Georg Schilling from Cannstatt

Georg Schilling von Cannstatt medal, around 1530

Georg Schilling von Cannstatt (* around 1490 in Neuffen ; † February 2, 1554 in Heitersheim or Malta ) was a German knight, military leader and imperial prince.

Life

Georg Schilling von Cannstatt came from an aristocratic family Schilling von Cannstatt who originally lived in Cannstatt , which is now part of Stuttgart . He spent many years of his life as a high-ranking member of the Order of Malta in the Mediterranean region, where he helped shape the order's fortunes. The fact that the Romanic members in the order predominated in numbers meant that members of the German section, the German tongue, rarely achieved such prominence as Georg.

On Rhodes and on the move

According to the family chronicle, Georg joined the Order of St. John in 1502 . At that time he resided in his religious state of Rhodes . It is guaranteed that George traveled to Rhodes in 1517. He quickly made a career there. As early as the year of the last great Turkish siege of Rhodes, 1522, he was deputy grand bailli of the German tongue and was thus in charge of it. A letter from this time has come down to us in which he reports on the siege. After the conquest of Rhodes by the Turks (1523) and a long wandering, the order settled in 1530 at the urging of George (“Woe to him who opposes it ... Because you can clearly see that the order, if it does not accept a place soon, will not go will. ”) in Malta , which secured the order's long-term political independence in a de facto independent religious state. Above all, however, the order was able to resume the sea war against the Mohammedans from exposed Malta. As a protective shield for European countries and their seafaring, the order understood how to legitimize itself as a crusader order.

On Malta

Georg continued his career in Malta. He was now Großbailli of the German tongue, d. H. the members of the tongue were subordinate to him in Malta and he was the master of the German hostel, the building in which they lived together. He only chaired the members of the German Tongue in their home regions indirectly, since the Grand Prior in Heitersheim was their immediate superior. According to the federal distribution of tasks in the order, the German Bailli was responsible for all of Malta's fortifications and had to ammunition and feed the troops stationed there. In the event of war, he also had to command the section of the central defenses entrusted to the German tongue. In 1541 Georg was elected general captain of the galleys and was able to distinguish himself through a number of victorious undertakings. During one operation he succeeded in capturing an important enemy and in exchange for him to free the future Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette from slavery. Without its excellent command and its own combat mission, the Order and the Order would have perished in 1565 during the so-called Great Siege by the Turks.

In and off North Africa

Despite his desire to live in Germany for a longer period of time (he had been given numerous attractive local religious orders, newcomers , for usufruct), Georg continued to work in North Africa. For several years he was governor of Tripoli , after which he was able to repeatedly horror from outside and for a long time kept the Turks at bay with the galleys. He also became a comrade in arms of Emperor Charles V as King of Spain twice : before Tunis (1535) and before Algiers (1541). Tunis is liberated from the Turks, and King Molasses values ​​Georg highly as "the most reliable protection and shield" of his person and his empire. The conquest of Algiers failed, but received much more attention in literature. Georg was able to save the troubled Christian troops twice. First in front of the city of Algiers and later during the retreat at sea, which was impaired by a storm. Charles V had even ordered all captains to follow the galleys under George's command. The Christian fleet thus reached a protective port. George's brother knight, Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon , who later founded Rio de Janeiro , indirectly memorialized him by publishing a text about this campaign in 1542, which later, translated from Latin, also appeared in Germany.

In Heitersheim

In 1546 Georg Schilling returned to Germany from Cannstatt. As the successor to Johann von Hattstein († April 4, 1546), he was now Grand Prior of the Teutonic Order and had his seat in the rule of Heitersheim , between Freiburg and Basel . Two years later, Charles V elevated him and his successors to the rank of imperial prince . Georg founded the Heitersheim “Prince Dynasty” with 22 subsequent Prince Grand Priors. The emperor not only honored his old comrade in arms and helped his order to increase its reputation in the empire, but also secured an important additional Catholic voice in the imperial council . For despite all of the liberalism that was said of him, George was very hostile to Lutheranism . In Heitersheim, too, Georg was still happy to report on the battles for Rhodes. For better illustration he is said to have even had Rhodian pictures painted on the walls.

Georg Schilling von Cannstatt died on February 2, 1554, whether in his residential palace in Heitersheim or in Malta is unclear. His coat of arms still adorns the wall of the palace area facing the street and a plaque with his portrait restored in 2008 on the courtyard. In the recently published Heitersheimer Festschrift for the 200th anniversary of the city charter, he is counted among the four most important princes of Heitersheim.

literature

• Barz, Wolf-Dieter: Georg Schilling von Cannstatt, a German Johanniter on Malta , in: Der Johanniterorden in Baden-Württemberg , issue 69, 1984, pp. 5-15.
• Galea, Michael: The German Knights of the Order of Malta , San Gwann 1996, under: Georg Schilling von Cannstatt (1490–1554), first link with German knights, pp. 41–51.
• Tade Matthias Spranger:  Georg Schilling from Cannstatt. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 1208-1210.
• Ernst Freiherr Schilling von Canstatt: Georg Schilling von Canstatt, Grand Bailly of the Order of St. John with German tongue and Imperial Prince of Haitersheim . In: Schau-ins-Land, Volume 39 (1912), pp. 68–73. online at the Freiburg University Library
• Julius Leichtlen: Contributions to the history of the Turkish wars, the Order of Malta, and the holy land and grave. In: Writings of the Society for the Promotion of History to Freiburg im Breisgau, First Volume, Freiburg im Breisgau 1828, pp. 499-584 in the Google book search

Web links

Commons : Georg Schilling von Cannstatt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mager, Mathis: The last crusaders in the eastern Mediterranean? The defensive struggle of the Knights of St. John on Rhodes (1522) between the idea of ​​a crusade and sovereign self-image, in: Franz Brendle u. a. (Ed.) Geistliche im Krieg , Münster 2009, pp. 273–292 (374f.).
2. ↑ Schomburgk, Wilhelm: The history of the train Charles V against Algiers 1541 , Leipzig 1875 in the Google book search
3. ↑ Villegagnon, Nicolas Durand de: The most transparent and great kayser Karoli of the Fifth Campaign in Aphricam for Algiers , Neuburgi Danubii 1546, microfiche edition , Munich 1990.
4. ^ Donner, Horst: Significant princes and chancellors , in: Heitersheim, a city with a great history , Heitersheim 2010, p. 70 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann von Hattstein	Grand Prior of the German Order of St. John and Prince of Heitersheim 1546–1554	Georg Bombastus from Hohenheim