Sebastian von Breitenstein

Sebastian von Breitenstein (left) and his opponent Gordian Seuter in a multivision of the Erasmus Chapel in Kempten

Sebastian von Breitenstein (* around 1465 ; † 1535 ) was from 1522 to 1535 Prince Abbot of the Prince Abbey of Kempten and representative of the Swabian noble family from the middle Alb . As a Roman Catholic religious, his life was not perfect; he preferred his illegitimate son Pelagius in every possible living situation.

Life

Sebastian von Breitenstein took his religious vows in 1494 and became a priest in the same year. From 1508 he was dean of the monastery. In 1522 he was appointed prince abbot.

In 1524 peasants were still formulating their complaints to the prince abbot. This constantly demanded further taxes from his subjects. Even before negotiations could take place, the unrest of the Peasants' War came into the prince's sphere of influence. The rebels were suppressed, but continued to refuse to pay homage or pay tribute to the prince. In 1525 he was besieged by farmers at his Liebenthann Castle during the German Peasants' War . He handed them over and sought refuge in the imperial city. Under duress, he signed the contract for the “big purchase” with the mayor Gordian Seuter . This signature cost the imperial city of 30,000 guilders and dissolved the (since 1356) imperial city from the hands of Prince pen. All the lordly rights of the prince abbot in the imperial city area (within the city fortifications) were thus taken over by the imperial city.

When Breitenstein had temporarily resigned from 1525 to 1527, the dean Eck von Reischach and the capital lord Wolfgang von Grünenstein administered the prince abbey.

In 1534 the 70-year-old Sebastian von Breitenstein was assigned the collegiate capital Wolfgang von Grünenstein as coadjutor due to his weak age . The prince abbot died a year later. His epitaph is in the crypt of the later collegiate and parish church of St. Lorenz .

Act

Sebastian von Breitenstein achieve increases in property. In 1524 he acquired the imperial bailiwick of Aitrang and in 1526, with the money from the Great Purchase, the rule of Sulzberg (Oberallgäu) . He preferred his son Pelagius in every way.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Schmid: The conflict resolution in the state area after the Peasants' War in 1525 in Upper Swabia and in Tyrol. (= Seminar paper from 2002 in the history department) University of Konstanz, GRIN-Verlag, 2007, p. 12
2. ^ Alfred Weitnauer: Allgäuer Chronik - pictures and documents. Verlag für Heimatpflege, 1st edition, Kempten 1962, p. 257

literature

• Friedrich Zollhoefer (ed.): In Eduard Zimmermann, Friedrich Zollhoefer: Kempter coat of arms and symbols including the city and district of Kempten and the adjacent areas of the Upper Allgäu. In: Heimatverein Kempten (Ed.): Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund. 1. Delivery, No. 60/61, Kempten 1960/61, p. 34 f.
• Wolfgang Petz, Josef Kirmeier, Wolfgang Jahn and Evamaria Brockhoff (eds.): "Citizen diligence and prince-luster." Imperial city and prince abbey of Kempten. House of Bavarian History , Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-927233-60-9 , p. 77f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Rudolf von Raitenau	Prince Abbot of Kempten 1522 - 1535	Wolfgang von Grünenstein