Elisabeth von Rapperswil


Elisabeth von Rapperswil was the last countess of the House of Rapperswil, and secured by her second marriage the female line of the Counts of Rapperswil and the extensive possessions of Rapperswil in the former Zürichgau to the Laufenburg line. Her son by first marriage was Reichsvogt Wernher von Homberg, and her oldest son by second marriage was Count Johann von Habsburg-Laufenburg who passed over the title of the count of Rapperswil to his oldest son Johann II and his brothers Rudolf and Gotfried.

Early life

Elisabeth von Rapperswil was born around 1251 or rather around 1261 AD presumably in the Rapperswil Castle in the medieval city of Rapperswil as the daughter of Mechthild von Neifen and Rudolf III von Vaz whose mother Adelheid was a member of the House of Rapperswil. Rudolf called himself Count Rudolf IV von Rapperswil when the former count of the same name, Rudolf III von Rapperswil died in 1255. The noble pair had three children: Vincent died around 1260 at the age of three, Rudolf V and Elisabeth.
Sealed in a document by her father at the Rapperswil Castle on 10 January 1261, Rudolf confirmed that all fiefdom given by the Einsiedeln Abbey outside Etzel, meaning beyond the mountain of the same name beginning on Obersee lake shore, descended to his daughter Elisabeth, the other lands to his wife Mechthild, excluded some feuds which namely were mentioned.
Elisabeth married Count Ludwig von Homberg around 1276, concluded from a document dated 1 May 1276 that Rudolf von Rapperswil granted the income of the pastor of the Spital Rapperswil that was given by her father. The document was sealed by Ludwig von Homberg, Elisabeth and an attestor. Their son, Wernher von Homberg was between 1309 and 1320 Reichsvogt of the Old Swiss Confederacy, and their daughter Cecilia von Homberg became the abbess of the Oetenbach Nunnery.

Countess of Rapperswil

Ludwig von Homberg was killed in the battle of Schlosshalde in 1289, and Elisabeth, now Countess of the Grafschaft Rapperswil, was forced to sell in 1290 all their rights and possessions, which the house had in Uri, to the Wettingen Abbey. On 28 November 1291 Countess Elizabeth concluded a three-year alliance with the city of Zürich against the Dukes of Austria-Habsburg. Countess Elisabeth was like her mother and father before, an ally of the city of Zürich, had the citizenship of Zürich, and she was patron of the Oetenbach Nunnery situated there: Elisabeth's daughter Cecilia von Homberg was the prioress of the nunnery, promoted its further development, and her brother Wernher donated the Our Lady Chapel in 1320.
From Elisabeth's second marriage to Count Rudolf of Habsburg-Laufenburg in spring 1296, Johann I von Habsburg-Laufenburg, and probably by second marriage, Rudolf, Ludwig and Clara were born.
Countess Elisabeth of Rapperswil seems to influenced decisively the fortunes of the county Rapperswil, and to have largely steered between 1289 and 1309. The male line of the family of Rapperswil ended in 1283 with the death of Rudolf V, the underaged brother of Elisabeth. After his death, king Rudolf I of Habsburg handed over the fiefdom of Rapperswil to the St. Gallen Abbey. The archives of the Einsiedeln Abbey explained in the books of the professed abbots these serious change in the balance of power of the Zürichgau; below some passages to the person of the Countess Elisabeth:
So Rudolf I of Habsburg got in the possession of the bailiwick over the valley called Urseren, which controlled the strategical most important Gotthard Pass, and he also acted as Vogt of the Einsiedeln Abbey, rights held by the House of Rapperswil for centuries. In 1286, for financial reasons, the Countess Elisabeth had to sell her personal farm estate in Oberdürnten including the associated rights to the Rüti Abbey. In 1290 she sold the remaining property in Uri. Thus, Elisabeth joined forces in 1291 with the city of Zürich, probably directed against the main line of Rudolf of Habsburg-Austria. The Einsiedeln archives mention Elisabeth again, in connection with the transfer of the advocacies on Pfäffikon and in connection with the Kastvogtei about the Einsiedeln Abbey
As sovereign, Elisabeth von Rapperswil signed many documents, settled differences or legal affairs, or gave rights to settlements, among them on 7 January 1300 the pledge of the reign Greifensee to the knight Hermann II. von Landenberg. The pledge included the castle, the town and the lake of the same name, and a larger number of farms, along with supporting fields, meadows, forests and even the courtiers themselves. The corresponding lower and middle court rights and the pastoral rights in Uster which were held for centuries by the Rapperswil family, were also pledged. To 1303 Elisabeth divided the county Rapperswil, so that the possession devolved on the left bank of Zürichsee went to the descendants of Ludwig von Homberg, while the possession of the right bank remained the family of the Habsburg-Laufenburg line, against the will of king Albrecht.

Death, burial and memento

Elisabeth von Rapperswil died probably on 10 April 1309 in the Rapperswil Castle and may have been buried in the Wurmsbach nunnery on Obersee lake shore. The graves of her younger brother Vinzenz and her mother were excavated in the nunnery, but Elisabeth's grave so far was not discovered.
On 24 February 1310 Graf Rudolf transferred to his parents, his late wife Elisabeth and his own salvation's sake, the patronage of the church in Dietikon with the presentation right in the chapels of Urdorf and Spreitenbach to the Wettingen Abbey in the Limmat Valley. On 23 March 1310 Gebhard, provost of Strassburg, authenticated as vicar in temporalibus of the Bishop Gerhard of Konstanz that Count Rudolf and Johann, his son, to enlarge the spiritual welfare of their ancestors and the wife Elisabeth, with his permission to grant to the church Jonen in Rapperswil, whose feudal law belongs to the Counts, a resident priest donated for Sundays and public holidays. Sealed have Propst Gebhard, Count Rudolf, for himself and his son and Abbot Joh. V. Einsiedeln and the mayor of the city Rapperswil.

Aftermath

After the death of Count Rudolf von Habsburg-Laufenburg the inheritance of the Rapperswil possessions and rights went to Elisabeth's son Johann I, then to his son, Johann II of Habsburg-Laufenburg. Johann I and his son Johann II supported the opposition, around 20 former council members of Zürich, against Rudolf Brun, since 1336 the self-style mayor of the city. An uprising in Zürich failed in 1350, and the city of Rapperswil and the Rapperswil and Altendorf castles of the House of Rapperswil were widely destroyed by Brun's troops. Count Johann II was arrested in Zürich for two years, and Johann and his younger brothers had to sell most of the remaining property to the Dukes of Austria to rebuild the ruins.

Literature