Ludwig von Kosiack

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Ludwig von Kosiack (Slovene Ludvik / Ludovik Kozjaški), the last male representative of his gender, lived from around 1435 to 1476. He came from one of the oldest knightly families in Carniola - first mentioned in 1274, last in 1495 The ancestral seat was Kosiack Castle in Lower Carniola (Slovene: grad Kozjak). The heyday of the Kosiack family was the 14th century, when many lords of Kosiack could be found in a wide variety of documents and letters. They were ministerials to the Counts of Cilli and the Counts of Gorizia , then the Habsburgs. The spelling Cozziakch or Cozyach can also be found in old documents ; Valvasor writes: Kosiackh .

coat of arms

Shield split from silver and red with three (2: 1) rings in alternating colors . A bucket helmet on the shield ; Helmet covers : red, black; Helmet jewel : a red and silver ring with a red feather. (Coat of arms of Hanns von Kosiack, around 1400).

Vita

family

Documents show that Ludwig had three daughters: Apollonia, wife of Ladislaus von Radmannsdorfs (Slovenian: Radovljica , now in Upper Carniola), and Katharina, married (1495) to Johann Gradner. In 1488 they sold the rulership Treffen (Slovene: Trebnje , today a place in Lower Carniola), which Ludwig had acquired in 1452 from Agnes, the daughter of Nikolai von Kosiack and the widow of Paul Meltzer, to Siegmund von Pyrsch. Maria, another daughter, she seems to have inherited the Kosiack rule, married Pankraz Sauer, the son of Georg (Jobst) Sauer and Christina Freiin von Weltz.

In 1472 we find Ludwig as administrator and castle captain of the fortress Maichau (Mehovo in Lower Carniola ) in the service of the Habsburgs. Since the Turkish raids had reached their climax at that time, with mostly devastating effects for Carinthia, Krain and Styria, Ludwig was appointed field captain of Krain in the course of urgently needed countermeasures .

Battle on August 24, 1475 near Rann (Brežice) on the Save

In 1475 , Ludwig von Kosiack suffered the same fate as two other Kosiack people the year before: he was taken prisoner by the Turks. The middle of the 15th century was the time of the most massive Turkish invasions in Carinthia, Styria and Carniola. Despite different interests, in this case it was a matter of jointly defending against the "hereditary enemy". When the Turks, coming from Bosnia in August 1475 , visited southern Styria for the third time that year, the hastily drawn up Styrian and Carinthian contingent under the leadership of the Carinthian field captain, Georg Schenck, initially succeeded in a smaller Turkish department, which was the Drava (Slovene Drava) brushed upwards. Around two hundred Turks were killed, the rest pushed back to Rann on the Save (Sava in Slovene). There Krain's contingent came under Ludwig von Kosiack. The entire contingent, which was now under the command of Georg Schenk, is estimated at 450 men.

But a short time later, Achmed Pascha arrived with 12,000 other riders. On August 24, the opposing parties collided. Achmed Pascha, who wanted to take revenge for the defeat he had previously suffered, attacked Georg Schenck's vastly outnumbered troops. The imperial fought violently. They put down 2,000 Turks until the Turkish overwhelming power finally prevailed. Schenck's armed men, whose strength was weakening, had to give way to the attacking Turks. Achmed Pasha's riders pursued the fugitives and killed or strangled around 400 of them.

losses

Fallen (after Valvasor )

Andree Nerringer, Muerecker, Luntz v. d. Heyde, Winkler, Hornberger, Platzer, Hanns Gradenecker, Wilhelm Gräse, Christoph Marschalk, Eckensteiner, Bernard Harracher, two Gerumpfe, Potschj, Christoph Radmanndorfer, N (iklas?) Rauber , Georg Halnecker, Caspar Reichenberger, Pruckendörfer, Caspar and Christoph von Lamberg , Wilhelm Gall, an Egger, two Mordaxe, a Mindorfer, Christoph Radmannsdorfer and Georg Rauber. Valvasor refers to Wolfgang Lazius , 6th book and Megiser , l. 10. c. 22;

Prisoners (after Valvasor)

(The amount of the requested ransom in guilders is in brackets after the name )

The bulk of the leaders, including Ludwig von Kosiack (2000 G.) and Georg Schenck (4000 G.) were taken prisoner. Also: Georg von Himmelberg (2000 G.), Wilhelm Gall (1000 G.), Mert von Ditrichstein (500 G.), N. Neppelsperger (500 G.), Ludwig Mordax (800 G.), N. Winkler (300 G.) G.), N. Tattenpeck (Tattenbach) (300 G.), N. Mitterecker (200), N. Kapfensteiner (100), Reisiger Juckler (500 G.), Hanns Goljenz (Golienz, Kolenz) (500 G.) , Balthasar, a servant of Georg Auersperg (400 G.), Andreas Hohenwarther (600 G.), Otto Semenitsch, Egel von Schwaben, Hanns Sitticher, Lasser, Zungel, Liechtenberger, Hornpogner, Georg Schweinpeck, Andree Weispriach, Wilhelm Saurer. All prisoners were initially taken to Serinvar prison (Zrinyistadt).

4,000 guilders had to be raised for Georg Schenck. Since this did not succeed, he is said to have been executed by the Turks. Sigmund von Polheim, Andreas Gutensteiner, Matthes Mindorfer and Heinrich Prüeschenck suffered a similar fate. They were taken to Constantinople ( Istanbul ), where they ended their lives in prison.

Last years

A year later Ludwig was ransomed for a ransom of 2000 guilders, but since he was an excellent and brave knight, and thus had always been a thorn in the side of the Turks, it was assumed that his "hosts" would have been slow for him before his release effective poison administered. After returning home to Kosieck he fell into disrepair and died there soon after. Before his death, he ceded the law firm for six courtyards to the Sitticher monastery, which had already been given to the monastery by his ancestors. He was buried at Parakeet in the monastery church. The tombstone, probably a victim of numerous renovations long lost, was to the side of the small gate through which you can get from the churchyard into the interior of the church. The date carved there was no longer legible even in Valvasor's time. With him one of the oldest noble families of Carniola died out.

possession

Kosiack Castle, of which only sparse remains have survived, appears from the 13th century onwards as the ancestral seat of the knight family of the same name. The currently wooded hill Kozjak (456 m), on which the castle was once built, is just under four kilometers south of the Ljubljana - Zagreb motorway, about two thirds of the way from Ljubljana and one third of Novo mesto .

Owners were: 1274 Ulrich v. K., 1317-1329 Ortolph v. K., 1388 Rutlieb v. K., 1401-1403 Albert v. K., 1410-1415 Hermann v. K., 1422 NN. v. K., father of Georg and Wilhelm v. K., 1427-1447 Georg v. K. and finally in 1475 Ludwig v. K.

After the Kosiacker went out, their coat of arms and the castle came to those of Sauer, their closest relatives, who then called themselves "Herren Sauer zum Kosiek". Franz von Sauer sold Kosiack to Johann Friedrich von Rauber in 1611 . The last owners were the Auersperg ; in Valvasor's time it had been Prince Ferdinand von Auersperg. Kosiack, once heavily fortified with a high curtain wall and several round towers, was already uninhabited and in poor structural condition in Valvasor's time. Valvasor derives the name Kosiack from the Slovenian word "koza", which means goat or goat; Kosiack would therefore mean “goat or goat stable”.

genealogy

Ulrich von Kosiack, owner of the Kosiack estate around 1274

Children (of Ulrich)
  1. Ortholph, around 1329, owner of Kosiack,
  2. Matthias (Matthäus, Mathey), around 1332
  3. Otto (Öttl), around 1341
NN
1. Rutlieb, † 1384, founded the St. Jakobs Chapel in Laibach together with Heinrich Gall, oo Elsa von der Dörr (1. oo Niklas / Konrad III. Von Gallenberg ),
2. Adelheid, in 1382 she sold her village Veliki Ločnik to the Auersperg , oo Eberhard (von) Poudlogar (Podloger),
3. Elisabeth, 1. oo Niklas Golienz (Kolenz), 2. oo Heinrich Gall von Gallenstein auf Liebeck
NN
1. Albert, around 1388 Burgrave on Landestrost, oo Margaretha von Katzenstein , † both around 1418
Son (of albert)
Hermann the Younger, Burgrave of Samobor, oo Agnes von Erkhenstein , T. d. Hermann v. E. and the NN.
2. Johann, around 1388/1406
Children (of Johann)
1. Wilhelm, 1420–1430 pastor of Weißenkirchen and archdeacon in the Windischen Mark ,
2. Georg (Jörg), burgrave on Samobor
NN
Ludwig , 1472 caretaker on Maichau , last male descendant of his sex, oo Elisabeth Countess of Serin (Zrinyi),
Children (of Ludwig)
1. Apollonia, oo Ladislaus von Radmannsdorf ( Radovljica ),
2. Katharina, oo Johann Gradner , around 1495,
3. Maria, heir daughter, oo Pankraz Sauer , son of Georg (Jobst?) Von Sauer and Christine Freiin von Weltz . With this marriage, the rule of Kosiack with coat of arms passed to the von Sauer family .

Legend

About three kilometers west of Kosiack rose on another hill Schönberg (Slovenian Šumberk, Sela Šumberk), the fortress of the Carnic Schönberge, which were the closest neighbors of the Kosiack people. The vernacular handed down the following legend: In the distant past, two brothers are said to have built the two castles at the same time. However, since they only had a hammer, one had to stack the stones and the other hewed.

Josip Jurčič

Josip Jurčič (born March 4, 1844 Muljava / Mulau near Sittich ; † May 13, 1881 Laibach / Ljubljana), a Slovenian writer, processed in his historical story "Jurij Kozjak - slovenski janičar" (Georg Kosiacker, the Slovenian Janitschare , Klagenfurt 1864 ), the events described by Valvasor with poetic freedom: raids by the Turks in 1475, the capture of Ludwig von Kosiack and Georg Schenck, attack on the parakeet monastery and the church in Mulau (Muljava). The Kosiacs are seen as a Slovenian family. A phenomenon that can be observed in broad strata of the Slovenian population: long-established noble families of foreign origin with merits for the land of Carniola are emotionally viewed as Carniolan and not expressly as Germans or Italians, although terms such as nobility, German, and Italian are internally rejected and as Synonyms for authority and centuries of oppression were felt. A similar inner bond can be found with the Auersperg / Turjaški (Turjačani), the Rauber / Raubarji, the Valvasor and others.

See also

Literature and Sources

personal data
SURNAME Kosiack, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kozjaški, Ludovik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Carniolan knight
DATE OF BIRTH around 1435
DATE OF DEATH 1476