Wilhelm the Elder of Waldburg-Trauchburg

Bronze head of the figure of Wilhelm the Elder at the fountain in the courtyard of Zeil Palace

Donor picture with Wilhelm von Waldburg-Trauchberg and his family, pilgrimage church St. Johann Baptist on the bus

Wilhelm the Elder, Baron of Waldburg, Lord of Scheer and Trauchburg (* 1469 ; † March 17, 1557 ) was Augsburg bailiff, envoy of the Swabian Federation , supreme field captain and court master of King Ferdinand and councilor of Emperor Charles V. He was from 1521 to 1525 governor of Württemberg appointed by the emperor . For his achievements, the Truchsess from the Waldburg House was appointed Reichserbtruchsessen.

Life

Wilhelm was the son of Truchsess Johann the Elder from the Waldburg-Trauchburg line and Countess Anna zu Oettingen. He studied law in Tübingen and Pavia . On June 27, 1495 he entered the service of Duke Ludwig Maria Sforza of Milan. 1498 he was by Duke Albrecht III. used by Saxony to administrate Friesland . Albrecht's son George the Bearded made him regent of the province of Friesland and in 1504 sent him to King Henry VII of England to negotiate an alliance . Wilhelm was appointed English captain in Greenwich on July 17, 1504 , and in spring 1505 was able to complete the desired Saxon-English alliance.

Wilhelm's father Johann the Elder died on December 26th, 1504, his older brother Jakob III. died shortly afterwards on February 11, 1505, so that the paternal property passed to him. The family property is said to have been in debt since the times of his grandfather Jakob I, so that he initially devoted himself to restructuring the family finances at Trauchburg Castle , although Georg von Sachsen wanted to get him back to Friesland by being appointed to the ducal council in 1506 .

In 1509 he became the supreme captain of the Swabian Confederation , and later a federal councilor. In February 1511 he received Sabina von Bayern in Göppingen and escorted her to Stuttgart to marry Duke Ulrich von Württemberg . Under Emperor Maximilian I , Wilhelm was promoted to imperial council, and his successor, Charles V , appointed him temporarily as governor of Württemberg after Ulrich's expulsion from Württemberg, and from 1521 permanently . In Wuerttemberg he continued the austerity course he was used to from his masters in order to reduce the debts that Ulrich had accumulated. In 1524 Archduke Ferdinand also appointed him governor of the imperial regiment.

In the run-up to the German Peasants' War , when the first unrest was already stirring in Württemberg and also in his own dominions, Wilhelm suffered a stroke, which is why he resigned the governorship of Württemberg in 1525, which was passed on to his cousin Georg III. passed over. On July 27, 1526 in Toledo, Emperor Charles V awarded both Waldburgers the title of "Reichserbtruchsess". In the same year Ferdinand of Austria appointed Wilhelm to the court in Vienna as chief steward. After Georg's death in 1531, Wilhelm, who was still in poor health, took over various offices in Württemberg again. He headed the Württemberg state parliaments in November 1531, June 1532 and May 1533.

Wilhelm the Elder was active in political offices well into old age. It was not until 1550 that he withdrew from the public eye and gave his son Wilhelm the Younger the government of his lords. Wilhelm the Elder died on March 17, 1557 and was buried in the Schlosskirche in Scheer next to his wife.

St. John on the Bus

On April 1, 1515, Wilhelm and his wife Sybilla von Waldburg-Sonnenberg laid the foundation stone for the newly built pilgrimage church of St. Johannes Baptist auf dem Buss in the presence of Abbot Georg Fischer from Zwiefalter . The foundation stone shows the Waldburger and Sonnenberg coats of arms.

family

In 1507 Wilhelm married Sibylla von Waldburg-Sonnenberg (1493-1536), the heir to the 4th Count of Waldburg-Sonnenberg .

The following children were born from the marriage:

1. Christoph von Waldburg-Trauchburg (1509–1535)
2. Jacob III von Waldburg-Trauchburg (1512–1542), married to Johanna von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1519 – after 1550)
3. Otto von Waldburg-Trauchburg (1514–1573), bishop of Augsburg and cardinal
4. Katharina von Waldburg-Trauchburg (1515–1560), married to Johann Christoph von Falkenstein zu Ebringen († 1568), governor in Alsace
5. Emerentiana von Waldburg (1517–?)
6. Wilhelm the Younger von Waldburg-Trauchburg (1518–1566), married to Johanna von Fürstenberg (1529–1589)

literature

• Rudolf Rauh: Reichserbtruchseß Wilhelm d. Ä. from Waldburg. In: Swabian homeland. Vol. 9, 1958, ISSN  0342-7595 , pp. 223-229.
• Joseph Vochezer: History of the princely house of Waldburg in Swabia . Volume 2. Kösel, Kempten 1900, pp. 122–306 ( digitized version )