Kilian Kesselring

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Kilian Kesselring (born May 14, 1583 in Bussnang ; † January 10, 1650 in Zurich ; legal resident in Märstetten ) was a Swiss sergeant-general and court clerk .

Kilian Kesselring (1583–1650) Sergeant General of the Landgraviate of Thurgau, marriage court clerk
Kilian Kesselring

life and work

Kesselring was the son of Thurgau's court clerk, Obervogt von Liebenfels, Altklingen and Weinfelden Thomas Kesselring († 1610) and Elsbetha, née Mötteli von Rappenstein, and was introduced to the diverse tasks of a law firm at that time.

So Kesselring was appointed by the respective court lords to be the clerk of the dominions Wellenberg, Hüttlingen , Pfyn, Weerwilen and Weinfelden. He also represented the interests of Zurich in the Gachnang trade before the Thurgau regional court. In gratitude for his services, Zurich granted Kesselring citizenship and also gave him the “stone house” in Weinfelden .

In the plague year of 1611, Kesselring earned the merits of the government and the population of Weinfelden as a clerk in clearing up the many inheritance and property claims.

The new coinage system in 1622, which prevented the many bad types of coins in circulation from causing further damage, is to be counted among Kesselring's other merits. On the other hand, Kesselring was significantly involved in an order of war to preserve the neutrality of Thurgau.

Kesselring married Susanne, née Scherb, in 1609. Her father was Erhard Scherb the Vogt of Altenklingen and town clerk of Bischofszell . He lived with his wife in Hüttlingen for a few years before they moved to Bussnang.

During the Thirty Years' War in 1628, the Swedish threat of war in Thurgau became acute and the Swiss Confederation's military commission wanted there to be more troop leaders in Thurgau. Kesselring was elected as «obrister state sergeant». As such, he had to conduct the drafts and organize the Thurgau defense organization that was responsible for guarding the federal border in Thurgau.

From March 12, 1628, the threatened entrances to the St. Gallen Rhine Valley , Thurgau and the county of Baden were guarded. Each of the seven places involved in the administration of Thurgau was supposed to dispatch three men who were competent in the war as commanders to the border. As sergeant-general, Kesselring was subordinate to the Landvogt von Frauenfeld and had to report to him regularly on the condition of the individual quarters and on the events of the war. Since the bailiff had to report the events to his superiors, Kesselring was never able to make independent decisions.

When the Swedish general Gustav Horn wanted to occupy the city of Constance in 1633 , which was easier to do from the Swiss side and Horn promised not to damage Stein am Rhein during a march through , the bridge watch under the Schwyz commander Martin Aufdermauer granted him during the night of March 7th to 8th September 1633.

At that time, Kesselring was not at the endangered border, but stayed in Bussnang and celebrated the harvest festival in his house with the servants. This fact later led to the suspicion that he was already aware of the Swedish march or at least knew of their intentions.

When the bailiff was informed of the march through by a messenger, he instructed Kesselring not to intervene and to wait until further orders were received from Zurich and Lucerne . On September 12 and 13, Kesselring was in the Swedish camp for negotiations with Gustav Horn. This gave the order that the Swedish soldiers were not allowed to go further inland.

At the same time, the five catholic towns decided at the daily statute in Lucerne to force the Swedish troops out of Thurgau, but this was rejected two days later by the evangelical towns. The French King Louis XIII , through his agent, Duke Rohan, offered to mediate this issue. When he began his negotiations with Gustav Horn in the Swedish camp and with the federal envoys in the "Steinhaus" in Constance on September 25, Kesselring received the order to go to Zurich to report during the negotiations.

The Swedes accept Rohan's proposal while Konstanz did not respond. In the meantime, several thousand men from central Switzerland had gathered in Wil , ready to invade Thurgau and drive the Swedes out.

When Gustav Horn returned on October 2nd via the same route as he had previously taken to the attack on Constance, the Constance residents invaded Thurgau and burned down the Kreuzlingen monastery . Then eight hundred men moved from the Weinfelden district in front of Konstanz and Kesselring was able to come to an agreement with the city commandant, whereupon the attacks were stopped.

When Kesselring arrived in Wil on October 5th to inform the Central Swiss of what had happened, the sergeant-general had him put in prison as an avoidable culprit. The capture was also an act of revenge against Zurich and reflected the deep distrust and discord that then prevailed among the Confederates of the Catholic and Protestant denominations.

Despite objections from Zurich, Basel , Bern and Schaffhausen , Kesselring was tried in Wil before the court martial. Kesselring was supposed to confess that he knew about the arrival of the Swedes and that he had allowed them to enter the country on behalf of Zurich, as well as to field the Thurgau residents against the Catholic Confederates who were camped in Wil. When Kesselring did not admit to any of the wrongdoings he was accused of, torture was carried out on October 24, which lasted for several days. On November 3, 1633, it was decided to transfer Kesselring to prison in Schwyz. He was further tortured there.

Only on January 23, 1635 was the so-called stand trial against Kesselring opened, which lasted eight days with interruptions. After an exceptionally tough judgment; the misconduct accused of him could never be proven (even his opponents had to admit that Kesselring had created an order "that they could not have been made nicer") Kesselring was released after sixteen months in prison. The so-called "Kesselring trade" almost triggered a war between the Catholic and Reformed towns. Kesselring was rehabilitated in 1635 by Bern and Zurich, and in 1643 by the war council of the four towns.

His wife, brothers and other relatives had to pay for the cost of his several months' imprisonment of around 6,000 guilders. The money necessary for his release was advanced by wealthy citizens from Zurich and Bern, who in turn received this back from the respective city treasury. Kesselring was financially ruined by the imprisonment and was dependent on the goodwill of others. So his friend, the Zurich marriage court clerk Landolt, gave up his position in favor of Kesselring. He held the office until his death in 1650.

When Kesselring's wife died in 1636, he married Euphrosina Labhart von Konstanz, the widow of Pastor Bühler in Bischofszell. Kesselring was only able to return to Thurgau in 1643, and in Weinfelden, before the high and the lower jurisdiction of the country, explained in detail how injustice had been done to him. His former home in Oberbussnang was destroyed by flames on August 25, 1830.

literature

  • Hermann Lei : Kilian Kesselring - The tragedy of a Thurgauer in the Thirty Years War . In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch, Vol. 52, 1977, pp. 61-77. ( e-periodica.ch )
  • JJ Keller: The war history trial against Kilian Kesselring 1633-1635 . Frauenfeld: Huber, 1884

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kesselring, Kilian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss general sergeant and marriage judge clerk
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1583
PLACE OF BIRTH Bussnang
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1650
Place of death Zurich