The Winkelried family was a Swiss noble family of Unterwalden, recorded as members of the lower nobility during the second half of the 13th century and as commoners during the 14th to early 16th centuries. The name is mostly associated with Arnold von Winkelried, the hero of the Battle of Sempach (1386) in Swiss historiography. Because of the importance of Arnold Winkelried in 19th-century Swiss nationalism, much research has gone into the genealogy of this family.
Their origin was presumably in the territory of Ennetmoos in Nidwalden, where a toponym Wichried (Wychried, 46°57′11″N8°20′24″E / 46.953°N 8.340°E ) has survived into modern times. The first recorded member of this family was the knight Rudolf von Winkelried, attested in a letter dated to the 1240s. Heinrich von Winkelried was probably a son of Rudolf, als recorded as a knight and ministerialis of count Rudolf von Habsburg, between 1275 and 1303. Heinrich became connected him with a legend of a dragon fight, first recorded by Etterlin (1507). Abbot Rudolf I of Engelberg who lived during the same period may also have been a member of the family.
After Heinrich, the Winkelrieds lose their distinction as noblemen. People bearing the name Winkelried are recorded as mostly prosperous commoners during the 14th and 15th centuries. These later Winkelrieds may reflect their origin among the nobility by keeping a coat of arms (displaying a crescent in a triangle). A Jacob von Winkelried is recorded in 1343 as owning property in Ennetmoos, in 1372 a Peter Winkelried is the tenant of the possessions of Engelberg in Alpnach. In the 1382 uprising against the noble families in Unterwalden, the Winkelrieds seem to be affected because of their close connections to the aristocracy.
In a document dated 1 May 1367, one of the witnesses signs as Erni Winkelried. This is the only candidate on record for the historicity of Arnold Winkelried of patriotic legend. The first mention of Winkelried as the hero of Sempach dates to nearly a century later, in the time of the Burgundian Wars. But a man called Erni Winkelried is recorded again on 29 September 1389 and on 13 March 1396, after the battle where he supposedly died a hero's death. But yet another Erni Winkelried appears in 1417 and 1418 as amtmann of Nidwalden, so that there was clearly more than one person with this name, perhaps father and son. Yet another Arnold Winkelried is recorded in the second half of the 15th century, in connection of a lawsuit of November 1474 and as delegate of Nidwalden at the Swiss Diet on several occasions during 1476 to 1482. A Heinrich Winkelried recorded from 1456 was a member of the council of Nidwalden from before 1471 and delegate at the Diet during 1469 to 1498. A fourth Arnold Winkelried is recorded as delegate from 1496 to 1507. He was also a member of a Swiss delegation sent to emperor Maximilian in 1508 and as a captain in the battle of Novara in 1513. This Arnold is last recorded in 1524.
Yet another Arnold Winkelried, sometimes conflated with the aforementioned, was a notorious mercenary leader during the first quarter of the 16th century. He was knighted in 1514 by the Milanese duke Maximilian Sforza. On 13 September he was instigated by cardinal Schiner to engage in a skirmish with the French men-at-arms outside of Milano, thus causing the disastrous Battle of Marignano. In 1516 he marched against Milano in the Service of Maximilian, and defended Verona against the French. After the treaty of May 1517, Winkelried threatened to declare war on the king of France (who now also was the duke of Milan) privately because of the unpaid wages still owed by Sforza, the previous duke. After this dispute had been settled to his satisfaction, he entered French service in 1518 and participated in the 1521 campaign in Picardy in the rank of captain. In 1522, he commanded 16,000 Swiss mercenaries in French service invading Lombardy. At Bicocca he met with his former commander Georg von Frundsberg, who served on the imperial side. The two mercenary leaders engaged in single combat, and Winkelried was killed. It was later disputed among the Swiss serving on either side whether Winkelried had been killed by Frundsberg or whether he had been shot from the flank. Because the death of this Arnold Winkelried immediately predates the earliest printed references to the legendary hero of Sempach, some historians have suggested that the chroniclers of the early 16th century named the previously unnamed hero after the mercenary leader. [1]
A son of Arnold's, Hans Winkelreid, died before 1532, and the name seems to have been extinct by 1550.
Stans is the capital of the canton of Nidwalden (Nidwald) in Switzerland.
Obwalden or Obwald is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Sarnen. It is traditionally considered a "half-canton", the other half being Nidwalden.
Nidwalden or Nidwald is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Stans. It is traditionally considered a "half-canton", the other half being Obwalden.
The Battle of Sempach was fought on 9 July 1386, between Leopold III, Duke of Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy. The battle was a decisive Swiss victory in which Duke Leopold and numerous Austrian nobles died. The victory helped turn the loosely allied Swiss Confederation into a more unified nation and is seen as a turning point in the growth of Switzerland.
Each of the 26 modern cantons of Switzerland has an official flag and a coat of arms. The history of development of these designs spans the 13th to the 20th centuries.
The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains. The Hohenstaufen emperors had granted these valleys reichsfrei status in the early 13th century. As reichsfrei regions, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden were under the direct authority of the emperor without any intermediate liege lords and thus were largely autonomous.
Arnold von Winkelried or Arnold Winkelried was a legendary hero of Swiss history. According to 16th-century Swiss historiography, Winkelried's sacrifice brought about the victory of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Battle of Sempach (1386) over the army of the Habsburg Duke Leopold III of Austria.
Sempach is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.
Georg von Frundsberg was a German military and Landsknecht leader in the service of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial House of Habsburg. An early modern proponent of infantry tactics, he established his reputation in active service during the Italian Wars under Emperor Maximilian I and his successor Charles V. Even in his lifetime, he was referred to as "Vater der Landsknechte" and legends about him as the patriarchal figure of the Landsknechte or his incredible physical strength surfaced.
The Battle of Bicocca or La Bicocca was fought on 27 April 1522, during the Italian War of 1521–26. A combined French and Venetian force under Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, was decisively defeated by an Imperial–Spanish and Papal army under the overall command of Prospero Colonna. Lautrec then withdrew from Lombardy, leaving the Duchy of Milan in Imperial hands.
The Rütli Oath is the legendary oath taken at the foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy by the representatives of the three founding cantons, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, It is named after the site of the oath taking, the Rütli, a meadow above Lake Uri near Seelisberg. Recorded in Swiss historiography from the 15th century, the oath is notably featured in the 19th century play William Tell by Friedrich Schiller.
There are at least five historical people of Unterwalden called Arnold Winkelried.
The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states, initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland.
Sempacherlied is the title of a number of patriotic songs celebrating the Swiss victory at the Battle of Sempach (1386).
Heinrich von Winkelried, known as Schrutan or Strut "the giant", was a medieval knight in what is now Central Switzerland.
Hermann von Liebenau was a Swiss historian.
Mueterschwanderberg is a ridge forming the southern shore of Alpnachersee, just northwest of Stanserhorn and west of the village of Ennetmoos, Nidwalden, Switzerland. Its peak is at an elevation of 860 m. The peak is known as Drachenflue (Drachenfluh), with the Drachenloch cave nearby, named for the dragon which according to legend was slain here by Heinrich von Winkelried.
Petermann of Gundoldingen was Schultheiss of Lucerne and participated in the Battle of Sempach.
Rotzberg or Rotzburg is a ruined castle in the municipality of Ennetmoos in the canton of Nidwalden in Switzerland.
The Winkelried memorial was erected in memory of Arnold von Winkelried, who sacrificed his life in the Battle of Sempach on the 9 July 1386. According to the Swiss historiography, the Swiss wouldn't be able to break through the firmly positioned order of Habsburg pikemen. At a moment, Winkelried decided to throw himself into the pikes and therefore open a passage through the Austrian defensive front, which made way for an attack of the Swiss confederacy which then led to a Swiss victory in the Battle of Sempach.
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