Rudolf von Planta

Rudolf von Planta 1624. Painting from the collection of the Rätisches Museum in Chur

Rudolf von Planta (* 1569 , † 1638 at Rametz Castle in Meran ) was one of the leaders of the Spanish-Austrian party during the Bündner turmoil 1618–1639.

Like his younger brother Pompejus, Rudolf came from the von Planta family of ministers from Zuoz . The family had been one of the most important ministerials in the Principality of Chur since the late Middle Ages and held important offices and fiefs in the Upper and Lower Engadine , in Domleschg, Puschlav , Münstertal and in Vinschgau . The family was also related to the County of Tyrol , whose sphere of influence overlapped in the Lower Engadine and Vinschgau with that of the Principality of Chur. After the conquest of Valtellina , the Planta family was the most important dynasty there alongside the Salis . The branch of the Planta from Zernez confessed to the Reformed faith since the denominational split of the Three Leagues .

Rudolf held numerous offices because he came from the Planta family. He was Kriminallandamman of the Lower Engadine, 1601-1603 Governor of the Veltin and archducal councilor to Leopold V , the Habsburg regent of Upper Austria and Tyrol. He held the rule of Tarasp as a Habsburg fief . The Drei Bünde sent Rudolf on various occasions as ambassador on diplomatic missions, for example in 1599 to Innsbruck to the court of the Archduke, in 1600 to Valais and to the imperial court of Rudolf II in Vienna. In 1603 the Republic of Venice granted him the dignity of Knight of the Order of St. Mark .

The feudal connection with the House of Habsburg and his activity as a statutory judge in Zernez, where he had executions carried out in 1616, made Rudolf suspicious of the Venetian Party in the Three Leagues. The Reformed preachers also turned against him and suspected him of sympathy with Catholicism. He was therefore ostracized at the Thusis criminal court in 1618 together with his brother Pompejus and sentenced to death in absentia. The judgment was later overturned in Chur, but confirmed again in Davos. Under the leadership of his political opponent Baptista von Salis, the Engadines devastated Wildenberg Castle near Zernez, where Rudolf had his residence, and he had to flee to Leopold V's territory. After the outbreak of hostilities between Leopold V and the Grisons in 1621, Rudolf returned to Bünden with the Austrian troops under Alois Baldiron and entered Chur with them on November 22, 1621. After the assignment of the eight courts, the Lower Engadine and the Münster Valley, to Leopold V, Rudolf took over command of the Austrian troops in the Lower Engadine in 1622 and again held the post of statutory judge. In 1623 he converted to Catholicism. In 1627 he took over the offices of an Austrian captain and commissioner in Zernez and supported the Counter Reformation as much as possible, so he expelled the last predicants from the Lower Engadine and appointed Capuchins to their positions.

After the devastation of Wildenberg Castle, Rudolf stayed mostly at Rametz Castle near Merano, where he also owned Greifen Castle .

Web links

• Hansjürg Gredig: Planta, Rudolf von (Wildenberg). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .