Franz von der Trenck

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Franz von der Trenck

Franz Freiherr von der Trenck ( Croatian Barun Franjo Trenk ; born January 1, 1711 in Reggio Calabria , Aragonese Crown Land, Kingdom of Sicily - Naples ; † October 4, 1749 in Brno , Bohemian Crown Land , Margraviate Moravia , HM , HRR ) was an imperial officer and trooper . He came from the noble family Trenck and was a cousin of Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck .

Life

Franz Freiherr von der Trenck was born on New Year's Day 1711 in Reggio Calabria. His father Johann Heinrich von der Trenck was a Prussian nobleman from Pomerania and fought as an imperial lieutenant colonel on the Austrian side at the Turkish siege in 1683 and at the Battle of Belgrade in 1717 , where his son Franz had his first military experience. After the Peace Treaty of Passarowitz he was given command of the occupations of southern Italy and Hungary, he lived in Levoča until his death in 1743 , where he was buried in the Church of St. James.

As the son of a Prussian officer, Franz was educated in Jesuit schools in Ödenburg and Požega near Slavonski Brod .

Hungarian Army officer

In 1729 he joined the Hungarian infantry regiment of Count Nikolaus Pálffy and achieved the rank of first lieutenant, where he stood out because of his dissolute life and his pronounced ardor and was dismissed. After his marriage in 1731 to the daughter of Field Marshal von Tillier , he settled on the Brestovac estate in Slavonia , which his father had bought . His family happiness did not last long, his sons died in infancy, as did his wife and daughter, who was born in 1735 when his father visited Levoča.

Russian Army officer

The widower Franz Trenck returned to the military in 1737. After the rejection of the Austrian army, he entered the service of the Russian Tsarina Anna of Kiev as a cavalry master in the hussar regiment. He was promoted to major for his bravery in fighting the Turks. Again, his wild nature drove him into disputes with his superiors, after insubordination of a commander he was even sentenced to the death penalty, only pardoned at the place of execution, demoted and expelled from Russia after several months of detention at the Kiev fortress . After a stay in Levoča with his father, he went back to his Slavonian estate.

Franz von der Trenck as Pandur in arms (contemporary copper engraving)

In 1739 criminal proceedings were brought against him after a gruesome punishment by a gang of thieves. Franz sought asylum in the Capuchin monastery in Vienna under the protectorate of Prince Karl Alexander von Lorraine .

Officer in the Austrian Army

When the Austrian War of Succession broke out in 1740, Empress Maria Theresa gave him permission to equip a corps of 1,000 Pandours at his own expense and to lead it to Silesia . The young Maria Theresa had to withstand the invasion of Silesia by the Prussian King Friedrich II practically immediately after her accession to the throne (1740) . Bavaria wanted to conquer Bohemia and Upper Austria, and its territorial gains should also affect Saxony, France and Spain to the detriment of the Habsburg dynasty. The inexperienced ruler sought military help and support wherever possible. Trenck presented his fully equipped volunteer corps, which grew to 5,000 men, to the ruler on May 27, 1741 in Vienna. Immediately afterwards the Pandur Freikorps got involved in the fighting in Silesia, it always formed the army's vanguard and attracted attention for both daring and cruelty, especially against civilians. Discipline prevailed in his units and, at first, had its own military order, and his troops were mainly composed of local residents. His goods were in Pakrac , Nuštar, Brestovac near Požega and the areas around Osijek . In this part of Croatia , the 150-year Ottoman rule had only come to an end a few years earlier .

After conquering the South Bohemian cities of Týn nad Vltavou and Budweis , he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1742 and to colonel in 1744. He forced the surrender of a regiment at Hluboká Castle and turned to campaign against Cologne . In November 1744 he was badly injured by a Prussian cannon bullet in the leg, after which he retired to the Pašinka Castle near Kolín and later to Čáslav to recover . For his war achievement by arresting 4,500 soldiers and first lieutenants, 27 colonels and chiefs of staff as well as the capture of 22 guns, three guns, seven flags and three standards, Trenck was received with high honors by Maria Theresa in Vienna in February 1745. As early as May 1745 he successfully returned to the fighting with a regular infantry regiment by conquering the fortresses Kozel , Nové Město nad Metují and breaking up a Prussian column at Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou . On September 30, 1745, after the Battle of Thrush , Trenck could not prevent his Pandurs from plundering a Prussian camp, was delayed in a subsequent battle and caused the Austrians to fail.

Last years

Trenck's coffin in the Capuchin Crypt in Brno

After the Peace of Füssen between Austria and Bavaria in 1745, further accusations were made against Trenck, namely embezzlement of regimental funds, atrocities against his own crew and officers, inciting the theft of church treasures and other offenses. The Austrian commission of inquiry initially rejected these accusations against Trenck, but when he insulted one of his informers in front of the imperial couple in the Vienna theater in April 1746, he was imprisoned by a decision of the court chairman General and sentenced to death in December 1746. After the intercession of Emperor Franz and Prince Karl Alexander of Lorraine , the Empress ordered the criminal proceedings to be resumed. The trials lasted two years, and during the negotiations he assaulted the chairman. Initially sentenced to death , Maria Theresa pardoned him in 1748 to life imprisonment at Spielberg Castle in Brno . There he was interned on August 30, 1748. In February of the following year, his health deteriorated and Trenck began to prepare for death. The Brno Capuchins gave him spiritual support. In September the Empress gave him permission to write his will and even permission to stay in the city. He died on October 4, 1749 and was buried in the Capuchin Crypt in Brno .

reception

The contradicting character of Franz Freiherr von der Trenck is evident in his life as an adventurer, man of violence, avaricious profiteer on the one hand, as an educated man with musical talent and knowledge of seven languages, as a bold soldier who was able to fight the tactics of the moment Adapted to his position on the battlefield and a friend of English literature on the other hand.

In 1883 Karl May published the story "Pandur and Grenadier" about Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau and Franz von der Trenck as part of his humorous and historical stories . In Karl May's Gesammelte Werken , this story, together with others, forms Volume 42, Der alten Dessauer .

In the movie Trenck (1932) Anton Pointner plays Franz von der Trenck, who runs into his Prussian cousin Friedrich von der Trenck at the Battle of Soor (1745) .

In the movie Trenck, der Pandur (1940), Hans Albers plays a triple role: as Pandur Franz von der Trenck, as his father Johann Heinrich von der Trenck and as Franz's Prussian cousin Friedrich von der Trenck .

In Bavaria there are two regular plays about Franz von der Trenck: In the Upper Palatinate town of Waldmünchen , the Trenck der Pandur open-air theater has been performed in front of Waldmünchen every year since 1950 , and in the Upper Bavarian municipality of Halsbach , the Waldbühne has been performed every year in August / September since 1984 performed the piece The Black Year , which tells of the arrival and wintering of the Trenckschen Panduren in Halsbach.

On the 250th anniversary of Trenck's death in 1999, the Museum of the City of Brno dedicated itself to the fate and the epoch with an exhibition at the Spielberg Castle . The mortal remains of the Pandur commander rest to this day in the vicinity of his final resting place with the Capuchin monks. Franz Freiherr von der Trenck is one of the well-known personalities of the 18th century. His fate is closely linked to Brno, the Špilberk fortress and the Capuchin Crypt are among the most popular destinations for visitors to Brno.

literature

Primary literature

  • Franz von Trenck: Merck worthy life and deeds Of the world famous Mr. Francisci Frey Herrns from Trenck , Ihro Roman Kayserl. and royal Majesty in Hungary and Bohemia [et] c. [Etc. real colonels and owners of a Sclavonic bandur regiment from the rulers Vellika, Prestovatz, Pleterniza, Pakratz and Nostar, continued by himself until the end of 1747 (autobiography, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1748, facsimile digitalisate: gdz.sub.uni -goettingen.de / reader.digitale-sammlungen.de )

Secondary literature

Web links

Commons : Franz von der Trenck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Franz von der Trenck  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ G&B Ohm: The terrible Pandur Colonel Franz Seraph Freiherr von der Trenck . Krausslich, Urfahr-Linz January 1, 1874.
  2. ↑ Kurt Sonntag: Trenck the Pandur and the pillage of Bavaria . Nusser, Munich 1990, ISBN 978-3-88091-239-7 .
  3. ↑ Franz Freiherr von der Trenck. KK Colonel. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 11, 2017 ; accessed on November 7, 2017 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuk-wehrmacht.de
  4. ↑ Trenck - An adventurer ends on the scaffold. Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
  5. ^ Mummies in Brno (II) - Baron Trenck and Wiener Pharaonen on Radio Praha from June 11, 2011, accessed on June 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ karl-may-wiki.de
  7. ↑ karl-may-wiki.de
  8. ↑ karl-may-wiki.de
  9. ↑ trenckfestspiele.de
  10. ↑ trenckfestspiele.de
  11. ↑ regiowiki.pnp.de
  12. ↑ halsbach.de
personal data
SURNAME Trenck, Franz von der
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Trenck, Franz Freiherr von der (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer and militant
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1711
PLACE OF BIRTH Reggio Calabria , Italy
DATE OF DEATH October 4, 1749
Place of death Brno , Moravia