Hallwyl (noble family)

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Hallwyl coat of arms in Scheibler's book of arms

Hallwyl, also Hallwil or Hallweil , is the name of an ancient Swiss noble family with headquarters in Hallwyl Castle in the Seetal in what is now the canton of Aargau . The family served the Habsburgs and was later admitted to the Bern patriciate after the city ​​and republic of Bern had taken control of the Bernese Aargau in 1415 . Individual branches entered various foreign services. In 1671 the family of Emperor was I. Leopold in the erbländischen levied count conditions. The headquarters of Schloss Hallwyl remained in the possession of a family foundation until 1994.

history

Hallwyl Castle , headquarters in Aargau

The first mention of a member of the "von Hallwyl" family took place in a document in 1167: Waltherus de Allewilare from the circle of the barons of Eschenbach and in the entourage of the Counts of Lenzburg . Around this time he had a residential tower built on the Aabach not far from the northern end of Lake Hallwil , from which Hallwyl Castle later developed.

The von Hallwyls became ministeriales of the Habsburgs after the Kyburgs died out in the 13th century . From 1300 to 1464 they exercised the office of land and hereditary marshal in the foothills . Johann I (before 1305 to 1348) acquired further ownership rights such as the Twing lords of Boswil , Wildegg and Egliswil . Some of his four sons established their own lines, but by 1480 only one still existed. In 1369 they had signed an estate contract, according to which Hallwyl Castle had to remain with the male line. Thuringia I von Hallwyl fell in the Battle of Sempach in 1386 , while Thuringia II von Hallwyl fought as a field captain of the Habsburgs in the Old Zurich War between 1443 and 1450 .

Until about 1450 the Hallwylers had their burial place in the monastery Kappel , afterwards in the church Seengen . In 1415 Bernese troops conquered Aargau and set Hallwyl Castle on fire. It was not until 1470 that the family received citizenship rights in the city ​​and republic of Bern as the new sovereign rulership in the Bernese Aargau , into whose patriciate they were accepted. One line remained in the service of the Habsburgs in Alsace , Thuringia III, until it was extinguished . von Hallwyl was 1455–58 supreme captain in the foreland and 1464–68 governor in Alsace , Sundgau , Breisgau and the Black Forest . Hans von Hallwyl was the leader of the federal vanguard in the battle of Murten in 1476 against Charles the Bold .

The Trostburg , Aargau

The Hallwylers' domain included the high court and the lower court over the castle district, the Hallwilersee and Fahrwangen as well as the lower court over the dominions Egliswil and Seengen . At times they also had rights in numerous other villages in southern Aargau, for example from 1486 to 1616 in the entire rule of Trostburg . Over time, however, the city of Bern diminished its influence more and more and they had to sell their goods and rights outside the Bernese Aargau piece by piece.

Two sons of Dietrich II (1509) established their own lines, that of Hartmann III. died out in the male line in Aargau in 1671 and in Württemberg in 1710. The descendants of Dietrich III, who were again Catholic, lived from the sons of Caspar I, the founder of the second line. in Thurgau (reign of Blidegg ) and Swabia (died out in 1743), the likewise Catholic descendants of Hugo II in Austria and Bohemia (died out in 1779), those of Burkhard III. in Alsace (extinct 1793) and in Aargau; this branch, going back to Karl Hans Franz Rudolf (1827–99), still exists today.

Brestenberg Castle and Lake Hallwil on a color lithograph from 1865

In 1625, Hans Rudolf von Hallwyl had Brestenberg Castle built as a country residence near Seengen . Johann Anton (1683–1736), who entered the Dutch service, and Johannes (1688–1753), who also did the same and then served the King of France, achieved social advancement again. Jacob Leopold Freiherr von Hallwyl was raised to the status of hereditary count by Emperor Leopold I in 1671 . This diploma must also have been extended to his brother Johann Sebastian († 1700) without anything about it being found in the aristocratic archives of the Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior in Vienna; he had 12 sons. A characteristic of the von Hallwyl family, which produced numerous magistrates, officers and diplomats, is the fact that their careers were never entirely limited to the circles of the Bernese patriciate, but that numerous members of the widely ramified family worked at various European courts were. Nevertheless, the ancestral castle in Aargau always remained in family ownership. After the collapse of the old Swiss system of rule in 1798, the gender lost its importance there. After the proclamation of the Helvetic Republic in 1798, Hallwyl's court rights and regalia were replaced and passed to the newly founded canton of Aargau. The Hallwilersee remained in family ownership until 1859.

Hallwylska palatset in Stockholm

In 1874, the very wealthy Swedish industrialist daughter Wilhelmina Kempe, who was married into the family, bought Hallwyl Castle from her heavily indebted brother-in-law, Hans von Hallwyl . The Hallwyl Foundation , founded by Wilhelmina von Hallwyl in 1925 , donated the castle to the canton of Aargau in 1994. Members of the family still live in Germany today . In Stockholm is the city palace of Wilhelmina von Hallwyl, which was named Hallwylska palatset after her marriage to Count Walther von Hallwyl in 1865 . It was bequeathed to the Swedish state, which has opened it to the public as a museum since 1938.

Significant family members

Archives

literature

Hallwyl Castle
  • Samuel Zehender : “Presentation of Hallwylian tribe things, in favor of the noble house of Hallwyl, against the noble house of Landenberg in the Prestenberg” , Bern 1742.

Web links

Commons : Hallwyl family  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Hallwyl House , hallwylskamuseet.se, accessed on August 22 of 2019.