Eppenberg (noble family)
The nobles von Eppenberg were a medieval ministerial family from Toggenburg in Switzerland . The sex had the low jurisdiction over the rule Bichwil, it included Eppenberg, Bichwil and Oberuzwil . Their ancestral castle was in today's hamlet Eppenberg above Bichwil in the municipality of Oberuzwil.
The gender is closely connected to the Magdenau women's monastery and the Fischingen and Tänikon monasteries . Most of the male members of this sex were called Heinrich and Konrad.
history
Early history
The first member of the family is believed to have been Heinrich von Bichwil (Heinricus de Bichewillâr) , who in 1222 witnessed a donation from St. Gallen abbot Rudolf von Güttingen (1220–1226).
After Eppenberg Castle was built, Knight Konrad von Eppenberg ( Cuonradus de Ebbinberg, 1259–1277) was the first to bear the name Eppenberg. In 1259 he witnessed a donation from the St. Gallen Abbot to the Magdenau Monastery; further testimonies from him are documented in 1272 and 1277. His successors are the knights Heinrich von Eppenberg, mentioned in 1282 and 1284 as a witness for the Barons von Bürgeln and the Counts of Toggenburg , as well as Konrad von Eppenberg, who was mentioned in 1313.
The siblings Katherin and Heinrich von Eppenberg
Of the following generation, Katherin von Eppenberg married Conrad von Horw in 1329. To ensure a Aussteuers they pledged their brothers Heinrich (1329-1358) and Conrad of Eppenberg (1329) to the counts of Toggenburg mortgaged farm Ramsau, today on the main road Flawil - Lütisburg south of lying Eppenberg. But Katherin's husband died a few years later.
Heinrich von Eppenberg supported the Maier von Altstätten in their dispute with the city of St. Gallen , in which other noble servants also took part. As a result, Eppenberg Castle was besieged and damaged. In October 1338 he concluded a peace treaty with the city, in which he and his sister Katherin waived the compensation for the damage that had occurred to Eppenberg Castle and other goods. In addition, they undertook to open the castle to the townspeople for five years and he was forbidden to accommodate the Maier von Altstätten or to pay them advances. At the end of 1342, Count Friedrich von Toggenburg gave the formerly leaned Hof Ramsau to Heinrich as a thank you for his service. Two months later he bequeathed the farm to the Magdenau monastery, in which Katherin has since joined as a nun and was abbess there from 1353 to 1357 and from 1365 to 1367 ; she also bequeathed the Brühwil and Bächi farms to the St. Gallen Hospital. Heinrich himself appeared several times as a surety for monastic business and as a witness in the marriage negotiations between Count Friedrich von Toggenburg and Adelheid von Fürstenberg. In 1355 a chapel was built in Bichwil.
Expansion of property
Konrad ( Cuonrat, 1383–1399) and Heinrich (1383–1392) inherited the rule of Bichwil and Eppenberg Castle. Konrad von Eppenberg married Ursula von Strass in 1383. The family came into possession of small estates on the Untersee and on the Reichenau . A year later he became bailiff of the county of Kyburg , which Count Donat and Diethelm von Toggenburg received in 1384 as a Habsburg pledge from Duke Leopold of Austria . Konrad then carried the title of Burgrave of Kyburg. The nobles of Eppenberg also received citizenship of the city of St. Gallen.
After Ursula's death, Konrad von Eppenberg entered into his second marriage to Adelheid von Ainwil . They had two daughters, Margarete and Anastasia. In 1396 Konrad Schlichter was involved in a dispute between the Count of Werdenberg and the Pfäfers Abbey . He died around 1400 without a male successor. His daughters joined the Magdenau monastery and in this context their mother Adelheid bequeathed the Magelsperg farm in Bichwil to the monastery.
In 1402 the knight Hans von Eppenberg renounced his inherited property on the Untersee and on the Reichenau.
Attack by the Appenzeller and subsequent poverty
In 1403, the Appenzeller attacked the village of Waldkirch , confiscated the cattle, had many residents killed and set fire to the village. They then burned down Glattburg and Eppenberg Castle. According to a contemporary witness, this is said to have happened more out of “hatred of the nobility in general than of the owners of this castle”. The Appenzell Rhyming Chronicle documented this incident in a poem:
« You worlds never enlan
There was a lot of smokers gouch,
Si burned Eppemberg ouch
What did he have in gethán,
That si im not let stán,
The arman sin vesty?
In kament afterwards Gesty »
- enlan = dismiss, let go; It was = It was there; Gesty = guests (meaning the Appenzeller)
The castle was “poorly” restored. Heinrich became impoverished as a result and was therefore unable to redeem his brother Konrad's inheritance. Konrad's widow, Adelheid von Ainwil, administered her property and regulated their business. She sold her half of Eppenberg Castle in 1420 to Heinrich Spitzli von Jonschwil , who in 1430 passed it on to his children Heinrich and Else.
Heinrich had a son, Ludwig, who was still underage at his death. Since Konrad had no son and was the only descendant of Heinrich, he continued the line of the Eppenberg family. Ludwig had to pledge his other half to his creditors before he, thanks to his marriage to Idda von Rorschach, which helped him and enabled him to get 500 pounds by pledging her Eppenberg. Ludwig also owned the nearby Wildberg Castle as a fief of the Barons von Hewen zu Schwarzenbach . He seemed to live in Wil , where he was a citizen, but he had a lot of wood felled in the forests of the Bichwil rulership, which is why he was accused in 1465 by the Mayers and the household members of Bichwil. Then there was an opening in which the rights of the Bichwilers and the rights of the noble von Eppenberg were regulated.
An Ursula von Eppenberg was abbess of the Tänikon monastery from 1436 to 1458.
Ludwig had two sons who both had the same name, Heinrich, so that one was given the nickname the older one and the other the younger one. In 1469, the elder received the fiefdom of the castle. He then went abroad to do military service. When he returned 30 years ago, since the younger one no longer expected his return at that time, he had to explain his origins credibly. The castle and the rule were therefore awarded to Heinrich the Elder on the basis of a court judgment. The older one also renewed the opening with the Bichwilers.
Both brothers came into the service of the St. Gallen Abbot. Heinrich the Elder became treasurer of St. Gallen abbot Gotthard Giel von Glattburg in 1501 , and the younger one in 1505 Princely Councilor and servant of Franz von Gaisberg . At the age of 60, the elder married Hopme Lenner's widow, who brought a son into the marriage, Clemens Lenner. He died before 1521. He had two sons, Konrad and Itel Heinrich, who inherited his property.
Castle fire and decline
On August 3, 1521, the castle was destroyed by a lightning strike. The widow Heinrich the Elder, who was there alone, was able to save herself, but the family and the castle lost 3500 guilders. At that time, Konrad was living in St. Gallen and Itel Heinrich on the Reichenau, where he wanted to become a monk. Konrad then bought his inheritance from his brother Itel Heinrich.
In 1523 Heinrich the Younger sold his court part to Hans Meyer, called Kliri, who was now called Meyer von Eppenberg.
Konrad, the son of Heinrich the Elder, began an apprenticeship as a cloth shearer in Zurich in February 1524 , but left in October. The mayor of St. Gallen, Joachim von Watt , then had to vouch for his friend. Joachim von Watt, called Vadian, found a supporter and promoter for the Reformation project in Konrad. In 1531 he and Konrad von Eppenberg saw Halley's comet , they interpreted it as a sign of a great disaster to come. Shortly thereafter, the Second Kappel War broke out, Konrad, who was on the side of the reformers, was taken prisoner on October 24, 1531 in the Battle of the Gubel , but was triggered by the St. Gallen family. In the same year he was fined for a brawl. In 1536 he joined the army of King Francis I of France . Konrad was enfeoffed with the rule of Bichwil by the abbot in 1537, but he could not assert himself in the aristocracy, became impoverished and was partly imprisoned because of his debts.
Konrad or his son Clemens sold their share in Eppenberg Castle to Sebastian von Giel in 1547. He died in St. Gallen.
Konrad's son Clemens von Eppenberg and his grandson were the last of the noble von Eppenberg family. The family died out in 1624.
Lordship of Bichwil under von Thurn
The Giel von Glattburg family remained in the possession of Eppenberg until 1627 Ludwig von Thurn , a "bon vivant" who immigrated to Wil from Constance and was a chancellor and allegedly a pharmacist, acquired the rule of Bichwil. Thurn got into the nobility. His son was Fidel von Thurn zu Eppenberg and Bichwil. His descendants, who later called themselves barons and later counts of Thurn and Valsassina , had the rule administered by an ammann as a fiefdom of the St. Gallen monastery . In 1789 the Counts of Thurn had a church built in Bichwil that serves both denominations. It was completed in 1808. The stones from the Eppenberg ruin were used for the construction, so that only the earth's bulge remains of the castle today (west of today's Eppenberg restaurant in the hamlet of Eppenberg).
The Counts of Thurn retained the rule until the establishment of the Helvetic Republic , in 1803 Bichwil and Eppenberg were assigned to the political municipality of Oberuzwil.
Others
A "Edler von Eppenberg, Count Squire" came in the theater Friedrich the last Count of Toggenburg by Christian Heinrich Spiess on.
According to Hofmann, 1854, the family name Eppenberger comes "from the Eppenberg farm in the municipality of Bichwil". According to Naef, 1934, in the 15th century Eppenbergers in the middle and upper Toggenburg became the free farmers, whose descendants now bear the name Eppenberger.
Legend has it that the Eppenbergers built an underground secret passage about one kilometer long to Eppenberg Castle. As a result, a student at ETH Zurich performed corresponding measurements as part of her semester thesis in 1999 ; the measurement results were not unambiguous, but it can be assumed that such measurements did not exist.
Generation succession
- First generations
- Heinrich von Bichwil (1222)
- Konrad von Eppenberg (1259–1277)
- Heinrich von Eppenberg (1282/84) and Konrad von Eppenberg (1313)
- siblings
-
Katherin von Eppenberg (1329–1367), abbess from 1353
- ⚭ Conrad von Horw
- Heinrich von Eppenberg (1329–1358), conflict with the city of St. Gallen, relations with Toggenburg
- Conrad of Eppenberg (1329)
- siblings
-
Konrad von Eppenberg (1383–1399), Burgrave of Kyburg
- ⚭ 1383 Ursula von Strass
- ⚭ Adelheid von Ainwil
- 2 daughters: Margarete, Anastasia (joined the Magdenau monastery)
-
Heinrich von Eppenberg (1383-1392; † after 1403)
- 1 son: Ludwig von Eppenberg
- Ludwig von Eppenberg (son of Heinrich)
-
Ludwig von Eppenberg (1430–1476)
- ⚭ 1443 Idda von Rorschach
- 2 sons: Heinrich the Elder, Heinrich the Younger
- ⚭ 1443 Idda von Rorschach
- Siblings (sons of Ludwig)
-
Heinrich the Elder (* before 1461, 1501–1520)
- ⚭ Hopme Lenner's widow
- 2 sons: Konrad and Itel Heinrich
- ⚭ Hopme Lenner's widow
- Henry the Younger (1505–1523)
- Siblings (sons of Henry the Elder)
-
Konrad (1520–1547)
- 1 son: Clemens
- Itel Heinrich (1520-1537)
Books
- Adolph Näf: Eppenberg Castle and the rule of Bichwil . St. Gallen 1912.
- Georg Rimensberger: Eppenberg Castle and the Bichwil rule . In: D'Region, 1982, 3, pp. 50-55.
Web links
- Martin Leonhard: Eppenberg, from. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b History . ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2008 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. Reformed Church Oberuzwil-Jonschwil, accessed on July 16, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q August Naef: Chronicle or Memories of the City and Landscape of St. Gallen. Friedrich Schulthess, St. Gallen 1867.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Karl Wegelin: History of the Toggenburg landscape. First part. Huber, St. Gallen 1830.
- ^ Martin Leonhard: from Eppenberg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . October 27, 2004 , accessed July 19, 2012 .
- ↑ The altarpiece returns to Bichwil . In: Wiler Zeitung - Volksfreund. August 18, 2000, accessed July 22, 2012.
- ^ A b I. von Arx : Rhyming Chronicle of the Appenzell War: Written by an eyewitness and continued until 1405. Wegelin and Kässer, St. Gallen 1825, p. 61.
- ↑ a b c d e f Ildefons von Arx : Stories of the Canton of St. Gallen, Volume 3. Zollikofer and Züblin, 1813.
- ↑ According to the stories of the canton of St. Gallen (which, in contrast to more recent sources, have some differences) the castle burned in 1526; according to the chronicle or memorabilia 1521.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Karl Wegelin: History of the Toggenburg landscape. Second part. Huber, St. Gallen 1833.
- ↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Böller: History and Acts-based, legally founded teaching, for the squat class and honor rescue of the High Countess-Reichsfreyherrlichen ancient house of Thurn and Valsassina: in particular both of the intervening lines to Wartegg and Bliedegg. 1773.
- ↑ a b c d e Peter Erhart: von Thurn. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 18, 2013 , accessed July 19, 2012 .
- ↑ Johannes Dierauer: Thurn, Fidel von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 223 f.
- ↑ Peter Erhart: Fidel von Thurn. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 18, 2013 , accessed July 19, 2012 .
- ↑ Mention of a «Baron Antonio Freiherr von Thurn, Herr zu Wartegg - Eppenberg - Bichwil and Biepelsbach, also Obervogt zu Rohrschach, hereditary marshal of the prince. Stift St. Gallen », from the Stiftsarchiv St Gallen - in a fiefdom letter from 1728, from the Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen, Archive Thurn-Valsassina, Trucke 2, No. 7.
- ^ Christian Heinrich Spiess: Friedrich the last count of Toggenburg. A knight's play in four acts. 1794.
- ^ Johann Andreas Hofmann: Henau in Toggenburg, in the past and present. Scheitlin and Zollikofer, St. Gallen 1854. Page 36, cf. also footnote on page 33.
- ^ Adolph Naef: Eppenberg Castle near Bichwil , Untertoggenburger Neujahrsblätter, 6, 1934, pp. 25–38.
- ↑ Looking for a secret passage . In: Wiler Zeitung - Volksfreund . May 8, 1999, accessed July 22, 2012.
- ↑ Legend of secret passage remains . In: Wiler Zeitung - Volksfreund. December 18, 1999, accessed July 22, 2012.
