Red Baron's Blog: Lazarus von Schwendi

You possibly know the story of the raising of Lazarus at Bethany. This miracle by Jesus is recounted in the New Testament in John (11:1–44). Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead four days after his entombment. But have you heard about Lazarus von Schwendi?

Lazarus von Schwendi's story in an old historical journal

Wikipedia knows: Lazarus von Schwendi, Reichsfreiherr (imperial baron) von Hohenlandsberg, was born in 1522 in Mittelbiberach. He was a diplomat, statesman, imperial field captain, and general in the service of the emperors Charles V, Ferdinand I, and Maximilian II. Lazarus died on May 28, 1583, in his castle at Kirchhofen and was buried in Alsace in the church of Kirchheim

On Saturday, April 30, Red Baron followed a guided tour of the Lazarus-von-Schwendi Castle at Kirchhofen, south of Freiburg.

The announcement of the excursion by the Freiburg Historical Society Schau-ins-Land read as follows: The castle in Kirchhofen is the best-preserved moated castle in the Breisgau region. Three corner towers with pointed conical roofs and embrasures still exist, and the moat is clearly visible. Under the manor house is a large vaulted cellar. The large bright rooms in the main house are designed as a museum, and the visitors will be led into one of the towers dedicated to the memory of the former lord of the castle, Lazarus von Schwendi (1522-1583).

A moated castle on a hill? This question drew a large crowd split into three groups for the tour.

Castle on a hill and a moat filled with water: The model.

In 1507, the castle was laid out in its present dimensions. It was surrounded by a wall and a moat. Of the original four towers, three are still preserved.

In 1572, Lazarus von Schwendi acquired the Kirchhofen Domaine with the moated castle, which he had expanded into his residence.

View from the right front tower into the dry moat.

Standing in the moat,
looking at the right rear tower and the main building.

The rear of the castle. Knowledgeable people informed the participants
about water sources located at a higher level. Those might have filled the moat.

In 1578, after he retired from imperial service, Lazarus used his castle not just as a retirement residence, for in the same year, he founded the hospital and the first school at Kirchhofen.

Red Baron became interested in Lazarus von Schwendi as a mediator between confessions when the enmity between Catholics and Protestants festered.

In the second half of the 15th century, a nobility crisis occurred in the Upper Rhine region when, in Catholic Anterior Austria, the knighthood in Alsace became Lutheran-minded. Lazarus is the one bright beacon of several prudent men who urged peaceful coexistence between the confessions. He was shocked by the horrors of St. Bartholomew's Night in neighboring France. As a former general of the imperial troops on the Eastern Front against the Turks, he stressed that religious disputes weakened the ability of the Empire to fight against the Ottomans. Being the author of a book about the government of the Empire and religious tolerance, he practiced the latter in his private life, marrying a Protestant as his second wife.

When he was appointed imperial bailiff at Hagenau in 1573, all the hopes of the Protestant towns in Alsace rested on him, and he did not disappoint them. Lazarus ignored the order of the Anterior Austrian government in Innsbruck, asking him to dismiss the three Protestant sub-bailiffs of Münster, Türkheim, and Kayserberg. He wrote, "It is not my occupation and job to engage in the persecution and extermination of the new religion... that I should personally interfere in religious matters, force people's conscience, and compel them to another religion that is not at all my occupation, my doing, or on my mind. I am obliged to nothing ..."

The history of the castle

In 1847, the local Kirchhofen school was housed in the castle, where it remained until 1961 when the new municipal school building was erected. The old premises are presently developed into a municipal museum.