Heinrich von Winkelried

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Heinrich von Winkelried († 1303 ), called Schrutan , was a knight from Switzerland . It was first mentioned on April 22, 1275.

Heinrich von Winkelried's fight with the dragon. Representation by Karl Jauslin
Schrutan or Struthan von Winkelried kills the dragon (ca.1750)

Life

Little is known about his life, possibly he was the son of the knight Rudolf von Winkelried. He is listed several times as a witness under the names "Heinrich called Schrutan" and "Heinrich von Winkelried called Schrutan".

Headquarters

The headquarters of the Winkelriede was probably in Ennetmoos in the canton of Nidwalden near Stans on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. There is no historical evidence of this. However, the coat of arms with the dragon of the municipality of Ennetmoos was designed in the course of the 20th century based on the Schrutan saga.

How early and which fiefs the Winkelriede owned, whether the farmstead named after them belonged to the Habsburg family in the past cannot be answered with chronicles and other written documents. It was not until the 13th century that Engelberg's sources for the history of Unterwalden flow from the treasury of documents .

Nickname «Schrutan»

Schrutan is a word from the fantasy world and means: "Giant, one of the guardians of the rose garden". The historical sources do not reveal why Winkelried received this nickname. Often, however, knightly families borrowed their last names or first names from contemporary poetry. The name Schrutan (also Strutan and Struthan) could possibly come from the Nibelungenlied , in which in verse 1880, 1 in the tournament with the Burgundians a knight of Etzel's court named «Schrûtân» is mentioned («Schrûtân unde Gibeche / ûf den bûhurt rites »-« Schrutan and Gibeche rode to the Buhurt »).

legend

Winkelried and the Lindwurm

In the ancient times in Unterwalden near the village of Wyler there lived a hideous dragon , which killed everything that came to it, cattle and people, and desolated the whole area, in such a way that the place itself received the name Ödwyler from it. Then it happened that a native called Winkelried, when he had to flee the country halfway through a serious murder, offered to attack and kill the dragon, on condition that he would be allowed back home afterwards. Then the people were happy and allowed him back into the country; he dared and overcame the monster by thrusting a bundle of thorns into its open jaws. While it tried to spit it out and couldn't, the animal failed its defense and the hero used its nakedness. He threw up his arm with exultation, with which he held the blood-drenched sword, and showed the inhabitants the act of victory, the poisonous dragon's blood flowed onto his arm and onto his bare skin, and he was immediately forced to die. But the land was saved and reconciled; Even today one shows the animal's dwelling in the rock and calls it the dragon's cave.

Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm : Deutsche Sagen , 3rd edition, 1865, No. 218 from: Leander Petzoldt : Historische Sagen, With Notes and Explanations, Volume II , Baltmannsweiler 2001, No. 610, p. 131.

progeny

  • Rudolf von Winkelried († 1325)
  • Walther von Winkelried († 1325).

An Erni Winkelried is named in Liebenau's work as the grandson of Heinrich, see also Arnold Winkelried .

literature

  • Hermann von Liebenau: The Winkelriede from Stans to Arnold Winkelried, the heroes of Sempach, according to documents , Zurich: Meyer and Zeller, 1854. 62 pages (communications from the Antiquarian Society in Zurich; Volume 9, Section II, Volume 2 )
  • Poem of freedom an alley in the book: Poems of a living by Georg Herwegh (1841)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Eutych Kopp: History of the federal leagues , Leipzig, 1845–1882, 2nd volume, 2nd department, 1st half: [1. Section] = Book 3: The Alemannic Lands between the Rhine and Are: 1273–1291. - Leipzig, 1847, page 200, notes 1, 3 and 5. - Text of the document in Liebenau, Die Winkelriede (see literature), page 52f .: Appendix III a.
  2. ↑ An alley for freedom

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Winkelried, Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schrutan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss knight
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH 1303