Laurenz von Sal (Schultheiss)

Laurenz von Sal (* before 1385; † June 17, 1405 at Stoss ) was mayor of Winterthur . He was an important mediator in the Appenzell Wars and as such enjoyed a reputation on both sides. As leader of the Winterthur troops, he was killed in the Battle of the Stoss .

Life

Laurenz von Sal was the son of Konrad von Sal , who became mayor of the city of Winterthur in 1364 and, like the son, already maintained good relationships with his environment. Laurenz's date of birth is probably not known, but he was a member of the town's small council from 1385. When his father died in 1397, he took over his office as mayor of the city. Furthermore, to assume that he, together with Hans von lakes in the early 1403 Deputy Bailiff was the Thurgau. His sister Anna was the prioress of the Töss monastery around 1400 and his brother Hans was also mayor of Winterthur from 1409 to 1434.

During his tenure, Laurenz was often used as a mediator. In 1399, for example, the rule of Rapperswil referred two controversial citizens to the Schultheiss of Winterthur. In April 1402 in Winterthur, together with Heinrich von Gachnang , he sealed a compromise between Abbot Kuno von Stoffeln and the peasants of Appenzell . In July 1402, the Schultheiss and Council in Winterthur succeeded in a further dispute involving Appenzell and his allies in reaching a repeatedly renewed armistice.

Lorenz von Sal was appointed on February 25, 1402 by Bishop Marquart of Konstanz and Count Johann von Lupfen as their chairman in further feuds . The city of St. Gallen also appointed von Sal together with Hans von Seen in January 1403 as their representative in a negotiation with Abbot Kuno and the rule of Austria. In 1403 Laurenz traveled to Austria as a representative of the abbot to ask them for support during the Appenzell War and to take part in a meeting of the Austrian cities in Baden . Laurenz was the abbot's chief negotiator and in this position also negotiated with Zurich, who were supposed to endeavor to achieve a peace with Schwyz , which came about in the spring of 1404. Laurenz von Sal probably also had an interest in ensuring that Austrian power in the Central Plateau was closed as far as possible and that the Schyzer intervened as little as possible in the matter on the Appenzell side.

However, as it was not possible to settle the dispute with Appenzell and there were repeated feuds, Winterthur was slowly drawn into the conflict. So on June 3, 1405, the Harnischanleite came about , in which the equipment and its financing were determined. The Winterthur army then moved on June 11th under the direction of the Schultheissen to Constance , where the meeting point of the Austrian troops was. From there, the people of Winterthur moved on, from Arbon belonging to the 1200 or so men who moved to Altstätten . There they liberated the small town besieged by the Appenzeller and then moved on to the Appenzellerland, where the fateful Battle of the Stoss is said to have occurred on the ascent . The mayor fell together with 94 other Winterthur residents, eleven more were taken prisoner and had to be ransomed. In the battle, Winterthur suffered the most losses from the Austrians besides the loss of its own banner. Laurenz von Sal found his final resting place in Altstätten together with the other victims of the battle. His successor as Schultheiss von Winterthur was Götz Schultheiss under the head .

swell

• Kaspar Hauser : Winterthur at the time of the Appenzell War . Ed .: Historisch-Antiquarischer Verein Winterthur. Buchdruckerei Winterthur vorm. G. Binkert, Winterthur 1899, p. 10-28 .
• Werner Ganz : History of the City of Winterthur . Introduction to its history from the beginning to 1798. In: 292nd New Year's sheet of the Winterthur City Library . Winterthur 1960, p. 35-37 .
• Peter Niederhäuser: Sal, from. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Web links

• "Winterthur at the time of the Appenzell wars" on Google Books (only freely available with American IP)