Walram from Thierstein

Count Walram III. von Thierstein-Pfeffingen (also Walram or Walraff von Thierstein; * before 1339 ; † May 22, 1403 ) was Herr zu Pfeffingen from the family of the Counts of Thierstein .

The count became known in connection with a legend about the great earthquake in Basel in 1356 .

Family and origin

Walram comes from the family of the Counts of Thierstein . He was the son of Count Palatine Walram II von Thierstein-Pfeffingen and his wife, Agnes von Aarberg-Aarberg . His first marriage was to Anna von Fürstenberg († before 1401) - a daughter of Count Heinrich IV von Fürstenberg and Adelheid von Hohenlohe. The following children are known from this marriage:

Johann I († 1386), Canon of Basel
Walram IV. († 1386) ⚭ Alix (Adelheid) of Baden (1327–1373)
Verena († 1401) ⚭ 1. Hans Ulrich von Hasenburg († 1386), ⚭ 2. Hans von Cly
Anna († 1419) ⚭ 1. Martin Malterer († 1386), ⚭ 2. Eberhard VII. Count von Nellenburg

Both sons and both sons-in-law died in the battle of Sempach in 1386 .

In his second marriage he married Gisela Malterer , the widow of Johann Malterer, who became the stepmother of her daughter-in-law Anna.

In 1358 Margrave Otto von Hachberg-Sausenberg handed over the guardianship of his nephew Rudolf III. von Hachberg-Sausenberg to Walram, who was a brother of Rudolf's mother Katharina. He ruled the margraviate of Hachberg-Sausenberg together with Otto until his nephew came of age in 1364 .

Legend of the earthquake

Earthquake Cross in Reinach

On Tuesday, October 18, 1356 the count rode together with the knight von Bärenfels from his castle in Pfeffingen against the city of Basel . After a successful hunt, the two were very exuberant and initially ignored the pilgrim priest who came towards them on the dusty road near Reinach . The priest had to jump to safety from the approaching riders. The count and the knight then reined in their horses and greeted the terrified priest happily. He calmed down and admonished the two riders to be calmer and more careful so that another accident would not really happen.

The knight von Bärenfels, however, broke out into a mocking laugh and finally both mocked the priest and moved away from him. On the way to Basel, Count Walram became more and more thoughtful and depressed. He began to reproach himself about her behavior and the guilty conscience plagued him more and more. Shortly before the gates of the city of Basel, he decided to turn around and, after saying goodbye to the Knight of Bärenfels, turned his horse around. He wanted to return home and find the Man of God and apologize to him for his behavior. He couldn't find the priest anymore and rode back to his castle. As he was crossing a wide field, he heard a dull roll and the ground under his feet began to shake violently. His horse reared up in fear and the count saw with horror how all around the proud castles of Pfeffingen , Reichenstein , Birseck and Dorneck collapsed and great clouds of smoke rose into the sky. After the strongest tremors, the distraught count rode quickly to his castle in Pfeffingen , which had suffered great damage. Fortunately, however, his family was unscathed and the youngest child lay in his cradle among the ruins of the castle.

The knight of Bärenfels, on the other hand, was surprised by the earthquake while riding through the city gate and was killed by a falling stone.

After the earthquake, the count had a cross erected in Reinach, at the place where the priest met, out of gratitude for his miraculous rescue. Since then, this crooked cross has reminded mankind of the remorseful return of Count Walram, the fateful death of the knight von Bärenfels and the great earthquake that devastated the city of Basel and the nearby region in 1356. The cross has been renewed several times and moved a few meters the last time away from the busy main road between Pfeffingen and Basel.

literature

Attention Reinach . Reinach community 2001, ISBN 3-9522282-0-6 (source of this article)
Ernst Weydmann: The Counts of Tierstein. 27. Walram III. In: Genealogisches Handbuch zur Schweizer Geschichte, Volume I, Zurich 1900–1908, p. 139 in the Internet Archive

Web links

Reinach earthquake cross on altbasel.ch; accessed on February 10, 2019

Individual evidence

↑ a daughter of Kraft III. von Hohenlohe-Weikersheim Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
↑ Ernst Weydmann: The Counts of Tierstein. In: Genealogisches Handbuch zur Schweizer Geschichte, Volume I, Zurich 1900–1908, here pp. 139-141
^ Widow of Margrave Rudolf V of Baden
↑ Boris Bigott: The ladies painters. On the marriage of the patrician daughters of Freiburg into the Breisgau nobility in the 14th and 15th centuries. In: Schau-ins-Land: Annual issue of the Breisgau history association Schauinsland, Volume 126.2007, here pp. 30-37
↑ born von Kaysersberg († 1381)
^ Johann Christian Sachs : Introduction to the history of the Marggravschaft and the Marggravlichen old princely house of Baden . First part. Lotter, Carlsruhe 1764, p. 498 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

personal data
SURNAME	Thierstein, Walram from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	von Thierstein, Walram; von Thierstein, Walraff; Thierstein-Pfeffingen, Walram III. from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Lord of the Castle of Pfeffingen
DATE OF BIRTH	before 1341
DATE OF DEATH	May 22, 1403

[1] ughter of Kraft III. von Hohenlohe-Weikersheim Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

[2] Ernst Weydmann: The Counts of Tierstein. In: Genealogisches Handbuch zur Schweizer Geschichte, Volume I, Zurich 1900–1908, here pp. 139-141

[3] Widow of Margrave Rudolf V of Baden

[4] Boris Bigott: The ladies painters. On the marriage of the patrician daughters of Freiburg into the Breisgau nobility in the 14th and 15th centuries. In: Schau-ins-Land: Annual issue of the Breisgau history association Schauinsland, Volume 126.2007, here pp. 30-37

[5] rn von Kaysersberg († 1381)

[6] Johann Christian Sachs : Introduction to the history of the Marggravschaft and the Marggravlichen old princely house of Baden . First part. Lotter, Carlsruhe 1764, p. 498 ( limited preview in Google Book search).