Elisabeth von Matsch

Depiction of Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg on his deathbed in 1436. His wife Elisabeth von Matsch is shown standing in the door frame on the left. Diebold Schilling the Elder , Bern Chronicle 1484

Elisabeth von Matsch (* around 1370 (?); † after November 24, 1446 ) was the wife of Friedrich VII , the last Count of Toggenburg . As his widow and heiress, she was involved in the conflicts that preceded the Toggenburg War of Inheritance (1439–1440), which is considered to be the first phase of the Old Zurich War .

origin

Elisabeth von Matsch came from the important Tyrolean noble family von Matsch . Her father was Vogt Ulrich IV. Von Matsch (1349-1402), temporarily governor of Tyrol and later first Count of Kirchberg, her mother was Countess Agnes von Kirchberg († 1401). Through the marriages of her brothers Ulrich V. († 1396) and Ulrich VI. († 1444) she was related by marriage to the Counts of Montfort-Tettnang and the Lords of Starkenberg .

Life

Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg

Countess Elisabeth von Matsch married Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg in 1391 († April 30, 1436 on the Schattenburg near Feldkirch ). This marriage remained childless, but secured him the possession of the central Prättigau around Castels , which had been preceded by a longstanding conflict between their families.

Count Friedrich, who commissioned the Toggenburg World Chronicle , succeeded from 1417 as the former bailiff of the Dukes of Austria , from whom he or his family had previously received several pledges, the policy of King Sigmund in the then imperial landscape of Swabia to build a largely independent to use their own domain. In 1416 he renewed his already existing castle rights with the imperial city of Zurich for his lifetime , but in 1428 he was also included in the land law of the Schwyz Confederation for life to further secure his position , to which he contractually guaranteed the Obere March . After his death in April 1436, this turned out to be a fateful decision for his widow.

On October 12, 1431, King Sigmund gave Frederick VII the privilege of being able to bequeath his county of Toggenburg and other lordships and pledges to his noble relatives, together or individually, if he should die without a biological heir. After his coronation as emperor, Sigmund confirmed this privilege a second time on February 28, 1434. After Frederick VII had no (hereditary) children, he made Elisabeth his universal heir in 1433 and had her included in the castle law with Zurich. However, he did not leave a valid will and may have given other, sometimes contradicting, promises.

Elisabeth as the "heiress" of Toggenburg

After his death, his possessions (and pledges) initially remained in the hands of his widow, but in addition to the imperial city of Zurich, the Schwyz confederates also raised claims to parts of his inheritance. In addition, there were other demands, for example from the Dukes of Austria for the redemption of their pledges. In October 1436, Elisabeth renewed her castle rights with the city of Zurich and promised to hand over the county of Uznach. But this was prevented by Schwyzer and Glarus Confederates. After Zurich subsequently got into armed conflict and a federal arbitration court had ruled in favor of Schwyz and Glarus in March 1437, Elisabeth von Matsch then renounced the inheritance that she gave to her brother Ulrich von Matsch and her cousin Ulrich of the same name in April 1437 with the stipulation that it should be divided fairly in favor of the other relatives entitled to inherit. These were the daughters of Count Albrecht III. von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg-Bludenz or their children, the relationship existed through Albrecht's sister Katharina, who was Friedrich's mother.

Toggenburg and Uznach came to Margaretha von Raron and their sons Hildebrand and Petermann , the property in Graubünden, meanwhile united in the ten-court federation, went without Maienfeld to Count Heinrich von Sax and Wilhelm von Montfort. Maienfeld and the rest of the property on the right bank of the Rhine came to the barons Wolfhard von Brandis and Thuringia von Aarburg. Duke Friedrich IV of Austria , who was allied with the Schwyz Confederation, had all of the lordships pledged to the Counts of Toggenburg (including the County of Feldkirch ) replaced after negotiations with Elisabeth von Matsch in September and October 1436 . The Schwyz and Glarus Confederations concluded new castle rights with the Prince Abbey of St. Gallen and the Toggenburg heirs. Zurich came away completely empty and tried in vain to challenge the legality of the division. In 1439 the Toggenburg inheritance war broke out.

Last years of life

Elisabeth had her husband, who temporarily resided with his entire court in the Rüti monastery in the Zurich area, buried in a separate crypt in the vestibule (Toggenburg chapel) of the church there and intended to be buried by his side after her death. In 1442 she also retired to the Rüti monastery. A little later, the Rüti Monastery, together with the Kappel Monastery, was one of those consecrated places that were deliberately devastated by the Schwyz Confederates in the Old Zurich War . The grave of the last Count of Toggenburg was desecrated and the flag of the dead was taken as a war trophy. Elisabeth fled to Rapperswil with the abbot and the convent in 1443 . Her further fate is unknown.

Fiction

• Benedikt Naubert : Elisabeth, heiress of Toggenburg. Or the story of the women of Sargans in Switzerland . Leipzig: Verlag Weygand, 1789 digitized
• Benedikt Naubert : Elisabeth, heiress of Toggenburg. Or the story of the women of Sargans in Switzerland . In a transcription by Sylvia Kolbe. Leipzig: Engelsdorfer Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-95744-561-2 (TB new edition)

literature

• Karl Heinz Burmeister: The five daughters of Count Albrecht III. von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg-Bludenz , in: Bludenzer Geschichtsblätter 2009, issue 90 + 91, pp. 28–70 digitized , (information on the "Toggenburg heritage")
• Christian Sieber: The father dead, the house burned. The Old Zurich War from the Victims' Point of View in the City and Landscape of Zurich ", in: Peter Niederhäuser - Christian Sieber (Ed.): A" Brotherly War "makes history. New approaches to the Old Zurich War (= communications from the Antiquarian Society in Zurich. Vol. 73, Neujahrsblatt 170), Zurich, Chronos, 2006, pp. 65–88.

Web links

Commons : Elisabeth von Matsch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elisabeth von Matsch donated a benefice to the parish church in Rapperswil on November 24, 1446, see legal sources of the town and rule of Rapperswil (with the farms Busskirch / Jona, Kempraten and Wagen) (2007) , viewed on February 11, 2017
2. ↑ More on the importance of castle law under Andreas Würgler: Burgrecht. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 16, 2005 , accessed February 11, 2017 .
3. ^ Karl Heinz Burmeister: The five daughters of Count Albrecht III. , 2009, p. 29
4. ↑ Information on this under archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 11, 2017 
5. ↑ https://suche.staatsarchiv.djiktzh.ch/detail.aspx?ID=434602 , accessed on February 11, 2017
6. ^ Karl Heinz Burmeister: The five daughters of Count Albrecht III. , 2009, p. 285
7. ↑ Notes on this from Karl Heinz Burmeister: The five daughters of Count Albrecht III. , 2009, pp. 28-30
8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 11, 2017  
9. ↑ Christian Sieber: The father dead, the house burned , 2006, p. 76