Günther XLI, Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt, nicknamed "the Quarrelsome" or , (25 September 1529 in

Sondershausen Sondershausen is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was incorporated by Sondershausen. Until 1918 i ...

– 23 May 1583 in Antwerp) was the ruling count of Schwarzburg from 1552 to 1571 and then Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt until his death.

Life

Count Günther XLI was the eldest son of Count Günther XL of Schwarzburg (1490-1552), who was nicknamed ''the Rich'' or ''Günther with the fat mouth''. His mother was Countess Elisabeth (d. 14 May 1572), the daughter of Count Philip of Isenburg-Büdingen-Ronneburg. Günther XL had united all the possessions of Schwarzburg, except the Lordship of Leutenberg. After he died on 10 November 1552, his four surviving sons ruled jointly at first, with the younger brothers receiving assistance from their mother. However, in 1571, they divided the county among themselves. Günther XLI began his military career in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infant ...

. In 1553, he joined the imperial army which made an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to reconquer

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est ...

. He then accompanied Philip, the later King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal fro ...

to London, where Philip would marry Queen

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

. In 1555, Günther XLI stayed in Brussels, where Charles V gave him . He then make a visit to Schwarzburg, and then returned to the imperial army, where he served as a colonel. In 1557, he fought on the victorious side at St. Quentin. At the turn of 1559/1560, Günther travelled to Dresden on behalf of

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

, to take the first steps in the process that led to William marrying Anna, the niece of Elector

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

of Saxony on 24 August 1561. Günther XLI married himself on 17 November 1560. For political reasons, he married William's sister,

Catherine of Nassau-Dillenburg Catherine of Nassau-Dillenburg (29 December 1543 at Dillenburg Castle in Dillenburg – 25 December 1624 in Arnstadt) was a daughter of William I, Count of Nassau-Siegen and his second wife, Juliana of Stolberg. She was a sister of William the ...

. The marriage remained childless. The couple lived in Arnstadt for a while, where Günther used his to build Neideck Castle. Between 1563 and 1565, Günther and his younger brothers John Günther I and Albert VII fought in the army of King

Frederick II of Denmark Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1559 until his death. A member of the House of Oldenburg, Frederick began his personal rule of Denmark-Norway at the age of ...

in the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denm ...

against Sweden. In early 1566, Günther XLI returned to the Netherlands. On 12 March 1566, William the Silent gave a party at the castle of the Counts of Hoogstraten to celebrate his return. However, this was just a pretext. William wanted to discuss his strategy towards

Margaret of Parma Margaret of Parma (; 5 July 1522 – 18 January 1586) was Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582. She was the illegitimate daughter of the then 22-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Johanna Maria van der ...

, who was Governor General of the Netherlands, with the other guests, the Counts of

Egmont Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

, Horn,

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, Meghen and Montigny. A few weeks later, Günther fought in Hungary in the service of Emperor Maximilian II against the Turks. During this campaign, Günther acquired his nickname "the Quarrelsome". He was not respected by the Emperor. He often quarreled with the Emperor and did not obey orders. He protested against the Emperor's plan to besiege

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Da ...

. Maximilian wrote angrily to Vienna: ''Count Günther, does nothing but swagger. He prevents more than he achieves. His survey stated that I have 1500 horses here, but after I used them once, I see no more than 1000. I will probably think three times before I use this colonel again.'' Nevertheless, the Emperor found new rôles for Günther. Günther was appointed to the

Aulic Council The Aulic Council ( la, Consilium Aulicum, german: Reichshofrat, literally meaning Court Council of the Empire) was one of the two supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire, the other being the Imperial Chamber Court. It had not only concurrent juri ...

and entrusted with diplomatic duties. In 1567, he worked in the service of Elector August of Saxony, on behalf of the Emperor. He participated in the siege of Gotha, which was necessary to arrest the deposed Duke John Frederick II of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach, who had been

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

for failure to deliver

Wilhelm von Grumbach Wilhelm von Grumbach (1 June 150318 April 1567) was a German adventurer, chiefly known through his connection with the so-called "Grumbach Feud" (german: Grumbachsche Händel), the last attempt of the Imperial Knights to prevail against the power ...

at the Emperor's demand. After Gotha surrendered, Günther arrested John Frederick II and brought him to Vienna. From 1568 to 1573, Günther advised the Duke of Alba, the Spanish Governor General in the Netherlands. He then spent some time in Schwarzburg. In 1582, Emperor

Rudolph II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hou ...

sent Günther to the Southern Netherlands again, where he advised Governor General Archduke

Matthias Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. People Notable people named Matthias include the following: In religion: * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Iscariot ...

as Privy Councillor. Günther XLI died on 23 May 1583 in Antwerp. His body was transported from Antwerp to Delft, from there by boat to Emden and from there to Sondershausen, where he was buried. As Günther XLI was childless, his younger brothers divided the

County of Schwarzburg The House of Schwarzburg was one of the oldest noble families of Thuringia. Upon the death of Prince Friedrich Günther in 1971, a claim to the headship of the house passed under Semi-Salic primogeniture to his elder sister, Princess Marie ...

again after his death. John Günther I (1532–1586) received Arnstadt and Sondershausen and founded the

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county until 1697. In that year, it became a principality, which ...

line. Albrecht VII (1537–1605) received Rudolstadt and founded the

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt. History Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands. Since ...

line.

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 108 ...

(1534–1597) received Frankenhausen. Despite marrying twice, William I died childless in 1597 and his share of the County fell to Albrecht VII.

References

* Jens Beger, Eduardo Pedruelo Martín, José Luis Rodríguez de Diego, Joachim Emig and Jochen Lengemann: ''Günther XLI. Graf von Schwarzburg in Diensten Karls V. und Philipps II. in den Niederlanden (1550) 1551–1559 (1583)'', published jointly by the Thuringian State Archive in Rudolstadt and the Historical Society for Schwarzburg, Gleichen and Hohenlohe, Weimar, 2003, * Carl Eduard Vehse: ''Die Höfe zu Thüringen'', Kiepenheuer, Leipzig, 1994, * Klaus Vetter: ''Wilhelm von Oranien'', Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1987, * Friedrich Apfelstedt: ''Das Haus Kevernburg-Schwarzburg von seinem Ursprunge bis auf unsere Zeit'', Arnstadt, 1890 * Johann Christian August Junghans: ''Geschichte der schwarzburgischen Regenten'', Leipzig, 1821
Online
* Dr. Kamill von Behr: ''Genealogie der in Europa regierenden Fürstenhäuser'', Leipzig, 1870 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunther 41 Schwarzburg Arnstadt Counts of Schwarzburg House of Schwarzburg People from Arnstadt People from Sondershausen 1529 births 1583 deaths 16th-century German people

Life

See also

References