Walchen (noble family)

Coat of arms of the Walchen according to Siebmacher's book of arms

The Lords of Walchen (also spelled Walhen ) were originally a noble , Bavarian-Salzburg noble family that was resident in Pinzgau and Pongau . The ancestral castle of the Walcher was the now abandoned castle Walchen , located in the municipality of Piesendorf . The first representatives of this family also called themselves von Pinzgau .

History of the Walcher

The first Walcher Wisint appeared together with Felben Kraft von Pinzgau, the progenitor of the Free von Felben, in documents in 1133. There were also relationships with the Pongau-Goldeggern , from which one can infer a relationship between these families. Wisint's sons, Konrad and Hermann, mostly appeared in the wake of the Counts of Frontenhausen-Lechsgemünd, which suggests a feudal relationship .

Albero I. von Walchen, a grandson of Konrad, was attested all his life as a nobleman. In a document dated August 1, 1254, he and his brother Otto made peace with the Archbishop of Salzburg - Elekt Philipp von Spanheim , which meant that they had become ministerials to the archbishop (on August 27, 1270, "Otto de Walihen ministerialis" called). The reason for the dispute was that Philipp von Spanheim had accused the Walchers of the unauthorized construction of a tower on church property and the appropriation of bailiwick rights. The peace agreement states: "Because we built a new tower in the archbishop's court and on the floor of his church against his will and we have appropriated the bailiwick rights that the archbishop had bought from the late Grimold von Saalfelden"; this remark could refer to the Vogtturm in Zell am See .

Otto von Walchen received the fiefdom of his late father-in-law Engelram von Hohenstein from Archbishop Ulrich I in 1262. Hohenstein Castle near Marquartstein also fell to the Walcher family. After the death of Ortolf von Saalfelden, the Walch family acquired further rich inheritance; this included bailiwick rights in the mountains as a fiefdom of the archbishopric, Bavarian fiefdoms in the Saalachtal and above all Lichtenberg Castle .

The third brother and probably the most famous of the Walchers was the Salzburg Archbishop Friedrich II. Von Walchen . He was a partisan of King Rudolf von Habsburg and took action against the Salzburg ministerials with great determination, which subsequently led to the disempowerment of the Salzburg nobility.

Otto and Albero II von Walchen shared their property in 1276. On this occasion, Duke Heinrich von Niederbayern and Archbishop Friedrich II von Walchen set up a court of arbitration. This process provides a good overview of Walcher ownership. At that time they were owned by the castles Walchen and Lichtenberg , Saaleck Castle and Kaprun Castle . They also had bailiwick rights in Lofer, Saalfelden, Alm, Piesendorf and Plain. Then the Lofer court and possessions in Saalfelden, Dienten, Unken, Luggau in the Gastein Valley, in Alm, Hof in the Brixental and in the Leukental. Forests in Lofer and Unken as well as Zehente in Leogang should also be mentioned. Then the Walcher owned fiefs from the diocese of Regensburg , from the monastery Rott am Inn and Vogteirechte over possessions of the monastery Tegernsee and the Berchtesgadener Gut Niederhaim in Pinzgau (today Heuberg Castle ).

A falling out broke out between the brothers, in which Albero sued his older brother Otto in 1280 for having stolen “Purch datz Salekk” from him, even though it had been bought by both of them. After all, Albero had to do without Saalegg and Waidring. Also in 1280 Albero sued his brother with Archbishop Friedrich von Walchen, saying that the "Turn ze Chaprunne" had been handed over to them both as compensation for the attacks by the Velber, but Otto refused to take possession of his brother. The later Archbishop Rudolf von Hoheneck decided this dispute to the effect that the children of the deceased Albero should be reimbursed for the construction costs in the Walcher half of the castle. He justified the agreement with the fact that the Walchers had contributed to converting the castle into an archbishop's fief. The share of Albero went to the archbishop, but the children of Albero were allowed to stay.

On his death († 1287), Albero II left behind only minor children. Gebhard von Felben was appointed guardian for these and he was also to manage Lichtenberg Castle for the Walchers. But since Gebhard sided with Duke Albrecht I of Austria in the wake of the outrage of the Styrian nobles, who were united in the Landsberger Bund and which the Archbishop of Salzburg had also joined, the castle belonging to the Walchers was lost to the archbishop. The brothers Ortlieb and Albero III. von Walchen concluded a service contract with Archbishop Konrad IV of Fohnsdorf in 1307 .

After a violation by Ortlieb von Walchen, he lost all of his property to Archbishop Friedrich III in 1333 . von Leibnitz and only received the property back. Albero III. owned numerous fiefdoms from the Chiemsee diocese . In 1338 he issued a denomination of fief for them.

With Jans von Walchen, the male line died out in 1410; it only had the headquarters in Walchen and the small rule connected with it.

Walcher tribe list

Coat of arms of Friedrich II. Von Walchen in the Salzburg Chronicle (1587)

NN

1. Wisint von Pinzgau, mentioned in a document 1120–1139
   1. Hermann I. von Pinzgau (or later von Walchen), mentioned in a document 1133–1160
      1. Hermann II, clergyman, † 1180 in Bologna
      2. Konrad von Walchen, * approx. 1176, † May 30, 1202
         1. Wilhelm von Walchen, from 1240 lord of Walchen Castle
         2. Albero von Walchen, mentioned in a document around 1220, † 1247
            1. Otto the Elder von Walchen, mentioned in a document 1259–1289
               1. Elisabeth von Walchen ∞ (November 20, 1297) Ulrich von Freundsberg
            2. Friedrich II. Von Walchen , Archbishop of Salzburg, † April 7, 1284 in Friesach
            3. Albero II of Walchen, † 1287
               1. Ortlieb von Walchen
                  1. Agnes, ∞ N. von Freundsberg , second marriage ∞ N. Leibnitzer, before 1347
               2. Albero III. from Walchen
                  1. Jens von Walchen, † 1410

literature

• Franz Tyroller (ed.): Genealogical tables for Central European history. Genealogy of the old Bavarian nobility in the High Middle Ages . Heinz Reise, Göttingen (1962-1969).
• Johann Siebmacher: Johann Siebmacher's coat of arms book. Volume 28. The coats of arms of the nobility in Salzburg, Styria and Tyrol. Facsimile reprint of the Nuremberg edition 1701–1806. Battenberg, Munich / Bauer & Raspe, Neustadt an der Aisch 1979.

Web links

• Herren von Walchen on Salzburgwiki
• The gentlemen of the Velber and Walcher family . (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Master list based on Franz Tyroller, 1962–1969, p. 480.