Siege of Regensberg

Overview map of the Old Zurich War

date	June 7, 1443 to June 9, 1443
place	Regensberg , Canton of Zurich , Switzerland Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ 3 ″ N , 8 ° 26 ′ 20 ″ E ; CH1903: six hundred and seventy-five thousand three hundred eighty-eight / two hundred and fifty-nine thousand seven hundred and forty-seven47.484164 8.438887
output	Victory of the Confederates
consequences	Surrender of Regensberg

Parties to the conflict
City of Regensberg Imperial City of Zurich Hzt. Habsburg – Austria	. Confederation of VII places : the city of Lucerne city and department train Country Schwyz Country Glarus Country Unterwalden Reichsland Uri imperial city of Bern and imperial city of Solothurn
Commander
Main m. Johann von Isnach Vogt Johann Bosshard †	Landammann Ital Reding d. J.
Troop strength
29 men castle crew	7,000-12,000 men
losses
1 dead 28 prisoners	unknown

The siege of Regensberg was a military conflict that took place from June 7th to June 9th, 1443 in the course of the Old Zurich War in what is now the Canton of Zurich . The opponents were on the one hand the garrison of the city of Regensberg , on the other hand troops from the federal towns .

prehistory

Plan of the town of Regensberg from 1840, drawn by Ludwig Schulthess.

The rule of Regensberg came to the Habsburgs in 1302, who showed little interest in the castle and town and pledged the rule several times until the city of Zurich was able to acquire it as a pledge in 1409 and finally in 1417. From then on, the castle served as the seat of the bailiffs in Zurich.

After the Battle of the Hirzel , which was devastating for Zurich, and the siege of Bremgarten , the federal army, consisting of contingents from Lucerne , Schwyz , Glarus , Uri , Unterwalden , Zug as well as Bern and Solothurn , crossed the Limmat on June 4th after a garrison was deployed in Baden into the Wehntal to the Glatt , in order to continue the campaign against the city of Zurich and to proceed as the next target against the rule and town of Regensberg. This was also known in Zurich, from where the captains of Regensberg and Grüningen were asked to take the population under oath for defense and to send away those who were not well-disposed.

The country folk of the Regensberg rule, however, openly sided with the Confederates and probably forced the occupation of Alt-Regensberg Castle near the Katzenseen , which was owned by the Lords of Landenberg - Greifensee , to hand over this castle without a fight and to withdraw, probably to avoid acts of violence by the confederates. The old Freiherr von Landenberg had to swear allegiance to the Swiss and got the castle back. Then the Confederates turned against Rümlang , which was plundered and set on fire along with the villages of Ober- and Niederhasli .

The siege

Regensberg in Topographia Helvetiae by Matthäus Merian, 1654.

On June 7th, the confederates reached the town of Regensberg. This was overrun by troops under Ital Reding the Younger . The townspeople, made up of peasants and burghers, offered a brief resistance, but soon after the first bombardment they gave up the town and opened the town gates to their opponents.

However, the defensive garrison of Neu-Regensberg Castle under Captain Johann von Isnach, who was also a councilor in the Zurich Council, refused to surrender and on June 8th the Confederates began to bombard the castle on the Lägernberg with heavy artillery all day . When the bombardment continued the next day - on June 9th, Pentecost Sunday -, due to the continuing fire and the threat of storming, the Zurich crew of the castle surrendered, either at mercy or disfavor. The Zurich bailiff Johann Bosshard was discovered while trying to escape in a heap outside the castle and was seized and immediately stabbed by a Swiss warrior; the other 28 prisoners - including Hauptmann von Isnach - and the booty were divided among the places involved. The castle was set on fire, but the conquered town was spared.

consequences

Captain Johann von Isnach was expelled from the Zurich council due to his surrender. Alt-Regensberg Castle was handed over to the Confederates by the last representative of the Landenbergs in 1444 and occupied by them. In contrast, Zurich re-occupied Regensberg with troops as early as 1444.

On June 10, 1443, the federal army moved on, crossed the Glatt and marched via Kloten and Bassersdorf into the rule of Greifensee . Bypassing the small town of Greifensee , it reached Grüningen on June 11th , the main town of the associated rulers , which was subsequently besieged and taken . The first major federal campaign of 1443 ended here.

Web links

Martin Illi: Regensberg (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, p. 166

↑ site dickemauern.de, history of the castle New Regensberg ( Memento of the original on 27 September 2007 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of April 14, 2020) @1@ 2

↑ Alois Niederstätter : The Old Zurich War 1995, pp. 212–213

↑ Aegidius Tschudi : Chronicon Helveticum Part 2: Anno 1415-1470 Basel 1736, pp. 376-377

↑ Hans Fründ : Chronicle of the Old Zurich War from 1447.

↑ Joseph Thomas Fassbind: History of the Canton Schwyz, Volume 2 1833, p. 309

^ Josef Anton Henne : New Swiss Chronicle for the People 1833, p. 226

↑ 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

[1] Klingenberg Chronicle (around 1460)

[2] Johannes Wieland: History of the war events in Helvetia and Rhaetia, Volume 1 1827, p. 166