Waldburg-Wolfegg

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Coat of arms of the Waldburg from the Scheibler coat of arms book from 1450 to 1480
Inner courtyard of Wolfegg Castle
Palais Waldburg-Wolfegg in Bregenz , today the seat of the Vorarlberg State Archives

Waldburg-Wolfegg is the name of a branch of the Catholic noble family Waldburg , which was created in 1595 by dividing the Georgian line into the two branches Waldburg-Wolfegg and Waldburg-Zeil . The main residence of the family is Wolfegg Castle in Upper Swabia .

Lords of the Georgian line of the Waldburg family before the division in 1595

The third and youngest line of the Waldburg family that emerged when the year 1429 was divided brought Truchsess Georg III. von Waldburg , who as a military leader of the Swabian League in the Peasants' War of 1525 played a decisive role in the suppression of the uprisings. The Georgian Line made large profits from the events of the Peasants' War in areas where peasant revolts had been put down and collected substantial ransom money. The truchess of the Georgian line until the division of 1595 were:

  • 1423–1467 Georg I, Reichserbtruchseß and baron of Waldburg, Lord of Wolfegg, Waldsee etc.
  • 1467–1482 Georg II, the Tall One
  • 1482–1511 Johann II.
  • 1511–1531 George III.
  • 1531–1570 Heinrich von Zeil and Wolfegg
  • 1531–1569 George IV of Waldsee
  • 1569–1589 Jacob II

In 1595 it was divided into the lines Waldburg-Wolfegg, Waldburg-Waldburg and Waldburg-Zeil .

Waldburg-Waldburg line

Truchsess Gebhard resided in Waldburg from 1589 to 1600. In 1600, his inheritance was divided between the two remaining lines, Waldburg-Wolfegg and Waldburg-Zeil .

The first two counts of the Waldburg-Wolfegg line

The real ancestor of the Waldburg-Wolfegg family is the head sessian Heinrich, who was raised to the rank of imperial count on February 28, 1628, and his son Maximilian Willibald, as the imperial field marshal in the Thirty Years' War, successfully defended the towns of Lindau and Constance against the advancing forces with his army for the imperial catholic troops Protestant Sweden defended. He also founded the important Wolfegger copper engraving collection.

  • 1589–1637 Heinrich I, Count of Waldburg-Wolfegg 1628
  • 1637–1667 Max Willibald

In 1667 the legacy of Count Max Willibald was divided between his two sons, who founded the branches Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg and Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee.

Count of Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg

The line Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg received the dominions Wolfegg, Waldburg and part of Schwarzach. The Counts of Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg developed a brisk construction activity at the end of the 17th century. After the castle in Wolfegg, built in 1578, was set on fire by Swedish troops at the end of the Thirty Years' War and the second floor in particular suffered severe damage, Count Ferdinand Ludwig (* 1678; † 1735) commissioned the Wangen sculptor Balthasar Krimmer from 1690 with the refurbishment of the knight's hall. The completion of this hall lasted until the first half of the 18th century, when the Rococo style came into play. Other artists involved in the renovation of the palace were the plasterers Johann Jakob Herkomer and Johannes Schütz as well as the painters Franz Joseph Spiegler and Johann Georg Hermann. Through his wife Maria Anna von Schellenberg (* 1681; † 1754) from Kißlegg, Count Ferdinand Ludwig had an art-loving wife at his side, who had also brought a rich financial legacy into the marriage. In addition to the castle, the new collegiate church was built, which took the place of a simple late medieval church. Johann Georg Fischer acted as the builder . In Innsbruck he had probably come into contact with members of the Waldburg family who were active in the Tyrolean provincial government. Count Ferdinand Ludwig also had the Loreto Chapel built in Wolfegg in 1668 redesigned to its present appearance. Hospital foundations for the care of the elderly and the sick as well as leprosy patients were also created on the initiative of the count couple in the Wolfegg and Kisslegg lords. Countess Maria Anna and later also her children, such as the Provost Johann Ferdinand zu Konstanz, repeatedly donated large sums of money to these social institutions to cover ongoing maintenance costs. This may have been an expression of the deep piety of the Count Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg family.

List of the Counts of Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg:

  • 1667–1681 Maximilian Franz Eusebius
  • 1681–1735 Ferdinand Ludwig
  • 1735–1774 Joseph Franz
  • 1774–1779 Ferdinand
  • 1779–1791 Josef Alois
  • 1791–1798 Karl Eberhard Wunibald, Lieutenant General of the Swabian Empire

With the death of Count Karl Eberhard Wunibald, the legacy of the Waldburg-Wolfegg-Wolfegg line fell to Count Joseph Anton von Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee, who was raised to the rank of imperial prince in 1803.

Count of Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee

Wolfegg Castle
Waldsee moated castle

This line lasted until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and was continued as the mediatized princely house Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee. At the division in 1667, Waldsee, Eberhardzell, Schweinhausen and the rest of Schwarzach fell on this line.

List of the Counts of Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee:

The principality of Waldburg-Wolfegg, like Waldburg-Zeil and Waldburg-Wurzach, was mediatized in 1806 and fell to Württemberg . Waldburg-Wolfegg is one of the noble houses of the second section of the Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility .

1779 Foundation of the counts line Waldburg-Zeil-Lustenau-Hohenems , which ruled until 1830 with Lustenau in the Austrian Vorarlberg

Castles and palaces of the Wolfegger line

(Selection)

Cultural property sales

The aristocratic family has amassed a rich collection of cultural assets over the centuries. In recent years this has resulted in various high-ranking sales, some of which have also been heavily criticized. Martin Waldseemüller's unique card was sold to the Library of Congress in 2001 with a special permit from the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Baden-Württemberg ; In 2008 the house book (Wolfegg Castle) went to an unnamed buyer (presumably August von Finck ), who initially returned it after severe public criticism until the state of Baden-Württemberg finally approved the sale; and in 2011 a consortium consisting of the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz , the art collections and museums Augsburg , the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation and the Free State of Bavaria , supported by the Kulturstiftung der Länder and the Rudolf-August Oetker Foundation for Art , culture, science and monument the little tape , are summarized in the approximately one hundred drawings from the 15th century with portraits and courtly and religious motives.

Important representatives of the dynasty

literature

  • Joseph Vochezer: History of the princely house of Waldburg in Swabia. 3 volumes. Kösel, Kempten 1888–1907.
  • Max Wilberg : Regenten tables, a compilation of the rulers of countries from all over the world up to the beginning of the 20th century. Frankfurt (Oder) 1906, p. 105 f.
  • Bernd Mayer: God for glory and the Waldburg family for glory. The completion of the ideal Upper Swabian aristocratic residence Wolfegg in the 18th century. In: Nobility in Transition. Upper Swabia from the early modern era to the present. Volume 1, Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 2006, ISBN 3-7995-0219-X , pp. 255-264.
  • Rudolf Beck: The mediatization of the Waldburg house. In: Nobility in Transition. Upper Swabia from the early modern era to the present. Volume 1, Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 2006, ISBN 3-7995-0219-X , pp. 265-286.

Web links

Commons : Waldburg (noble family)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leo Wieland: A prince sells America's "birth certificate". One of the most famous German cultural assets is now in the Congress Library. In: FAZ of July 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ See the overview of the reports on this at Archivalia
  3. ↑ Acquisition of the oldest private collection of drawings preserved in Germany: The “Small Adhesive Tape” of the Princes Waldburg-Wolfegg , accessed on December 15, 2011.
  4. ↑ Finally turn around, holy Thekla. In: FAZ of October 19, 2011, p. 29.