Wilhelm Biener

Chancellor Biener prevents the religious and aristocratic opposition from leaving the Tyrolean parliament, painting by Karl Anrather (1861–1893)

Wilhelm Biener , also Wilhelm Bienner and Guilielmus Bienner , (* before 1590 in Lauchheim ; † July 17, 1651 in Rattenberg (Tyrol) ) was a German-Austrian lawyer and Tyrolean chancellor .

Professional career

Wilhelm Biener, son of the civil servant Christoph Biener, who worked in the service of the Teutonic Order at the Kapfenburg Commandery, and the Nuremberg patrician Ursula Kauz, studied law in Freiburg and Ingolstadt . He received his doctorate in 1610 and from 1620 in the service of Margrave Karl von Burgau and from 1625 to 1630 in the service of the Bavarian Elector, was then appointed to the Reichshofrat by Emperor Ferdinand II and assigned to Archduke Leopold V of Tyrol as an advisor. From 1638 to 1648 he was court chancellor in front of Austria to Archduchess Claudia de 'Medici and then after her death in 1648 chancellor to her son Archduke Ferdinand Karl .

During his time in Tyrol, Wilhelm Biener acquired Büchsenhausen Castle in the Innsbruck district of Hötting .

Political activity

Biener tightened the administration, cracked down on corruption and abuse of office and prevented the clerical principalities of Brixen and Trento from being detached from their contractual ties with the duchy of Tyrol. Through diplomatic skill he also succeeded in preventing the French from invading the Münstertal and settling disputes with the Bündner farmers, who at that time were still officially under Tyrolean sovereignty, but practically enjoyed independence. However, he got into serious conflicts with Isaak Volmar , whom he accused of incompetence.

He strengthened the sovereign position against the resistance of the estates. Biener also protested in vain against the sell-off of Tyrolean sovereignty rights to Graubünden , which was intended to finance Ferdinand Karl's lavish lifestyle. The Prättigau and the Lower Engadine therefore fell to Graubünden. He openly criticized the lifestyle of Ferdinand Karl and called for the abolition of privileges for nobles .

Persecution and death

Memorial plaque for Chancellor Wilhelm Biener on the Rattenberger Schloßberg

Because of Biener's criticism, the nobility ensured that he was handed over to the executioner . Archduke Ferdinand Karl was a weak and indecisive regent. His circle of friends could incite him against the Chancellor. While Biener was in a meeting, his opponents had his house searched and allegedly suspicious documents taken away. Biener fled to Wilten Monastery to avoid being arrested. The bishop of Brixen Anton von Crosini was also hostile to him and repealed the right of asylum . Overthrown by personal and political opponents in 1650, he was arrested on August 28, 1650 and illegally sentenced to death for high treason and embezzlement . Biener was able to refute most of the allegations, but the process was a pre-arranged affair. Chancellor Biener was beheaded on July 17, 1651 in the courtyard of Rattenberg . The executioner's sword stroke was so powerful that not only the head but also the hands clasped in front of the head in prayer were severed. A document signed by the Emperor for clemency from Bieners wife was intercepted a few minutes before the execution of Chamber President feast. When Count Künigl, the messenger of the petition for clemency, entered the castle , he heard the death bell ringing.

Aftermath

Wilhelm Biener became a symbol of the liberal-free opposition in Tyrol in the Tyrolean culture war . The writer Hermann von Schmid set him a literary monument in his historical novel Der Kanzler von Tirol (1862/1863) and contrasts him as a representative of the Enlightenment and an all-German national consciousness with the supporters of reaction and ultramontanism .

The stage version of the novel from the pen of the Tyrolean poet Josef Wenter has been performed with great success on Tyrolean stages to this day.

literature

• Josef Hirn: Chancellor Bienner and his trial (sources and research on the history, literature and language of Austria and its crown lands, volume 5). Innsbruck 1898.
• Hermann Schmid:  Biener, Dr. Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 627 f.
• Fritz Steinegger:  Bienner, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 229 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Thomas Kuster:  Biener (Bienner), Wilhelm. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 32, Bautz, Nordhausen 2011, ISBN 978-3-88309-615-5 , Sp. 83-92.
• Theodor Schön: From Chancellor W. Bienner's more recent (Swabian) times. In: Diocesan Archives of Swabia 24/1906. Pp. 81-84.
• Hermann Schmid: The Chancellor of Tyrol. Historical novel in 3 volumes, 1862.
• Josef Wenter: The Chancellor of Tyrol. Drama in 5 acts and an epilogue [stage manuscript]. Munich 1934.

Web links

• Publications by and about Wilhelm Biener in VD 17 .