Johann Siegmund von Liebenau

Johann Siegmund von Liebenau (born November 17, 1607 in Krumhermsdorf , † September 14, 1671 in Dresden ) was an officer in the Saxon military and governor of the Pirna office . Military Valor gained from Liebenau, when he in 1639 during the Thirty Years War , the fortress Sunstone in Pirna successfully defended against the Swedish troops. From 1668 he acted as commander in chief of all Saxon fortresses and their garrisons.

Live and act

Johann Siegmund came from the noble family of Liebenau . During the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) the fortress on the Sonnenstein had to control the Elbe and the Saxon-Bohemian border. Around 1632, when the war also spread to Saxony, Lieutenant Colonel Hans Georg Speett put the town of Pirna and the Sonnenstein Fortress in readiness for defense. On March 3, 1638, the Saxon Elector Johann Georg I gave the commandant of the Saxon field artillery, Lieutenant Colonel ( Lieutenant Colonel ) Johann Siegmund von Liebenau, the supreme command of the castle and the city of Pirna.

Liebenau arranges for the fortress to be put in a defensible state, for the ditches and walls in the city to be repaired and for the gates to be barricaded with stilts. Around 500 officers and men are available to him in the city and in the castle. Then there are the armed citizens of Pirna, under the command of their quarter masters, who stand by to defend the gates and the wall sections assigned to them. When the Swedes approached, Liebenau had the outer houses of the suburbs burned down “on 50 Schuh in the vicinity of the moat”, probably in order to have a clear field of fire. The Obertorvorstadt , the Schifftorvorstadt and the Dohnaische Vorstadt with the Nikolaikirche and the adjoining hospitals and infirmaries were affected .

On April 23, 1639, the Swedish troops under Field Marshal Johan Banér attacked the city of Pirna from 8 a.m. First of all, the city's gates and towers in particular are bombarded with cannons. At the Breiten Gasse (around the confluence of today's Siegfried-Rädel-Straße with Breite Straße) there are 5 cannons that bombard the Dohnaische Tor, from the Schlossberg the upper gate and the parapets on the ramparts and walls are attacked by the mountain ranges on the right side of the Elbe in Copitz , the cannon fire is directed towards the Elbe gate in the north, the “gate”, the ship gate in the east and the salt house. But the Swedish besiegers are also shot at from the city and the castle and suffer heavy losses.

Around 12 o'clock a breach appeared at the Dohnaischer Tor; the protective grille cannot be closed. The Swedes storm through into the city, immediately penetrate the “gate”, while the Elbe and Obertor are still being defended. Liebenau therefore retreats with his soldiers to the castle, looting the houses below the castle as they retreat. - The Swedes were unable to take the fortress during the entire five-month siege.

Banér moved to Bohemia with most of his soldiers in the first half of May 1639 , when Liebenau had refused the invitation to surrender. Two Swedish regiments of 600 men each stayed behind for the siege and were reinforced by two more regiments at the end of May. In the following months there were attempts by the Swedes to conquer the castle as well as Saxon attempts from Dresden to supply the castle with supplies of food and ammunition and to strengthen the crew, which succeeded several times. At times the Swedes had to hide in Pirna.

The artillery fire severely damaged the fort's buildings. Saxon relief troops inflicted heavy losses on the Swedes but were unable to end the siege. An imperial army, which was supposed to recapture Pirna, had to withdraw in September 1639 from the advancing Swedish troops in order not to be cut off from Dresden. During this time the city of Pirna was rescued on September 25, 1639 by Theophilus Jacobäer , who prevented the Swedes from burning the city down by means of a petition. Shortly afterwards, the Swedes finally withdrew from Pirna entirely.

Von Liebenau, the fortress commander, now calls on the citizens to return to their city. The elector instructs him to forbid his soldiers "all looting and violence"! The then 33-year-old von Liebenau, whose entire merit consisted in staying in the safe Sonnenstein Castle, turned out to be a greedy business man immediately after the “Pirn's misery”. Taking advantage of the plight of the people, he carried out around 20 “legal transactions” between 1640 and 1664 and acquired extensive property in front of the city gates. As compensation for financial losses, the elector enfeoffed him with the manor Langenhennersdorf including the associated village and Vorwerk Neustruppen . Later he bought the manor Zehista that includes also the villages Zehista , Goes , Luga , part of Kreischa and outworks the wider area came. The Pirna Council struggled to defend itself against repeated and outrageous demands and presumptions. Thus the v. Liebenau the true high earner in the misery of his countrymen. (Quote from Hugo Jensch)

After the Swedes had withdrawn, the fortress commandant von Liebenau and his 150 men restored the houses in the castle courtyard by 1644. He also built a new well in the inner courtyard, repaired the gates, built a brewery and reinforced the walls and bridges of the fortress.

In the aftermath of Liebenau was not only supreme commander of the forts Koenigstein and sun stone, but also Amtshauptmann in Pirna. In 1668 he commanded all fortresses in Saxony and their garrisons. In 1674 he also took command of the fortress of the capital and residence city of Dresden .

One source says that his grave is in the Pirna town church St. Marien . This is very unlikely, as there are no graves in the church (inside or outside), only epitaphs and none of these refer to Liebenau.

Web links

• City of Pirna - historical personalities
• History of Pirna by Hugo Jensch