New Kyburg

The coat of arms of the Counts of Neu-Kyburg.

The Counts of Neu-Kyburg (also called Kyburg-Burgdorf or Habsburg-Neukyburg ) were a Swiss noble family that existed between around 1273 and 1417 and were primarily wealthy in Oberaargau. The house of Neu-Kyburg emerged from a continuation of the family of the Counts of Kyburg in the female line and is a side line of the noble family of the Habsburgs .

history

«Fratricide of Thun» 1322. Eberhard II murders his brother Hartmann II. Spiezer Chronik , 1485

The childless Count Hartmann IV of Kyburg transferred the western part of his property with the Reuss as the border to his nephew Hartmann V in 1250/1251 . With the support of the Habsburgs, he tried to assert himself against the city of Bern and the Savoy with the support of the Habsburgs from his dominion in Burgdorf . After the death of Hartmann V in 1263 and his uncle Hartmann IV in the following year, the heir daughter Anna of the Kyburg family was still a minor. Count Rudolf IV of Habsburg , whose mother Heilwig was a daughter of Count Ulrich III. von Kyburg was, took over the guardianship and thus also the administration of the dominion. Until 1273, the year he was elected Roman-German king, Rudolf von Habsburg was also able to assert himself against the claims of the Savoy, who also had well-founded claims about Hartmann V's widow, Margarethe von Sayoyen.

Anna's marriage with Eberhard I († 1284) von Habsburg-Laufenburg , a cousin of the king, created the new dynasty of the Counts of Neu-Kyburg or Habsburg-Kyburg or Kyburg-Burgdorf in 1273 from part of Hartmann IV's property . This should finally secure the Habsburg interests in Aargau vis-à-vis Savoy. Eberhard still called himself Habsburg-Laufenburg, his son Hartmann I (1275–1301) only from Kyburg .

However, like the Counts of Habsburg-Laufenburg, the Neu-Kyburger at times pursued goals that opposed the Habsburg interests. Among other things, both sexes belonged to the masterminds behind the murder of Rudolf's son King Albrecht I of Habsburg in 1308. The ruling centers of the Neu-Kyburger were Burgdorf , Wangen an der Aare , Landshut and Thun . According to Conrad Justinger's Bern Chronicle, the Counts of Kyburg became citizens of Bern in 1311 . Since 1314 they have held the title of Landgrave of Burgundy due to a fief of the Habsburgs .

The Counts of Neu-Kyburg were in a difficult power-political situation between the up-and-coming city of Bern, the Confederation , Savoy and Habsburg. Chronic lack of money led to a gradual sale of possessions and legal titles, especially to the city and the citizens of Bern. With changing alliances, the various counts tried to maintain their rule over five generations with little success. In 1313 the brothers Hartmann II. And Eberhard II. Von Neu-Kyburg submitted to the feudal lordship of the Dukes of Habsburg Austria and renounced their claims to the old property of the Kyburgers in Zurich and Thurgau. Later Eberhard II murdered his brother in the so-called «Fratricide of Thun» in order to get possession of the inheritance. To secure himself, he allied himself with Bern, sold the city, castle and external office to Bern and took it back as a fief. His son Hartmann III. tended again more towards Habsburg Austria and sold Burgdorf, Thun and Oltigen as pledge to the dukes of Austria . In 1375 part of the heavily indebted property of the Counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau was inherited by the Neu-Kyburger, but most of it had to be mortgaged to Austria in 1379.

The end of the Neu-Kyburger was initiated on November 11, 1382 by a failed attack by Count Rudolf II on the city of Solothurn . The subsequent Burgdorf or Kyburg War of 1383/1384, in which Rudolf fought with Bern for supremacy in Aargau, meant the end of the independent power politics of the New Kyburgers. Rudolf died before the end of the war, and although his brother Berchtold was able to assert himself militarily against Bern and the Swiss Confederation, he had to agree to a peace that was unfavorable for him in 1384. Bern acquired the cities of Thun and Burgdorf for a large sum and thus received the most important cities of the Neu-Kyburger. These were forced to a castle right with Bern and thereby lost their independence. In 1406/1407 Landshut, Wangen, Herzogenbuchsee and Bipp went to Bern and Solothurn, in 1407/1408 the Landgraviate of Burgundy and most of their dominions came to Bern. The indebted Count Egeno (Egon) II managed to get by by recruiting mercenaries for France and died in 1414. With the death of Berchtold in Bern in 1417, the house of Neu-Kyburg died out.

Although the possessions were completely lost for Upper Austria and remained with the Confederation, the Habsburgs kept the title of Prince Count of Kyburg in the title until 1918 .

Members of the House of Neu-Kyburg

Eberhard I. , Count of Kyburg (? After 1253–1284) ⚭ 1273 Anna von Kyburg
1. Hartmann I., Count of Kyburg (approx. 1275–1301) ⚭ Elisabeth of Freiburg (before 1299-after 1306)
  1. Hartmann II., Count of Kyburg (1299, murdered October 31, 1322 in Thun) ⚭ 1319 Margaretha von Neuenburg , mistress of Boudry
  2. Eberhard II, Count of Kyburg (1299–17 April 1357) ⚭ Anastasia von Signau (before 1325-after 1382)
    1. Eberhard III, canon in Basel (1328–14 July 1395 in Basel)
    2. Egon I, canon in Strasbourg and Constance (before 1347 – after 1365)
    3. Hartmann III., Count of Kyburg (before 1347–29 March 1377) ⚭ Anna von Neuenburg-Nidau (before 1347-after 1378)
      1. Rudolf II, Count of Kyburg (approx. 1362-1383 or 1384)
        
        Egon II, Count of Kyburg (before 1395–1414 in Bern) ⚭ Johanna von Rappoltstein , mistress of Magnières
        
        Berchtold I, Count of Kyburg (before 1371 – after August 3, 1417)
        extinct line (titular an Habsburg )
    4. Margaretha, Countess of Kyburg ⚭ Emich VI. Count of Leiningen-Hardenburg († 1381)
  3. Katharina (before 1313-after 1342) ⚭ Albrecht I, Count of Werdenberg zu Heiligenberg († 1364)
2. Margareta (approx. † 1333) ⚭ 1290 Dietrich VI. Count of Kleve (1256 or 1257–4 October 1305)

literature

Heinz Bühler and others: The Counts of Kyburg, Kyburger conference 1980 in Winterthur . In: Schweizerischer Burgenverein (Hrsg.): Swiss contributions to the cultural history and archeology of the Middle Ages . tape 8 . Basel 1981.
Martin Leonhard, Franziska Hälg-Steffen: Kyburg [Kiburg], from. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
August Plüss: The barons of Grünenberg in Kleinburgund . Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate submitted to the high philosophical faculty of the University of Bern. In: Archives of the Historical Association of the Canton of Bern . Volume XVI, Issue 1. Stämpfli, Bern 1900 ( digital copy at E-Periodica ).

Web links

Habsburg-Laufenburg and Neu-Kyburg , on Habsburg.net

Individual evidence

↑ The date of birth is 1230, then he would have been the eldest of the five sons of Rudolf the Silent . But he was usually mentioned as the youngest, then he would have to be born after 1253 (date of birth of Otto the Teutonic Knight). The whole story with the struggle for the Kyburgian legacy 1264–1273, in which he did not play an active role, suggests that he was the straggler.
↑ December 30, 1325 in Burgdorf (Plüss 1900: p. 57).
↑ July 14, 1290 in Erfurt.

[1] The date of birth is 1230, then he would have been the eldest of the five sons of Rudolf the Silent . But he was usually mentioned as the youngest, then he would have to be born after 1253 (date of birth of Otto the Teutonic Knight). The whole story with the struggle for the Kyburgian legacy 1264–1273, in which he did not play an active role, suggests that he was the straggler.

[2] December 30, 1325 in Burgdorf (Plüss 1900: p. 57).

[3] July 14, 1290 in Erfurt.