Johann Peter Stuppa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alliance coat of arms
Johann Peter Stuppa with
Anne-Charlotte de Gondi

Johann Peter Stuppa (also: Stoppa, Stouppe) (* July 1621 in Chiavenna ; † January 6, 1701 in Paris ) was a Swiss mercenary, officer and diplomat in the French service.

family

Johann Peter Stuppa was born in Chiavenna in July 1621. In the interests of his career, he acquired the citizenship of Chur in 1651 , that of Basel in 1659 and, at a still unknown point in time, also changed from the Reformed to the Catholic denomination.

His father, Nicolaus Stuppa, one of three sons of the physician and professor at the University of Basel Johannes Nicolaus Stuppan (from 1542 to 1621, called Stupanus, 1575 citizen of Basel), came originally from Como incumbent originating in Chiavenna noble family of Stuppa (sometimes : Stoppa). Also a doctor by profession and returned to Chiavenna, he married his cousin Lavinia Stuppa. Johann Peter was one of their 7 children.

Commemorative medallion of the wedding
of Johann Peter Stuppa
with Anne Charlotte de Gondi

The younger brother Johann Baptista Stuppa (1624-1692) was after studying Reformed theology in Leiden field preacher with Cromwell's troops. He had to flee England, suspected of being a Spanish spy, and reached Paris via the Netherlands, where he converted to the Catholic faith. In 1667 he became the owner and captain of a free company and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the regiment of his older brother Johann Peter in 1672–1674 . In 1677 he was promoted to command of his own regiment and in 1686 to brigadier. He died on August 23, 1692 in Mons of a wound from the battle of Steenkerke , where he had fought with his brother.

Johann Peter Stuppa's marriage in 1661 to Anne-Charlotte de Gondi (1627–1694), illegitimate scion of an influential noble family and widow of Louis-François Colbert, largely related to Jean-Baptiste Colbert , finance minister of the "Sun King" Louis XIV. , Remained childless, However, helped him to family ties to the French nobility.

Stuppa died on January 6, 1701 in Paris. He and his wife found their final resting place in the Saint Anne chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu (retirement and sick people's sanctuary) of the Augustinian women , today the hospital center (French: Center Hospitalier), of Château-Thierry (Aisne department), the they had regularly generously supported them during their lifetime.

Military career

The junior officer

In 1636, at the age of 16, Stuppa entered French service as a mercenary and cadet in the free company of his uncle Johann Anton Stuppa, which had been dug up the year before.

In 1637 he was promoted to ensign and in 1640 to lieutenant, and in this unit, which was incorporated into the Swiss Guard Regiment in 1648, he made a name for himself with his military skills: in Italy in the battles of La Roquette (1652) and at the Bormida (1654 ) and - in 1652 he became the owner and captain of a whole guard company half a year and five years later - in 1659 in the Free County of Burgundy . In 1665 he also raised a free company.

The guard captain

During the almost uninterrupted conduct of the war in France, Stuppa was always able to distinguish itself through courage and cold-bloodedness. Manly appearance, captivating demeanor, military ability and the family ties to the French nobility through marriage made him win the favor of the powerful Count of Soissons and the Minister of War Louvois , which gave him the idea of ​​the king.

In the 1667 campaign in the Spanish Netherlands under the personal command of Louis XIV, Stuppa was involved in the main power led by Maréchal Turenne in the successful sieges of Saint-Venant , La-Motte-au Boix , Dunkirk , Tournai , Douai and Lille .

Due to the chronically poor financial situation, Louis XIV was forced to reduce the costs and stocks of the Swiss regiments a year later. His approach - attributed to Stuppa by his contemporaries and confederates, which made them their most disapproved adversaries - to reinstate the dismissed guard companies as free companies to reduced approaches and to no longer fill the officer positions with members of the federal government families, clearly contradicted the framework conditions of the alliance agreements with the confederates were renewed for the last time in 1663. Their diaries reacted to the disregard of the surrender by banning this advertising and threatened the withdrawal of the regular troops, but ultimately remained unsuccessful.

The staff officer and diplomat

When Louis XIV needed additional troops for the imminent attack on Holland , he compromised not only his own ambassador in Solothurn, but again also the Confederates. He bypassed him and the responsible diary and instead gave in 1671, of all people, Guard Captain Johann Peter Stuppa, with the necessary powers to recruit 10,000 men directly from the individual federal locations.

Flag Regiment Stuppa "the Elder"

Stuppa had his mission there prepared by local officers from the Guard and Free Companies. He himself then concentrated his personal efforts on the affluent, France-friendly places on the Central Plateau, whose state budget depended less on the competing Spanish pensions. With clever negotiating tactics and the active support of French partisans, he actually succeeded in negotiating a surrender contract with a cheaper pay rate (soldier: 5 to 6, instead of the previous 7 ecu / month), so that in only 4 months 43 companies of 200 men and them to send to France.

The successful completion of this advertising campaign paid off for Stuppa. In the following year 1672 he became a brigadier and, as the owner, colonel of one of the new regiments formed afterwards , with whom he was involved in the siege of Doesburg under Vauban , the battle of Woerden and the capture of Utrecht in the Holland campaign .

Promoted to brigadier in 1672, the king placed him under the command of the Duke of Piney-Luxemburg as commandant of Utrecht, where he communicated with the Dutch philosopher Spinoza . In this capacity he even wrote to the King, the Prince of Condé and the Minister of War Louvois to inform them of the attacks by the French troops in the province of Utrecht.

From the end of 1673 again under Duke Piney-Luxemburg in combat action in Holland, from where, after the destruction of Zwammerdam and Bodegraven , he returned to the French border in 1674, and distinguished himself in the army of the Prince of Condé at the Battle of Seneffe . He was involved in the conquest of Liège and the sieges of Dinant , Huy and Limburg in 1675 and was promoted to Maréchal de camp in 1676 .

He held this position the following year in the sieges of Landrecies , Condé-sur-l'Escaut , Bouchain , Aire , Cambrai and Valenciennes , before joining the army of the king's only brother at the siege of Saint-Omer and in 1678 at those from Ghent and Ypres was in use.

In 1685 he was promoted to colonel in the Swiss Guards Regiment (with permission to keep his own regiment) and in 1688 to lieutenant général of the royal armies. In their ranks, in parts or as a whole, usually with the French guards as a brigade, the Swiss Guard Regiment was subsequently deployed in the Palatinate War of Succession until the Peace of Rijswijk (1697) mostly in Flanders and the Netherlands: for example during the sieges of Namur ( 1692 and 1695 ) and Charleroi (1693), the battles of Fleurus (1690), Steenkerke (1692) and Neerzüge (1693) and the bombing of Brussels (1695).

The King's Deputy

As early as 1674, Louis XIV. Stuppa had transferred the office of Colonel général to the Swiss, Graubünden and Valais troops in French services on an interim basis - in place of the minor nominal holder, the duc du Maine (1670–1736). He practiced this until his death, even after the duc du Maine came of age in 1688.

This key position, which was associated with the allocation of federal companies and regiments, officer positions and the distribution of French patronage resources, brought Stuppa into close contact with the federal power elite and made him an intimate expert on internal federal political conditions. The king's confidence enabled him to exert decisive influence on French-federal affairs in his military diplomatic mission.

Due to the consistent representation of royal interests, he often came into conflict with the daily statute, for which he was a constant topic. In 1698 he escaped conviction only because the process was suspended for failure to comply with the surrender.

However, his quick-witted reply has also been handed down, when Louvois, constantly in arrears with his payments, made the remark in front of the king in his presence that with the money he (the king) and his predecessors had given the Swiss, one could get a road from Paving Paris to Basel with silver: “That may well be, Sire, but if it had been possible to collect all the blood that my country shed in the service of Her Majesty and her predecessors, then one could also use a canal from Basel to Paris to build."

An active man into old age, he still wrote two treatises in 1700 on Swiss troops in French service.

On January 6, 1701 - meanwhile Knight of the Order of Saint Ludwig (French: Chevalier de St. Louis) - Johann Peter Stuppa died at the age of 81 in his residence on rue Michel-Lecompte in Paris.

The Stuppishaus in Chur

The time-honored Stuppishaus at Masanserstrasse 45 near the Chur train station has reached its present form in three construction stages. The weathered inscription above the main entrance (PC Stuppishaus 1817) was attached by the Chur master builder Paulus Christ on the occasion of the addition.

The building was built in the early 1630s, as dendrochronological studies on wood samples have shown. It is attributed to Johann Anton Stoppa, who sold the property to the relatives on record in 1647. At the time of Johann Peter Stuppa it was probably a recruiting center for mercenaries outside the city walls. The spacious, covered inner courtyard suggests it was a functional building intended for this purpose. Today it offers space for living and also for cultural events.

Anyone wishing to be accepted as a citizen in Chur had to show property in the city. Johann Peter Stoppa was naturalized in 1651. The sources do not give us any information as to whether he lived in the Stuppishaus and / or used it as a collection point.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Chiavenna was at that time subject area of ​​the Confederation of 13 localities facing town Drei Bünde .
  2. ^ From the Hôtel-Dieu to the public health facility, 700 years of care tradition . (French).
  3. ^ For example, the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), Fronde (1648–1653), War of Devolution (1667–1668), numerous campaigns in Spain and the Netherlands against the Spanish Habsburgs and on the Rhine against the imperial troops in the Dutch War (1672 –1678), War of Reunions (1683–1684), War of Palatinate Succession (1688–1697).
  4. ↑ Zurlauben reports that the royal payment arrears with the Swiss troops temporarily increased so much that the queen was forced to deposit part of her jewelry with the commander of the Swiss Guard Regiment as a deposit!
  5. ↑ the free companies were very well received, even among officers with blocked opportunities for advancement in the existing regiments. Between 1668 and 1690 up to 60 free companies were established.
  6. ↑ In particular, the following French partisans supported the Stuppa:
    Sigmund von Erlach Bern Barbara Braun-Bucher: Erlach, Sigmund von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
    Franz von Muralt Bern Christian Müller (2): Muralt, Franz Ludwig von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
    Colonel Meinrad von Planta-Wildenberg Three frets
    Baron Fidel de la Tour, Lord Mayor of the Bishop St. Gallen Peter Erhart: Thurn, Fidel von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
    Lieutenant Colonel Johann Heinrich Oberkan Zurich
    Colonel Jean-Antoine de Reynold Freiburg Johann Anton von Reynold
  7. ↑ In 1971, 12 companies of 200 men under the command of Johann Jakob von Erlach were the first to form the " Bern Regiment " . This and 4 other regiments in 1972/1973 also formed the transition to permanent Swiss regiments in French service.
  8. ^ The three other regiments were placed under the command of Johann Rudolf von Salis-Zizers from Graubünden, Franz Pfyffer von Wyher from Lucerne and Wolfgang Greder from Solothurn . Seven other permanent regiments were later added, including a marine infantry regiment .

bibliography

  • Beat Fidel Zurlauben : Histoire militaire des Suisses au service de la France. 8 tomes, chez Desaint & Saillant, Jean-Thomas Herissant & Vincent, Paris 1751–1753, OCLC 718299696 .
  • Abbé François Girard: Histoire Abrégée Des Officiers Suisses Qui Se Sont Distingués Aux Service Étranges Dans Des Grades Supérieurs . Louis Piller Imprimeur, Friborg en Suisse 1781, OCLC 163509436 .
  • Emmanuel May: Histoire militaire de la Suisse et celle des suisses dans les différens services de l'Europe . A Lausanne: chez JP Heubach et Comp., 1788. ETH Library Zurich, Rar 6250, https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-24289 , OCLC 832583541 .
  • Louis Vuillemin: History of the Confederates during the 16th and 17th Centuries . From the French, Part 2, Orell, Füssli and Compagnie, Zurich 1844.
  • Paul de Vallière, Henry Guisan, Ulrich Wille: Loyalty and honor, history of the Swiss in foreign service (translated by Walter Sandoz). Les Editions d'art ancien, Lausanne 1940, OCLC 610616869 .
  • Katrin Keller: A Swiss Guard Captain as a French negotiator. Johann Peter Stuppa's advertising negotiations in the Swiss Confederation in 1671 . Itinera 45/2018, supplement to the Swiss newspaper for contemporary history, editors: Philippe Rogger and Nadir Weber, Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2018.
  • Cécile Huber / Katrin Keller: French pensions in the Confederation and their distribution in the town and office of Zug by the Zurlauben family . Chapter in: Pay deals, clientelism, corruption in the early modern era , editors: Kaspar von Greyerz, André Holenstein, Andreas Würgler, V&R unipress, Göttingen 2018.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Micheline Rapine: l'Hôtel-Dieu de Château-Thierry au Grand Siècle . Compte-rendu du 28e Congrès tenu à Château-Thierry le May 27, 1984, Fédération des sociétés d'histoire et d'archéologie de l'Aisne / Mémoires, tome 30, Laon 1985.
  2. ↑ a b c Martin Bundi: Stoppa, Johann Peter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 20, 2012 , accessed September 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Abbé François Girard: Histoire Abrégée Des Officiers Suisses Qui Se Sont Distingués Aux Service Étranges Dans Des Grades Supérieurs . Tome II., Louis Piller Imprimeur, Friborg en Suisse 1781.
  4. ^ Adolf Collenberg: Stuppa (Stoppa), Johann Baptist. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 20, 2012 , accessed September 25, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Paul Fravi: Johann Peter Stuppa and the Stuppishaus in Chur . Article in Bündner Jahrbuch: Zeitschrift für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte Graubünden, Volume 16, 1974, p. 117-122.
  6. ↑ Etienne Pattou: Genealogy family Colbert . In: http://racineshistoire.free.fr/LGN , 2010. Accessed 1 October 2019.
  7. ↑ Article: Peter Stoppa, 1621–1701, a Swiss general in the service of the Sun King . Lettres de Penthes No. 019-Printemps 2012, p. 35, Bulletin de la Fondation pour l'Histoire des Suisses dans le Monde, Rédacteurs: Benedict de Tscharner Anselm Zurfluh, Pregny, April 4, 2012.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Katrin Keller: A Swiss Guard Captain as a French negotiator. Johann Peter Stuppa's advertising negotiations in the Swiss Confederation in 1671 . Itinera 45/2018, supplement to the Swiss newspaper for contemporary history, editors: Philippe Rogger and Nadir Weber, Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2018.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Beat Fidel Zurlauben : Histoire militaire des Suisses au service de la France. 8 tomes, chez Desaint & Saillant, Jean-Thomas Herissant & Vincent, Paris 1751–1753.
  10. ↑ Paul de Vallière, Henry Guisan, Ulrich Wille: Treue und Ehre, history of the Swiss in foreign service (translated by Walter Sandoz). Les Editions d'art ancien, Lausanne 1940.
  11. ↑ a b Peter Stuppa: Memorandum on Switzerland 1698. Chapter in: Helvetia. Memoirs about the XXII Free States of the Swiss Confederation, Volume 2, collected and edited by Joseph Anton Balthasar, member of the daily council of the City and Republic of Lucerne, printed by JJ Christen, book printer and bookseller, Aarau, available from CU Jenni, bookseller, Bern 1826.
  12. ^ A b c Cécile Huber / Katrin Keller: French pensions in the Confederation and their distribution in the city and office of Zug by the Zurlauben family. Chapter in: Pay deals, clientelism, corruption in the early modern period. Editors: Kaspar von Greyerz, André Holenstein, Andreas Würgler, V&R unipress, Göttingen 2018.
  13. ^ Journal officiel de la République française: rapport Académie des sciences morales et politiques, séance du samedi October 10, 1925 . 13 octobre 1925.
  14. ↑ Bulletin de la société archéologique historique et scientifique de Soissons, édition Librairie de Lalance et Voyeux-Solin, Soissons, 1928.
  15. ^ Colonel Pierre Stuppa: Mémoire sur les Gardes Suisses or Mémoire sur les Regimens Suisses . In: Gottlieb Emanuel Haller: Library of Swiss History , organized systematically and chronologically, Sixth Part, Tenth Section, General Law § 1544–1898, § 1857 or § 1858, in Haller's bookstore, printed by Rudolf Albrecht Haller, Bern 1787.
  16. ↑ a b Maya Höneisen: Stuppishaus cultural area, small but beautiful . Southeastern Switzerland , January 31, 2013.
  17. ↑ Urs Amacher: Zurlauben, Beat Fidel. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 4, 2014 , accessed January 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Stuppa, Johann Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stoppa, Stouppe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss-French military
DATE OF BIRTH July 1621
PLACE OF BIRTH Chiavenna
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1701
Place of death Paris