Hans vom Staal

Hans vom Staal (* 1419 probably in Wangen im Allgäu ; † 1499 in Solothurn ) was the town clerk of Solothurn, Switzerland . He played an important role in the diplomatic negotiations in Solothurn and in the admission of the then Zuende Ort into the Confederation .

biography

Hans vom Staal was probably born in Wangen im Allgäu . At that time the family wrote about Stall and de Stabulo , in the 17th century the spelling of Staal and von Stahl emerged . Today it is also common for the older members of the Staal family . Johann and Hans vom Staal came to Solothurn around 1455. The exact year of his arrival is not known. The information in the literature fluctuates between 1450 and 1456, with 1455 or 1456 being the most likely, since his predecessor Johann Etterlin was still a town clerk according to the HBLS in 1455 and Hans vom Staal only appears in the Solothurn files from 1457, already as a town clerk. His handwriting cannot be identified with certainty in the documents before 1456 either. The previous whereabouts and activities of Hans vom Staal are unknown.

In Solothurn, where he was granted citizenship, von Staal quickly became a wealthy man in his office as town clerk. Although the salary of his office was rather low, he was granted the privilege of being the only one in Solothurn to issue legally valid documents and to work as a clerk at all. The issuance of documents was very expensive at the time, and since every legally valid act had to be documented, this explains the rapid increase in Hans vom Staal's assets.

In 1483, already in possession of several properties, he was able to acquire the village of Lüttelsdorf (now Courroux ) near Delsberg from the Prince-Bishop of Basel as a fief .

His reputation and influence in Solothurn grew rapidly. Hans vom Staal found a new role for himself as town clerk that sets him apart from his predecessors, who as town clerks had no notable political influence. Formally, he had no voice in the council and was only the secretary, but his advice on factual issues was very often accepted because he had a legal education that most councilors lacked.

Hans vom Staal was particularly strong in his diplomatic duties as the Solothurn envoy . Already at the beginning of his term of office he led the negotiations with the Junker Thomas von Falkenstein , which led to the acquisition of the rule of Gösgen , and was commissioned to procure bonds in Strasbourg , Basel and cities in Aargau in order to raise the purchase price. As a result, it was mainly the "difficult, intricate deals that the Council puts into its hands" that remained.

When the Duchy of Burgundy became increasingly dangerous, Hans vom Staal took over the care of Solothurnian relations with the neighboring powers. He appeared very often on the agenda of negotiations concerning the relationship with the emperor , Austria and the imperial cities of Alsace . Vom Staal maintained diplomatic contacts with Archduke Siegmund of Austria and even with Charles the Bold . His policy was pro-Austria and directed against Bern .

In 1481 Hans vom Staal is said to have played an important role in the admission of the Canton of Solothurn into the Swiss Confederation. In the article by Franz Fäh about Hans Jakob vom Staal the Younger (1589–1657) in the ADB , Hans vom Staal is referred to as a friend of Niklaus von Flüe . Hans vom Staal is the likely client of the Solothurn history bible of the von Staal family, which is now part of the Staal family library in the Solothurn Central Library , which was largely expanded by his great-great-grandson Hans Jakob vom Staal the Elder (1539-1615) . The book comes from Diebold Lauber's workshop .

On November 14, 1487, King Maximilian I (who only assumed the imperial dignity in 1508) granted Hans vom Staal and his descendants a coat of arms:

«We Maximilian Von God's grace profess Roman Küng [...] and notify us all with this letter, which we have graciously addressed and regarded as inheritance, honesty, good morals, virtue and reason, so that John of the unbelievable and the empire dearest Stall is famous in front of our artistic Mayestät, and sunnder also the genemen, drawn, diligent serve, as the same Johanns from the stables have done us and the Holy Empire bithar [...] and have therefore with deliberate courage, good advice and know more rightly To his own Johansen vom Stall and all his corpse corpses heirs for and for Diess after-written coats of arms and cleinot, with the name of a gellwen or golldfarwen and inside a bird klawen, graw or vogellfarw, and the one above in the table mixed with pawpaws or skilfully sye, and on the shield a light, adorned with a red and yellow light blanket, Daruff a man ane arm, in a red dress, with a B in the middle knitted and backwards flying red and gellw, and beforehand on the dress dryg gellw buttoned, and on top of the skirt a gellwer cuff or hem, are the face of an old man with a green beard and a green hair, and on top of it a rosary from know and red roses, how then to arm yourself and Cleinot Inn to the Schillde and on the Hellme In the middle of this present our artistic letter moled [...] of newer mercifully compared and given [...] »

The central symbol of the coat of arms is thus the bird or griffin claw. Hans Jakob vom Staal 's son Hans Jakob vom Staal (1463–1520) had this coat of arms painted in the history Bible in 1519. However , in her publication on the History Bible , Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jeltsch comes to the conclusion that the manuscript was probably not acquired by the son, but actually commissioned by the father, especially because of the «in the pictures in the detailed examination so noticeable deviations from the usual of allusions to the owner. "

literature

• Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jeltsch: Piety and Prestige in the Late Middle Ages. The pictures in the history Bible of the Solothurn family vom Staal. Schwabe, Basel 2008. (Publications of the Central Library Solothurn; 30). ISBN 978-3-7965-2415-8 ; therein pp. 34–36 on the life of Hans vom Staal.
• Hans Sigrist: Town clerk Hans from the stable. In: Solothurn biographies . Dietschi, Olten 1951. pp. 92-119.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland. Neuchâtel, 1931. Vol. 6, p. 485
2. ↑ Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland. Neuchâtel, 1926. Vol. 3, p. 88
3. ↑ Sigrist, p. 93
4. ↑ Sigrist, p. 94
5. ↑ Sigrist, p. 95
6. ↑ ^{a b} Saurma, p. 34
7. ↑ Sigrist, p. 98
8. ↑ Sigrist, p. 99
9. ↑ ^{a b} Sigrist, p. 100
10. ↑ Sigrist, p. 102
11. ^ Saurma, p. 36
12. ^ Franz Fäh .:  Staal, from . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 329 f.
13. ↑ Available online at E-Codices
14. ↑ Hans vom Stall, town clerk in Solothurn. In: Urkundio. Contributions to patriotic historical research, mainly from north-western Switzerland. Vol. 2/2, No. 31. Zepfel'sche Buchdruckerei, Solothurn 1895. pp. 114–116. doi: 10.5169 / seals-320756
15. ^ Saurma, p. 36
16. ^ Saurma, p. 38