Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg
Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg (* around 1410 in Turbenthal ; † May 28, 1444 in Nänikon ) - also known as Wildhans von Landenberg or Wildhans von Breiten-Landenberg - was a 'heroic' defender of Greifensee and the most prominent noble victim of the Blood Night during the Old Zurich War von Greifensee »entered Swiss history , folk tales and literature .
Historical figure of Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg
Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg was probably born around 1410 in Turbenthal, the son of Ministerial Hermann IV (or V.) - called Schöch von Breitenlandenberg - and Ursula Truchsess von Diessenhofen .
His brother Hermann (* 1410; † 1474) was Bishop of Constance from 1466 to 1474 , and an important mediator between the Confederates and Habsburgs - he died shortly before the end of the " Eternal Direction ", which he had influenced . The brother Kaspar (* before 1439; † 1463) was abbot of St. Gallen Monastery from 1442 to 1463 . Anna is named as a sister in another source - she is said to have been married to Konrad Schwend (but Johannes or Heinrich Schwend would also be possible), mayor of Zurich .
Historically, little is otherwise known about the life of Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg, but his name is at least proven once more in connection with a feud in Hegau against 32 southern German imperial cities .
It remains unclear whether Breitenlandenberg was already exercising an official function in the Landvogtei Greifensee before its sad end on May 28, 1444 on the "Blutmatte" in Nänikon , in addition to his tragic role as captain and defender of Greifensee. However, it is documented several times that the Landenberg dynasty had a great influence in the rule of Greifensee and far beyond: On January 7, 1300, Countess Elisabeth von Rapperswil pledged the castle , the Städtli , the Greifensee and other goods to Knight Hermann II. from Landenberg. The community center of Greifensee, known as the "Landenberghaus", which was built around 1250 for the 'castle rule', is still a reminder of this era.
Siege of town and castle Greifensee - murder of Greifensee
In the Old Zurich War , around 1444, Wildhans became captain of Greifensee , the last fortified Zurich patch outside the city of Zurich , which he devastated Central Switzerland from May 1 to 27, 1444 with around 70 mostly peasant comrades-in-arms against the Zurich hinterland ( Landvogteien Grüningen and Greifensee ) Army defended.
On May 27, 1444, after four weeks of siege, the surviving 62 mostly peasant defenders under the leadership of Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg had to capitulate .
Except for two, a witness called ten, was born on May 28, 1444 the surviving crew of Greifensee mercilessly by the 'victorious' Inner Swiss on the "blood mat" in Nänikon in summary proceedings executed. The massacre of presumably the majority of the male rural population of the Greifensee rule shook contemporaries and posterity deeply as the «Murder of Greifensee» and left the surviving peasant families to an uncertain fate.
It is said that Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg was the first to be beheaded with a sword at his request , so that his fellow fate did not have to believe that he would have been spared as a noble by the central Swiss.
The corpses of the captain and his two town servants were brought to Turbenthal, the home of the Barons von Landenberg, on May 30, 1444, and buried there. His mostly peasant comrades-in-arms were transferred to Uster , where the resident Baron von Bonstetten, who was neutral in the Old Zurich War , took care of his final resting place.
The most detailed descriptions of the siege of Greifensee and execution of Zurich's crew are from Hans Fründ - chronicler and land scribe from Schwyz, on the part of central Switzerland eyewitness to the siege - and Gerold Edlibach (* 1454) - chronicler, Zurich councilor and 1504-1506 Bailiff from Greifensee. "Die Grosse Freiburger Chronik" (1567/1568) by Franz Rudella also briefly addresses the events in May 1444: "That was given up and Wildhans von der Breyten Landenberg, whose one from Zurich houptman, and one in the middle of sixty-one, lay in it." , caught and all stripped on the Thursday before Pentecost » . Werner Schodoler's “ Eidgenössische Chronik ” also mentions the siege and murder of the Zurich occupation of Greifensee , in the tradition of a Swiss illustrated chronicle .
The siege of Greifensee and the gruesome beheading on the " Blood Mat" in Nänikon are described in more detail in the article Mord von Greifensee - also known as "Bloody Night" or "Bloody Act of Greifensee" - using these sources.
Memorial on the "Blood Mat"
A few years after the slaughter was on the "Bluetmatt" in Greifensee 694 296 / 247610 an initially wooden chapel built. It soon became a pilgrimage site , where a funeral mass was read on the Tuesday before Pentecost .
According to oral tradition, the original wooden "Chapel of Our Lady" is said to have been donated by Anna Wagner, widow of the same Ital Reding the Younger , whose father had the crew of Greifensee so mercilessly executed. As early as 1524 began the disintegration of the chapel, as a result of the Reformation no Masses and processions longer took place. Despite heavy fines, the stones from the ruins were recycled by the residents of the area - in 1839 the last remains of the small church had disappeared.
'Patriotic circles' in the city of Zurich erected a memorial in the form of a stone pyramid, which was inaugurated on October 17, 1842 with great participation by the population. In the pyramid is a bronze plaque with the names of all the beheaded, insofar as they could still be determined, a memorial that today stands under a linden tree.
The “legendary hero of Greifensee” in literature
In the historical novel "Der Freihof von Aarau" (1823), Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke describes the events and contexts of the destruction of Greifensee from the perspective of his protagonist, Knight Marquard von Baldegg.
In 1877 Gottfried Keller processed the subject matter of the “legendary hero of Greifensee” and his opponent Ital Reding from Central Switzerland in “ Der Landvogt von Greifensee ”, the first volume of the “ Zurich Novellas ”, dedicated to Salomon Landolt .
Ital Reding's fate turned Albrecht Emch in his small theater play " Ital Reding, the iron head of Greifensee or the murder of Greifensee is."
Individual evidence
- ^ Martin Leonhard: Landenberg, from. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ Veronika Feller-Vest: Landenberg [Breitenlandenberg], Hermann von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Magdalen Bless-Grabher: Landenberg [Breitenlandenberg], Kaspar von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ a b Abbot Kaspar von Breitenlandenberg (1442–1463), Stadtlexikon von Wil SG
- ^ "Document regesten of the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich 1431 - 1445"
- ↑ It is popularly said that the "Eisenkopf von Greifensee" (Ital Reding) never had peace after the outrage. After his death, he kept calling his family and relatives for help and knocking on their houses ( poltergeist ). For his consolation and his redemption, his wife had the chapel “Chapel of Our Lady” built. Ital Reding has remained silent ever since. Source: "Chapel in honor of Our Lady" on the website of the parishes of Arth, Oberarth and Goldau ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Book source: "Der Freihof von Aarau" ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , historical novel by Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke, 1823
- ↑ Excerpts from Gottfried Keller's «Der Landvogt von Greifensee», on the person of Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg and on the massacre of the Zurich occupation of Greifensee on May 28, 1444: «... sixty of these men, after they finally surrendered, on the square were executed, led by the faithful leader Wildhans von Landenberg. Primarily, however, he lingered in the negotiations of the war community, which took place on the mat at Nänikon about the life or death of the faithful. He described the intercession of righteous men, who fearlessly advocated mercy and leniency and pointed to the honest loyalty of the prisoners, as well as the wild speeches of the vengeful who confront those with intimidating suspicion, the passionate dialogue that was held in this way in the face of the dead and ended with the harsh judgment of blood against everyone. The mysterious cruelty with which such a large majority was revealed in the vote that it was not even counted, the immediate step forward of the executioner whom the Swiss carried in their wars, such as the doctor or field preacher now, the rushing to the front Old men pleading for mercy, women and children, the rigid ruthlessness of the majority and their leader Itel Reding , all of this was illustrated clearly. Then the women heard the course of the execution with silent horror, like the captain of the people of Zurich, for his own with the male To set an example in the distress of death, asking to lay down one's head first, so that no one would believe that he was hoping for a change of mind or an unforeseen event; how then the executioner, first from head to head, then paused at the tenth man and waited for grace, even pleaded for it, but always received the answer: "Silence and judge!" up to sixty innocents lay in their blood who last beheaded by torchlight. Only a few underage boys and broken old men escaped the judgment, more out of inattention or weariness of the judging people than out of their mercy ... »
- ^ Project Gutenberg, Gottfried Keller, «Züricher Novellen» «Der Landvogt von Greifensee»
literature
- "Chronicle of the Old Zurich War" by Hans Fründ (printed in 1875)
- «Eidgenössische Chronik», Werner Schodoler, 1510–1535
- "Der Freihof von Aarau", historical novel by Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke, 1823
- «The history of the community of Nänikon», Rev. Heinrich Bühler, 1922
- «Gottfried Keller, Complete Works. New critical edition, comprehensively commented ”, 7 vols. (= BDK 41–48), Ed .: Thomas Böning u. a., Vol. 5: Züricher Novellen, Frankfurt a. M., 1989
- "The Great Freiburg Chronicle of Franz Rudella" (1567/1568), edition based on the copy in the Freiburg / Friborg State Archives, Freiburg / Friborg, 2005
- "Histoire de la Suisse", Ernest Gagliardi, 1925
- «Switzerland, its history, geography and statistics», Eusèbe Henri A. Gaullieur and Charles Schaub, translated by Gotthilf Adam Heinrich Graefe, 1856
- «Swiss History », Karl Dändliker , 1885
- «Tschachtlanchronik» by Bendicht Tschachtlan and Heinrich Dittlinger , 1470
- «Zurich 600 years in the Confederation», Alfred Cattani , 1951
- «Zürcher Chronik» (1485/1486) by Gerold Edlibach (printed in 1847)
Web links
- Martin Leonhard: Landenberg [Breitenlandenberg], Wildhans. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Martin Illi: Old Zurich War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Website of the Greifensee community - In particular, Diethelm Zimmermann's «Die Bluttat von Greifensee» was a great help with quotes from the chroniclers and other sources
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Breitenlandenberg, Wildhans von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wildhans von Landenberg; Wildhans von Breiten-Landenberg |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss nobleman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1410 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Turbenthal |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 1444 |
| Place of death | Nanikon |