Schweickhardt from Sickingen

Schweickhardt VIII von Sickingen († 1505 near Landshut ), also written in Diplomata and literature, Schweikard, Schwicker or Swicker, was a knight who came to a higher political and economic power in the Electoral Palatinate . In doing so, he laid the foundations that enabled his son Franz von Sickingen to become the leader of the Rhenish and Swabian knights.

birth

The exact dates of Schweickhardt's life are not clear. In the literature there are different information about the year of birth, so the year 1466 or 1467 is given.

However, it is more likely that he was born between 1443 and 1446. H. Kehrer indicates this period with the note that Schweickhardt was first mentioned in a document in 1459 and was already 13-16 years old at that time. Kehrer continues to assume that Schweickhardt married before January 1466. In addition, Schweickhardt carried out financially successful companies in the late 1470s and early 1480s. Therefore, the time of birth between 1443 and 1446 seems plausible.

Life

Already in the 14th century there are indications of considerable income and regionally high political importance of the Sickingen family. So Schweickhardts was great-grandfather, Reinhard von Sickingen, bailiff in Alsace , from 1401 governor in Italy; the grandfather Schweikhardt VII. († 1417) chief steward of King Ruprecht .

Schweickhardt VIII married Margarethe Puller von Hohenburg, the chief heiress of the House of Hohenburg , around the beginning of 1466 . Shortly after 1466 Schweickhardt had the will of his mother-in-law contested, who had bequeathed her inheritance to a monastery. In the following years he led various lawsuits over his wife's inheritance. She had rights to substantial possessions, such as B. half of the castle and village of Merxheim and a portion of the castle and the city of Landstuhl . It was not until 1485 that the property was secured against claims by the other heirs. This resulted in a significant expansion of Sickingen's property. Schweickhardt reduced this ownership by selling remote lands. He tried to concentrate his property mainly in the area of ​​the river Nahe , for which he also acquired new fiefs and pledges . Here the Ebernburg was the center of his rule. This castle was pledged to Schweickhardt by Count Palatine Johann von Simmern in 1482 . Before that he only owned part of it.

In the same year Schweickhardt received rights to the mine near Ebernburg from Elector Philipp von der Pfalz . In the period that followed, Schweickhardt bought shares in several mines, where he had copper , mercury and silver digged.

Feud against Cologne

In 1488, Schweickhardt provoked a dispute with Cologne for reasons that were not exactly clarified and led an almost 10-year feud against the city.

One reason could have been that Schweickhardt was forced by a prevailing gun ban in Cologne to surrender his guns. This “disgrace” was possibly the reason to declare the feud to Cologne.

Another reason could be pecuniary claims that Schweickhardt had against a nobleman and that, despite a legitimate claim, were not collected by the city of Cologne, which was responsible for the collection. But the request for help from a goldsmith who had claims against Cologne and turned to Schweickhardt so that he could help the goldsmith with his claims could have been the reason.

The feud dragged on and although the Cologne Council met several times to find a solution, it was only settled in a draw in 1497. Nevertheless, the feud was beneficial for Schweickhardt, because it increased his reputation among members of the aristocracy and it also brought him financial gains.

Political importance

In the period from March 1495 to January 1496 Schweickhardt made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was knighted by the Holy Sepulcher . The travel diary of the group around Duke Alexander von Pfalz-Zweibrücken , his cousin Bishop Antoine de Croÿ and his brother-in-law Count Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrücken appeared in print in 1584.

With the fortune he had acquired, Schweickhardt was able to give loans to the elector Philipp, so that the elector built up large debts with him. A close relationship developed between Schweickhardt and Elector Philipp. Schweickhardt received new lucrative fiefs from Philipp, such as mines and lifelong awards. He also tried to introduce his son Franz von Sickingen, who was born on the Ebernburg in 1481, into political life. As a 13-year-old Franz was in the electoral entourage at the Worms prince's day of 1494. In March 1495, Schweickhardt was in the entourage of elector Philip at the opening of the Reichstag in Worms . In May 1499 Schweickhardt was appointed as one of five governors in Heidelberg while Philip was absent . In the following years he was also commissioned to lead important embassies, such as in May 1500 at the Augsburg Reichstag and in 1503 when Schweickhardt traveled to Mainz for Philipp on the Electoral Congress in order to defuse tensions between the Palatinate and Hesse . At that time Schweickhardt held the office of court master at the Palatinate court, which he held from 1501 to 1505.

In 1504 the Landshut War of Succession broke out , in which Götz von Berlichingen was also involved and lost his hand . Schweickhardt took part in this war on the side of Elector Philipp as an advisor to his son Ruprecht von der Pfalz .

After the end of the fight near Landshut, Schweickhardt died in 1505. The exact circumstances and the date of his death are unclear. It seems to be certain that he died after the end of the fight and that he was not beheaded on the orders of King Maximilian I , as is explained in older literature .

Notes and sources

1. ↑ see Kehrer 1979/1981 or Langbrandtner 1991
2. ^ Rudolf Fendler: The feud of Schweikards von Sickingen with the imperial city of Cologne 1488-1498; in: Mitteilungen des Historisches Verein der Pfalz (MHVPf) 74, 1976, pp. 39–56, here p. 44.
3. ^ Hoffbauer, Frank: Franz von Sickingen - power bases and financial policy; in: Blätter für Pfalzische Kirchengeschichte 49, 1982. P. 191–200, here p. 191.
4. ^ Kehrer, Harold H .: The Sickingen Family and the German Princes 1262-1523. Part II; in: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, Vol. 129, 1981, pp. 82–188, here p. 123.
5. ^ Johann Heinrich Zedler , Carl Günther Ludovici : Large, complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts , Volume 37, 1743, column 935; (Digital scan)
6. ^ Scholzen, Reinhard: Franz von Sickingen. A noble life in the field of tension between cities and territories; Contributions to the history of the Palatinate, vol. 9, Kaiserslautern 1996, p. 33.
7. ↑ Kehrer 1979, Document Part C, No. 22–56.
8. ↑ Kehrer 1979, p. 124ff.
9. ↑ Scholzen, p. 33
10. ↑ Ibid. P. 34.
11. ↑ Fendler, p. 48.
12. ↑ Kehrer 1979, p. 130.
13. ↑ Halm: German Travel Reports, No. 108 , accessed on September 19, 2013
14. ↑ Scholzen, p. 33.
15. ↑ Kehrer 1979, p. 101.
16. ↑ Ibid.
17. ↑ Ibid. P. 132f.
18. ↑ Münch 1827, p. 6.

literature

• Fendler, Rudolf, The feud of Schweikards von Sickingen with the imperial city of Cologne 1488-1498, in: Mitteilungen des Historisches Verein der Pfalz (MHVPf) 74, 1976, pp. 39–56.
• Hoffbauer, Frank: Franz von Sickingen - bases of power and financial policy; in: Blätter für Pfalzische Kirchengeschichte 49, 1982, pp. 191-200.
• Kehrer, Harold H .: The Sickingen family and the German princes 1262 - 1523. Part I: Genealogy and property; in: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine , Vol. 127, 1979, pp. 71–158.
• Kehrer, Harold H .: The Sickingen family and the German princes 1262 - 1523. Part II; in: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine, Vol. 129, 1981, pp. 82-188.
• Lang, Carl: Knight Franz von Sickingen; Heilbronn 1825.
• Langbrandtner, Hans-Werner: The sickingische rule Landstuhl. From Reichsland to small knighthood, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-631-43553-3 .
• Münch, Ernst : Franz von Sickingen's Thaten, Plane, Friends and Exit, Vol. 1, Stuttgart and Tübingen 1827. Online
• Scholzen, Reinhard  : Franz von Sickingen. A noble life in the field of tension between cities and territories; Contributions to the history of the Palatinate, Vol. 9, Kaiserslautern 1996. ISBN 3-927754-17-X .
• Ulmann, Heinrich :  Sickingen, Franz von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 34, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1892, pp. 151-158.