Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg

Count Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg around 1680

Count Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg (* around 1640; † September 17, 1689 in Mainz ) was imperial field marshal and from 1679 in command of the Philippsburg fortress . Although he was promoted to field marshal in 1689, he was always in the shadow of his famous brother Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg and thus never really achieved fame. Maximilian was seriously wounded on September 6, 1689 when the Mainz fortress was attacked and died on September 17, 1689.

origin

Count Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg was born around 1640 as the second son of Count Konrad Balthasar von Starhemberg and Anna Elisabeth von Zinzendorf. Maximilian was the younger brother of the famous Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg . He also had 4 younger half-brothers Leopold Carl, Franz Ottokar, Gundaker Thomas and Paul Joseph Jakob.

youth

How Maximilian spent his childhood and adolescence is not known. It was not until 1662 he was the first time mention, as a first officer of Archduke Karl Joseph , Bishop of Passau and Olomouc , which is a younger brother of Emperor Leopold I was. After the death of the 14-year-old archduke on January 27, 1664, he was briefly the emperor's chamberlain. When, in February 1664, the Reichstag decided to raise an army against the Turkish threat, Maximilian, like his brother Ernst Rüdiger , decided to do military service and thus to pursue a military career.

Military career

At the beginning of 1664 Maximilian Starhemberg joined the Upper Austrian regiment as a captain . In the same year he married Dorothea Polixena von Scherffenberg , and before he moved to the front, they both signed a marriage contract on July 22nd so that his wife would have financial security in the event of his death. Shortly afterwards Maximilian moved, presumably together with the electoral troops, to southern Styria to join the imperial army. There he fought against Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü in the Turkish War in 1664 .

Count Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg around 1665

After the peace agreement, Maximilian, who had meanwhile been promoted to lieutenant colonel, offered his services to the King of Spain and went to the Spanish Netherlands, presumably at the time of the Metternich regiment, which was established in the Netherlands at that time. From this point on, Maximilian's track was lost, but it can be assumed that he got caught up in the turmoil of the War of Devolution in 1667/1668. It is also known that in 1667 Maximilian received the property Frain / Vranov nad Dyjí from his wife Dorothea's sister-in-law, which he sold to his father Konrad in 1674.

During the service for the Spanish king in the war of devolution in 1667/1668 Maximilian was promoted to colonel and later to sergeant-general. In addition, he even led a regiment on foot to Naples . At that time there is no clue as to where Maximilian was. In the London Gazette from 1674 (No. 937) and 1678 (No. 1319) a Count von Starhemberg is mentioned during the march into the city of Huy in the Spanish Netherlands in November 1674 and during the fighting of Rheinfelden in July 1678, but it was probably Ernst Rüdiger, who also fought against the French in the Franco-Dutch war. Since Maximilian and Rüdiger had the same military rank, namely sergeant-general, and probably also fought on the same front, it is difficult to tell the two apart.

After the Peace of Nijmegen , Maximilian received the so-called Arco'sche infantry regiment in 1679 and became the commandant of the fortress and city of Philippsburg, which was expanded to become one of the most important fortifications on the Upper Rhine. At that time there were 82 citizens, 8 citizen widows and 101 houses in the city. In the following years, the fortress was expanded, which was also necessary, because the French king did not even think of keeping the peace treaty concluded in 1679.

In 1684, after the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna , the Empire, Poland and Venice united to form the “Holy League”. Charles of Lorraine went on a new campaign to Buda with almost 18,000 soldiers. Since an armistice with France was imminent, Maximilian was called to this campaign. After the main army crossed the Danube at Gran on July 13th, the vanguard of the imperial army under the command of Maximilian, already promoted to Feldzeugmeister, and of the cavalry general Margrave Ludwig von Baden appeared on June 15th before Vicegrad / Visegrád. On June 16 the imperial troops took the city by storm, despite its strong walls, after a gate with the gun was destroyed. Most of the Turkish occupation forces were killed and the city sacked. Only a few Turks were able to retreat to the castle on the rock above the city. After only one and a half days of siege, the remaining Turkish occupation surrendered on June 18. Maximilian distinguished himself during this siege, which was later very much appreciated by the imperial family.

In the following months he fought in the unsuccessful siege of Buda .

When the Elector of the Electoral Palatinate, Karl II. Died on May 26, 1685, the Emperor immediately dispatched Maximilian to Heidelberg to secure the city for the new Elector, Duke Philipp Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg . The new elector initially relied on the services of Maximilian, who was highly regarded in the Electoral Palatinate, and even appointed him to his advice. On July 9, 1686 between Emperor Leopold I, King Karl II. Of Spain, King Karl XI. of Sweden, Elector Maximilian II. Emanuel of Bavaria and the princes on the right bank of the Rhine brought the Augsburg Alliance into being as a defensive alliance , which was supposed to prevent the French king's desire for further expansion. He chose his final resting place in Bildstein and commissioned the construction of a crypt within the church. He made 1,500 guilders available for this building, which he gave to the pilgrimage in 3 installments.

During the Palatinate War of Succession , the fortress of Philippsburg , which was defended by Maximilian, was besieged by the French King Louis XIV . Maximilian was able to assert himself against a superior force for 32 days, then the morale of his people was at the end and he capitulated against free withdrawal. He and his troops were given free withdrawal and safe conduct to Ulm. After Maximilian arrived in Ulm, he was summoned to Vienna, where he had to answer to a military commission for the handover of Philippsburg. Maximilian was completely acquitted by the commission.

In the meantime, the French troops continued their attacks in the Palatinate until the Emperor declared the Imperial War and in 1689 allied with England, Sweden, Spain, Savoy and the Netherlands . In 1689 the Kaiser and the German princes were able to raise an army with around 100,000 soldiers on the Rhine. Maximilian, already appointed field marshal , and his regiment were subordinated to the army corps of Charles of Lorraine . In May 1689, Karl von Lothringen sent Maximilian with a few regiments to Koblenz to protect the city and the surrounding area from the French. He sent the troops of the Elector of Hanover to support Maximilian's Army Corps, which was soon threatened by the French. On June 15, Karl von Lothringen set out for Koblenz with his army corps. On June 23, the Duke reached Koblenz, set flying bridges across the Rhine and united with Maximilian's army corps. Charles of Lorraine moved on to Mainz on July 15th. From the end of July he besieged Mainz . During the attack on September 6th, Maximilian was fatally wounded by a cannon bullet and died 11 days later.

Death, funeral and will

Maximilian decreed in his will of October 9, 1688, which he had written during the siege of Philippsburg, that his body was to be buried in Bildstein. As soon as his death became known in Bildstein, 500 masses are to be read and 10,000 guilders from his fortune will be given to the pilgrimage. Furthermore, “weekly on the women's altar above the crypt, every Saturday, if possible, otherwise on Monday, a St. Read mass and on the day of his death the Universorium and Vigil are held for him ”. Maximilian's brother and heir Gundaker donated the money not directly to the pilgrimage, but to the Bishop of Constance. In addition, 900 guilders were distributed to the poor in Bildstein and the surrounding area. The body was transferred via Bregenz to Bildstein, where it arrived on October 11, 1689. Maximilian was placed in the crypt in the inner choir in front of the high altar and the miraculous image of Mary. A gilded cross was placed on his copper coffin and an inscription was engraved: "Hic iacet Heros Illustrissimus & Excellentissimus comes Maximilianus Laurentius [...] Comes et Dominus de Starenberg [...] Marschallus et emeritissimus [...]". However, this inscription was removed during the first major renovation of the pilgrimage church (1877 to 1884).

Copper coffin in the crypt of the pilgrimage church Maria Bildstein 2006

Maximilian is still considered one of the greatest benefactors of the pilgrimage in Bildstein to this day. He donated a total of 12,880 guilders, including 150 guilders for the baroque monstrance with God the Father, Holy Spirit as well as Mary and Joseph. Since his wife Dorothea had no children, his line died out with death.

obituary

In 1765 Maximilian was honored by the Emperor Joseph II when he was mentioned in the Imperial Prince Diploma for the then Count Georg Adam von Starhemberg with the following words: “The Counts and Lords of Starhemberg also fought with our ancestors at the Roman Empire Emperors, also our ore house of the time, and in these last centuries made famous by Maximilian Laurentium Imperial Field Marshal, and Governor of Philippsburg, who died in the year sixteen hundred nine and eighty from the wounds he received in the siege of the city of Mainz. "

literature

Monographs

• Zygmunt Abrahamowicz: The Turks before Vienna: Europe and the decision on the Danube 1683. Salzburg 1982.
• Isabella Ackerl: besieged by Turks, replaced by Christians: besieged Vienna in 1683. Vienna 1983.
• Sebastian Burkhart: History of the city of Rheinfelden up to its union with the canton of Aargau. Aarau 1909.
• Gerda Hagenau: Jan Sobieski: the savior of Vienna. Vienna 1983.
• Karl Ilg: 200 years of the parish of Maria-Bildstein. Wolfurt 1992.
• Lorenz Reinhold: Year of the Turks 1683: the empire fighting for the eastern region. Vienna 1933.
• Ferenc Majoros, Bernd Rill: The Ottoman Empire 1300-1922. Wiesbaden 2004.
• Hieronymus Christoph Nopp : History of the city and former imperial fortress Philippsburg. 1881.
• Ludwig Rapp: Topographical historical description of the Vicariate General Vorarlberg. Brixen 1896
• Meinrad Schaab: History of the Electoral Palatinate. Stuttgart 1999.
• Johann Schwerdling: History of the ancient and for centuries the sovereign and fatherland most deserved, partly princely, partly count dynasty Starhemberg . Jos. Feichtinger , Linz 1830, p. 51 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Count Andreas von Thürheim : Field Marshal Ernst Rüdiger Count Starhemberg. Vienna 1882.
• Paul Wentzcke: General of the emperor: life and deeds Duke Charles V of Lorraine. Leipzig 1943.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Starhemberg, Maximilian Laurenz Graf . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 37th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1878, p. 188 f. ( Digitized version ).

Magazines

• Journal of the Association for Research into Rhenish History and Antiquities in Mainz. Second volume, Mainz 1859–64, edited by Victor von Zabern; Article The Siege of Mainz in 1689 by JH Hennes, pages 356–416.
• Austrian journal for history and political science. Third year, Vienna 1837, published by Kaltenbaeck FP; Article The parish of Bildstein near Bregenz and Field Marshal Maximilian Lorenz Count von Starhemberg Foundation and tomb of Joseph Bergmann , page 343 f., 347 f.

Contemporary sources

• Parish chronicle of Maria-Bildstein.
• Maria-Bildstein community archive (PDF file; 1.18 MB).
• Upper Austrian Provincial Archives, Eferding-Starhemberg / Document Collection, Certificate No. 4714 and 5096 (marriage contracts).
• The London Gazette 1674, no.937.
• The London Gazette 1678, no.1319.