Battle of Sempach

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Battle of Sempach
The battle on the fresco in the battle chapel of Sempach (16th or 17th century)
The battle on the fresco in the battle chapel of Sempach (16th or 17th century)
date July 9, 1386
place Sempach in the canton of Lucerne , Switzerland
output Victory of the Confederation
Parties to the conflict

Coat of arms of the archduchy of Austria.svgHzt. Habsburg – Austria

Ch-1422a.png Eidgenossenschaft der VIII. Locations :
Coat of arms Lucerne matt.svgCity of Lucerne Uri Schwyz Unterwalden and assigned location Rep. Gersau
Uri coat of arms matt.svg
Coat of arms of the canton Schwyz.svg
Coat of arms Unterwalden alt.svg

Coat of arms Gersau.svg

Commander

Coat of arms of the archduchy of Austria.svgDuke Leopold III. from Austria, Styria and Carinthia †
Coat of arms of the archduchy of Austria.svgFrhr. Johann Ochsenstein †

Coat of arms Lucerne matt.svg Petermann von Gundoldingen †

Coat of arms Lucerne matt.svg Junker Heinrich von Moos †

Troop strength
700 men in arms plus a larger number of foot soldiers 1500-2000
losses

min. 400 nobles , unknown number of non-noble losses

min. 200

The battle of Sempach ( Canton Lucerne ) took place on July 9, 1386. It was the decisive battle in the Sempach War between the developing Confederation and the Duchy of Austria , which lasted from 1385 to 1389. In the history of Switzerland, the Battle of Sempach is considered to be the climax of the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Confederates during the Swiss Habsburg Wars . The victory of the Confederation led to a consolidation of the Confederation and the collapse of the power of the House of Habsburg in the Habsburg foothills . This was used by the cities of Lucerne , Bern and Solothurn to expand their territory.

The Battle of Sempach, together with other violent conflicts that occurred in the 13th and 14th centuries, is understood as a war of liberation against the Habsburg feudal rule. The battle is the scene of the heroic legend of Arnold Winkelried, which can be proven from the 16th century .

prehistory

In the 14th century, a network of alliances emerged in what is now Switzerland, which was to form the crystallization core for the Old Confederation . According to early modern chroniclers, the Confederation is said to have originated in 1291 in the so-called Rütli oath as an alliance between Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. As far as we know today, there is no evidence that the Rütli oath actually took place. Nevertheless, it is still an integral part of popular historiography.

In 1332, the Habsburg country town of Lucerne formed an alliance with the Waldstätten , with which the aspiring Lucerne citizens wanted to secure themselves militarily. Against the background of a feud with the House of Habsburg, the imperial city of Zurich also concluded an alliance with Lucerne and the Waldstätten in 1351 . The immediate cause of the feud between Zurich and Habsburg was that Zurich, in response to the rejection of its alliance offer to the House of Habsburg, destroyed the Rapperswil castles, which it held as a result of the murder night in Zurich . In the course of this feud, Zurich, with the help of its allies, conquered the Habsburg town of Zug and Glarus , which also belonged to Habsburg, in 1352 , which were forced to conclude unlimited alliances with Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zurich and Lucerne.

In the western part of what is now Switzerland, another powerful alliance system had formed with the Burgundian Confederation around the imperial city of Bern . However, due to the expansion policy of the city of Bern, there were great tensions within the Burgundian Confederation between the city of Bern and the noble members of the Burgundian Confederation. When Bern refused to recognize Ludwig IV as Roman-German Emperor because he had been crowned emperor against the will of the Pope, these tensions finally escalated in the Laupenkrieg , in which the city of Bern formed an alliance consisting of the Habsburg town of Freiburg in Üechtland , various noble and ecclesiastical lordships from what is now western Switzerland and the county of Savoy . Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden support Bern based on a temporary alliance concluded in 1323. In 1353, the city of Bern finally concluded an eternal alliance with Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. Although no alliances between Bern and the cities of Lucerne and Zurich existed at this point in time, this date is commonly seen in Swiss historiography as Bern's accession to the Confederation.

Eternal leagues ("Federal letters") between the VIII places (Bern, Zurich, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus) at the time of the battle of Sempach (the places that were part of the respective league are marked with a "+" marked)
year Uri Schwyz Unterwalden Lucerne Zurich train Glarus Bern
1291 + + + - - - - -
1315 + + + - - - - -
1332 + + + + - - - -
1351 + + + - + - - -
1352 + + + - + - + -
1352/1365 + + + + + + - -
1353 + + + - - - - +

Duke Leopold III. During the division of the Habsburg Empire in the Treaty of Neuberg in 1379, von Habsburg was awarded not only Styria , Carinthia , Carniola and Tyrol , but also the Habsburg Vorlande , which consisted of the Habsburg possessions in what is now Switzerland and Vorarlberg. Leopold's goal was to establish a connection between his fragmented goods in the foothills and the county of Tyrol through an active acquisition policy. In order to ensure the connection to the Habsburg city of Freiburg in the Üechtland , he acquired the pledge through the cities of Nidau , Büren and Altreu . In order to ensure the connection to Alsace , he brought the Hauenstein under his control. However, this territorial policy collided with the interests of the cities in what is now Switzerland, which at that time also tried to expand their territories. Leopold suffered a first setback in the Burgdorf War (1383 - 1384), in which the city of Bern conquered the strategically important cities of Burgdorf and Thun from the Neu-Kyburgers , a subsidiary of the Habsburgs.

In the beginning, the territorial policy of the cities consisted of the purchase, seizure , or lending of new areas. However, the cities soon began to expand their territory by granting castle rights and accepting Ausburgern , which was actually forbidden according to the imperial laws of the time. The associated erosion of nobility rights led to tensions between the cities and the nobility. Against this background, various urban unions directed against Habsburg were formed in southern Germany. The most important of these was the Confederation of Constance , in which the cities of Bern , Zurich , Zug , Solothurn and, indirectly, Lucerne allied with numerous other southern German cities in 1385 . Since Leopold could not count on the support of the Roman-German king and the southern German area was divided as a result of the Great Schism of 1378, Leopold found himself in a relatively weak position. Therefore he tried to avoid a conflict and to come to a peaceful settlement with the cities. The federal cities, on the other hand, continued to expand their sphere of influence and thus came into conflict with the local Habsburg officials and pledges.

The ( de jure ) still Austrian city of Lucerne increasingly emancipated itself from its Habsburg rule and pursued an aggressive policy to expand its territory. In the 1380s, the city of Lucerne bought the Vogtei Weggis .

Sempach War up to the Battle of Sempach

The first fighting during the Sempach War took place at the end of 1385. Without a formal declaration of war, there were several armed attacks by Lucerne, Zug and Zurich residents on the Habsburg bases in Rapperswil , St. Andreas bei Cham , Rothenburg and Wolhusen . Numerous castles belonging to the Habsburg nobility were also destroyed. At the beginning of 1386, Lucerne incorporated Entlebuch , Sempach , Meienberg , Richensee and Willisau into its castle rights . According to tradition, Peter von Thorberg , to whom the House of Habsburg had pledged the rule of Wolhusen, was expelled from Entlebuch together with his subordinate Claus Trube in this context . However, the Austrian officials fought against the territorial expansion of Lucerne. The Austrian contingent defeated the Lucerne team at Meienberg. This defeat prompted Lucerne to ask its allies in Zurich and the Waldstätten for support.

On February 21, 1386, the fighting was interrupted by a truce. With the mediation of the Swabian cities , which remained neutral for economic reasons, peace negotiations were held in Zurich in May and June 1386. These proved unsuccessful and the armistice was not extended.

Duke Leopold III. meanwhile gathered his troops in Brugg , the seat of the Habsburgs in the foothills . His army was recruited from the nobility from Swabia , Alsace , Aargau , Thurgau and Tyrol , the leadership of Upper German cities and German, French and Italian mercenaries. The Swiss expected that Leopold would attack the city of Zurich . Therefore an army consisting of troops from Zurich, Lucerne , Uri , Schwyz and Unterwalden was set up to defend Zurich ( Bern , however, did not send any troops). Instead of going to Zurich, Leopold marched towards Lucerne in June. Apparently Leopold wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with the federal army in front of Zurich and instead intended to wage a war of damage in the territory controlled by Lucerne, as was customary in medieval warfare. The city of Willisau surrendered to the Habsburg army on July 1st without a fight. After staying in Willisau for a week, the town was burned down by the Habsburgs on July 8th. After Willisau was pillaged, the Habsburg army set out for Sempach , which should have been the next victim of the Austrian war of damage.

The battle

The battlefield today

The exact course of the battle is not known, the battle itself is one of the most poorly documented of the Middle Ages.

On July 9, federal troops from Lucerne , Uri , Schwyz and Unterwalden , who had been withdrawn from Zurich, were on their way to Sempach . Not far from Sempach they met the Austrian army. In the sparse contemporary reports there are indications that neither the federal nor the Habsburg troops expected a battle. The contemporary sources report that the Habsburg knights were surprised by the appearance of the federal marching column. Apparently the Habsburgs misjudged the situation and attacked hastily without a battle formation. According to Austrian sources, this lack of order was the cause of the defeat.

There is also evidence that the Habsburg knights may have panicked when they realized that, given the circumstances, they could expect to be killed and not hope to be captured for later ransom demands, as is shown in chivalrous wars was otherwise common. In any case, an Austrian source says that a number of knights were very "lazy" to do their duty and many sat on their horses, watched the battle for a while and then fled. Leopold III. von Habsburg did not take part in the battle himself at the beginning. It was only when the Habsburgs threatened to lose the battle that he apparently tried to turn things around by throwing himself into battle. The attempt was in vain and cost Leopold his life.

Duke Leopold was buried in the church of the Königsfelden monastery near Brugg, which was built in 1308 by his widow Elisabeth after the murder of his grandfather, King Albrecht I of Habsburg. For their part, the Confederates remained on the battlefield for three days.

Winkelried's death near Sempach; Painting by Konrad Grob (1828–1904)
The Battle of Sempach on a watercolor from 1513
Winkelriedstein

The legend

The first mention of a hero like Winkelried, albeit still without a name, can be found in the Zurich Chronicle of 1476 and describes the admirable act of "a loyal man" on the part of the Confederates. In Tschudis Chronik he first appears in the previous version of 1563 as Arnold Winckelriet , in the edition of 1564 he is then Mr. Arnold von Winckelriet, Ritter .

The Winkelried legend, popular during the time of spiritual national defense in Switzerland, says that the victory was due to the sacrificial death of Arnold von Winkelried. He got up with the exclamation "I want to clear an alley for you, take care of my wife and my children!" Thrown into the spears of the Habsburg knights and crushed them, so that the federal foot troops could break into the phalanx of the knight army with their halberds over his body . A variant of his last words is: "An alley for freedom!"

Slaughter prayer

«Oh rich Christian from himel! through your bitter death / help protect us poor sinners, uss this fear and need / and do us byestan / and our land and lütte, treated in umbrella and protection »( Halbsuterlied , after Aegidius Tschudi ).

The confederates were certain that God had given them victory and the conversion of the social order. According to legend, the victors thanked God with a Kyrie eleison ("Lord, have mercy") after the battle they had won .

losses

The loss details differ. Probably at least 200 fighters died on the part of the Confederates. On the Austrian side, at least 400 aristocrats plus around 1,100 men of the rank and file, including around 200 Black Forests from the counties of Hauenstein and Schaffhauser. The Zurzach yearbook names the number of those killed on both sides 1,500. The old Limburg Chronicle puts the number of Swiss fallen at almost 600.

For the fallen nobles on the side of the Habsburgs see: List of the fallen nobles on the side of the Habsburgs in the Battle of Sempach .

Fallen celebrities

Fallen noble families from the Breisgau

Battle banner of the Margraves of Baden and the standard bearer Henman Meyer-Niessen (members of the tribes of the Giving )

In the Breisgauian song manuscript from 1445, in addition to the fallen Leopold, many other victims from Breisgau aristocratic families are listed. The introduction reads as follows: “ Afterwards, gentlemen knights and servants and stett were all slain before Sempach by the two gentlemen, luipolden von Osterrich in the jare and vff the days of alz hye above instead of in the ferszen, who gave all selenium the eternally rich AMEN.

On the first of the highly praised noble prince Duke Luipoldt . " Then follow:

This is followed by a list of other dead people by location or region.

memorial

Battle Chapel Sempach

Today the battle chapel of Sempach and a memorial stone, which is supposed to commemorate Arnold von Winkelried, stand at the location of the events of that time . Every year on the last Saturday in June there is a commemoration ceremony.

A marked path leads from the chapel to a rather unknown memorial with a view of the foothills of the Alps , which is popularly known as “Morgenbrot-Stöckli” ▼ . The Swiss are said to have had their last breakfast here before the battle and then crossed the Meierholz over the Kapuzinerbrücke ▼ towards the Habsburgs.

  • Capuchin Bridge

  • Morning bread sticks

  • inscription

  • Signpost on the promenade

The Monday litany of the Königsfelden Monastery

Duke Leopold III. von Habsburg had already had a crypt chapel built for himself in the castle in Wiener Neustadt , but was buried in the church of the monastery of Königsfelden near Brugg. After several reburial steps, he found his final resting place from 1770 in the collegiate church crypt of the St. Paul monastery in Lavanttal in Carinthia.

Until the annexation by Bern in 1415, the Monday mass in the Königsfelden monastery and its patron church in Waldshut was followed by a litany in German to commemorate Duke Leopold: “Remember, by God our gracious Lord, Duke Leopold, who, at Sempach in his own, with his own and slain by his own, is buried here. " The litany is reported for the first time by Veit Arnpeck .

See also

literature

swell

Web links

Commons : Battle of Sempach  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A study on the battle of Sempach July 9, 1386 , Alexander Schweizer, 1902, p. 12
  2. ^ A study on the battle of Sempach July 9, 1386 , Alexander Schweizer, 1902, p. 12
  3. ^ A study on the battle of Sempach July 9, 1386 , Alexander Schweizer, 1902, p. 18
  4. ^ A study on the battle of Sempach July 9, 1386 , Alexander Schweizer, 1902, p. 18
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Stefan Jäggi: Sempacherkrieg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 18, 2012 , accessed August 24, 2018 .
  6. ^ Andreas Waser: Arnold Winkelried. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 2, 2013 , accessed August 24, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b HLS: Confederation. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 8, 2012 , accessed August 23, 2018 .
  8. ^ Meinrad Suter: Zurich (canton). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 24, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
  9. ^ Peter Hoppe: Zug (canton). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 24, 2019 , accessed June 5, 2019 .
  10. ^ Hans Laupper: Glarus (Canton). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . May 30, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Urs Martin Zahnd : Burgundian Confederation. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 25, 2003. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Christian Folini: Laupen war. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 4, 2007 , accessed August 23, 2018 .
  13. ^ Anne-Marie Dubler : Burgdorferkrieg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 10, 2003 , accessed August 24, 2018 .
  14. ^ Karl Heinz Burmeister : Konstanzer Bund. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . October 30, 2008 , accessed August 24, 2018 .
  15. ^ HLS: Lucerne (canton). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 7, 2018 , accessed August 24, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Kathrin Utz Tremp: Peter von Thorberg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 30, 2012 , accessed August 24, 2018 .
  17. ^ A b c d Guy P. Marchal: On the course of the battle near Sempach: a source-critical addendum . In: Swiss magazine for history = Revue suisse d'histoire = Rivista storica svizzera . tape 37 (1987) , no. 4 , p. 428-436 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-80989 .
  18. ↑ ZurLaubens stemmatography Helvetia X, fol. 303 ff.
  19. ↑ No receipt.
  20. ↑ No receipt.
  21. ^ The Battle of Sempach , Theodor von Liebenau, 1886, p. 165
  22. ↑ Christian Sieber, Katharina Koller-Weiss: Aegidius Tschudi and his time , Krebs, 2002, p. 313.

Coordinates: 47 ° 8 ′ 44 "  N , 8 ° 12 ′ 48"  E ; CH1903:  658 761  /  221910