Lords of Wolfurt
The Lords of Wolfurt or Wolffurt were a noble and knightly family who had influence in the southern Black Forest in Vorarlberg and Switzerland from the 13th to the 15th century ; their ancestral seat was Wolffurt Castle .
history
The gender first appears around 1226. Tradition has it that the McDewx the Wolf family was persecuted in their homeland in the 13th century and emigrated from Scotland to Italy and Germany, where the name passed into Wolfesford and then Wolfurt .
In the 13th century, the Lords of Wolfurt are documented as the owners of Gießen Castle in Kressbronn on Lake Constance .
The well-known Wolfurt chalice , which he donated to the Pfäfers monastery in the canton of St. Gallen in the 13th century, comes from the knight Konrad .
Abbots in Pfäfers Monastery
Three members of the Wolfurt family became abbots of the important Pfäffers Abbey:
- Konrad von Wolfurt
- Eglof von Wolfurt
- Burkard of Wolfurt
Mercenary leader and knight
The brothers Konrad and Ulrich von Wolfurt moved to Italy as condottieri with Hungarian mercenary armies. There they became governors of Naples and Apulia in 1349 and later also settled in Hungary, where they ruled over five counties.
The gentlemen of Wolfurt were not on the right track with the Counts of Montfort . They much preferred to maintain contacts with St. Gallen , Lindau or other monasteries outside the Montfort area of influence.
Entries in documents (selection)
- Anastasia von Wolfurt marries Erhard von Falkenstein , so that rule over Bonndorf in the Black Forest came to this family as a marriage property.
- In 1366, knight Heinrich von Blumegg sells Tannegg Castle with people and accessories to Egolf von Wolfurt. The Wolfurt family did not yet have all the rights to Tannegg, so Diethelm von Tannegg signed a debt insurance policy of 300 guilders to the Wolf von Wolfurt. The Lords of Wolffurt later sold Tannegg Castle to Hans von Rechberg .
- In 1403 they bought goods in Birkendorf and lived in Birkendorf Castle .
- In 1418 and 1429 they also supported the Pauline monastery in Grünwald through foundations
- Rudolf von Wolfurt was the last of his tribe in the Black Forest, he pledged his fief rights over the town of Bräunlingen , which he had received from Austria, to the Fürstenberg family around 1500 .
Around 1530, the Lords of Wolfurt also died out in the Rhine Valley .
Wolfurt Castle
Wolfurt Castle came after the Lords of Wolfurt as an Austrian fiefdom to a family from Bregenz .
In 1530 Abbot Kilian Germann (* around 1485; † 30 August 1530; abbot in the St. Gallen Monastery, 1529–1530) bought Wolfurt Castle near Bregenz and fled here from St. Gallen. Abbot Diethelm Blarer lived in the castle after him. Wolfurt Castle was destroyed by fire in 1939 and rebuilt.
Today, with its massive walls, it is a landmark of Wolfurt and has been privately owned by the Schindler family of manufacturers since the 20th century .
The castle has been owned by the Wolfurt community since 2018.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg
- ↑ Werner Vogler: Kilian Germann. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 7, 2006 , accessed July 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Lorenz Hollenstein: Ulrich Bertz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . September 11, 2002 , accessed July 3, 2019 .