Königsberg (noble family)

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Coat of arms of those of Königsberg, from Siebmacher's book of arms

The von Königsberg family was a knightly family from the High Middle Ages to the early modern period , existing for over 500 years, with possessions in Styria , the Bucklige Welt and in German-West Hungary (today Burgenland ). In old documents from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries the names Chunigesperch, Chungesberch, Khunigsperg, Kungsperg and Künigsperger were also used for the family. The gentry family, which died out in the 17th century, bore the title "Barons of Sebenstein and Pernstein". Genealogical edits of the Königsberg family were made by Franz Karl Wißgrill (published in 1824 in "Schauplatz des n.ö. Adels V") and by Gabr. Bucelini ("Germania topochrono - stemmatograph. III") created. At least until 1804 the Jörger family had a family tree of the noble family.

history

The first documented mention of the Königsberg family comes from the 12th century . Otto I von Königsberg (Chungesberch) is named in a document from 1181. According to Wißgrill, Otto I. is therefore considered to be the master of the family. Otto II von Königsberg (Otto de Chungesberch, approx. 1212 to 1240) seems to have taken part in a tournament in Friesach in May 1224, whereupon he once "ran chivalrously" against the minstrel and poet Ulrich von Liechtenstein on May 2nd gave an honorable testimony from Otto II by singing from him (in Middle High German ):

This is what Kungesperc said:
if you even uz world (select)
he (whose) he must always be one.

Gundacher Ritter von Königsberg, a man of the "minor nobility" who had his own retinue of soldiers, is mentioned in 1264 in the Styria area. The Königsbergers were ministerials of the Salzburg and Gurk bishops . Their ancestral home, the old castle and the Königsberg rule (today Kunšperk in Lower Styria , Slovenia ), was in the Cilli district in Styria on the Croatian border. With the ancestral castle (now in ruins), yet in 1347 in the possession of John of Konigsberg, 1389 Conrad Fruett was the Bishop of Gurk invested .

Depiction of the tombstone of Konrad von Koenigsberg

They came to Austria from Styria. Johann I von Königsberg was the first to live in the Austrian area (1322). After Ehrenreich I, the family branched out into an older (Georg) and younger line (Johann IV.) Of Ehrenreich's two sons. In Styria, Landsberg, Maierhöfen, Rabensberg and Tuchenstein are known as former possessions of the Königsbergers. Finally, in the 14th century, the family's first smaller estates appear in western Hungary. The lords of Bernstein , Aspang , Thomasberg , Zigersberg, Schwarzenbach , Katzelsdorf and Seebenstein were in their possession. The Seebenstein fortress was in the hands of the Königsbergers from 1432 to 1654. From Seebenstein, Johann von Königsberg, who was loyal to the emperor, supplied the city ​​of Wiener Neustadt , which was besieged by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, with provisions and ammunition “in a dark night” in 1486 . How much influence and reputation the Königsbergers enjoyed up to the highest circles can be seen, among other things, from the fact that Konrad von Königsberg was one of the 14 men to whom King Albrecht II of Habsburg transferred the reign in Austria to Ofen on February 9, 1438 , because he was the least likely to be here because of the government business for Bohemia and Hungary. He probably held this dignity until King Albrecht's death.

At the time of the Reformation , some members of the Königsbergs brought Protestant preachers into their dominions. Christoph von Königsberg zu Aspang and Pinkafeld as well as Ulrich and Ludwig von Königsberg and many other family members publicly acknowledged the new doctrine of the faith. With the Habsburg rulers, they mostly held high offices. As supporters of Protestantism , like their predecessors in power, they were no longer active in the state administration, but in military service they acquired an important position. From the 16th century they were obliged, along with other rulers, to keep certain contingents of military under arms to protect their region against the Turks. Among other things, they successfully defended “their” Bernstein Castle against the Turkish onslaught in 1532 . In return for their military services, they received money from state taxes.

Wolfgang von Königsberg was given a diploma on April 16, 1589 by Emperor Rudolf II and his descendants as a baron . In the 16th century the Königsberg knights were the most powerful noble family of the Mark Pitten . In the course of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the Königsbergers, like many other noble families, got into financial difficulties and were forced to sell their estates. In 1653, with the death of Wolfgang Matthias von Königsberg, the male line of the Königsberg family became extinct, with the marriage of the last name bearer Maria Anna Johanna to Johann Quintin Graf von Jörger in 1652, the name of the Königsberg family was lost for good. In 1654 Johanna von Jörger, née Freiin von Königsberg, bought the family seat in Seebenstein.

The Koenigsberg coat of arms

Coat of arms of the Königsberg family on the Seebenstein parish church

The coat of arms consists of a shield with two crowned helmets. The squared shield shows a lying Antonius cross in the first and fourth fields , and two half mill wheels touching each other with shovels in the second and third field. Above the shield are two spangled helmets with crowns, one of which carries half a mill wheel, the other a stylized plume.

Places, memories

  • In the parish church of Seebenstein there are the epitaphs of the knights of Königsberg resting there on the side walls . Many of their castle buildings and extensions are at least partially preserved.
  • In the former rule area of ​​the Königsbergers (today Burgenland, Lower Austria) some streets are named after Königsbergers, e.g. B .:
  • Some vineyards from the family's former property in southern Burgenland as well as various bottled wines bear the old name of Königsberg, which dates back to the Middle Ages.
  • In the ruins of Schwarzenbach Castle , the relatively well-preserved castle chapel still reminds of its builders, the Königsbergers.

Castles, palaces, ruins

Seebenstein Castle: Family seat of the Königsberg family

Name bearer

→ see: Stammliste von Königsberg and Stammliste von Pettau

  • Otto I. von Königsberg (Chungesberch), documented mention: 1181
  • Otto II von Königsberg (Otto de Chungesberch), documented mention: 1212–1240
  • Craffto von Königsberg, bought the Wagram estate from the Bishop of Seckau in 1230
  • Gundacher von Königsberg, documented mention: 1264
  • Otto III. von Königsberg, documented mention: 1276
  • the brothers Gondacharus von Königsberg, Wohalinus von Königsberg and Friedrich von Königsberg (documented mention: 1310-1321)
  • Johann I of Königsberg
  • Konrad von Königsberg († February 25, 1448), married to Agnes von Au († 1421)
  • Johann von Koenigsberg
  • Dietrich von Koenigsberg
  • Koloman von Koenigsberg
  • Ehrenreich I. von Königsberg
  • Georg von Königsberg († 1531), son of Ehrenreich I, older line
  • Johann (IV.) Von Königsberg († 1505), son of Ehrenreich I, younger line, married in first marriage to Maria von Pottendorf († 1489)
  • George the Younger of Königsberg († 1556), son of George
  • Ehrenreich II. Von Königsberg (1503–1560), 1534 of the Lower Austrian estates field captain over 500 horsemen, 1550 imperial general and commander of Raab, from 1556 to 1560 first president of the Austrian court war council , married to Maria von Freiberg († 1556), mother of seven sons and four daughters.
  • Pantaleon (* 1500) von Königsberg, brother of Ehrenreich II., Married to Margaretha von Schärfenberg
  • Christoph von Königsberg (1542–1618), son of Ehrenreich II., Colonel of a German foot regiment, married to Maria Magdalena (born von Wagensberg, † 1594), second wife: Maria (born von Innpruck).
  • Johann VII von Königsberg (1540–1564), eldest son Ehrenreich II., Married to Benigna von Racknitz , one daughter to Benigna.
  • Ulrich von Königsberg (1547–1601), son of Ehrenreich II., Unmarried, moved to Hungary in 1597 as a class war commissary with the imperial auxiliary army.
  • Erasmus von Königsberg (1543–1588), son of Ehrenreich II, married to Sophia von Welz, nine children with Sophia
  • Ludwig von Königsberg, son of Erasmus.
  • Wolfgang von Königsberg (1524–1589), son of George the Younger, raised to the baron status in 1589, first marriage to Affra Freiin von Harrach (1538 - July 16, 1561), second marriage to Cordula von Teufenbach († 1616), two children from the first marriage and three children from the second marriage.
  • Johann Leonhard von Königsberg († 1618), Wolfgang's son from his first marriage, remained childless.
  • Ehrenreich Christoph (1605 - December 20, 1646), married to Eva Regina Freiin von Althann , the male line of the younger line ended with his death.
  • Wolfgang Matthias von Königsberg (1582–1653), Wolfgang's son from his second marriage, kk colonel and court war councilor, married to Susanna Regina von Stahremberg, remained childless, with his death the entire male line died out.
  • Baroness Maria Anna Johanna von Jörger, née Freiin von Königsberg, daughter of Ehreichreich Christophs, marriage (1652) to Johann Quintin Graf von Jörger . Last bearer of the name of the von Königsberg family.

literature

  • Romana Theresia Gratzer: Life on the border depicted on the basis of the letters of Christoph von Königsberg 1567–1599 , diploma thesis at the University of Vienna , Vienna 2003
  • Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German nobility lexicon , published by Friedrich Voigt, Leipzig 1864
  • Association for the History of the City of Vienna: Reports and communications from the Alterthums-Verein zu Wien, Volume 1 , in Commission of the Prandel und Meyer bookstore, 1854
  • August Ernst: History of Burgenland , Publishing House for History and Politics Vienna R. Oldenbourg Publishing House Munich, 1991
  • Franz Schweickhadt Ritter von Sickingen: Representation of the Archduchy of Austria under the Ens, sixth volume, Viertel unterm Wiederwald , Vienna 1833
  • Franz Karl Wißgrill : scene of the rural Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood of the XI. Century on, up to the present time, fifth volume , Vienna 1804

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Association for the History of the City of Vienna: Reports and Mittheilungen des Alterthumsverein zu Wien, Volume 1 , in Commission of the bookstore Prandel and Meyer, 1854
  2. ^ A b Albert Muchar : History of the Duchy of Styria, Volume 2 , Damian und Sorge publishing house, 1845
  3. ↑ Branko Nadilo: Védelmi építmények a Szutla folyó mellékén (Hungarian), accessed on 4 December 2009
  4. ^ Entry about Schwarzenbach Castle in Burgen-Austria accessed on February 24, 2010
  5. ↑ Entry about Schloss Aspang on Burgen-Austria (accessed on August 1, 2010)
  6. ↑ History of Katzelsdorf Castle on the Katzelsdorf Castle website (accessed August 1, 2010)
  7. ↑ Entry about Schloss Oberlanzendorf on Burgen-Austria (accessed on August 1, 2010)
  8. ↑ Entry about Burg Pottendorf on Burgen-Austria (accessed on August 1, 2010)
  9. ↑ Entry about Burg Thomasberg on Burgen-Austria (accessed on August 1, 2010)
  10. ↑ Entry on Ziegersberg Castle Ruins in Burgen-Austria (accessed on August 1, 2010)

Web links

Commons : Königsberg family  - collection of images, videos and audio files