Siegmund von Herberstein

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Depiction of Siegmund von Herberstein in a Muscovite costume (1517)
Siegmund von Herberstein also in Russian clothing (1517)
Aurochs ...
... and bison from Herberstein, 1556

Siegmund Freiherr von Herberstein or Sigismund von Herberstein (born August 24, 1486 in Wippach , † March 28, 1566 in Vienna ) was an Austrian imperial councilor and envoy to the Russian court . His travelogues in his famous Moscovia make him the founder of the Russian customer. He is considered the most enthusiastic autobiographer in Austria in the 16th century.

Life

Siegmund came from the Krainer branch of the Styrian noble family Herberstein . After studying in Vienna , Herberstein worked in financial administration and, in particular, in the diplomatic service of the Habsburgs , for which his extensive education and extensive language skills predestined him.

Out of the series of 69 trips abroad he undertook between 1515 and 1553, two trips to Russia stand out in addition to the successful negotiations on a ceasefire with the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman I in 1541 .

With his first trip to Russia in 1516/17, Herberstein advanced to become an "Eastern Europe expert" in the Habsburg service. In 1525/26 another trip took him to the court of the Moscow Grand Duke . Herberstein published his collected impressions in 1549 in a Latin first edition under the title Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii in Vienna, which was reissued in Basel in 1551 in a slightly modified edition and in 1556 in an edition expanded by the author, and was then frequently reprinted in the following years. An Italian adaptation by F. Corvinus under the title Commentari della Moscovia et parimente della Russia et delle altre cose belle et notabile was published in Venice in 1550. On the basis of the Latin edition of 1556, Herberstein himself organized a newly expanded edition in German, which appeared in 1557 under the title Moscovia der Hauptstat in Reissen in Vienna. Independently of this, Heinrich Pantaleon (1522–1595), Doctor of Artes and Medicine in Basel, wrote a second German translation, which appeared in Basel in 1563 under the title Muscovite Wonderful Histories and subsequently several times, occasionally also under the title Die Muscovite Chronica , was reprinted, among other things, in a Petersburg edition of 1795 initiated by Catherine the Great .

Herberstein's description is still of historical and cultural value today, because the author is curious and linguistically informed from his interlocutors, also cites transcripts from sources and documents and knows how to critically evaluate his information and his own observations. His work was the first significant report from the pen of a Western European about Russia, which has only been marginally noticed in the West for generations. Because of 1238/40 lasting to 1480 Mongol rule had the Russian space take a different development and pushed him out of sight of most Europeans. In addition to detailed descriptions of the conditions at the Russian court, the report also contains comments on cultural contacts between Russia and the West, which existed in his time, particularly with Italy and which, among other things , had shaped Russian church construction through the work of Italian Renaissance builders.

Herberstein died in Vienna in 1566 and is buried in the local church of St. Michael .

Fonts (selection)

  • My Sigmunden Freyherrn zu Herberstain, Neyperg and Guttenhag, Raittung and Antzaigen of my life and being as folgt afterwards. Autobiographical record up to the year 1545, edited by Martin Georg Kovachich , collection of small as yet unprinted pieces in which simultaneous writers recorded individual sections of Hungarian history , Vol. I, Ofen 1805 full text , pages 111–287
  • Rerum Moscoviticarum commentarii , Vienna March 1, 1549. - Improved edition Basel, by Johannes Oporinus, 1551. - New edition, expanded and improved by the author, Basel, by Johannes Oporinus, July 1, 1556. - Numerous reprints, including the one in text, illustrations and Number of pages in accordance with the edition of 1556 reprint in Basel, by Johannes Oporinus, 1571 ( digitized version of the Göttingen State Library )
  • Moscouia the main act in Reissen, by Mr. Sigmunden Freyherrn zu Herberstain, Neyperg vnd Guetenhag Obristen Erbcamrer, and Obristen Erbtruckhsessen in Carinthia, Roman to starve and shelter Khü. May. Etc. Council and Presidents of the Lower Austrian Cameroon collected , Vienna, from Michael Zimmermann, 1557 ( digitized version of the Göttingen State Library ). Herberstein himself initiated and expanded the German edition based on the Basel edition of 1556.
  • Rervm Moscouiticarum Commentarij Sigismundi Liberi Baronis in Herberstain, Neyperg, & Guettenhag: quibus Russiae ac Metropolis eius Moscouiae descriptio, Chorographicae tabulae, religionis indicatio ... continentur . - Basileae: Oporinus, 1571. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf

Further writings of Herberstein are listed at:

literature

  • August Dimitz : History of Krain from the earliest times up to the year 1813 , second part: From Maximilian I's entry into government . (1493) until the death of Emperor Ferdinand I (1564, Chapter: 2. The War with Venice (1508–1516), p. 9 ff.);
  • Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : German count houses of the present , Vol. I (A – K), Leipzig 1852, 503 p .; Pages 348–352 (Sigmund v. H., short biography and description of coat of arms, p. 351)
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Herberstein, Sigismund . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 8th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1862, p. 342 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Ludwig Geiger:  Herberstein, Siegmund . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, pp. 35-39.
  • A. Nehring: Freiherr von Herberstein , 1897.
  • Joža Glonar: Herberstein Sigismund -diplomat in zgodovinar (historian). In: Slovenski biografski leksikon (The Slovenian biographical lexicon) (SBL), Prva Knjiga (First Book) Abraham - Lužar, Ljubljana 1925–1932, Reprint Nendeln / Liechtenstein 1976, p. 313 f.
  • Bertold Picard: The embassy system of East Central Europe in the early modern period . Contributions to the history of diplomacy in the first half of the sixteenth century according to the notes of Baron Sigmund von Herberstein. Vienna Archive for the History of Slavery and Eastern Europe. Volume VI. Graz-Wien-Kdln, Hermann Bohlaus Nachf., 1967.
  • Dorothea Bergstraesser:  Herberstein, Sigmund Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 579 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Heinz Dopsch: Herberstein, Sigmund von . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Vol. 2. Munich 1976, pp. 148-150
  • Wolfgang Leitsch: S. von Herberstein. In: Gerhard Pferschy (ed.) U. Peter Krenn (Ed.), Die Steiermark. Bridge and bulwark. Catalog d. State exhibition at Herberstein Castle b. Stubenberg: May 3 to October 26, 1986, Herberstein Castle 1986.
  • Sandi Sitar: Žiga Herberstein, diplomat, potopisec in kartograf (1486–1566) - Odkritje Rusije - (Sigmund Herberstein, diplomat, travel chronist and cartographer (1486–1566) - discovery of Russia). In: Sto slovenskih znastvenikov, zdravnikov in technikov (One hundred Slovenian scientists, doctors and technicians), Ljubljana 1987, Chapter 13, pp. 86–87;
  • Fighters, Frank: Siegmund von Herberstein's "Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii" as a source of religious history, in: Gerhard Pferschy (Ed.): Siegmund von Herberstein. Imperial envoy and founder of Russian studies and European diplomacy, Graz 1989, pp. 147–163.
  • Gerhard Pferschy (ed.): Siegmund von Herberstein. Imperial envoy and founder of Russian studies and European diplomacy , Graz 1989. = Publications of the Styrian State Archive 17
  • Günther Stökl : The Moscovite legation system up to the time of Herberstein. In: Gerhard Pferschy (Ed.): Siegmund von Herberstein. Imperial envoy and founder of Russian studies and European diplomacy, Graz 1989, pp. 79–87.
  • Frank fighters: The Russia book Sigismunds von Herberstein: Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii 1549-1999. Contributions in honor of the international conference in October 1999 at the University of Münster , Hamburg 1999.
  • Ludvig Modest Golia: Slovenian edition of the " Rerum Moscoviticarum comentarii" under the title: Sigismund Herberstein, Moskovski zapiski (Moscow Commentaries), Slovenska Matica, Ljubljana 2001, ISBN 961-213-087-6
  • 450 years of Sigismund von Herberstein's 'Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii'. 1549–1999 , edited by Frank Kämper , Munich 2002.
  • Xenja von Ertzdorff : Sigmund von Herberstein. The ambassador of the Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (1549 ff.) And its German edition of the Moscovia (Vienna 1557), In: Ertzdorff, Xenja von (Ed.), Giesemann, Gerhard (Ed.): Exploration and description of the world. On the poetics of travel and country reports, Amsterdam 2003, pp. 335–364.
  • Wakounig, Marija: "... I learned German and Windisch ..." On the origins and cultural roots of Sigismund von Herberstein, in: Augustynowicz, Christoph et al. (Ed.): Russia, Poland and Austria in the early modern period . Festschrift for Walter Leitsch on his 75th birthday, Vienna-Cologne-Weimar 2003, pp. 15–30.

Web links

Commons : Siegmund von Herberstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Irmgard Bezzel: The library of the Gurk bishop Johann Jakob von Lamberg (1561-1630). A library of Romanesque prints from the 16th century. In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade - Frankfurt edition. Volume 89, (November 5th) 1968 (= Archive for the History of the Book Industry. Volume 62), pp. 2919–2928, here: p. 2926, note 58.
  2. ^ Librarian in the State Study Library in Ljubljana