Battle of Ragaz

Battle of Ragaz

Part of: Old Zurich War

Overview map of the Old Zurich War

date	March 6, 1446
place	Ragaz , Canton of St. Gallen
output	federal victory
consequences	Armistice on June 12, 1446
Peace treaty	Peace of Einsiedeln 1450

Parties to the conflict
Holy Roman Empire Hzt. Habsburg – Austria Imperial City of Zurich Gft. Werdenberg Frhr. from Brandis	Confederation of VII. Locations : Glarus Schwyz Imperial City of Bern City of Lucerne Uri Unterwalden City and Office of Zug and Sarganserländer
Commander
Knight Hans von Rechberg Frhr. Wolfhart V. by Brandis Frhr. Paul vom Stein †	Landammann Jost Tschudi d. Ä. Landammann Ital Reding d. J.
Troop strength
4,000-6,000 men	1,100–1,200 men of them 500 Glarus 40 Sarganserländer
losses
approx. 900	about 100

The Battle of Ragaz was a military conflict that took place on March 6, 1446 during the Old Zurich War in what is now Bad Ragaz , Canton St. Gallen , Switzerland in the course of the fighting over the Sarganserland .

The opponents were on the one hand the contingents of the federal Eight Old Places with their allies (excluding the Zurich residents) and on the other hand troops of the Habsburgs and their allied nobles and the imperial city of Zurich . This last major military confrontation of the Old Zurich War did not end it immediately, despite a clear federal victory, but it contributed significantly to the mutual weariness of both sides and the increasing willingness to negotiate peace.

prehistory

After the previous defeat of the Habsburg allies of Zurich in the battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl in 1443 and the retreat of the Armagnaks in 1444 after the battle of St. Jakob an der Birs , King Friedrich III. von Habsburg made an appeal to the imperial princes to fight against the Swiss Confederation. As a result, the Old Zurich War developed into an Imperial War on August 30, 1444 and numerous South German counts, knights and lords subsequently went to war against the Confederates and their allies. The theater of war increasingly shifted to eastern Switzerland ; A guerrilla war broke out between Lake Constance and Chur, which lasted until 1446 and essentially consisted of several raids by both parties. The Habsburgs only twice made major advances against the Swiss Confederation, in 1445 against Appenzell and Toggenburg (→ battle near Kirchberg and battle near Wolfhalden ) and in 1446 in the Sarganserland.

Mainly affected by the federal attacks were, besides the Habsburg territories, those of the various lines of the Counts of Montfort and von Werdenberg as well as the Barons of Brandis . The conflict had originally sparked between Glarus and the Lords of Brandis and the Counts of Werdenberg, because Glarus made claims to the Lords of Freudenberg and Nidberg and occupied them illegally in May and September 1444. Wolfhard V. von Brandis , the Habsburg bailiff of Feldkirch , therefore declared war on Glarus and Schwyz on November 29 and Heinrich II von Werdenberg-Sargans on November 30, 1444 "as a count des rich" . Thus, both nobles changed sides, especially since they were in the Schwyz and Glarner Landrecht and the latter helped the Werdenberger at the end of October 1440 to expel the people of Zurich from the Sarganserland and to devastate the city ​​of Zurich territory together . After the Peace of Kilchberg on December 1, 1440, only the rule of Flum remained formally in the Sarganserland .

After Wolfhard von Brandis had forced the Glarus and Schwyzers to retreat with an allegedly 6,000-strong army on December 1, 1444, the Confederates intervened in the eastern theater of war on February 3, 1445. After returning from a military campaign in Lower Vorarlberg , they decided on February 5 to launch a campaign against Lords von Brandis and Count Heinrich II von Werdenberg-Sargans. They crossed the Rhine near Schollberg, burned Balzers and, on February 12, after a one-week siege, also the town of Sargans ; They extorted 1,000 gulden protection money each from Mels and Flums and then returned home laden with loot via Weesen . The Sargans Castle and Walenstadt could be held against it.

On February 14, 1446, the daily statute in Lucerne resolved another campaign against the Sarganserland. This move took place at the suggestion of the allied Appenzeller and was directed primarily against the territory of Wolfhart von Brandis, whose possessions were in the area of ​​today's Principality of Liechtenstein , where Austrian soldiers had been seen. Since this had already withdrawn at the time, the Confederates devastated the Sarganserland, Ragaz and Maienfeld and turned against Triesen . She fought several skirmishes across the Rhine with the troops of the Lord of Brandis.

course

Since the previously agreed influx of the Appenzell and Toggenburgers from Gams did not take place for unknown reasons, the 1,100 to 1,200-strong federal army withdrew on March 5, under the Glarner Landammann Jost Tschudi the Elder and the Schwyzer Landammann Ital Reding the Younger In 1446 he returned to Mels to set up camp for the night to discuss further action, especially against the permanent places in Sargans and Walenstadt, which are still in enemy hands. They forced part of the local population to pay homage, whereby a large part refused to take the oath and fled the country.

The Austrian counter-attack took place that same evening; it set up an "uncountably strong" army (the strength of which is estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 men) - mainly from Vorarlberg, the Etsch , the Chur monastery and the Prättigau - from the county of Vaduz under the command of Hans von Rechberg (recently son-in-law of Heinrich II. von Werdenberg-Sargans) and Wolfhard V. von Brandis across the Rhine and occupied Ragaz. Rechberg and Brandis divided the army into two contingents; the first camped in the village of Ragaz, the second in the fields in the Baschare plain north of the village. The Confederates camped in Mels moved on the night of March 6th via Wangs and Vilters to St. Leonhard below Freudenberg Castle to carry out a surprise attack from the heights.

This concentrated advance against the opponents sitting at breakfast took place in the morning hours of Fridolin Day (March 6th) "next to the village down" against the enemy lines, from where gunfire struck them, which could be heard half a mile (approx. 7 kilometers) away should have been. Some of the enemy cavalry under Baron Paul vom Stein tried unsuccessfully to break through the federal lines. After a lengthy struggle, the Confederates gained the upper hand, which forced the enemy to flee across the Rhine. An attack by the Austrian cavalry initially prevented an immediate enemy pursuit, which initially gave the fleeing troops a chance to escape. The Rhine was flooding at this time, and it was only there that the Austrian defeat turned into a catastrophe for the Austrians. Most of the riders were able to get to safety across the Rhine, but many of the foot servants drowned or were killed by the confederates who were now pursuing them.

losses

According to contemporary information, around 900 men from the Habsburgs and around 100 men from the federal army were killed in the battle. According to other information, the Austrian losses from Vorarlberg alone amounted to 400–500, 42 men from the city of Feldkirch. The banner of the Lords of Brandis was lost and was later brought to the church in Sarnen ; In addition, a large booty of armor, field cannons, powder, crossbows and provisions fell into the hands of the Confederates. Under escort, women and clergymen were able to transport the fallen in March 1446.

consequences

The confederates did not take advantage of their remarkable victory, but soon afterwards cleared the country again. As early as April 1446, Hans von Rechberg and Wolfhart von Brandis occupied the Sarganserland again with an army of around 4,000 men and took possession of the area again for the Counts of Werdenberg-Sargans, so that the Battle of Ragaz was neither militarily, politically nor territorially was crucial. The Confederates were also worried about the burgeoning, potentially dangerous Freiburg War - a separate conflict between Bern and Savoy and the then Austrian Freiburg im Üechtland - and the threat from the separate conflict between the cities of Basel , Solothurn and Bern with the surrounding Habsburgs, which began in 1443 Service nobility.

However, due to the military stalemate, the war fatigue and probably also due to the lack of trade and war costs, the armistice of June 12, 1446 came into force three months later, which ended the fighting. After four years of negotiations, the Peace of Einsiedeln was reached in 1450. Zurich got almost all of its territories back, but had to dissolve the union with Austria.

The date of the battle, the day of Saint Fridolin (March 6th), established itself in large parts of the Old Confederation, especially in Glarus , as a battle holiday . The Obwalden rotting master Niklaus von der Flüh is said to have fought in Ragaz .

See also : List of wars and battles in Switzerland

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Niederhäuser, Christian Sieber: A "fratricidal war" makes history in 2006
2. ↑ Estimate of a Bern captain
3. ↑ J. Conrad Vögelin: History of the Swiss Confederation (Volume 1) P. 332 1820
4. ↑ Hans Fründ : Chronicle of the Old Zurich War. From 1447.
5. ↑ Basler Chroniken IV, p. 451 f. (Chronicle of Erhard von Appenwiler 1439–1471, supplement: Anonymus)
6. ^ Alois Niederstätter: The Old Zurich War 1995
7. ↑ St. Leonhards Chapel Bad Ragaz