Knight League

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ritterbund is a collective term for communities and groups of people who live according to profane rules . What they have in common is the romanticizing reference to ideals and noble goals of chivalry , an attitude that was shaped in the Middle Ages and aimed in particular through the upbringing of the male aristocratic offspring. The best known collection of these ideals can be found in the historical novel Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach . For some knight associations this novel has dogmatic significance.

These associations are to be distinguished from orders of knights and noble societies .

history

Already in the 15th century one can speak of a beginning romanticism of knights, which is caused by the memory of the time of the knights , the time of the tournaments and the knight armies in contrast to the mercenary armies perceived as inferior , as they have been since the 15th and 16th centuries common, was coined. The last knight's battle was the battle of Mühldorf from 1322, in which the last time there was no firearm . In this tradition, Emperor Maximilian I is considered the “last knight”, who also had the ideals of the knight wandering expressed in the epic Theuerdank which he commissioned .

Towards the end of the 18th century, the romanticism of knights experienced its first climax with the founding of the Wildenstein knighthood for the blue earth in 1790 at Sebenstein Castle near Wiener Neustadt . In this knight league it was customary to give each other their own names and to address each other as “knights” without any difference in rank. Famous members of this knighthood were, for example, Archduke Johann of Austria , who called himself the Thernberger , or Grand Duke August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , who appeared here as the Pant of Weimar . This association was banned by Metternich in 1823, despite its high-ranking members .

In the middle of the 19th century, caused by a romanticization of the Middle Ages and its contrast with an increasingly sober and technologically advanced present, a wave of knight associations was founded in Bavaria and Austria. The Schwemmer , the oldest knight association in today's German Knight Association, was founded in Bavaria in 1856 . In Salzburg in 1874 arose Kuttenberger , founded by the first grandmaster Eduard von Lowenthal, in civil life Eduard Angel Berger and print shop owner. It was and is typical of a knight's association that you meet at a castle (in the early days of the Kuttenberg Association it was the Franziskischlössl on the Kapuzinerberg , later a knightly furnished club bar in the so-called Mödlhammerbäu in the Getreidegasse ) and yourself a knightly one Clothing ( beret , doublet , boots and sword) is increasing. In Salzburg in 1877 the newsletter "Der Herold", which still exists today, was founded (not to be confused with the eponymous members' magazine of the Apostolic Community or the magazine of the heraldic association Herold ). The editor was Hermann von Toggenburg, in bourgeois life Karl Rathmayer, a factor at the Pustet printing company and later at the Kiesel printing company . This created an organ of publication in which news from the life of the knight associations could be passed on.

Important for the further development was Josef von Thury , with his full knight name Josef der Gestrenge und Ungerechte von Thury , in bourgeois life Josef Mauczka and owner of the " kuk private I. Wiener Central- Ankündigungs -Anstalt", which dealt with the upcoming poster advertising . Because of this background he was financially independent and could indulge in his passion, the knight leagues. In 1873 he had founded the all-time high knightly order of the Green Tankard in Vienna . During a "knight ride" in 1883 he visited the Austrian and Bavarian knight associations. In Salzburg, thanks to his financial support, the magazine “Der Herold” was published twice a month. In 1884 he also actively helped to organize the imperial banquet for the ten-year anniversary of the founding of the Kuttenbergers, at which "18 knighthood sprang up", as it was called in ancient language. The founding of the “Association of Austrian and Bavarian Knight Associations” was also decided upon, which was later joined by other associations. Josef von Thury was chosen as the illustrious high master . September 7, 1884 is now considered the day the "German Knight League" was founded. Further Reichstag were held in Aibling in 1886 and in Vienna in 1889; On this occasion, a medal of the knight associations was brought out.

Today's knight leagues

Predominantly humanist knight associations and associations are z. B. the German Knight Federation , the German Knight Federation , the Association of Austrian Alliances, the Schlaraffia or the profane successor organization of the Sword Brothers . A predominantly historical way of life and representation can be found e.g. B. in the Hessian Knight League.

literature

  • Christoph Mayrhofer: Medal of the Knight Associations. Salzburg Museum (Ed.), The Artwork of the Month, 2014, Volume 27, Sheet 309.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Homepage of the German Knight Federation
  2. ^ Homepage of the German Knighthood Association
  3. ^ Homepage of the German Knight Federation
  4. ↑ Homepage of the Hessian Knight Association

Web links

See also