Johann Cobenzl (diplomat)

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The coat of arms of Cobenzl at the Predjama cave castle

Johann "Hans" Cobenzl , also Giovanni Cobenzl , Kobenzl von Prossegg, an hereditary baron since 1564, imperial baron since 1588 (* around 1530 in Štanjel ; † August 16, 1594 in Regensburg ) was a diplomat on behalf of the Habsburgs, civil servant of Inner Austria , most recently provincial governor of Krain and as a confidante of the Emperor Landcomtur of the Teutonic Order . He wrote the travel report about Russia, the "Relatione delle cose di Moscovia", which was very successful at the time.

Life

Johann Cobenzl was the son of Christoph Cobenzl zu Prossegg and Anna Burggräfin von Lueg (today Predjama Castle ). After attending the Latin school in Laibach, he worked in the chancellery of the Bishop of Laibach, then became a castner of the episcopal lordship of Oberburg (today Gornji Grad ), then administrator of Millstatt Monastery in Carinthia. From 1548 to 1552 he studied in Vienna and then in Bologna. In the first months of 1554 he attended the Collegium Germanicum in Rome and in 1558 took up his post as head of the Austrian chancellery in the imperial chancellery . From 1571 to 1573 Johann was imperial envoy in Rome, from 1575 to 1576 and again in 1581 envoy Maximilian II and Rudolf II in Moscow to Tsar Ivan IV ( the terrible ) . After 1581 Johann von Cobenzl was then minister in various imperial circles and at the Reichstag and in 1584 and 1594 signed the imperial farewells as a minister authorized by the emperor . Johann Cobenzl was emperor. Councilor and secret council, supreme court chancellor and from 1576 to 1591 chamber president (chairman of the archducal chamber) of Archduke Karl II. He was also captain of Trieste and Gradisca and from 1592–1593 governor of Carniola.

At the emperor's request, Johann Cobenzl was accepted into the Teutonic Order in 1566 and Landcomtur zu Laibach , then Graz and Wiener Neustadt. From 1577 to 1590 he was Komtur der Commende Leech in Graz. He was also prior of the Teutonic Order in Bressanone and coadjutor of the Austrian ballot . He was the confidante of the Habsburgs in the Teutonic Order.

According to Wißgrill, Johann and his brother Ulrich were accepted into the ranks of Emperor Ferdinand I on July 16, 1564 as barons of Prossegg zu Lueg, Leittenburg and Mossau . Johann Kobenzl von Prossegg was raised to the status of baron of Lueg, Mossau and Leittenburg by Rudolf II in Prague on August 30, 1588 . In 1570 he had Lueg Castle, inherited from his mother, rebuilt. He died on August 16, 1594 at the Diet of Regensburg (according to other information, 1598).

Work as a writer

Cobenzl became famous for his travel report "Relatione delle cose di Moscovia", which he wrote from his diplomatic trip to Russia in 1575/76 and which has been handed down in numerous manuscripts and in several languages. In 1589 the "Relatione" was printed under the false author name Filippo Prenestain as part of the "Tesoro politico", a collection of diplomatic documents, treaties and reports that was popular at the time. Cobenzl had traveled to Moscow in 1575 on behalf of Emperor Maximilian II as head of a diplomatic delegation to negotiate with the Tsar about the question of the succession to the Polish King Sigismund II August after Henry III. Had become king of France.

literature

  • Silvano Cavazza: Giovanni Cobenzl fino al 1564: la formazione di un ministro austriaco , in: Oltre i confini: Scritti in onore di don Luigi Tavano per i suoi 90 anni; a cura di Liliana Ferrari e Paolo Iancis; Gorizia 2013, pp. 143-152. Article on www.academia.edu
  • Silvano Cavazza: La Relatione delle Cose di Moscovia di Giovanni Cobenzl , in: Quaderni Giuliani di Storia, 34 (2013/1), pp. 53-98.
  • B. Mitchell; R. Zguta: The Sixteenth-Century “Account of Muscovy” attributed to Don Felippo Prenestein , “Russian History / Histoire Russe”, 8 (1981), pp. 390-412
  • Hellmuth Rößler: "Cobenzl" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 3 (1957), p. 297 online version
  • H. Uebersberger: Austria and Russia since the end of the 15th century , I, Vienna and Leipzig, W. Braumüller, 1906, pp. 439–464
  • Franz Karl Wißgrill : Scene of the rural Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood ..., Vienna 1795, Volume 2, p. 95
  • P. v. Radics: The imperial envoy Johann Khobentzl von Prosseck, of the Teutonic Order Comthur in Laibach. in Fedor Bamberg, Ignaz v. Kleinmayr. Leaves from Carniola , March 18, 1864. PDF

Web links

Commons : Johann Cobenzl zu Prossegg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1598 according to the New German Biography
  2. ↑ see Radics: Johann Khobentzl von Prosseck .. , leaves from Krain. P. 43
  3. ↑ see www.nobility.eu
personal data
SURNAME Cobenzl, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cobenzl, Hans (nickname); Kobenzl, Johann; Cobenzl, Giovanni; Cobenzl von Prossegg, Freiherr zu Lueg, Mossau and Leittenburg, Johann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nobleman, diplomat on behalf of the Habsburgs, inner-Austrian civil servant, governor of Carniola, travel writer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1530
PLACE OF BIRTH Štanjel
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1594
Place of death regensburg