Schweikard von Gemmingen

Schweikard von Gemmingen (born January 13, 1556 - January 29, 1617 ) was councilor in Württemberg-Mömpelgard and lord of the castle at Presteneck Castle .

Life

Epitaph for Schweikard von Gemmingen and his wife Maria von Backha in the Nikolauskirche in Neuenstadt am Kocher

He was a son of Eberhard von Gemmingen (1527–1583) and Maria Greck von Kochendorf († 1609). As a boy he came to the Nassau royal court , later to France , then to the Brandenburg court and finally to the Württemberg court. He was Hofrat and Jägermeister in the government in Württemberg-Mömpelgard and was a confidante of Duke Friedrich , whom he accompanied on a trip to Denmark . He was later connected to his son Friedrich Achilles , who resided in Neuenstadt am Kocher and visited Schweikard in nearby Presteneck.

Schweikard's father did not share the extensive property of his grandfather Eberhard, who died in 1572, with his brothers until shortly before his death in 1582 . Schweikard's uncle Hans Walther († 1591) fell to Presteneck, but remained childless, so that when he was divided in 1598 Presteneck came to Schweikard.

He was blind for the last 14 years of his life. He made various foundations for the benefit of needy subjects, including 300 gulden for the poor in Neuenstadt, 100 gulden for those in Maienfels , 100 gulden for those in Widdern , 100 gulden for those in Leibenstadt and 25 gulden for those in Stein am Kocher .

He was buried with his wife in Neuenstadt, where the couple's ornate epitaph has been preserved in the choir of Nikolauskirche , which shows the deceased praying under the cross of Christ.

family

He married Maria von Backha († 1631) in Mömpelgard in 1585. There were no descendants from the marriage.

literature

• Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig Stocker : Family Chronicle of the Barons of Gemmingen , Heidelberg 1895, p. 178f.