Epitaph for Johannes Wilhelm von Rechberg von Hohenrechberg

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The epitaph for Johannes Wilhelm von Rechberg von Hohenrechberg († November 9, 1620 in Rakonitz , Kingdom of Bohemia ) is located in St. Peter , the oldest parish church in Munich, in the south aisle on the west wall of the second side chapel.

Johannes Wilhelm Rechberg von Hohenrechberg came from the Swabian noble family Rechberg von Hohenrechberg from the 12th century, which formed several lines since the 13th century. The epitaph is an expression of baroque piety and a historical source in stone for the noble family of Rechberg von Hohenrechberg and for the Thirty Years War .

Description of the epitaph

Epitaph for Johannes Wilhelm Rechberg von Hohenrechberg

The epitaph was commissioned by Mrs. Barbara von Rechberg, née Freiin von Haslang , with her three daughters Mechthild, Euphrosina and Johanna Jakobina.

The epitaph is divided into three parts. The relief representation of the deceased occupies the middle part of the epitaph. He kneels in prayer with folded hands before an altar adorned with a crucifix and a rosary. He is shown almost life-size in three-quarter profile, he is wearing armor, helmet and iron gloves he has put down in front of the altar. The background, set in a round arch, is formed by two towers of a castle under a cloudy sky, through which rays of sun penetrate to the prayers and the altar. The relief made of Solnhofen limestone is surrounded by an architectural frame made of red marble with pilasters adorned with coats of arms . The frame of the middle part is crowned with a split gable, the center of which shows the alliance coat of arms of the deceased and his wife on a round shield. Above it is a sun as a symbol for Jesus with a heart, three nails, the cross and the inscription IHS , the first three letters of the name Jesus in Greek capital letters or the Latin acronym for I esum H abemus S ocium - We have Jesus as companions. In the base zone of the epitaph, two angels with their attributes, a trumpet ( damaged ) and a burning torch pointing upwards in their hands, indicate the Christian idea of ​​life after death. In the middle is a cartouche with the Latin grave inscription in gold-framed script on dark stone.

inscription

Inscription on the epitaph for Johannes Wilhelm Rechberg von Hohenrechberg

IOANNES WILHELMUS BARO DE RECHBERG,
DE HOCHENRECHBERG, SCHWABECCENSIS COMI
TATUS HIPOTHECARIUS, DOMINUS IN CONRADS-
HOFFEN ET GERN. HIC LEGOR, ALIBI SUM. MORS ME
AB- STULIT AD RACONITIUM, DUM MARTEM SEQUOR. ET FORS AC
CIDIT, UT, CUM PRIDIE MORTUUM VELLEM BOHEMUM, POSTRIDIE EGO NON VIVE
REM. NAM ALTERO A VICTORIA PRAGENSI SERENISSIMI BAVARIAE DUCIS
THE MORTALIA DESERUI, PIIS MANIBUS LAETUM NUNTIUM LATURUS ET VIC
TURUS DEINCEPS CUM IMMORTALIBUS.
SEQUERE, VIATOR, ET UT SEQUARIS, VIVE.
CHARISSIMO CONIUGI
BARBARA RECHBERGIA, GENTE HASLANGIA, NECNON TRES FI
LIAE MECHILDA; EPROSINA ET IOAN (N) A IACOBINA POSUERUNT
DIEMQUE PIACULAREM ANNUATIM AERE SUO STATUERUNT.
ANNO MDCXXI

Johann Wilhelm, Baron von Rechberg
zu Hohenrechberg, pledgee of the County of
Schwabegg , Lord of Konradshofen and Gern.
Here you read about me, somewhere else I am. Death took me away from Rakonitz
while I followed Mars. And luck would have it that ,
when I wished Bohemia dead the day before, the next day I no longer lived myself,
because the day after the victory of the most illustrious Bavarian duke near Prague
, I left the mortal world for the good news of victory
to bring the pious souls of the deceased and to live with the immortals on it.
You will follow, wanderer, but live so that you can follow.
The dearest husband put this stone
Barbara Rechenberg, born von Haslang, and the three daughters Mechthild, Euphrosina and
Johanna Jakobina, at their own expense they set up an annual foundation.
That was in 1621

The reader learns the place of death Rakonitz, the circumstances of death, the date of death and his worldview directly from the mouth of the deceased, who describes the decisive turn of his fate from the first-person perspective in artful rhetoric, in antitheses and allusions. The date of death can be deduced from November 9, 1620, the first day after the Battle of the White Mountain near Prague in the Thirty Years War, in which the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I led the army of the Catholic League and the deceased still fought.

Archival sources

It stands to reason that the late Johannes Wilhelm von Rechberg zu Hohenrechberg of the present Munich epitaph is identical to those named below. In the collection of Anton Gindely , "The reports about the Battle of White Mountain near Prague" is found in the list of the fallen the name Rechenberg as "Comes Rechbergensis" and pointing out that "Mr. von Rechenberg died ... and Laun buried " be. Another source, "Silesian State", lists a "Wilhelm von Hohenrechberg Fr." among the fallen chamberlain.

The coat of arms

The alliance coat of arms in the upper part of the epitaph consists of the two coats of arms of the couple. The coat of arms of the von Rechberg family shows two lions, upright back to back, with the two tails of the lions intertwined as it were forming the center of the shield. Next to it, separated from the coat of arms of the husband, is the coat of arms of those of Haslang, split in the so-called monkshood cut . The coats of arms on the pilasters in the middle part of the epitaph prove the relationship with other noble families. On the left pilaster hang the coats of arms of the families belonging to the family tree of the von Rechberg families. In addition to the coat of arms of those von Rechberg, the coat of arms of the Herren vom Stain with three wolf fishing rods for the mother of the deceased Ursula vom Stain and the coat of arms of those von Freyberg with three (2: 1) balls for his maternal grandmother Sibylla von Freyberg, a coat of arms went lost. On the right pilaster hang the coats of arms from the family tree of the von Haslang family. Two coats of arms of those von Rechberg, the coat of arms of those of Zylhard with goat's head and trunk for Mechthild von Zylhard, the mother of his wife, and the coat of arms of those von Gumppenberg with three water lily leaves on mirror-inverted sloping beams for Scholastika von Zilhart, née von Gumppenberg, the grandmother of his wife maternal(?).

Epitaph of his wife Baroness Barbara von Rechberg

Epitaph for Barbara von Rechberg, b. from Haslang

The epitaph is opposite her husband's epitaph on the east wall of the same side chapel.

Anno 1625, October 4th
died and was already buried.
The Wolgeborn Frau Frau
Barbara Freyfrau von
Rechberg von HochenRechberg Born
von Haslang Wittib I (h) r (er) Cur
f (ür) stl (ichen) D (u) r (ch) l (also) Duchess Elisabetha
in Bavaria vested the highest court
master, who is kind to God

Barbara Freifrau von Rechberg von Hohenrechberg, b. von Haslang, died in 1625 a few years after her husband. Since Duke Maximilian I had had the electoral dignity since 1623 , she died as Supreme Court Master of Electress Elisabeth Renata of Lorraine , the first wife of Maximilian I of Bavaria.

Life and family environment

Little is known about the life of the deceased and his family. From his marriage, which he entered into with Barbara von Haslang in 1578, there were seven children. Four died in early childhood, the surviving three daughters married into other noble houses. In 1598 he was raised to the rank of Baron von Rechberg. According to the present inscription, he was pledgee of the Grafschaft Schwabegg and lord of Konradshofen and Gern. Apparently he had succeeded his nephew Wilhelm Leo, Count zu Rechberg and Rothenlöwen, Baron von Hohenrechberg, as an uncle in Schwabegg and Konradshofen, the hereditary steward in Upper and Lower Bavaria, Herr zu Kronburg, Weißenstein and Kellmünz, pledgee of the Grafschaft Schwabegg, Lord on Konradshofen, Paumgarten and Jetzendorf and was a ducal Bavarian chamberlain. Wilhelm Leo followed his father Wolf Konrad von Rechberg to his grave in 1618, almost a year after his death in 1617.

literature

  • August Alckens: Munich in ore and stone. Volume 2: The epitaphs of the old town churches. Mainburg 1974
  • Rudolf M. Kloos : The inscriptions of the city and the district of Munich. Stuttgart 1958
  • Anton Gindely: The reports on the battle on the White Mountain near Prague. In: Archives for Austrian History . Volume 56, 1877
  • Silesian state / That is / Acta and Schrifften / so after the Bohemian Niderlag because of the Silesians and other countries / passed between a number of potentates. o. O., 1621

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ Anton Gindely: The reports on the battle on the White Mountain near Prague. In: Archives for Austrian History . Volume 56, 1877
  3. ↑ Gindely p. 51 in XIII and Gindely p. 70 in XVIII
  4. ↑ "Laun 3 meil of Rackonitz" Gindely, p 89 in XXIII
  5. ^ Gindely, p. 102 in XXVII
  6. ↑ "Silesian State / That is / Acta and Schrifften / so after the Bohemian Niderlag because of the Silesians and other countries / departed between several potentates as ...", p. 29 in VIII
  7. ↑ See on the father of the deceased Hans Konrad von Rechberg and the deceased http://genealogy.euweb.cz/german/rechberg3.html
  8. ↑ Cf. epitaph in the parish church of St. Johannes in Jetzendorf for Seyfried von Zillnhart († 1572) and Scholastika von Zillnhart († 1559), born von Gumppenberg, with coat of arms
  9. ↑ http://genealogy.euweb.cz/german/rechberg3.html
  10. ↑ See http://genealogy.euweb.cz/german/rechberg3.html
  11. ↑ See epitaphs for Wilhelm Leo von Rechberg and his father Wolf Konrad von Rechberg in the parish church of St. Johannes von Jetzendorf and in the following genealogies https://www.bavarikon.de/search/person?name=rechberg&vorname=Wolf+konrad&profession= & sort = & rows = 10 = and http://genealogy.euweb.cz/german/rechberg3.html . At the latter address, Wilhelm Leo's father does not have the first name Wolf Konrad, but the first name Wolfgang Hans.