Christoph von Wrisberg

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Christoph von Wrisberg (* 1511 ; † 1580 ) was an Imperial Colonel and Landsknechtsführer .

Life and family

The Wrisberg family comes from Wrisbergholzen and was first documented with Hermann Wristberg on June 5, 1355. When he was released from the bondage of the Hildesheim bishop, he entered the Hildesheim nobility . In 1372 Gerhard von Berg enfeoffed him with the Winzenburg castle . Hermann Wristbergh acquired the Bailiwick Brunkensen from the noblemen of Homburg in 1393 .

Christoph was the first of his family to live in Brunkensen after the inheritance was divided. He married Lucretia, b. von Schlön (called Gehle ), widow of Ludeke Ledebur zu Hüffe. This resulted in a long inheritance dispute with his in-law relatives. In 1556 he had the knight seat in Hüffe attached.

In 1580 he died on Gut Brunkensen. The epitaph of his crypt in the Nicolaikirche zu Alfeld is very badly weathered at the northwest corner of the St. Nicolai Church in Alfeld. A splendid death shield that was previously hung in the St. Nicolai Church is now kept in the city archive in Alfeld.

Christoph von Wrisberg in the legend

Wrisberg goes the legend that he beheaded a Protestant priest praying at the altar in the Alfeld St. Nicolai Church with a sword. The sword is said to have hung in St. Nicolai's Church for a long time.

Military career

Wrisberg served the emperor in campaigns against Turkey, but was also active on different fronts. In particular in the Schmalkaldic War he came to great power as an imperial colonel and mercenary leader. In 1547 he and his companions in arms, Jobst von Gruningen and Herbort von Langen zu Crollage, were among the imperial commanders.

Siege of Bremen and Battle of Drakenburg

In January 1547 Wrisberg enlisted an army in the Münsterland . The troops moved through the Diocese of Osnabrück to Minden , where representatives of this Narrow Kaldic federal city in Dützen had to surrender and ask for mercy. Then Wrisberg received the supreme command of the imperial army in northern Germany. He pulled against the imperial Bremen in order to conquer it. A long siege began, which the citizens of Bremen withstood despite being shot at. In April 1547, the only 19-year-old Duke Erich II joined the imperial besiegers with his troops, so that around 12,000 men stood in front of the city. In May 1547 the news came that a Protestant army was plundering and pillaging from the south on its way to Bremen in order to relieve the city. Because of the unsuccessful siege that lasted several months with insufficient provisions, the loss of a quarter of the mercenaries and the danger of mutiny , Wrisberg and Erich II stopped the siege. They moved south separately to face the approaching Protestant army. But Wrisberg's troop stayed far behind because problems arose due to the sandy paths. When Erich II met the enemy troops, it came to the battle of Drakenburg . Wrisberg arrived late on the battlefield and quickly withdrew because of his inferiority. In doing so, he came across the crowd of Protestants, whose escort team were able to quickly overwhelm his troops in a skirmish . In doing so, they captured the Protestants' war chest with around 100,000 gold guilders , which later filled Charles V's imperial treasury .

Further commands

In 1553, together with Johann von Münchhausen and Dietrich von Quitzow , he commanded a troop that attacked the Iburg in order to take the bishop prisoner.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Hartmann: Origin and Coming of the Lords of Wrisberg, in: Alt-Hildesheim 22 (1951), pp. 9-13
personal data
SURNAME Wrisberg, Christoph von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION imperial colonel and mercenary leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1511
DATE OF DEATH 1580