House_of_Werdenberg

County of Werdenberg

County of Werdenberg

County of the Holy Roman Empire

Werdenberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, within the Duchy of Swabia, situated on either side of the Alpine Rhine, including parts of what is now St. Gallen (Switzerland), Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg (Austria). It was partitioned from Montfort in 1230. In 1260, it was divided into Werdenberg and Sargans.

Territories of the counts of Werdenberg, Werdenberg-Sargans and Montfort in the 14th century
Coat of arms from the Zürich armorial. The heraldic charge is a Gonfanon, derived from that of the Tübingen and Montfort coats of arms.

History

It is named for Werdenberg Castle, today located in the municipality of Grabs in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, seat of the counts of Werdenberg (Werdenberger), The family was descended from count Hugo II of Tübingen (d. 1180), who married Elisabeth, daughter of the last count of Bregenz, thus inheriting substantial territory along the Alpine Rhine. His son was Hugo I of Montfort (d. 1228), whose son Rudolf I is considered the founder of the Werdenberg line. Rudolf's sons Hugo I of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg and Hartmann I of Werdenberg divided the southern territory of the Montfort inheritance, establishing the two lines of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg and Werdenberg-Sargans.

In 1308 Werdenberg was further divided into Werdenberg-Heiligenberg (Linzgau) and Werdenberg-Werdenberg. The Vaduz line of Counts of Werdenberg died out in 1406 and Vaduz passed to the Barons of Brandis.

The family fractured further into a number of cadet branches. The line of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg-Sigmaringen-Trochtelfingen remained influential in the early 16th century in the context of the Swabian League but was extinct in 1534.

The Werdenberg feud (Werdenbergfehde) was a major series of feuds between the Werdenberg and their neighbours in the late 15th century, most notably their conflict with the von Zimmern family of Swabia. The feud between the lords of Werdenberg and of Zimmern escalated in 1488, rising to an importance above merely regional concerns, influencing the imperial policy of Frederick III and Maximilian I regarding the formation of the Swabian League, the Imperial Reforms and the history of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

Counts of Werdenberg

Below, a list of the counts of Werdenberg,[1] numbered by order of ascension:

House of Tübingen

Partitions of Werdenberg under Tübingen rule

County of Werdenberg
(1230-1247)
             
County of Sargans
(1st creation)
(1247-1396)		 County of Vaduz
(1322-1416)		       
County of Alpeck
(1322-1383)		 County of Trochtelfingen
(1332-1534)
County of Werdenberg
or
Heiligenberg
(1247-1402)		 County of Bludenz
(1373-1394)		 County of Rheineck
(1373-1395)
                     Annexed to Ulm
       Annexed to Austria Pawned to the Counts of Toggenburg
Pawned to the Counts of Montfort until 1485, then annexed by Switzerland
Passed to the Lords of Brandis
County of Sargans
(2nd creation)
(1436-1483)
Annexed by Switzerland
Divided between Fürstenberg and Austria (1534) and then Hohenzollern (1535)

Table of rulers

(Note: Here the numbering of the counts is the same for all counties, as all were titled Counts of Werdenberg, despite the different parts of land or particular numbering of the rulers. The counts are numbered by the year of their succession.)

More information Ruler, Born ...

Successor houses in Werdenberg-Vaduz

(Note: Numbering restarts)

House of Brandis

Werdenberg Castle
  • 1416-1456: Wolfhard, son-in-law of Albert III the Elder;
  • 1456-1486: Ulrich;
  • 1486-1507: Ludwig and Sigismund, brothers.

House of Sulz

  • 1507-1535: Rudolf I, maternal grandson of Ulrich of Brandis;
  • 1535-1556: John Louis;
  • 1556-1569: William and Alwig, brothers;
  • 1569-1572: Alwig;
  • 1572-1611: Rudolf II;
  • 1611-1613: John, sold Vaduz to the House of Hohenems.

House of Hohenems

  • 1613-1640: Kaspar;
  • 1640-1646: Jacob Hannibal;
  • 1646-1662: Franz Wilhelm I;
  • 1662-1686: Ferdinand Carl;
  • 1686-1691: Jacob Hannibal Frederick and Franz Wilhelm II, brothers;
  • 1691-1712: Jacob Hannibal Frederick, with Franz Wilhelm III (son of Franz Wilhelm I);
  • 1712: To the Prince of Liechtenstein.

See also

Footnotes

  1. [1]
    I. Mladjow: Germany (Deutschland) and Holy Roman Empire (Heiliges Rämisches Reich). Page 1/188.
  2. [2]
    MGH, Necrologia Germaniæ, Band I, p. 165.
  3. [3]
    Tangl, K. Die Grafen von Ortenburg in Kärnten, Archiv für Kunde österreichischen Geschichts-Quellen, Band XXXVI (Vienna, 1866), p. 66.
  4. [4]
    The last document where he appears dates from 1282, according to Neugart (1795), Tome II, MXXI, p. 313.
  5. [5]
    The brothers share the same title/portion of land where they ruled.
  6. [6]
    His last mention dates 18 December 1342; on 27 March 1349 he was possibly already dead.
  7. [7]
    The pawning of the county didn't stop, however, the succession of the then titular counts: John I (1396-1400) was succeeded by his sons: Henry X (1400-1447, who recovered the county in 1436), ruled with: John II (1400-1405), George I (1400-1412), William I (1400-1412), Hugo VIII (1400-1421) and Rudolph VIII (1400-1434, was bishop of Chur).
  8. [8]
    The annexation of the county didn't stop, however, the succession of the then titular counts: Henry V (1383-1390) was succeeded by his sons: Conrad (1390-1415) and (probably, because he's not documented after 1374) his brother, Henry VIII (at least in 1390).
  9. [9]
    Both share the same title/portion of land in which they ruled, which suggests a co-rulership.
  10. [10]
    This count John is officially known as IV, albeit the fact that there's no known John III in the family tree of the Werdenbergs.
  11. [11]
    The contract of the wedding is dated 30 April 1430, according to Vanotti (1845), 41, p. 591.
  12. [12]
    This count Hugo is officially known as XI, albeit the fact that there's not enough members of this name in the family tree of the Werdenbergs to fit this number. The last one was Hugo VIII, titular count of Sargans (1400-1421).
  13. [13]
    Helmuth Scherer, Der lebendige Dom: die Augsburger Bischofskirche im Gang der Jahrhunderte, Verlag Winfried-Werk, 1965, p. 79
  14. [14]
    This count Rudolph is officially known as X, albeit the fact that there's no known Rudolph IX in the family tree of the Werdenbergs.

References

  • Gerhard Köbler, 'Werdenberg (Grafschaft)', in: Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder. Die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart 2nd edition Munich 1989, p. 605.
  • Fritz Rigendinger: Das Sarganserland im Spätmittelalter. Lokale Herrschaften, die Grafschaft Sargans und die Grafen von Werdenberg-Sargans. Chronos, Zürich 2007.
  • Carl Borromäus Alois Fickler: Heiligenberg in Schwaben. Mit einer Geschichte seiner alten Grafen und des von ihnen beherrschten Linzgaues. Macklot, Karlsruhe 1853
  • Gerhard Köbler: Werdenberg (Grafschaft), in: Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder. Die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. 2. verbesserte Auflage, München 1989, S. 605
  • Martin Leonhard: Werdenberg, von in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  • Johann Nepomuk von Vanotti: Geschichte der Grafen von Montfort und von Werdenberg. Belle-Vue bei Konstanz 1845 209ff.
  • Hermann Wartmann (1896), "Werdenberg, Grafen von", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 41, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 749–759
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