Hans Thomas von Absberg (1477 – 3 July 1531) was a Frankish knight of the

Absberg family Absberg was a local noble family in Franconia. History The family received its name from the village of Absberg, today located in the district Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in Middle Franconia. Famous members of the family were ''Henry IV of Absber ...

, known as a robber baron. He kidnapped important travellers like royal legates or merchants from

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. He was supported by several Frankish knights, who helped to hide the hostages, e.g. members of the houses of

Sparneck Sparneck is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany. Location The market town of Sparneck lies at an average height of in the Pfarrbach valley, which forms the larger part of the area. The Saxon Saale r ...

or the Guttenberg. The hostages were taken on a route with several castles far away from the point they were kidnapped. An advantage for Thomas von Absberg were the nearby borders of several

principalities A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...

and sometimes he escaped to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. He was known for the cruelty of cutting off the right hand with a

dussack A dusack (also ''dusägge'' and variants, from Czech ''tesák'' "cleaver; hunting sword", lit. "fang") is a single-edged sword of the cutlass or sabre type, in use as a side arm in Germany and the Habsburg monarchy during the 16th to 17th centur ...

and sending it to the family of his victims to underline his demands for ransom. During the 1522 Diet of Nuremberg von Absberg sent

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

severed hands to spite him. Eventually prisoners held at the

Waldsteinburg The Waldsteinburg, also called the Red Castle (german: Rotes Schloss) is a ruined castle on the summit of the Großer Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains of Germany. It is also known as the ''Westburg'' ('west castle') to distinguish it from the old ...

were able to escape and reveal who the supporters of Thomas von Absberg were and where their castles were. To punish the behaviour of Thomas von Absberg the Swabian League destroyed the family's castle seat in 1523, as well as all of the castles belonging to the

House of Sparneck The House of Sparneck was a local noble family in Franconia. The family is known to exist from 1223 to 1744 and was named after the market village of Sparneck. One of their first castles was the Waldsteinburg; further castles were located in Sp ...

. This was documented in a series of

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s by

Hans Wandereisen Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

. But Thomas von Absberg was not caught and continued his robbery, until he was murdered in Alten-Sedlitz in 1531 by one of his accomplices.

References

* Reinhardt Schmalz: ''Der Fränkische Krieg 1523 und die Schuld der Sparnecker''. In: Archiv für die Geschichte von Oberfranken. Bayreuth 2005. (German) * Ada Stützel: ''100 berühmte Franken''. Erfurt 2007. (German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Absberg, Thomas von 1477 births 1531 deaths Imperial Knights

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...