly threatened by the presence and warlike actions of Rapperswil, which is closest to their countries, tried to convince both cities of the necessity of a siege on Rapperswil. When the Zugers burned down the nearby village of Mönchaltorf because two of their warriors had been murdered there, the Bernese and Solothurn residents finally voted to withdraw. As a reason for the withdrawal, the people of Bern and Solothurn stated that they no longer had enough supplies of equipment, ammunition and provisions for a siege of Rapperswil. But they seemed to dislike the campaign anyway, which was due to previous incidents and violations of the law, but above all to their different political orientation. Already on June 9th, the Solothurn magistrate wrote to the captains in the field that they should return home with the Bernese after the capture of Grüningen, as there was an offer of mediation from Pope Felix V and his son Duke Ludwig of Savoy . On June 12th another letter was sent from Solothurn to the troops in the field, stating that soldiers had been noticed in Sundgau ; there was a suspicion that this would move via Breisach and Freiburg im Breisgau to bring help to the people of Zurich. These rumors go back to the attempts of the Margrave Wilhelm von Hachberg to persuade the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good , through his envoy Peter von Mörsberg, to enter the war against the Confederates by the 14,000 Armagnaks in his territory . This diplomatic mission ultimately failed because the Duke of Burgundy demanded the Duchy of Luxembourg for his help - for which he had liens, but was nominally a fiefdom of the empire - and above all because King Friedrich III. was not aware of this action.
On June 17, 1443, the contingents from Bern and Solothurn set out on their way home via Kloten and Baden . Lucerne also withdrew with its troops that day. Probably due to the lack of artillery by the Bernese and Lucerne residents, the remaining five towns decided on June 18 not to siege Rapperswil and to return home after they had a strong crew of 120 Schwyzers and Glarners under Werner von Rufi from Schwyz had placed in Grüningen Castle. Thus, the first major federal campaign of 1443 officially ended here.
However, only the people of Glarus under Landammann Jost Tschudi made their way home via Uznach . The army from Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden and Zug took the opportunity to commit acts of violence on the way back, which were supposed to stir up some dust. The soldiers turned against the monastery of Rüti , where everything that was not walled up, death signs and flags above the graves, cult objects and even the tower bells were looted and the graves of the nobles buried here were desecrated. These included Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg (→ see section Death and the Desecration of the Graves ), who the Schwyzers held responsible for the outbreak of the war with Zurich, and Count Walraff (Waldrach) von Thierstein , with whose bones they “feel like schoolboys pelted with snowballs ». Elisabeth von Matsch , Count Friedrich's widow, fled to Rapperswil with the abbot and convent. As a result, the Wurmsbach monastery was robbed by a unit from Rüti . The other part of the troops turned against the Rapperwil area, where the village of Wagen belonging to the parish of Jona was cremated, and drove across Lake Zurich to Schmerikon to get to the March , where some houses in the village of Wangen were set on fire. In addition, the Kappel monastery and numerous churches on their way were robbed. As soon as the Confederates moved away from the vicinity of Rapperswil, a retaliatory action by soldiers from this city followed, who set fire to the village of Ermenswil in the Uznacher Land to the east .
Then the contingent of Zug returned directly to their homeland via the March. The army from Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden made another pilgrimage to Einsiedeln and then went from there to their respective areas.
The people of Zurich complained to King Friedrich III. about the brutal and, in their eyes, dishonorable approach of the Central Swiss, which triggered a veritable campaign of justification in the latter case in front of the imperial princes.
The siege of Grüningen also had consequences for the withdrawn crew, of which more than forty men appeared in the second half of June at nightfall in front of the city gate of Rapperswil and asked to be admitted. However, they were refused entry because they “had not honestly and honestly maintained Grüningen as a Zurich property. “You then had to spend the whole night outside the city of Rapperswil; only the gun master let the Rapperswil in because he had apologized that he would not be to blame for the surrender of Grüningen. The following day, the Grüninger team moved on to Zurich, where they were immediately jailed and fines imposed. Zurich only showed mildness with Rüedi Barr von Hedingen, because the Swiss had already burned his house and his family was homeless.
After the unsuccessful first siege of Rapperswil and the subsequent truce ( Peace of Rapperswil ) on August 9th, it was stated that the conquered areas, which paid homage to the confederates, should be left in their hands. This particularly affected the Aargau cities of Bremgarten , Mellingen and Baden as well as the lordships of Regensberg and Grüningen. The rest of the Zurich landscape was devastated, but remained with Zurich, the county of Kyburg and Winterthur and Rapperswil with Austria.
See also
Web links
- Martin Illi: Grüningen (municipality). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Martin Illi: Old Zurich War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klingenberg Chronicle (around 1460)
- ↑ Johannes Wieland: History of the war events in Helvetia and Rhaetia, Volume 1 1827, pp. 166–167
- ↑ Hans Fründ : Chronicle of the Old Zurich War from 1447.
- ↑ Alois Niederstätter : The Old Zurich War 1995, pp. 213–214
- ^ Joseph Thomas Fassbind: History of the Canton of Schwyz, Volume 2 1833, pp. 309-310
- ↑ Aegidius Tschudi : Chronicon Helveticum Part 2: Anno 1415-1470 Basel 1736, pp. 378-379
- ^ Josef Anton Henne : New Swiss Chronicle for the People 1833, p. 226
- ↑ Swisscastles.ch Schloss Grüningen
- ↑ Christian Sieber: A «brotherly war» makes history (2006), pp. 68–69: «The father dead, the house burned»: The old Zurich war from the point of view of the victims in the city and landscape of Zurich