On the History of the Knillenberg Family in Obermais (Part 1)

Appendix.

History.

The Knillenbergers. 1/2

In the appendix to the Bote für Tirol 1821 No. 100, reference was made to a letter from Christoph v. Knillenberg d. d. Vienna 3 November 1537, which was contained in the Archiv für Geographie, year 1810, issue 11.

These provincial nobles, Knights v. Knillenberg, had their seat in Obermais near Meran for nearly 300 years, partly in the castle of the same name, partly in Reichenbach. Their ancestor was

I. Andreas, a son of Sigmund Knilling, a citizen of Mittenwald in the former County of Werdenfels. In 1493, he served with his brother Kaspar in the army of Emperor Maximilian I in the glorious campaign against the Turks. In reward for their services, both brothers received from this very emperor d. d. Salzburg, 25 November 1506, the diploma of nobility with permission to augment their previous coat of arms and to style themselves in the future Knillenberger or v. Knillenberg.

Immediately after his return from Hungary, Andre, then still Knilling, went to Tyrol, becoming at first secretary to the successive provincial captains on the Etsch and burgraves of Tyrol, the Barons v. Firmian and v. Völs; *) then administrator at Eschenloch Castle in Ultental, a south-western side valley between Bozen and Meran.

In 1513 he purchased the noble residence of the Zekolf family in Obermais, to which Emperor Maximilian I confirmed all previous privileges from Innsbruck on 28 October 1518 and bestowed the name Knillenberg.

In 1524, Andre v. Knillenberg was admitted with many other nobles to the Tyrolean nobility register, and in 1526 he was raised to the knighthood by Emperor Charles V (d. d. Esslingen, 12 July), also replacing the previous jousting helmet on his coat of arms with a tournament helmet.

In the popular unrest of May 1525, stirred up by the doctrines of freedom and licentiousness that were then emerging and rapidly spreading, the fortified castle of Eschenloch was also stormed and plundered by the insurgents. Knillenberger then moved into his own noble residence in Obermais.

On 22 January 1530, Christoph Freiherr v. Madruz, then parish priest of Tirol (the village), later Bishop of Trent and Cardinal, appointed him administrator of the income of that parish.

He was married twice. The first time in 1505 to Katharina v. Kostlan near Brixen. After her death, in 1533 to Lukrezia, née Kastner, the surviving widow of Paul Ursin, doctor of medicine in Brixen. He followed his first wife on 4 May 1540 and rests with both under a finely worked red marble slab on the church wall of the St. Vigilius parish church in Untermais.

From his first marriage he had two sons, Christoph and Oswald; from the latter, one named Heinrich.

Oswald died in Vienna in 1541, still unmarried.

Heinrich was in the service of Count Franz v. Thurn at the court of Archduke Ferdinand in Prague, then in Graz, and for a time in Gorizia; therefore, besides his native language and Latin, he was also proficient in Bohemian, Slavonian, Croatian, and Italian. Later he settled at the Köstbamhof in Untermais. His son, Hans Christoph, served as a soldier under Philip II, King of Spain, in the Netherlands, where he married. Of his children, only Heinrich came to Tyrol in 1611, stayed for a short time in the service of Count v. Lichtenstein at Schenna Castle, and then went abroad again.

II. Christoph v. Knillenberg, Andre's firstborn, stayed in the service of Baron Leonhard v. Völs (councillor to the Roman King Ferdinand I, Grand Master of the Court and Supreme Field Commander, former provincial captain in Tyrol) for a long time at court, took part in several campaigns against the Turks, became supreme collector of excise and tolls in Laibach in Carniola on 13 December 1542; on 1 January 1547 councillor to His Imperial Majesty and Vitzthum in said land, and finally died on 31 July 1558 in the castle at Gorizia, where he had gone as imperial plenipotentiary to the assembly of estates of that county.

The widow Helena, née Ursin, of Brixen, sold the estates acquired in Carniola and returned with her children, Andre, Christoph, Philipp, Friedrich, and Lukrezia, to Tyrol to their Knillenberg residence.

The eldest son, Andre, died as an imperial soldier, still young, before Szigetvar in Hungary.

Christoph became councillor to Archduke Ferdinand and administrator at Landeck. In 1578 he acquired the noble residence Sigmundsried in the upper Inn Valley as the inheritance of his wife Helena v. Wechingen zu Sigmundsried. His sons, Christoph Franz and Andre v. Knillenberg zu Sigmundsried, succeeded their father in turn in the office of administrator at Landeck and in possession of Sigmundsried Castle. Both died without male heirs.

Friedrich accompanied Cardinal Andreas of Austria, Margrave of Burgau etc., son of Archduke Ferdinand and Philippina Welser, on his trip to Rome, but returned as early as 1577 and married Magdalena v. Sarnthein zu Kellerburg und Kränzelstein at Knillenberg Castle, which had been assigned to him. He died without heirs on 23 February 1597.

and Kränzelstein. He died without heirs on 23 February 1597.

III. Philipp, the third-born, husband since 1568 to Benedikta Susanna Edle Freyling zu Winkl, purchased the noble seat Reichenbach in 1573 from Philipp Albrecht v. Wanga zu Wangen, Lord of Rubein; was administrator at Greifenstein, Burgstall, and Mölten, as well as assessor at the noble court in Bozen.

Upon his death on 25 March 1593, he left four sons and two daughters.

Augustin, the eldest, died unmarried, 51 years old, in Meran. Likewise Sigmund, after having served in the military for a long time in the Netherlands and the Milanese, in his 73rd year.

The third, Hildebrand, was also in Italy for a long time, and accompanied the Venetian ambassador Octavian Bon from there to Valladolid. He then married Helena Trotlinn v. Troiburg, and died leaving a son, Hans Philipp, on 7 March 1609. The latter pursued studies in Vienna, Bologna, Nancy, and Pont-à-Mousson in France, then practiced for a time under the privy councillor and director Pemelberg (in Innsbruck?). Finally, under Emperor Ferdinand III, he came to Vienna as chamberlain, treasurer, and secret court war secretary. There he married Elise Veronika v. Lasi, the only daughter of a Croatian colonel. On a journey of Archduke Leopold to Prague concerning military affairs, he was in his entourage, but fell ill there and died on 22 October 1639. His only daughter, born after his death, entered the convent for noble ladies at the Himmelspforte in Vienna.

(Conclusion to follow.)

*) Niklaus Herr zu Firmian was provincial captain etc. from 1490–99. Leonhard I from 1499–1531. Leonhard II, both Barons v. Völs, from 1531–1532.