Marx parakeet from Ems

Marx parakeet from Embs to the High Embs Knight and Colonel

Coat of arms of the Lords of Ems in Scheibler's book of arms from 1450

Ritter Marx Parakeet I. von Ems (* 1466 , † 1533 ) (numerous spellings, including Markus, Mark, Merk or Märx Sitticus von (Hohen) Emps) was a famous Landsknechtsführer of the 16th century. He came from the noble family of the Lords of Ems , which can be traced back to 1170. First Guelph , then Hohenstaufen ministerials , they controlled the middle Rhine Valley from Vaduz to Lake Constance .

The Colonel and Landsknechtsführer

As an important and successful war entrepreneur, he opened up a new, extremely lucrative source of income for his family and fought alongside the servant leaders Georg von Frundsberg and Georg Truchsess von Waldburg-Zeil ("Bauernjörg") in the Swabian Wars and in the campaigns in Italy , took part in the battle of Pavia took part in 1525 and played a decisive role in the victory of the imperial troops.

As a general of the Swabian Confederation, he fought the rebellious peasants in the peasant war with all severity. After the victory against the farmers on Lake Constance, he had 50 of their leaders hung up along the Leiblach as a deterrent, which earned him the nickname "the farmer's butcher". At Radolfszell he put Hans Müller von Bulgenbach to flight. The peasants of Lingenau and Riefensberg, who had joined the uprising movement, were brought to justice by Marx Sittich: Their court was added to that of Alberschwende, they lost the right to vote for Ammann and other traditional rights.

The power politician

Special advantage he gained when he confidant Emperor Maximilian I ascended. In 1523 he also played an important intermediary role in the purchase of the Montfortic parts of the county of Bregenz, with which Austria was able to round off its dominant position in Vorarlberg . For his numerous services he received the bailiwicks of Bregenz and Bludenz-Sonnenberg . Thus, despite their limited territorial base, to which the castle and village of Ems, but also the imperial court Lustenau belonged as pledge , the Emser advanced as bailiffs of the Austrian lords of Bludenz and Bregenz, and later also Feldkirch ; then as pawnbrokers of the reign of Neuburg (since 1589), the Emser became a determining power factor in today's Vorarlberg.

During his campaigns in Italy, Marx Parakeet I succeeded one of his sons, Wolf-Dietrich (1507–1538), with Clara von Medici , a sister of the later Pope Pius IV. And the Milanese condottiere "Il Mendeghino" Gian Giacomo Medici († 1555) to marry. The Konstanz canon Georg Sigmund von Ems (1494–1547), also a son of Marx Parakeet I, was chosen by King Ferdinand I as a candidate for the office of bishop in Konstanz in 1532.

Marx parakeet von Ems was also an ardent advocate of counter-Reformation efforts and was decisive in maintaining the Catholic faith in Vorarlberg.

literature

• Marcus Sitichius from Alta Embs . In: Jakob Schrenck von Notzing : Augustissimorum imperatorum, serenissimorum regum atque archiducum, illustrissimorum principum, nec non comitum, baronum, nobilium, aliorumque clarissimorum virorum, qui aut ipsi cum imperio bellorum duces fuerunt… verissimae succinctae description, etes… . Johannes Agricola (Baur), Innsbruck 1601, sheet 86 ( digitized in the Internet Archive)
• Reinhard Baumann: farm servants. Their history and culture from the late Middle Ages to the Thirty Years War , Munich 1994
• Friedrich Blau: Die Deutschen Landsknechte , Görlitz 1882, reprint Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-88851-032-5
• Georg Liebe: Soldier and weapons trade , Leipzig 1899
• Georg von Wyß:  Hohenems, Marx parakeet I. von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 512-514.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Embs, Marx parakeet I. . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 9th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing House, Vienna 1863, p. 190 ( digital copy ).

Web links

• "Homepage of the Fähnlein Ems"
• "Vorarlberg Chronicle"