Wolfhart V. from Brandis

Brandis Castle in Maienfeld . View from the west.

Wolfhart V. von Brandis was a member of the Barons von Brandis , an old noble family from today's Canton of Bern, Switzerland. During his reign, the barons moved their activities from Bern to the Alpine Rhine Valley .

Life

His date of birth and death have not been recorded. He is mentioned in a document between 1408 and 1456. He was the only son of Wolfhart IV von Brandis and Clementa von Thierstein . After his father's death in 1418, he took over the rule of the Barons von Brandis in the canton of Bern, on Lake Constance and in the Rhine Valley. To secure his possessions in eastern Switzerland, he entered the service of Austria in 1429 . He was married to Verena von Werdenberg-Sargans , a niece of the last Toggenburg resident Friedrich VII. Through this marriage, he took control of Maienfeld on November 14, 1437.

From 1440 to 1446 he fought with the Habsburgs in the Old Zurich War . First with Schwyz and Glarus on the side of the Old Confederation against Zurich; after Habsburg had changed sides in 1442, on the side of Zurich in the Sarganserland . In 1444, the Swiss made several forays into the Rhine Valley. Glarus had laid claim to the dominions of Freudenberg and Nidberg . That is why Wolfhart V. declared war on the Glarus and Schwyz estates on November 30, 1444. On December 1, he attacked the former allies with 6,000 men and drove them out of the Sargans area. On February 5, 1445, the Swiss decided to campaign against Wolfhart V and the Counts of Werdenberg-Sargans . The Swiss had just finished a successful raid in Vorarlberg . They burned Balzers down, besieged Sargans and extorted ransom before they withdrew to their home area via Weesen .

On February 14, 1446 the Confederates decided to launch another campaign against the Upper Rhine Valley, especially against the Barons von Brandis with their possessions in what is now Liechtenstein. Wolfhart V suffered a defeat in the Battle of Ragaz on March 6, 1446 . But the Confederates did not use this victory for territorial expansion and withdrew to their home area.

In 1441 Wolfhart V. sold the ancestral home of his family Burg Brandis to the Lords of Scharnachthal after he had already sold the Weissenburg property in 1439 .

Wolfhart V. had several children including his heir Wolfhart VI. von Brandis , Sigmund I. von Brandis , Ulrich von Brandis , Ortlieb von Brandis and Burkard von Brandis .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Martin Leonhard: Wolfhart V. von Brandis. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 13, 2003 , accessed July 2, 2019 .
2. ^ Dieter Stievermann Brandis, Wolfhart V. (Wölflin) von, Historisches Lexikon von Liechtenstein