Jacob Hannibal III. from Hohenems

Coat of arms of the Lords of Ems in Scheibler's book of arms from 1450

After the county of Vaduz was sold to the Liechtensteiners, the castle of Jakob Hannibal III. inhabited by appointed bailiffs. The House of Liechtenstein has only lived in the castle since 1938 .

Jacob Hannibal III. von Hohenems (* March 7, 1653 ; † August 12, 1730 in Vienna ) was a count from the noble family Hohenems-Vaduz . He became known through the sale of the Schellenberg estate ( 1699 ) and the County of Vaduz ( 1712 ) to the House of Liechtenstein , a noble family from Austria and Bohemia. The sale of his property forms the basis of the Principality of Liechtenstein , which still exists today , a small state in the Alpine Rhine region between Austria and Switzerland that is still independent today . On January 23, 1719 , a diploma from Emperor Charles VI. the county of Vaduz and the rule of Schellenberg and elevated them to an imperial principality with the name of "Liechtenstein".

Life

Jacob Hannibal III. von Hohenems was the second eldest son of Franz Wilhelm I von Hohenems and Landgrave Eleonora Katharina von Füstenberg . He had four siblings, including Ferdinand Karl von Hohenems and Franz Wilhelm II von Hohenems ; a sister and another brother died in childhood. After the death of his father, the only twelve-year-old older brother Ferdinand Karl von Hohenems officially took over the affairs of government in the counties of Vaduz and Schellenberg. However, since he was far too young for this task, a guardianship government was appointed. Emperor Leopold I appointed his mother and uncle Karl Friedrich for this task. Together with his brothers he attended the Jesuit Latin school in Feldkirch . On November 12, 1669, he and his older brother Ferdinand Karl enrolled at the University of Salzburg .

After the death of his uncle Karl Friedrich on October 20, 1675, his brother Ferdinand Karl took over the government himself. His brother's rule was characterized by waste, arbitrariness and violence. The ruling brother squandered his siblings' fortunes and inheritance. Ferdinand Karl von Hohenems launched various witch trials and enriched himself with the assets of the executed. In 1681 the execution of the Reich was initiated against him and the Kempten abbot Rupert was commissioned to carry it out. It was Jakob Hannibal III who reported his own brother to the emperor. On June 22nd, 1684, the count was deposed after he had already lost sovereignty over criminal jurisdiction in 1683 and had been arrested. He was also obliged to return the illegally acquired property to the surviving dependents of the victims. He spent the last years of his life as a prisoner in Kaufbeuren .

After the death of his brother in 1686 Jakob Hannibal III should actually . take over the rule together with his brother Franz Wilhelm II . But the rulers remained under the administration of the abbot Rupert von Bodman, who was appointed by the emperor, although the rural population stood up for him. Jacob Hannibal III. took the position that he himself was a victim of his brother, that he could not help his brother's crimes, and it was he who reported his brother to the emperor. 1688 tried Jakob Hannibal III. in vain to take control of the fortress and county of Hohenems from his cousin Count Franz Karl Anton von Hohenems . But Emperor Leopold I preferred his younger brother Franz Wilhelm II. On April 3, 1691, he married Aloisia Josepha von Liechtenstein , a daughter of Maximilian II von Liechtenstein . But on August 27, 1691, Franz Wilhelm II fell in the battle against the Turks .

Jacob Hannibal III. tried a second time to take control of the county of Hohenems, but the emperor appointed an imperial administrator over the county of Hohenems just like in Vaduz and Schellenberg. The emperor gave Jakob Hannibal III complicity in the dire financial situation of the counties and lordships and trusted Jakob Hannibal III. Not. In 1699 he sold the Schellenberg estate to Johann Adam I of Liechtenstein for 115,000 guilders.

In return, he bought the county of Bistrau in Bohemia from Johann Adam I in 1710 for 234,000 guilders. Since he could not raise the money, he also sold the County of Vaduz to the Liechtensteiners for 290,000 guilders in 1712. With the purchase, the Liechtensteiners had acquired an imperial immediate area and thus a vote in the Reichstag . The county of Bistrau was not an imperial immediate area. Since Jakob Hannibal III. but also had a voting right in the Reichstag by the county of Hohenems, the trade was for him a great financial success of 56,000 guilders. His only problem was that the County of Hohenems was still under imperial administration and was run by Prince Abbot Rupert von Bodman and, from 1716, by Count Anton III. was administered by Montfort-Tettnang. On April 4, 1718, Emperor Karl VI. the end of the imperial administration over Hohenems, but appointed the son of Jakob Hannibal III. , Count Franz Rudolf , as the new regent of Hohenems.

Disappointed Jakob left Hannibal III. the Rhine Valley and spent the rest of his life in Bohemia and Austria. He became chamberlain at the Viennese court. First he was chamberlain to the mother of Emperor Franz I Stephan , Eleanor of Austria , then to Maria Magdalena, sister of Emperor Charles VI. He died in Vienna on August 12, 1730.

Web links

• Karl Heinz Burmeister: Hohenems, Jakob Hannibal III. from. In: Historical Lexicon of the Principality of Liechtenstein .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pierre Raton: Liechtenstein. State and history. 1969, pp. 17-20.
2. ^ Report on the blasphemous life of Count Ferdinand Karl Franz von Hohenems in Vaduz
3. ↑ Otto Seger: The last act in the drama of the witch trials in the county of Vaduz and rule Schellenberg . In: Yearbook of the Historical Association for the Principality of Liechtenstein . tape 57 . Vaduz 1957, p. 165 ( eliechtensteinensia.li [PDF; 2.6 MB ; accessed on June 23, 2013]).
4. ^ Klaus Biedermann: Yearbook of the historical association. Volume 111 Historical Association for the Principality of Liechtenstein