Friedrich VII. (Toggenburg)
. Friedrich VII of Toggenburg (* around 1370 on the castle Solavers in Grüsch ; † on 30th April 1436 on the Schattenburg in Feldkirch ) was a Count of Toggenburg , the last representative of the county Toggenburg . He gained fame and special significance in his 49 years of reign - 36 of them as the sole prince of his house - for his successful territorial policy and the lack of a legally valid will, which after his death and the associated collapse of the Toggenburg rule was one of the triggers the Old Zurich War (1439–1446) was.
Early life
Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg was born around 1370 at Solavers Castle near Grüsch ( Seewis municipality ) in Prättigau , where he also spent his youth. He was the son of Count Diethelm VI. von Toggenburg (* around 1353, † 1385) from his marriage to Katharina von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg (* around 1374, † after 1439), from whom his sister Ita († 1414) came from.
After the death of Friedrich's father Diethelm VI. In 1385 his brother Donat I of Toggenburg (* around 1353; † 1400) took over the affairs of government alone, but in 1387 the succession officially passed to Donat's nephew Friedrich, since Donat himself only had two daughters.
During the Sempach War (1386-1389), the two Toggenburg counts sided with the Habsburgs by entering into an alliance with them. The common war against the Confederates , in particular the war against the people of the Glarus valley community in 1388, ended in disaster: The knight army of Habsburg nobles and vassals led by Friedrich's uncle Donat was decisive in the battle of Näfels on April 9, 1388 beaten. In 1389 there was a seven-year armistice, which in 1394 resulted in a peace treaty between Duke Albrecht III. of Habsburg Austria and the Confederates flowed for 20 years.
In 1391 Friedrich VII married Elisabeth von Matsch , whereby Friedrich succeeded in settling the long-standing conflict with the Barons von Matsch , whose center of power was in the Vinschgau , about the shares of power in the two courts of Schiers and Castels in the central Prättigau and to decide in his favor. In 1392 the two counts returned the 14-year pledge over the rule of Rapperswil to the Dukes of Habsburg.
1394–1400: Toggenburg house division
A house division was agreed between Donat and Frederick VII in 1394; this was a unique process in the Toggenburg territorial history; the predecessors always avoided such a step. Donat wanted to secure part of the Toggenburg inheritance for his daughter Kunigunde von Monfort (* around 1387; † 1426), who was married to Wilhelm VII. Von Montfort († 1422), because he - rightly, as it turned out later - feared Friedrich would dispute the inheritance of her and her husband after their death. In addition, he had Friedrich write a declaration to protect the traditional rights in the Toggenburg possessions and entered into a protection and defensive alliance with the Habsburgs in the hope of ensuring the succession.
The Toggenburg possessions were divided as follows: Donat received the ancestral estates in today's Toggenburg as well as the possessions in today's Canton Thurgau , namely the Bailiwick of Tannegg via the Fischingen monastery , the Spiegelberg and Griesenberg castles and the Eggen canton . He also succeeded in buying the bailiwick of the (Alt-) St. Johann monastery and the Starkenstein castle in 1395, thus rounding off the possessions in what is now Obertoggenburg .
Friedrich VII received the county of Uznach , the Obere March , the Bündnerischen areas from the Vazischen inheritance of his grandfather Friedrich V., Wildenburg in Obertoggenburg as well as all areas lying today in the canton of Zurich , namely the county Kyburg , the dominion Greifensee and the Hof Erlenbach . On September 20, 1400, Friedrich received his first castle rights with the city of Zurich and in the same year sold the Erlenbach farm to the Zurich residents.
1400–1402: Takeover of government and Toggenburg – Montfortic feud
After Donat's death in November 1400, his inheritance went according to plan to Wilhelm VII of Montfort and Friedrich's cousin Kunigunde, which is why Wilhelm raised claims to part of Toggenburg. As foreseen by Donat, Frederick VII challenged this and tried to prevent the transfer of his uncle's inheritance through a two-year war of robbery and looting. He confirmed to the subjects in Toggenburg, for whom the Montfortic rule was a thorn in their side anyway, their extensive freedom rights in order to win them over. The Dukes of Habsburg held back in this conflict because the Toggenburger was considered a financially strong financier and they apparently did not want to alienate him.
In 1402, after long negotiations, the Bishop of Konstanz, Marquard von Randegg, succeeded in settling the conflict. Wilhelm and Kunigunde received the Bailiwick of Tannegg (which was later triggered by Bishop Albrecht Blarer ), the castles in Thurgau and the county of Kyburg and were compensated with a one-off cash sum of 4,000 Rhenish guilders ; the remaining possessions, including the Toggenburg ancestral lands, remained in Friedrich's possession.
The pledge of the lordship of Greifensee, which had been taken over by the lords of Landenberg in 1369 and which had been geographically isolated since the comparison with the Montforters and apparently also seemed of little importance to Friedrich, was also sold to the city of Zurich in 1402 for 18 years. Since Friedrich never triggered it again, Greifensee finally remained in Zurich's possession from 1420.
1401–1408: Appenzell War Part 1: Official preservation of neutrality
1405–1406: Frederick VII as a military entrepreneur
In the course of the Appenzell War , which began in 1401 and caused great uncertainty in eastern Switzerland , in Vorarlberg , Tyrol and in the Allgäu , Frederick VII took a rather ambivalent stance and primarily pursued his own interests. After the Battle of the Stoss in June 1405 to 1406 , he hired himself out as a condottiere in Austrian service for 1,000 guilders , but the county of Toggenburg remained officially neutral during the war. On June 1, 1405, Friedrich renewed the castle rights that had been concluded in 1400 with Zurich for 18 years.
Despite his commitment to Duke Friedrich IV. Of Tyrol , he led the opposing troops of the federation founded by the Appenzellern and St. Gallen on September 15 , which was joined by the citizens of Feldkirch as well as his Toggenburg subjects, to the siege in the autumn of 1405 the Feldkircher Schattenburg . This was defended by Heinrich Walter von Ramschwag with 38 men. It was possible to set up (heavy catapults) above Bliden Castle , and after 18 weeks of siege and continuous fire, von Ramschwag had to capitulate on January 29, 1406. The castle was burned down and rebuilt two years later.
1406–1407: 1. Territorial expansion: takeover of the Habsburg pledges
On May 8, 1406, Friedrich secured the neutrality of his rule through a peace treaty brokered by Zurich with the Bund ob dem See, which was confirmed on December 8, 1407 (again with Zurich's help). Through his politics, which represented a middle way between his rulers, the confederates as well as the prince abbey of St. Gallen and Austria, he succeeded in considerably expanding his rulership complex. The Dukes Friedrich IV. And Leopold IV. Von Habsburg, who were constantly in financial difficulties , sold the well-known financier Friedrich on March 12th / 12th. May 1406 the pledges of all their extensive possessions around the Walensee . These were in particular the Lordship of Windegg , the County of Sargans , the Lords of Nidberg and Freudenberg ( Pfäfers Monastery ) and their possessions in Churwalden , which saved these Austrian pledges from devastation during the war. This gave Friedrich a direct connection with the Vazi valleys in Graubünden and the County of Toggenburg was the first to represent a closed rulership. The County of Sargans, with its iron mine and furnace, was of particular economic importance; the mined iron ore was smelted further down the valley. Another important source of income were customs duties, road and bridge fees.
1408–1414: Peace and Covenants
After the Battle of Bregenz and the dissolution of the Confederation above the lake in 1408, the Appenzell Wars (for the time being) ended. On May 8, 1410, Friedrich concluded an alliance with the Appenzell people, on the one hand to secure peace in the region, on the other hand to enforce his demands on the lordships of Feldkirch, Rheineck and Rheintal against the Dukes of Austria, which initially did not succeed as they were at this time just stuck again in the Rhine Valley. The Appenzeller, for their part, signed an unlimited protection contract with the federal places (excluding Bern ) to strengthen their position on November 24, 1411 .
On May 28, 1412, the Confederates and Habsburgs replaced their 20-year peace treaty, which had existed since 1394, with a further 50-year peace treaty, after which the influence of the Confederates in eastern Switzerland was consolidated; As a result, Frederick VII increasingly distanced himself from the Habsburgs.
In 1414 Friedrich acquired the rule of Wartau from Rudolf von Werdenberg , but already 15 years later he passed it on to his brother-in-law, Count Bernhard von Thierstein , who accepted the castle rights of Zurich and gave the Wartau fortress to the city for their use.
1415–1424: Acquisitions in the course of the ostracism of Duke Friedrich IV at the Council of Constance
In 1415, Duke Friedrich IV of Austria was due to his side for the antipope John XXIII. († 1419), whom he helped to escape from the Council of Constance to the Munot fortress in Schaffhausen , ostracized by King Sigismund of Luxembourg , by Bishop Otto III of Constance . von Hachberg put under a spell and declared his property forfeit. In the council that met from 1414 onwards, which was created to end the Western Schism , Frederick VII also took part with his retinue of 200 knights, which was to express his abundance of power and wealth. Imperial war was declared against the duke and the neighbors of the Habsburgs - including Frederick VII as well as the Eight Old Towns of the Confederation - were subsequently requested by roving messengers from the king to annex the duke's lands for the hands of the empire .
At first, Friedrich hesitated and tried to negotiate with the Confederates, referring to the 50-year Habsburg Peace Treaty that had existed since 1412, but the city of Bern did not miss the opportunity and rushed forward by working with its local allies such as the cities Solothurn and Biel (→ Burgundian Confederation ) began to conquer Aargau and quickly conquered the Bernese Aargau without any effort . The towns of Zurich and Lucerne , which were initially hesitant due to the peace with Austria , quickly followed suit , and the towns of Schwyz , Unterwalden , Glarus and Zug quickly followed, so as not to have to leave too much to the Bernese. The free offices and the county of Baden were also conquered and administered as common rule of the six towns, i.e. without Bern and the remote Uri .
1415–1417: 2nd territorial expansion: Imperial war in the Rhine Valley and Vorarlberg
In this situation, Frederick VII did not let the opportunity pass and began in April 1415 to conquer the previously claimed areas in the valley on the left bank of the Rhine as well as the Austrian possessions in the Walgau on the right bank of the Rhine . In contrast to the federal company, the disputes dragged on for over two years, despite the quick reconciliation between Frederick IV and the king. To safeguard in the west, Friedrich renewed the existing castle law with Zurich on March 26, 1416 for life. Above all, the cities of Feldkirch and Bludenz , which had taken in the fugitive Friedrich IV on April 30, 1416 and led him across the Arlberg a day later, offered resistance .
The city of Feldkirch was forced to surrender in 1415 by a coalition army consisting of the troops of Toggenburg, the Bishop of Chur, the Churretian nobles and contingents from the cities of St. Gallen and Lindau ; The shadow castle was initially still held by the Habsburgs, but had to be abandoned after continuous fire in view of a throwing gun brought in from Constance . After a short time, however, it was recaptured and held by the duke's loyalists. In July 1416, Duke Ernst of Austria (* around 1377; † 1424) who had traveled to the Schattenburg was able to move in safely. Only with the help of Zurich , the Chur bishop Johannes III. Ambundi , some imperial cities and two guns borrowed from Zurich and Constance succeeded in re-conquering the city of Feldkirch and the Schattenburg in 1417.
The city of Bludenz also had no intention of surrendering to the Toggenburger. Friedrich's maternal uncle, Count Albrecht III. von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg († 1420) - who founded the short-lived branch line Werdenberg-Heiligenberg-Bludenz - was loyal to the House of Habsburg in particular because he had already sold the County of Bludenz with the Montafon for life to Austria in 1394 and the transition of his rule to Habsburg-Austria. Due to the refusal of the Bludenzer to comply with the king's request, Albrecht III. a declaration of war by King Sigismund and a number of the Lake Constance cities. But he managed to avert the conquest of Bludenz; Count Friedrich VII appeared in the winter of 1416/1417 with his contingent before Bludenz to force the citizens to pay homage to the king, threatening to return with the imperial army. Aware that King Sigismund as well as Frederick VII himself were poorly prepared for a war, and in view of the advanced season, the Bludenzer refused the demands and Friedrich withdrew with his troops.
Regardless of the resistance, the Reich War from 1415 to 1417 was overall successful for Friedrich. As a thank you for his royal commitment, Friedrich VII. In 1417 the left Rhine rulers Rheineck , Rheintal and Kriessern (the later Vogtei Rheintal , since 1415 owned by the nobles von Jungingen and Bodman as Reich pledge) as well as the right bank of Feldkirch together with the rulership Jagdberg as Reich pledges . Like the Confederates, Frederick VII refused to return the conquests made during the Imperial War to Duke Frederick IV, which once again increased the Toggenburg count's sphere of influence considerably. The Feldkircher Schattenburg, which was partially destroyed again in 1415 and 1417, was extensively expanded by Friedrich for his feudal court and used as a residence in the future.
In 1417 he entered into a first land rights contract with Schwyz , followed by one with Glarus in 1419, with which he achieved a lasting good understanding with these places.
1417–1424: Further trouble spots
From 1421 to 1435, Frederick VII had repeated legal disputes with John IV Naso (Naz) (* before 1391; † 1440), who was elected bishop of Chur in 1418 . In the dispute of July 1421 between the bishop and the barons of Matsch , he sided with the latter, which ultimately resulted in their goods in Schanfigg . Further disputes over goods in Churwalden (August 1423) and feudal rights in Zizers (April 1430) also went largely in Frederick's favor. In November 1435 he mediated together with Friedrich von Hewen in a dispute between the bishop and the city of Chur .
After the death of Wilhelm VII of Montfort in 1422, Friedrich was his daughter Elisabeth von Montfort-Bregenz , who was related to Friedrich through her mother Kunigunde and her grandfather Donat von Toggenburg, through an alliance with Count Johann von Lupfen when he took the city Bregenz helpful. The background was an inheritance dispute that lasted almost twenty years with Elisabeth's uncle Hugo XIV about the succession in the Montfort-Bregenz family .
1424–1428: 3. Territorial expansion and the Glarus litigation
In 1424, the last territorial expansion of the County of Toggenburg was achieved with the incorporation of the Dornbirn rule and the Inner Bregenzerwald . In the period that followed, Frederick VII concentrated increasingly on consolidating them. The then Toggenburg County of Kyburg was handed over to Zurich in the same year for 8,750 guilders by King Sigismund as an imperial pledge.
On March 13, 1428, a federal arbitration court was held in Zug to settle a dispute between Friedrich VII and the city of Zurich with Glarus, who had previously illegally accepted Toggenburg and Zurich subjects as Ausburger in their land law. It was decided that Glarus would have to release the landed owners from their land rights and that they could return to their ancestral territories with impunity.
1428–1429: Appenzell War Part 2: End of the war by Frederick VII.
End of 1428 took place one of the last military enterprises Frederick VII After another dispute between the abbot of St. Gallen and Appenzell -. Since 1411 a facing site of the Federal seven places - a federal arbitration was invoked in 1421, which limited the rights of the abbey and Appenzell awarded the lower jurisdiction . The latter, however, refused the arbitration award, which resulted in the imposition of the imperial ban by King Sigismund and in 1426 interdict and ban by Abbot Heinrich von Mansdorf . On November 22nd, 1427, the Reichstag of Frankfurt called on the Swabian League of Cities and the South German nobility to take action against Appenzell on behalf of the Empire and the Church.
On February 10, 1428 Friedrich entered into the land law of Schwyz while he was alive with the promise to hand over the Toggenburg shares of the March to the place after his death.
In the winter of 1428, Frederick VII, with the support of the St. Jörgenschild Knight Association, made an advance against Appenzell, which was disadvantaged by other unfavorable factors: Appenzell's geopolitical isolation through Frederick's expansion policy in the years 1406 to 1424 - in particular through the acquisition of the Rhine Valley and rulership Windegg - which endeavored to prevent the Appenzell invasions towards the Rhine Valley and Vorarlberg, posed a threat to the Appenzell people. In general, there was no direct connection to the allies Schwyz and Glarus, since Appenzell is now surrounded by Toggenburg territory from the west, south and east and was bordered to the north by the prince-abbot area, so that Appenzell was practically completely encircled by what was now hostile territory. Above all, these allies now fell away, since in addition to Frederick VII this time the federal towns, especially Zurich and Schwyz, were extremely uncomfortable with the renewed uprising of the Appenzell; This meant that the former allies Schwyz and Glarus switched sides and supported the intervention of the Toggenburgers, whereby Appenzell was completely isolated in terms of foreign policy.
On December 2, 1428, Friedrich's campaign led to a third, decisive battle at Herisau an der Letzi near Hueb after two previous skirmishes on the same day , which ended with the defeat of Appenzell. Appenzell was forced to recognize the federal arbitration awards, to pay the incumbent Prince Abbot Eglolf Blarer compensation of 1000 pounds pfennigs and to meet the annual tax obligations towards the St. Gallen monastery. Appenzell retained its independent state and the lower court and was allowed to maintain the alliance with the confederates. The peace for the final settlement of the Appenzell War was chartered on July 26, 1429 in Constance.
1429-1436: Later life
In 1429 Friedrich entered into an alliance with the communities of the Church of Gods Association in order to secure peace in his property in Graubünden. An action against the imperial city of Constance dated from 1431 , which Stumpf's Chronicle described as follows: “Graaff Friedrich von Togkenburg supported with practick by his war people to ship, to horse and to foot who instead of Constentz eynzenemen: the matter was loudspeaked and advocated, darmit zoch he in turn leaves " .
During the 1430s, Friedrich was increasingly courted due to his advancing age and the unclear legal situation; In particular, Landammann Ital Reding from Schwyz and the Mayor of Zurich Rudolf Stüssi , who was knighted by King Sigismund in the summer of 1433, tried to get commitments.
Stüssi tried in vain to get Friedrich VII to prescribe the rule of Uznach and Windegg to the city of Zurich before his death. Friedrich did not want to commit himself and avoided Zurich's impatient pressure to name an heir - which increasingly annoyed him (August, November 1432). It was also not helpful for Stüssi that his son Johans († 1467) stayed as a guest at the Schattenburg, where he was supposed to acquire courtly manners; since he obviously did not succeed, he was laughed at by the count's court and sent back to Zurich. As a result, Reding was overall more successful with his territorial policy.
On September 7, 1433, Friedrich finally appointed his wife Elisabeth as sole heir, but at least had his castle rights with Zurich, which had existed since 1400, confirmed again.
Death and desecration
On April 30, 1436, Friedrich VII died on the Schattenburg, where he was initially buried. According to a chronicler, he was buried with “shield and spear and helmet in a princely tomb”. But his widow Elisabeth von Matsch , who retired to the Rüti monastery in 1442 , had Friedrich's remains transferred there to be buried next to him after her death. During his lifetime Friedrich stayed with his whole court in the monastery for a while; his bones were buried in a separate crypt in the vestibule (Toggenburg chapel) of today's Reformed church in Rüti . A total of 15 Toggenburg counts and a large number of other nobles are said to have found their final resting place in the Rüti monastery.
When the Zurich countryside was ravaged by marauding Swiss troops after the outbreak of the old Zurich War in 1443, Elisabeth and the abbot and convent had to flee from the monastery to Rapperswil . The monastery was devastated by the incoming troops. The burial chapel was broken into and the decayed body of Frederick dragged outside, which was subsequently desecrated. You threw the bones at each other and stuffed a stone into the oral cavity of the corpse. Friedrich's flag for the dead was also brought home as a trophy.
The Klingenberger Chronik on this: “The aidtgenossen name ze Rüti in the chloster all glogged and found everything, smashed in the minster all helm and scolded and threw si hinuss. They broke the greber uff and truogent the dead lichnam heruss, Graaff Friedrichen von Togkenburg and schluogent im ain stain in the mouth. "
1436–1439: Toggenburg inheritance issue and escalation
Since Friedrich's marriage to Elisabeth von Matsch was childless, there was no heir. His only son Johann (Hans) von Toggenburg, who came from an illegitimate relationship, was not inheritable. His only sister Ita von Toggenburg, who was married to Count Bernhard von Thierstein (* around 1385, † 1437), died in 1414, and the two sons from this marriage also died early. The only daughter Susanna von Thierstein († 1460) was married to Friedrich V. Schenk von Limpurg (* 1401; † 1474).
Friedrich failed to draw up a legally valid will. In 1433 he had appointed his wife Elisabeth as a universal heir, but made contradicting promises to the heir. The Obere March , promised to the Schwyz since 1428, was occupied by Schwyz immediately after Friedrich's death. The annexation of this area was not contradicted by either side. On September 19, 1436, Elisabeth and Duke Friedrich IV of Austria agreed on the return of all originally Habsburg pledges against a payment of 22,000 guilders, so that Feldkirch, Rheineck, Altstätten and the Rhine Valley, Sargans with Walenstadt, Freudenberg, Nidberg as well Windegg / Gaster and Weesen initially fell back to Habsburg. On October 31, 1436, Elisabeth entered the Zurich castle law for 5 years as agreed three years earlier and promised in an additional document to hand over the county of Uznach , which had fallen to Hildebrand and Petermann von Raron in addition to the Toggenburg ancestral lands , to Zurich. This was thwarted by Glarus and Schwyz, however, by including the residents of the lords of Windegg (with the approval of the Habsburgs) and Uznach (with the approval of the Barons von Raron) - who refused the Zurich oath of homage - into their land rights. Zurich then began to pull together troops on the borders with Schwyz and the county of Uznach.
Due to the insecure situation, the country folk of the Toggenburg ancestral lands gathered in December 1436 to form their own rural community and, with the approval of the Lords of Raron, also entered into the land law of Schwyz and Glarus . Conversely, the people of Walenstadt refused to return to Austria and entered into a castle right with Zurich. The people of the County of Sargans - with the exception of the city of Sargans - who came to Count Heinrich II von Werdenberg-Sargans via Austria, also refused to pay homage to him and on December 21 also entered the Zurich castle law, whereupon the Count to regain the area in Schwyzer and Glarner Landrecht entered.
On December 24, the latter occupied the county of Uznach militarily, which was subsequently sold by Petermann von Raron to Schwyz and Glarus for a total of 2763 guilders. Through negotiations with Austria at the end of 1436, Schwyz and Glarus succeeded in persuading Duke Friedrich IV to conclude a land law with the people of the Windegg lordship on January 17, 1437, subject to Austrian rights. This was pawned on March 2nd, 1438 by Friedrich IV. On April 29, 1437, Zurich Duke Friedrich IV declared war and subsequently conquered Sargans and the lordships of Nidberg and Freudenberg with the help of the Chur bishop and the Sargans country folk, but were subsequently expelled from there by Schwyz and Glarus.
On March 9, 1437, Elisabeth transferred her inheritance to her brother Ulrich VI. († 1444) and her cousin Ulrich von Matsch with the condition that it should be divided fairly. On November 14th, she finally renounced her inheritance - as a result of which Zurich lost all legal rights - and the county of Toggenburg was divided among the relatives entitled to inherit.
The Vorarlberg possessions and those in the Rhine Valley remained with Habsburg, the latter being handed over to the Paier family for management and finally conquered by Appenzell in 1445; the rest of the property on the right bank of the Rhine to Thuringia von Aarburg. The Graubünden possessions from the Vazi inheritance, which were united on June 8, 1436 to form the ten-court federation , went to Count Heinrich von Sax-Misox , Wilhelm VII von Montfort , Wolfhard V. von Brandis and the Barons von Matsch .
The following table is intended to provide an overview of the division of the former county of Toggenburg:
| area | fell on | Another fate |
|---|---|---|
| Toggenburg county | Barons Petermann and Hildebrand von Raron | From 1437 by Petermann Raron governed and end in 1468 at the Abbey of St. Gall sold |
| Uznach county | Schwyz and Glarus | From 1437 as zweiörtige Common rule managed |
| Lordship of Windegg | Schwyz and Glarus | From 1437 it was administered as a two-part common rule. |
| Upper March | Schwyz | Annexed by Schwyz in 1436 and incorporated into this canton |
| Sargans county | Count Heinrich II of Werdenberg – Heiligenberg | Detached in 1437 by the counts of Schwyz and Glarus under the land law. VII to the places of the Old Confederation (without Berne) and as 1482/83 Common rule managed |
| Feldkirch county | Duke Friedrich IV of Austria | 1437 returned to Habsburg; the rest of the property on the right bank of the Rhine fell to Thuringia von Aarburg |
| Reign of the Rhine Valley | Duke Friedrich IV of Austria | Returned to Habsburg in 1437. Appenzell conquered these areas in 1445, but from 1491 they were taken over by the VII federal locations (excluding Bern) and administered as common rule (from 1500 with Appenzell) |
| Maienfeld and Jenins | Baron Wolfhard V. von Brandis | 1436 part of the Ten Court Association |
| Front Prättigau | Barons von Matsch | 1436 part of the Ten Court Association |
| Klosters , Davos and the Lenzerheide | Count Wilhelm VII of Montfort | 1436 part of the Ten Court Association |
| Remaining Vazic areas | Count Heinrich von Sax-Misox | 1436 part of the Ten Court Association |
Although the distribution of the Toggenburg inheritance was thus largely clarified, the disputed territorial questions, especially because of Windegg, Uznach and Sargans, were ultimately the trigger , if not the cause, of the Old Zurich War ; The latent rivalry between Zurich and Schwyz went back decades and, after previous hostilities, was first discharged on May 5, 1439 in the battle on the Etzel , whereby the outbreak of war could be averted for the time being through the mediation of the Confederates. After a military interlude in November 1440 and the partisanship of the Habsburg Frederick V in 1442 - who as Friedrich III. has meanwhile been elected emperor - for Zurich, the Zurich War spread from 1443 to 1446 to a conflagration that spread from Alsace to the Lake Constance region and on to Graubünden . Due to the exhaustion of war on both sides, the fighting ceased in 1446, although the peace negotiations dragged on until 1450.
rating
Personality and reputation
Frederick VII became famous for his power and alliance politics and for his childlessness. Contemporaries have already described him in various sources as a clever and clear-thinking man who, on the other hand, was also variously decried as an ambitious, unscrupulous and suspicious power politician. The citizens of Feldkirch, for example, complained about the compulsory labor and financial exploitation by the count for the reconstruction and expansion of the Schattenburg, which was destroyed three times in 1406, 1415 and 1417, as well as the cost of his expensive court maintenance.
The Klingenberger Chronik wrote: "Friederich VII. What ain unworthy man and his poor people a good gentleman, if he tightens them to lib and to guot, if they are in pledge or aigen, and has not been tired of what was good, if he met what is needed. So he does his great job, and has mastered it a lot. But he has the sinen sunst in good frid and umbrella from other lights. " («Frederick VII was a restless man and a tough man to his subjects, for he punished them in body and property, they were his pawns or property owners, and had no mercy on his people when it was his property, because he was So he brought his own into great distress, and also kept them in strict discipline. But otherwise he kept his own in good peace and protection from other people »)
The necrologium of the Pfäfers monastery described Frederick VII as "the most powerful prince and well-known ruler in Tütschen lands". Without a doubt, in the last years of his life in Switzerland he was considered the most powerful and richest feudal lord of his time and he was generally respected and wooed by his neighbors thanks to his clever territorial and alliance policy - as well as his financial strength.
For posterity, Frederick VII also retained a name as the client of the Toggenburg World Chronicle , which an unknown painter and graphic artist with the emergency name of the Konstanzer Meister provided with illuminations .
Question of guilt old Zurich War
The topic most controversially discussed in relation to the person of Frederick VII is likely to be the lack of a clear legal estate and his complicity in the outbreak of the Old Zurich War . Even contemporaries, and later in federal historiography, sometimes fiercely disputed the question of war guilt, and more recent historiography is still concerned with it. In the Swiss historiography of the 18th century, which tended towards the Schwyz point of view, the mayor of Zurich Stüssi and Emperor Friedrich III. named as the main culprit; on the other hand, ital reding is likely to have been mentioned most frequently.
In connection with the war in Zurich, Friedrich was sometimes described as a reprehensible, calculating and disappointed man who is said to have only had the destruction of the still young, hated Confederation in mind and therefore failed to issue clear orders. It was also stated that he was not interested in the undiminished preservation of his territory and that he had left the ungrateful task of dividing the estate to the heirs.
From today's perspective, these allegations are no longer tenable, as Friedrich could not have foreseen the events following his death. The territorial legal entanglements and manifold alliances in the late Middle Ages were extraordinarily complex. The county of Toggenburg in the special case was an extremely heterogeneous entity, the members of which defended their individual rights and freedoms for their part and tried to consolidate them through their own alliances. A constant in Friedrich's foreign policy can certainly be described as the maneuvering between the aspiring Confederates, the rule of Austria and his own subjects, with the intention of not allowing his rule to be endangered by their conflicts. Friedrich always tried not to tie himself too tightly to one side in order not to alienate his other neighbors. In the last years of his life, however, he seemed increasingly to turn to the federal places and to turn away from the Habsburgs; In particular, he maintained friendly relations with Schwyz, Glarus, Zurich and also Bern, so that it cannot be assumed that the Confederates were deliberately destroyed.
Research today agrees that the causes of the Old Zurich War are much more complex and can in no way be reduced to the territorial dispute between two federal locations or the guilt of a single person. In addition, the war widened from 1443 when Emperor Frederick III entered the war. and from 1444 onwards due to the intervention of the French King Charles VII and other participants. In any case, power-political, social, class and ideological considerations as well as economic constraints (such as trade embargoes, the poor harvests of the 1430s ) played a role in everyone's conflicts of interest .
aftermath
Frederick VII was certainly a matter-of-fact, determined power politician who knew how to identify foreign policy opportunities and use them to his advantage. At that time he was practically the last feudal in Switzerland who did not suffer from chronic financial worries, which enabled him to pursue a flexible policy. In terms of foreign policy, he developed a lively brokerage activity, through which he exercised a stabilizing influence on the region. It should also not be overlooked that he succeeded in practically doubling the area of his territory during his reign, thereby considerably increasing his already considerable influence in the region. The lack of diplomatic connections after his death, along with the political and territorial power vacuum, may have been one of the reasons for the outbreak of war.
The influence of Count Friedrich's long and stable rule on the region can hardly be overestimated; The long-term territorial and geopolitical effects of the Appenzell Wars, the Imperial War against Frederick IV, the change in the political landscape due to his own territorial expansion policy and, above all, the Old Zurich War that broke out after his death were of outstanding importance for the emergence of the Old Confederation . At that time, the Confederation was basically not yet a firmly established entity, and it was only the result of the Zurich War that led to a certain commitment among the members. As a result of the crisis years from 1436 to 1450, the federal influence on Eastern Switzerland in the second half of the 15th century was so great that most of the region's aristocrats were pushed back by the end of the century. In particular, the Habsburg dukes lost almost all of their possessions in what is now Switzerland. The future demarcations, especially with regard to the Alpine Rhine as the future state border between Switzerland , Austria and Liechtenstein , had their origins in the distribution of the Toggenburg hereditary assets and ultimately also in the Old Zurich War.
genealogy
ancestors
| Friedrich IV of Toggenburg († 1315) | |||||||||||||
| Friedrich V of Toggenburg (* around 1304; † 1364) | |||||||||||||
| Ita von Froburg-Homberg († 1328) | |||||||||||||
| Diethelm VI. of Toggenburg (* 1353; † 1385) |
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| Donat von Vaz (* around 1280) | |||||||||||||
| Kunigunde of Vaz (* around 1308; † 1364) | |||||||||||||
| Guta von Ochsenstein (* around 1266; † 1335) | |||||||||||||
|
Friedrich VII of Toggenburg (* around 1370; † 1436) |
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| Albrecht I of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg (* before 1308, † after 1364) | |||||||||||||
| Albrecht II of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg (* around 1330; † 1373) | |||||||||||||
| Katharina von Kyburg (* before 1313, † after 1342) | |||||||||||||
| Katharina von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg (* around 1374, † after 1439) |
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| Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Nuremberg (* around 1287; † 1332) | |||||||||||||
| Agnes von Hohenzollern-Nürnberg (* around 1330; † 1364) | |||||||||||||
| Margaret of Gorizia († 1348) | |||||||||||||
literature
- Georg von Wyß: Friedrich VII., Count of Toggenburg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, pp. 38-42.
Web links
- Erwin Eugster: Toggenburg, Friedrich VII. Von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ^ Fritz Meili: Texts on the history of the village of Untervaz: The Counts of Toggenburg, pp. 84–89 (1970) (PDF)
- ^ Johann Ulrich Meng: Texts on the village history of Untervaz: The Counts of Toggenburg pp. 01–15 (1988) (PDF)
- ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Castle rights of Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg with the City of Zurich (1400)
- ↑ Bruno Meier: A Royal Family from Switzerland (2008)
- ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Castle rights of Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg with the City of Zurich (1405)
- ↑ Alois Niederstätter, Peter Niederhäuser: The Appenzell Wars: A Time of Crisis on Lake Constance? (2006)
- ^ Salomon Hirzel: Zurich Year Books. Volume 2, p. 227 (1814).
- ↑ Seiler, Steigmeier: History of the Aargau. Pp. 35-37.
- ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Castle rights of Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg with the City of Zurich (1416)
- ^ Alois Niederstätter: The Vorarlberg castles. (2017)
- ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian history. P. 100 (2001)
- ↑ Markus Pastella: Duke Friedrich IV with the Empty Pocket (2011) ( Memento of the original from June 1, 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.
- ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Mediation in the conflict between Count Friedrich VII. Of Toggenburg and the City of Zurich and the State of Glarus (1428)
- ↑ Peter Niederhäuser, Christian Sieber: A «fratricidal war» makes history (2006)
- ↑ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Appointment of Elisabeth von Matsch as sole heir and confirmation of the castle rights with Zurich (1433)
- ↑ Klingenberg Chronicle (around 1460)
- ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Castle rights of Elisabeth von Matsch with Zurich for 5 years (1436)
- ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich: Transfer of the County of Uznach to Zurich by Elisabeth von Matsch (1436)
- ↑ Thomas Faßbind: History of the Canton of Schwyz (1833)
- ↑ Alois Niederstätter: The Old Zurich War (1995)
- ↑ Bernhard Stettler: The Confederation in the 15th Century (2004)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Frederick VII |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Toggenburg, Friedrich VII. Von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Count of Toggenburg |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1370 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | at Grüsch |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 30, 1436 |
| Place of death | Feldkirch |