Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg (politician, 1638)

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Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg by Peter Schenk
Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg

Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg (born January 12, 1638 in Graz , † January 4, 1701 in Vösendorf near Vienna ) was Vienna city commander from 1680 and in 1683 headed the defense of the city during the second Turkish siege . As a result, he was appointed Field Marshal of the Army Imperial appointed and from 1691 president of the Imperial War Council under Emperor Leopold I. .

Life

Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg was the son of Konrad Balthasar von Starhemberg (1612–1687) and Anna Elisabeth von Zinzendorf († 1659). Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg (* around 1640; † 1689) was his brother, Gundaker Thomas Starhemberg (1663-1745) his half-brother.

Starhemberg was a military leader who had proven himself in the wars against the French and Turks under Raimondo Montecuccoli since the 1660s. As Vienna city commander, he had a total of a little less than 20,000 men at his disposal, compared to around 120,000 Ottoman men under the leadership of Kara Mustafa . The fact that he nevertheless refused to surrender on July 15, 1683 was due to his trust in an imminent relief army of Emperor Leopold I - and in the city walls, which had been significantly strengthened since the first Turkish siege in 1529. But when this army under Johann III. Sobieski only arrived in mid-September if Vienna could only have held out a few more days - its walls were endangered by the Turkish miners who dug long corridors under the city wall and detonated large explosive devices (mines) there. The delay in the imperial-Polish alliance with Bavaria and Saxony was due to the disunity of Europe. On September 12, the relief army finally attacked in the Battle of Kahlenberg with troops from Venice , Bavaria , Saxony and Poland (80,000 men under the command of King Sobieski ) and was able to defeat the Turks, who were divided over a tactic for a two-front war.

In gratitude for saving Vienna, Starhemberg was appointed Field Marshal by Emperor Leopold and received the dignity of State and Conference Minister as well as the right to use the Stephansturm in his coat of arms. In the course of the Great Turkish War he was so badly wounded during the siege of Ofen in 1686 by a shot in the left hand, which required the amputation of a finger, that he had to resign from his command.

From 1691 he was President of the Court War Council and was responsible for organizing the Austrian army. As such, he modernized the army, restructured it and the artillery got more weight through him.

He died on January 4, 1701 in Vösendorf (today Mödling district). His tomb, created by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach , can be found in the Schottenkirche in Vienna . His nephew Guido von Starhemberg was also in the Austrian military and fought as an adjutant at his side.

Inscription on his tomb

“Here, under this marble stone, lies Ernst Rüdiger Reichsgraf and Herr von Starhemberg, the exalted Emperor Leopold's secret conference councilor and chamber secretary, court war council president, colonel of the infantry, military commander of this city and the fortifications of Vienna, also knight of the Golden Fleece, who comes from a famous family , a man who was energetic, sharp-sighted and astute in his writing, was a brave warrior, incorruptible through gifts, ... has completed 44 years of extremely useful service.
His most noble act of glory is that Vienna was defended for nine weeks against an innumerable number of Ottomans under his auspicious command - one probably would not have known whether more through luck or more through bravery - for which deed it was the glorious reward that the tower of St. Stephan, which you see here and which was provided with pagan symbols, may also be crushing the withering bones of the glorious hero here, as it were, by its mass, nevertheless, the tip stretched itself back into the clouds and the eagle after the "half-" moon had flung down from there, "again" spread his wings, carrying the immortal glory of the named up to the stars. He lived 64 years, 4 months and 24 days ... "

reception

Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I on February 28, 1863, Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg was included in the list of the "most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation", in whose honor and memory there is also a life-size statue in the general hall of the at that time newly built kk Hofwaffenmuseums (today Army History Museum Vienna ) was built. The statue was created in 1872 by the sculptor Anton Dietrich (1799–1872) from Carrara marble and was dedicated by Camillo Fürst Starhemberg (1804–1872).

In addition, the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna and the relief battle of September 6, 1683 are documented in detail in the Army History Museum. The objects on display include Starhemberg's sword and a cuirass ascribed to him .

In 1862 the Rüdigergasse in Vienna- Margareten (5th district) was named after him and in 1938 in Wieden (4th district) the Graf-Starhemberg-Gasse .

In later historiography he was often referred to as the “savior of Austria and the West ”, but was also used as an instrument during Austro-Fascism at the beginning of the 20th century.

Right-wing terrorists repeatedly referred to the defense of Vienna against the Turks and Starhemberg in their actions: the letter bomb bomber Franz Fuchs used the name Starhembergs as the sender of one of his bombs and the alleged bomber of the Christchurch attacks in 2019 wrote the name Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg on his semi-automatic weapon .

family

Heinrich Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg was married twice. His first wife was a distant relative Helena Dorothea von Starhemberg (* Wildberg 1634; † December 19, 1688 in Vienna). He married her on December 7, 1658. The couple had the following children:

  • Reichard († August 19, 1691)
  • Elisabeth Susanna (1660–1683) ⚭ September 1680 Gf Hieronymus von Thurn-Valsassina († Gorizia May 3, 1720)
  • Heinrich Balthasar († September 6, 1686)
  • Maria Katharina (* Vienna 1663; † January 2, 1743 Eien); ⚭ February 20, 1686 Count Otto Heinrich von Hohenfeld (* 1645; † February 25, 1719, Vienna)
  • Raimund Gundacker Anton Gottfried (February 13, 1671 - April 16, 1671)
  • Maria Gabriela Barbara (* Vienna December 2, 1673, Vienna; † February 23, 1745 in Graz)
⚭ (1685 Stanislaus Wessel?)
⚭ June 1692 Franz Karl von Dünewald (before 1694)
⚭ Graz 1694 Maximilian Siegmund von und zu Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg (* Graz 25 February 1668; † 19 December 1732 in Graz)

His second wife was Countess Maria Josepha Jörger zu Tollet (* 1668; † March 12, 1746 in Vienna). They married on May 14, 1689 in Vienna. The couple had the following children:

  • Helena Antonia ⚭ Baron Karl Ferdinand von Welz
  • Maria Antonia (born May 5, 1692 in Vienna, † December 27, 1742 in Vienna); ⚭ November 25, 1714 Count Franz Anton von Starhemberg (* Vienna July 30, 1691; † July 5, 1743 in Prague)
  • Maria Anna (* 1693; † March 30, 1694)
  • Gabriele (August 1696 - April 22, 1697)
  • Josefa (* approx. 1698 - † May 4, 1701)

After the death of her husband, Maria Josepha married his younger brother Gundaker Thomas Starhemberg in 1707 .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Bernd Rill, Ferenc Majoros: The Ottoman Empire 1300-1922. Marix, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-25-8 , pp. 280-285.
  2. ^ Aloys Bergenstamm : Inscriptions in crypts, columns, foundation stones and houses in Vienna . In: Gerhard Fischer (Ed.): Because the shape of this world is passing: History of the Churches ... of the City of Vienna, recorded by the friend of antiquity Aloys Bergenstamm (1754–1821) ; daedalus, Vienna 1996; ISBN 3-900911-07-X ; Pp. 263-264
  3. Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 31
  4. ^ Manfried Rauchsteiner , Manfred Litscher (ed.): The Army History Museum in Vienna. Graz, Vienna 2000 pp. 15-18.
  5. Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. Room I - From the beginnings of the standing army to the end of the 17th century. Salzburg 1982 p. 30.
  6. Why right-wing extremists are so fond of referring to Knights Templar. The standard of March 19, 2019.