Adrian von Bubenberg (born c. 1424 in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

; died August 1479 in Bern) was a Bernese

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

, military commander and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

('' Schultheiss'') of Bern in 1468-1469, 1473-1474 and 1477-1479. In

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, he is remembered as the hero of the 1476 Battle of Murten.

Life

Adrian von Bubenberg was born as the son of Heinrich IV. von Bubenberg, Schultheiss of Bern and lord of Spiez, whom he succeeded in 1465. During a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in 1466, he was dubbed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and inscribed his name and emblem on the wall of

David's Tomb David's Tomb (; ) is a site that, according to an early medieval (9th century) tradition, is associated with the burial of the biblical king David. During the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate periods, Maqam Al-Nabi ...

. Numerous times before and after the Burgundy wars, he led Bernese negotiations with other cantons of the

old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

and foreign powers including

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. But his heroic stature in Swiss history is due to his tenacious defense during the siege of Murten. He had been appointed commander of the city garrison in April 1476. The city was besieged during twelve days in June by the troops of Charles, Duke of Burgundy, and Bubenberg managed to hold until he was relieved by confederate forces on 22 June, leading to the decisive defeat of Charles.

Legacy

Von Bubenberg was buried in the choir of the Berner Münster, the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of Bern. Ever having been short of funds in spite of being the head of Berne's preeminent noble house, von Bubenberg was posthumously banned for his debts in 1481, but the government resisted Pope Sixtus IV's demand that he be exhumed and dishonourably buried because of this. SVB21wiki

Bubenberg's deeds figure already in the near-contemporary illustrated chronicles by Diebold Schilling the Elder. Later, he became an icon in Romantic nationalism, portrayed in literature as the ideal of knightly virtue and of

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

, notably in the novel ''Ring i der Chetti'' by Rudolf von Tavel (1931). In 1897, Bern honoured Bubenberg with a bronze statue on Christoffelplatz, which was renamed to Bubenbergplatz on the occasion. The design for the statue triggered a dispute on whether it was proper to show Bubenberg on foot rather than as a knight in an equestrian statue. The statue was moved to the nearby Hirschengraben in 1930 to make room for tramway infrastructure; plans to move the statue triggered controversial debate in Bernese newspapers in early 1930, but the plan found popular support in a vote of 6 April, the statue was removed on 24 April and erected at its current location on 19 May.

Exonumia

City of Bern produced a silver medal in 1897 in memory of Adrian von Bubenberg.Bubenberg Monument medal of the city of Basel: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia200386.html

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bubenberg, Adrian Von 1420s births 1479 deaths 15th-century Roman Catholics 15th-century Swiss military personnel Medieval Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Military personnel from Bern Swiss Roman Catholics