The General Helvetic, Confederate and Swiss Lexicon of 1750

The fourth volume of his work (titled the General Helvetic, Confederate and Swiss Lexicon) was published in 1750 and contains an entry on the Zumbrunnen family. At the time Leu was writing, the Zumbrunnen family no longer lived in Uri, but he was aware that a branch of the family had moved away to Parma.

His entry on the Zumbrunnen family is not long, but importantly, his work was published several decades before these archives were destroyed by fire in 1799.

What follows is a sentence-by-sentence translation of his entry on the Zumbrunnen. (My own commentary, provided for context, is in parentheses and highlights like this) The original is on Google Books and, as always, any improvements to the translation would be welcomed.

zum Brunnen

A noble family formerly from the country of Uri, of which Bucelin notes in his genealogy, has the same origin as the von Attighausen. Werner von Aetting or Ettighausen in 1209 distributed his estates among his two sons, to Werner, the Schloss Attinghausen and to Walter, the Schloss zum Brunnen (Schloss typically translates as “castle” but generally applied to any respectable stone house. The post on Zumbrunnen family castles contains examples of castles both grand and more modest). Some say this Schloss was located where the village Brunnen stands in the canton of Schweiz. Both men became known by the names of their estates.

The family Von Attinghausen were landammann, as were those of the family zum Brunnen. Among the zum Brunnen family there were several Landammann of Uri:

Burkhard in 1273.

Johannes, who had previously been bailiff (the Swiss title of “landvogt.”) in the free states in 1468, 1470, was landammann in 1482.

Hans, in 1477 the bailiff to Baden and in 1484 an envoy at the agreement between the Confederates and the cities of Bern and Fribourg. He fought in the Battle of Marignano where, according to Jove, he killed a number of enemies with his great battle sword before dying.

Mansuetus in 1548.

Hans in 1579. Also bailiff to Baden in 1536 and 1564. (the date of 1536 might refer to Mansuetus, rather than Johann) Also, at some time, he was involved in the business of the Catholic confederates to Rome, and was an envoy to King Henry the III of France in 1582. His brother Walter became a papal guard captain, and his nephew Josua became captain of Uri.

In 1621 and 1637 the Landammann of Uri was Johann Heinrich Zumbrunnen, who was also at the same time the captain of Uri, and a Knight in the Order of St. Michael. In 1622 he was sent to the House of Austria during the violent disputes of the Gray League in Lindau. In 1625 he owned a regiment in the French services, recruited into the Valtellina(This was a brutal conflict in the Thirty Years’ War).

This family is now extinct in the land of Uri, but there is still a fund, founded by the family, at Altdorf, which is called the zum Brunnische Pfründe (A “Pfründe” is a German word that refers to an endowment that sponsors a priest. The English word for this is prebendary.). Some of the family moved to Parma, and there they are still propagating.

There was also a Conrad zum Brunnen who was Abbot of St. Urban from 1349 to 1356, but whether he is of the same family is not known.

Also, this family sometimes was called Lowenstein.

The books have been transcribed by historians. The lists below draw on a transcription published in 1910 in the Journal of Swiss Church History. Not all the death years were written down but, because the people were listed in chronological order of death, the historians were able to infer many of the dates from the surrounding people on the list. The data added by historians is in [brackets] whereas the rest of the information is the direct transcription. Below are all the entries for our ancestors; a relatively small slice of the overall necrology.

• [1515] Hans Zum Brunnen, was Landammann [Fallen 13/14 Sep 1515 in the battle of Marignano]
• Werni Zberg [Von Erstfeld. Margrith Zumbrunnen is his wife]
• [Abt. 1549] Andreas Zum Brunnen [son of Landammann Johann Zumbrunnen and Dorothea von Beroldingen; Katharina Kas was his wife]
• [1549] Mansuetus Zum Brunnen, was Landammann [Elected in 1548 and died
  At the end of this year or at the beginning of 1549]
• [Abt. 1555] Erasmus Zum Brunnen [Son of Landammann Mansuetus, Gertrud Kluser is his wife.]
• [Abt. 1564] Hug Dauid Zum Brunnen, was landschrieber [Son of Landammann Mansuet]
• [1588] Johannes Zum Brunnen, was landammann [1579-1581]
• [1588] Josue Zum Brunnen, is landschreiber
• 1618 Ensign Heinrich Zum Brunnen, of the council
• 1629 Johannes zum Brunnen, is bailiff of Bolenze [1626-1628]
• 1639 Ensign Caspar Zum Brunnen [son of bailiff of Bolenze Johann Zumbrunnen and Veronika Rueplin]
• 1645 Captain Antoni zum Brunnen
• 17 Apr 1648 died Johann Heinrich Zum Brunnen, was a Knight in the Order of St. Michaels, Landammann [1621, 1622, 1637, 1638] and general of Uri.

Sources

The church at the Collège Saint-Michel, built 1606-1613, was the heart of the college.
via Wikimedia Commons/(CC BY-SA 3.0)

Their alma mater was the Jesuit Collège Saint-Michel[1], or the College of St. Michael, in Fribourg, Switzerland. The school was founded by Father Peter Canisius, S.J., in 1582. Amazingly, the school has some alumni records dating back to its founding. Nine different Zumbrunnen boys, all from Uri, enrolled in these early decades.

Obviously this “college” was much different than the modern American or European university experience. Boys enrolled between the ages of 10 and 21. Many of the pupils were local and lived at home, but the boys from far away places like Uri would board with private hosts or sometimes with clergy. In addition to religion, the curriculum included courses in the humanities, rhetoric, dialectic and logic.

While much of Switzerland was becoming Protestant at this time, Uri and Fribourg were holdouts of the Catholic faith, explaining the link between the two far-flung areas. Another advantage was that Uri was German-speaking, but Fribourg was in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, so attendance was also a French immersion program.

The information is not extensive. In most cases, the records only say the year of enrollment, the boy’s name, age, parents and hosts. In some cases, the history journal cited below added information about their subsequent careers. Here are the nine Zumbrunnen men who are alums of Collège Saint-Michel:

1. Enrolling in 1610: Johann Zumbrunnen, age 15, son of Heinrich, who became a captain in the French service during the Thirty Years War.
2. In 1612: Erasmus Zumbrunnen, age 12, son of Josue
3. In 1613: Jacob Zumbrunnen, age 12, son of Josue. Host: Burgknecht.
4. In 1613, Fridolin Zumbrunnen, age 12, son of Henry. Host: Haberkorn. He later became a priest in the Order of St. Benedict, and a professor of theology.
5. In 1620, Franz Zumbrunnen, age 11, son of Josue. He became a Capuchin priest and assumed the name Paschal. Host: Lutenschlager.
6. In 1624, Andreas Zumbrunnen, age 11, son of Martin.
7. In 1624, Conrad Zumbrunnen, age 11, son of Josue. Host: Burgknecht.[2]
8. In 1660, Franciscus Zumbrunnen, age 18, son of Burkhard and Ana Catharina Behsler. He became a Marian priest.
9. In 1661, Johann Anton Zumbrunnen, age 14, son of Burkhard and Ana Catharina Behsler. He became a Capuchin priest and assumed the name Primus.

I’m not sure if Johann Anton was the last member of the family to attend because the records I found end in 1663. The Zumbrunnen family was dying off in Uri by this point. A number of the men perished in the Thirty Years War, while others emigrated away from Uri and converted to Protestantism.

Notes
1) Yours truly also has a Jesuit education!
2) A peculiar story explains the 36-year gap between Conrad’s enrollment in 1624 and Franciscus in 1660. In 1628, the plague struck Fribourg, and over 30 of the college students died. Classes were suspended for six months, and most students returned home. Conrad, apparently after four years at the school (the records contain no indication of how long students typically enrolled), was prevented from leaving by his hostess, Ursula Burgknecht, because of unpaid debts to her. Apparently, the dean of the school intervened to negotiate the boy’s release. Conrad’s father later filed some sort of grievance with the city over the incident with the hostess. The story is recorded as this combination of pestilence and the bad hostess kept the Zumbrunnen and many other boys from Uri away from the school for several decades.

Sources

• “Students from Uri at the Jesuit college in Fribourg from 1582 to 1663″ by F. Gisler and O. Perler. Published 1944 in the Swiss history journal Historisches Neujahrsblatt.
• The University of Fribourg (partially in English) and the The Collège St-Michel website (in German and French). Both institutions developed from the original Jesuit College. Despite retaining its original name, the Collège St-Michel is no longer associated with the Catholic church and is now the equivalent of a public high school.

By the late 1600s, the Zumbrunnen family was in decline in Uri, and there are only a handful of Zumbrunnen baptisms. The surviving branches of the Zumbrunnen family seem to have left Uri by this point. Below I’ve transcribed the Zumbrunnen entries and translated them from Latin as best I could. There are many more entries for other families that had close ties to the Zumbrunnen, such as the Beroldingen, Crivelli, Zwyer, Puntener family, etc., that I haven’t transcribed.

Most of these entries include some additional identifying information which I’ve included below, such as titles. (My own commentary, which is provided for context, is in parentheses and highlights like this). The commentary in the history journal introducing this information scoffs at the use of titles, however, noting that basically everyone who is not a cobbler is identified as a lord.

• May 23, 1649: Sebastian Peregrin zum Brunnen, child of Lord Captain Sebastian zum Brunnen and Lady Maria Salome Rizard. Sponsors: Lord Colonel Sebastian Peregrin Zwyer, landammann and general captain of Uri. and Lady Maria Elisabetha von Beroldingen. (Sebastian Peregrin Zwyer was a very prominent political and military leader in Switzerland in the 1600s and a close associate of Landammann Johann Heinrich Zumbrunnen.)
• April 17, 1654: Anna Maria Magdalena, child of Lord Carl Ernst von Roll and Lady Maria Magdalena Zumbrunnen. Sponsors: Carl Emanuel von Roll, landammann and supreme captain of Uri, and Lady Maria Magdalena Rheding.
• November 8, 1655: Maria Barbara, child of Nicolao An der Halden and Agatha Klan. Sponsors: Reverend Lord Stephen Straumeyer and lady Maria Magdalena Zumbrunnen. (A Maria Magdalena Zumbrunnen was married to Johann Martin Straumeyer. Perhaps Stephen was her brother-in-law. A close familial tie to the clergy may explain why she appears in multiple baptisms below, along with a clergy member.)
• August 10, 1668: Maria Magdalena, child of Lord Antonio Schmidt, a centurion in the Savoy guard, and Lady Maria Anna Zwyer von Evebach. Sponsors: the pastor and Lady Maria Magdalena Zumbrunnen.
• January 16, 1679: Maria Margaretha, child of Francis Alexander Besler and Lady Maria Magdalena von Montenach. Sponsors: Lord Captain Johann Anthoni Schmidt and Lady Maria Magdalena Zumbrunnen.
• August 14, 1684: Melchior Joseph, child of Johann Carl Besler, prefect of Lugano, and Lady Maria Anna von Beroldingen. Sponsors: Reverend Johann Melchior Imhoff and Lady Maria Magdalena Zum Brunnen.
• April 10, 1688: Anna Maria Margaritha, child of Lord Sebastian von Beroldingen and Lady Regina Gasser. Sponsors: R.D. Franz von Beroldingen, of the monastery of Seedorf, and Lady Anna Maria Margaritha zum Brunnen.
• October 10, 1691: Johann Baptist Anton Zum Brunnen, child of Lord Johann Heinrich zum Brunnen and Lady Maria Hyacintha, born in Parma on October sixth and baptized Catholic on October 10. Sponsors: Lord Joanne Herardo de Naithuldt and Lady Anna de Buffalini. (This branch of the family had moved to Italy, and must have written back to their home priest asking for the baptisms to be recorded in their “home” church. They may have used the name Fontana in Italy. The names Buffalini, Fratini, Ballarini, etc., suggest that they were integrating into Italian society.)
• October 15, 1694: Anna Maria Theresia Salome Zum Brunnen, child of Lord Johann Heinrich Zum Brunnen and lady Maria Hyacintha, born in Parma and baptized Catholic on October 15, 1694. SponsorsL Lord Bartholomaeo de Ballarini and Lady Angela de Fratini.
• September 19, 1697: Franz Heinrich, son of Lord Johann Sebastian Jauch, landschreiber, and Lady Maria Anna Troger. Sponsors: Reverend Lord Franz Troger, abbot of Fischingen, and Lady Maria Magdalena zum Brunnen.
• There are also records of a “Bell Baptism” that took place in 1582. This was apparently a ceremony to consecrate beautiful new church bells and to honor their donors. Landammann Johann zum Brunnen and his brother Josue zum Brunnen are identified as the benefactors for one of these bells.

A copy of this record was published in the “Journal for Swiss Church History” in 1911. As far as I can tell, this record isn’t available on any of the various genealogy websites. The deaths of 16 members of the Zumbrunnen family are recorded in this church book (I think, strictly speaking, most of these are the dates of funeral services rather than death dates), and are listed below:

Note: I’ve preserved the different renderings of the name. It seems the family during this period was inconsistent in the spacing and capitalization of the name (sometimes Zumbrunnen vs zum Brunnen vs Zum brunnen) although I don’t know if there’s any significance to this; it could merely reflect different styles of handwriting. Most of these entries include some additional identifying information which I’ve included below. (My own commentary, which is provided for context, is in parentheses and highlights like this).

• April 17, 1648, Lord Johann Heinrich zum Brunnen, knight, old Landammann and captain.
• March 2, 1649, Captain Josue Zumbrunnen. (There are several Josue’s and I’m not sure which one this record refers to. The Josue who was Johann Heinrich Zumbrunnen’s brother is said in other sources to have died in 1643.)
• May 8, 1655 Carolus Ernestus a Roll. Born 1631 and married to Magdalena zum Brunnen
• April 20, 1657, father P Bernhardi Zum brunnen.
• September 12, 1667, Joannes Gualtherus Rothuet, married to Anna Barbara Zum Brunnen.
• February 18, 1672, Captain Burkardus zum Brunnen. Married 1st to Anna Katharina Behsler and 2nd on October 3, 1651 to the widow Maria Elisabetha Blatler von Unterwalden.
• January 7, 1678, Captain Sebastianus zum Brunnen.
• December 21, 1684, Josue zum Brunnen.
• October 10, 1687. Henrichus Burkardus zum Brunnen. (Because there are three different people named Heinrich Burkhard Zumbrunnen — I, II and III — it’s unclear which one this is.)
• June 23, 1689. Anna Maria Margaritha Zumbrunnen, wife of Josue Zumbrunnen (Her maiden name was also Zumbrunnen; Josue was her second cousin once removed.)
• March 21, 1690. Maria Magdalena Zum brunnen, wife of Ernst von Roll and married a second time to Johann Karl von Schmidt.
• May 8, 1690. Henrichus Burkardus Zumbrunnen. Listed as mentally incompetent. (As above, there are three different Heinrich Burkhards — I, II and III — and it’s unclear which one this is.)
• May 9, 1699. Maria Magdalena zum Brunnen. (There was a Maria Magdalena Zum Brunnen married to Johann Martin Straumeyer, although if this is her it’s unclear why her married name isn’t mentioned.)
• September 30, 1700. Anna Barbara zum Brunnen.
• March 26, 1705. R. D. Franciscus Zum Brunnen, died at age 62. Son of Burkhard and Anna Catherine Behsler.
• September 3, 1729. Maria Elisabeth Crivelli, born zum Brunnen. Wife of Heinrich Anton Crivelli.

In the Middle Ages, when a wealthy person died they (or their family) would often make a donation of property or wealth to the Catholic Church. The churches, in return, would record the names of these beneficiaries in large beautiful books, where each donor was assigned a day of the year. These books, which were zealously protected by their churches over the centuries, were known as Jahrzeitbuch (in German) and liber anniversarum or martyrologium (in Latin). In English, they are often called Necrologies or simply Yearbooks.

In exchange for these large donations, the priests of the church would consult the Necrology throughout the year and pray for the benefactors on their designated date. It is in part through this practice of donating land in exchange for a place in the necrology that the Catholic Church came to own the rights to huge swaths of land across the Holy Roman Empire. Below is a scan of one of the pages from the Necrology for the Monastery of the Order of St. Lazarus, to show what they looked like.

Sadly, no Zumbrunnen are on the page I’ve found an image of! A full facsimile of this beautiful book is available at some European libraries. It’s quite difficult to make sense of, isn’t vigilant about spelling, was clearly added to over time, and is written in a sort of German-Latin pidgin (for example, the Zumbrunnen sometimes have their names as “Zum Brunnen” or “Zem Brunnen” or “Ze Dem Brunnen” or even translated literally into Latin as Ad Fontem meaning “to the fountain”). One name you can clearly make out in fairly large letters, on the seventh line from the bottom, is “Frat. Egloff de Atighuse”

The purpose of these books was Ecclesiastical, not Genealogical, and so they generally don’t record all the information we wish they would. For one thing, they don’t even record the year that a person died — the purpose of the book was only to pray for their immortal soul every year in the future on that date. So, to take the first example below, on January 31 of each year, the priest might say to his congregation: “Today we pray for Mechtilda Zum Brunnen and Berchta von Attinghausen. Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.”

The books are still fascinating for genealogists. They are often the oldest original surviving documents from ancient ancestors. At least two yearbooks, with entries from the 1100s to the 1300s, survive for our family — yearbooks for the Monastery of the Order of St. Lazarus and the ancient church of St. Andreas in Attinghausen.

The books have been transcribed by historians who don’t provide information on what most of the notations mean. The lists below draw on the transcriptions. (My own commentary, provided for context, is in parentheses and highlights like this) Below are all the entries for our ancestors; there are more entries than this but the Zumbrunnen and Attinghausen do make up a fairly large share.

The Necrology of the Monastery of St. Lazarus in Seedorf

January 31 – Mechtilda ad Fontem (Zum Brunnen)
January 31 – Berchta de Attingenhusen
March 2. – Ob. Conradus de Attigenhusen
March 29 – Frat. Eglof de Attigenhusen (I think this is the entry you can easily read in the above image)
April 13 – Fr. Diethelm de Schneberg ob
April 15 – Heinrich zem Brunnen
April 17 – Elizabeta de Attingenhusen
April 20 – Berta de Atigenhusen ob
April 23 – Ob Egolfus de Atingenhusen dictus de Sweinsperc
April 23 – Magister Burchardus (I believe this is Landammann Burkhard Zumbrunnen who was the chief magistrate (magister) of Uri.)
April 28 – Dominus Heinricus Nobilis de Atingenhusen ob (This is one piece of proof that their were local lords of Attinghausen before Werner.)
April 29 – Buckard de Geschonde (I believe this is pidgin German-Latin for Burkhard “Schüpfer”); Conradus Zum Brunnen de Lewenstein. (This seems to be the oldest example of a ZumBrunnen also using Von Löwenstein as their name.)
May 18 – Heinrich Zum Brunnen (Because Heinrich Zumbrunnen was a war hero, it’s not surprising multiple donations were made in his honor; this also explains why his name would have remained so familiar in the family throughout their time in Switzerland.)
May 26 – Domina Bercta de Atitigenhusen (It’s likely there were multiple Berctas, but this one is clearly identified as the Lady (Domina) of Attinghausen.)
July 15 – Bercta de Attenhusen.
August 27 – Soror Otilia de Atingenhusen ob.
September 2 – Dominus Uolricus nobilis de Swenzperch ob
October 16 – Fr. Cuonradus pater eglolfi de Attingenhusen ob
November 8 – Johannes filius Egelolf de Atingenhusen

This is likely the older of the two yearbooks, possibly dating to the church’s founding in the early 1100s. I don’t know if a facsimile of it is readily available somewhere.

The Necrology of the St. Andreas Church in Attinghausen

January 5 – Voli von Schweinsberg
January 15 – Cuonrads des sigriften von Attighusen
January 18 – Walther Zem Brunnen was hie Landammann, und Ita fin Huffrow et omnium puerorum
February 20 – Cuonrad ze dem brunnen (This could be Conrad Zumbrunnen the knight, or Conrad the Abbot.)
Cuonrad ze dem brunnen
March 1 – Her Diethelms von Attighusen
March 23 – Frow Hemmon Her Wernhers ana von Attighusen (Another entry for a Werner Von Attinghausen and his ancestor (or perhaps grandmother) who was named Hemmon or Hemma.)
April 23 – Her Eglofs von Schweinsberg
April 27 – Her Heinricus von Attighusen
May 9 – Dorade Beroldinger, was ammen zum brunnen feligen Huffrow (One interpretation of this note might be that Dorothea Beroldinger was the second wife of Walter Zumbrunnen. But I think the Ammann Zumbrunnen may well refer to Landammann Burkhard Zumbrunnen, who was so closely identified with his office.)
June 7 – Her Vuolrichs von Attighusen, was der Herren vatter
July 15 – Frow Berchton von Attighusen
August 13 – Her Wernhers von Attighusen, unnd Landamman ze Vre (as all four men named Werner Von Attinghausen are all thought to have been Landammann, it’s hard to know which one this is meant to refer to)
August 15. Herrn Rudolfs von Attighusen
September 3 – Rudolf ze dem Brunnen. (I do not know where Rudolf Zumbrunnen fits in the family tree.) Herrn Uolrichs der Herren Bruder von Attighusen
September 21 – Her Uolrich von Attighusen
October 3 – Agnesen von Wallis, Eglofs von Attighusen wirtin.
October 31 -Her Wenhers von Attinghusen Ritter (it’s hard to know which Werner this refers to, but as this is an old styling of his title, it suggests it could be the first Werner.)
November 7 Johanns Her Eglofs sun von Attighusen
November 11. Her Albrechts von Attighusen
November 14. Frow Elsbeth von Kempten, was her Diethelmds frow von Attighusen.
November 17. Frow Betchen von Attighusen, Her Eglofs tochter. (This note seems to suggest that this Bertha Von Attinghausen was the daughter of Egloff and likely named after her ancestor, the Lady Bertha. That she is identified as a Frow and not a Domina (lady) further suggests the distinction.)
November 26. Herr Lamprechts eins ritters von Attighusen

The Benedictine monk Gabriel Bucelin, who published a genealogy of the Zumbrunnen family in 1678
via Wikimedia Commons

One of Bucelin’s works is called “Germania topo-chrono-stemmato-graphica sacra et prophana” published in 1678, containing thousands of genealogical entries. Each volume of the sprawling work runs for hundreds of pages. I finally located the Zumbrunnen entry in Volume 4, page 48. There’s no copyright for works this old so I’ll just post the page in its entirety, as there’s actually a sort of beauty in manuscripts this old.

I have no idea how Bucelin could have compiled this work in the 1600s. A later historian named Theodor Von Liebenau described Bucelin as an “uncritical genealogist.” I assume this means that Bucelin wrote to archivists and historians (or the families themselves) for the information and passed along whatever he received, even though some of it was inaccurate.

But, for the Zumbrunnen at least, his genealogy largely matches the family tree that I’ve compiled with the help of the modern internet, digital archives and years of research on just one family. (Even without knowing any Latin, it’s easy to pick out the Zumbrunnen names.) Perhaps the Zumbrunnen family had kept track of this information in the 1500s and 1600s, written down in family bibles, and shared it with Bucelin? It seems inconceivable that he could have combed through the local church records or ancient feudal records that largely verify his 400-year genealogy of the Zumbrunnen family, and it’s unclear who else would have maintained such records.

If anyone knows anything about Bucelin’s methods, or knows enough Latin to completely translate this document, I would be most interested.

Bucelin’s genealogy of the Zumbrunnen family, published in 1678

The ruins of the Castle of Attinghausen
Roland Zumbuehl via Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-3.0

Theodor Von Liebenau was from a much later generation of historians than Jean-François Girard who wrote the Nobiliaire Militaire Suisse, which contains one of the oldest histories of the Zumbrunnen family. There are both benefits and drawbacks from relying on historians of this later period. Von Liebenau was much more scientific and critical than earlier historians, who sometimes used unreliable sources. But he also wrote his work after many of the original documents had been lost — a fact he himself acknowledges.

The most famous Attinghausens are not ancestors of the Zumbrunnen. Rather, they were the cousins of our earliest ancestors. But the first chapter of Von Liebenau’s history covers the oldest barons of Attinghausen, some of our ancestors from the oldest mists of the Middle Ages.

What follows is a sentence-by-sentence translation of the first chapter. (My own commentary, provided for context, is in parentheses and highlights like this) The original is on Google Books and any improvements to the translation would be welcomed.

I. The Oldest Barons of Attinghausen

In the first half of the fifth century after Christ’s birth, the tribe of the Alemmani, from Swabia, entered the Roman-controlled lands of Switzerland, and took possession of the land of Uri through armed conquest. At that time, the land around the lake of the forest states was no longer wilderness, as numerous coin finds tell us.

It is therefore not unbelievable that one of these conquerors, who divided up the land they had conquered, was given a plot of land in the country of Uri, in the region where the forest joins the Reuss river and whose descendants, in much later times, built a mighty fortress which was named after its builder — Atto or Hatto — and was called Attinghausen.

This hypothesis is not affected by the fact that Attinghausen is not enumerated among the towns in Uri, which were given by the Carolingian King Ludwig the German to the abbey of Zurich. At that time there was no other kind of nobility in Attinghausen.

They became the family of the Barons of Attinghausen, the only one of the higher nobility who lived in Uri. (There are two theories about the origins of the Barons of Attinghausen; this is some of the evidence that they are an ancient family of Uri.) They distinguished themselves especially with the possession of great commodities and a considerable number of serfs, as we can see from the records of the late period. Unfortunately, only a few documents bear witness to the existence of this ancient family. These are the old walls of the castle, and some notes in the Yearbooks of Attinghausen. (These yearbooks, also called Necrologies, were calendar books kept by churches that recorded the date of death of wealthy benefactors so that the priests would pray for them each year. They are a key source for ancient genealogies.)

Determining the age of the walls of the Attinghausen Castle is extremely difficult. The assumption is that the castle of Attinghausen, whose windows show round arches, was rebuilt and fortified after the first half of the twelfth century. It was in 1162 when Emperor Frederick I destroyed the city of Milan after a long siege and brought rich booty to Germany. It is possible that one of the Barons of Attinghausen was with the King in Italy — where the siege gave energetic men a splendid opportunity to prove their bravery — and they were entrusted by the emperor with the honorable commission, the Gotthard Pass. The castle of Attinghausen was very well situated, especially as the old Gotthard Road stretched along the left bank of the Reuss River.

Due to a lack of documents it is no longer possible to determine who was this vassal of Attinghausen for Frederick I. We know only the following names of Attinghausen’s earliest barons: Heinrich, Albrecht and Lamprecht, and of women: Bertha and Othilia, the latter being buried in the Lazerite monastery at Seedorf.

The barons further enriched themselves through a heiress of the House of Löwenstein, Richenza was her name. They glorified her name by means of renumerations to the church at Attinghausen, and ended her tribe of Löwensteins. They also came into possession, possibly through a heiress, to the Barony of Schweinsberg.

This information does not all come from contemporaneous data. It is nevertheless possible that two old scholars: Franz Vinzenz Schmid and Jean-François Girard may have drawn their reports from older writers who were lost at the fire of Altdorf.

The House of Löwenstein was later found to be in the possession of the Zumbrunnnen Family, which still lived in Tuscany in the last century, and who uncritical genealogists like Gabriel Bucelin also say descend from the Barons of Attinghausen.(Some Zumbrunnen lived in Parma, Italy in the 1700s. While Bucelin may have been an “uncritical genealogist” in some cases, his genealogy of the Zumbrunnen family from the 1600s is actually quite accurate.)

The Barons of Schweinsberg originally lived in the Bavarian Alps, in the regions of Tegernsee and Tyrol. Often their names are found in the “Codex Traditionum” of the Tegernsee Abbey, founded between the Isar River and the Inn River, around the year 700 by Albert and Ottoger, Earls of Warngau and Tegernsee.

From about 1140 to 1150, Wernher von Schweinsberg appears several times with his father Gerwich. Wernher had a son named Gervich and a brother Wolftregil. When Frederick I was in Würzburg in 1157, he was with Kraft Von Schweinsberg. One can also find a Castle Schweinberg near Hardheim am Main; the owners of this castle also possessed a Castle Löwenstein. The Schweinsberg, who lived in Franconia, would later be called Count Von Wertheim. The most prominent names of this family are: Erlewein, Conrad, Heinrich, Hermann, Johann, Reiner and Wernher. The family known as Von Schweinsberg, which still lives today in Darmstadt, is very well known. The fact that the Barons von Schweinsberg really moved away from Tegernsee is confirmed by the fact that their names are not mentioned in any later document of this monastery.

Even the name of Wernher von Attinghausen, which occurs multiple times (The key challenge untangling the genealogy of this family is the large number of people at the time who were all named Werner.), and which is also found in the lands of the Barons of Schweinsberg, indicates a kinship between the two families. But the immigration of these barons into our country is credible for other reasons.

In 1156, Henry II, of the House of Babenberg, handed over Bavaria and Austria to Emperor Frederick I, who handed over the duchy to Henry the Lion. The land where the Barons of Schweinsberg lived, turned into a duchy, which should be hereditary for both male and female lines of the house of Babenberg.(In short: the Barons of Schweinsberg lost their original lands in Bavaria as part of a land swap that was designed to avert conflict.)

When the emperor took his second trip to Italy, and destroyed Milan in 1162, the duke of Austria was with him and so was Baron Von Schweinsberg. During this campaign, the Barons of Schweinsberg became friends with the Barons of Attinghausen, and were given estates by the emperor in the Emmental Valley, where they built a castle.(This seems to be a reference to Castle Wartenstein)

Of course, we can make this assertion with documentary support; On the other hand, it is very easy to prove that in these days, many other families migrated from Bavaria and Austria to Switzerland. We recall here, for example, the families of Utzigen and Wilbeck, of Trostberg, whose castle was situated in the Chiemgau, where Traun fell into the Alza, and to that of Noberg, whose castle was almost the same as the old castle of Trostberg: In the Aargau, in Uri, and in the gorges of the Jura.

After these barons of Schweinsberg (perhaps at the beginning of the thirteenth century) had entered the estates of Attinghausen by means of inheritance, they took the name of Attinghausen. Throughout the 14th century they called themselves, in seals and letters, sometimes Von Schweinsberg, sometimes Von Attinghausen.

Probably the first of the Barons of Schweinsberg who settled in Uri is in the “Directorium Cantus” of the Benedictine monastery of Engelberg. It is beginning with Lord Ulrich that we securely know the order of the Barons of Attinghausen, who always enjoyed special respect.

It is the task of the following pages to illustrate the history of this glorious house, which at a later time was divided into one line in Uri and one line in the Emmental, near Bern. The pages will especially focus on the line which was situated in Uri.

A man stands where he is born and as his spirit first develops, he unconsciously interacts with the rippling waters and shale of his country in a constant and intimate process. For men do not educate their children alone. The mountains and valleys, forests and corridors, streams and seas, nature and climate, in their entire splendid change, and no less in times of storms or in the peaceful course of their events, form and shape the man to what he is and shall be, according to the power of the spirit that lives in him.(Poetic!)

Burkhard would have been born in the late 1100s or early 1200s. He was the grandson of Werner, the Baron of Attinghausen, but Burkhard was not nobility himself. While many junior branches of Medieval nobles disappeared into obscurity, this was not to be the case with Burkhard. We know Burkhard through two interesting records that show he was an early participant in institutions that became Democracy, and was a key figure in the establishment of Switzerland as a nation.

The first known leader of the people of Uri (the mountain valley from which the Zumbrunnen originate) was Burkhard’s grandfather: Werner of Attinghausen. Werner was a baron of the Holy Roman Empire, but according to the ancient historians of Uri, as early as 1206 he also held the unique Swiss title of Landammann.

Landammann translates to something like the leader of the land, or the magistrate of the land. Even very early on, the person was elected by the other members of his community.[1] But whereas a Baron received his authority from the Emperor, very early on the title of Landammann implied someone who was a leader of the people of the land. Historians today recognize these Swiss Landammanns as one of the very earliest examples of Democratic leaders emerging from the Middle Ages.

Werner’s son (also named Werner) became the second landammann of Uri by 1234. By 1241 he was succeeded by Burkhard Zumbrunnen, the third landammann of Uri.

I doubt any records will ever be uncovered of how exactly Burkhard assumed his office, but the mere fact that he assumed the office as a non-noble is remarkable. Nearly all leaders in Europe of this time held noble titles or were religious figures yet Burkhard was neither.[2]

Whether he knew it or not, Burkhard was an early participant in a bold experiment in human society. In the mid-1200s, while most of Europe were engaged in bloody struggles among nobles for power over their minions, the people of central Switzerland were carving out a different model, one in which people were free, selected their own leaders, governed their own lives, and protected each other from violent incursions. We know nothing of Burkhard’s personal views, but a document survives showing something of his actions.

History buffs may know that the founding of Switzerland is often dated to 1291, when three of the Alpine mountain valleys, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, concluded an eternal alliance of protection. (Or to 1307 when the story of William Tell took place.)

But even before then, the people of central Switzerland had begun to form alliances with each other. Burkhard participated in one of the earliest known alliances. In 1251, toward the end of his term as landammann, the cantons of Uri and Schwyz and the city of Zurich swore an alliance, agreeing to protect each other from foreign incursions. I presume the original is long lost, but in the 1500s, scholars began including transcriptions of such ancient documents in their history books. A scholar named Josias Simmler transcribed an old German document in the archives of Zurich, dating back to the year MCCLI, or 1251.[3]

Werner of Attinghausen and Burckhard, listed as delegates to a 1251 alliance between the Canton of Uri and the city of Zurich

I located a copy, and although I can’t read Latin, found the passage where the delegates of Uri are named. They were the men who swore the alliance, and would have been listed from the very beginning as the witnesses to it. In highlights you can make out the name of Wernher of Attinghausen (the first Werner must have died by now, so this was likely Burkhard’s uncle or cousin) and Burkhard. He is identified in this Latin translation as “Burckhardum ammanum veterem” or “Burkhard, the old landammann.”

This is stuff from the mists of time, and little is known about it. But this alliance that Burkhard swore would be periodically renewed. The bond between Zurich and Uri has never been broken. The alliance between the central regions of Switzerland would grow stronger and stronger, and its society would become more and more democratic. We don’t know much about this era, from which Swiss Democracy emerged, but we know our ancestor Burkhard Zumbrunnen participated at the very beginning of it.

Questions for Further Research

1) It’s not known for certain how the very earliest landammann were picked, but the consensus among historians is that it became a recognizably-democratic process as early as the 1200s or 1300s.
2) The fact that his grandfather and uncle were barons probably helped it seem palatable that Burkhard could serve as leader, but none of the old sources I’ve found suggest that Burkhard used any sort of noble titles.
3) A discussion of Simmler’s transcription is available on page 40 and 41 of a book on Swiss historical practices, titled “Storing, Archiving, Organizing: The Changing Dynamics of Scholarly Information Management in Post-Reformation Zurich.”

The title page

Sadly for families B-Z, the author never finished even the second volume. But luckily for us, he did document the Zumbrunnen family as the “second branch” of the Attinghausen family.

This work is an especially important source because, just a dozen years after its original publication, a major fire devastated the town of Altdorf in 1799, destroying many of the records to which Girard had access. Had he not written down this information (and had Google Books not recently digitized it!) it’s likely that the full story of the Zumbrunnen and Attinghausen family would have been forever lost to time.

The Zumbrunnen branches, translated below, conclude an entry that also contains the Attinghausen family and Von Schweinsberg and Der Frauen families. The Zumbrunnen, the Von Schweinsbergs, and the Der Frauen, all descend from Werner, the Baron of Attinghausen.

Note the numbering scheme below begins with #2. That’s because Werner, Baron of Attinghausen, is #1. What follows is a sentence-by-sentence translation. (My own commentary, provided for context, is in parentheses and highlights like this) The original is on Google Books and any improvements to the translation would be welcomed.

Second branch known as Zumbrunnen

• 2. Walter of Attinghausen, known as Zumbrunnen, first of the name. Lord of the Zumbrunnen Castle, son of Werner I and Richenza von Löwenstein. He inherited the castle by virtue of the division of the property of his father, ordered in 1209. There was never a castle in the Canton of Uri which bore this name, which suggests that it might have been a castle in the village of Brunnen on the shore of the lake in the Canton of Schwyz. The house of Löwenstein, which possessed it, lived in the Canton of Uri, where it did have a castle in its name. Walter Zumbrunnen, also von Löwenstein, was still alive in 1226. He left, besides several children who died young: 1. Burkard, who follows. 2. Herman, whose son Arnold died without male children. (Other sources say Arnold had a son who was a prominent abbot.)
• 3. Burkard Zumbrunnen, first of the name. Landammann (For an explanation of these Swiss titles, see this glossary.) of the Canton of Uri from 1241 until 1251, was deputy this last year to swear the alliance concluded with the city of Zurich. We do not know the name of his wife, with whom he had 1. Burkard, who follows. 2. Conrad, named in a certificate in 1296.
• 4. Burkard Zumbrunnen, second of the name, the younger. Occupied the eminent position of Landammann from 1273 to 1287. He was father of 1. Henry who follows. 2. Johann who still lived in 1360 and wrote in Latin the history of the Abbey of Seedorf. 3. Melchtilde, wife of Johann Puntener of Brunnberg.
• 5. Heinrich Zumbrunnen, first of the name, killed at the Battle of Laupen in 1339.(This made Heinrich into a hero, and seems to be the origin of the family tradition of naming people Heinrich/Henry.) Was the father of:
• 6. Walter Zumbrunnen, second of the name, who served his country in the wars against the House of Austria toward the end of the fourteenth century. His wife was Hemma Fürst, of the same family as Walter Fürst, one of the three founders of the republic. (Hemma’s ancestor Walter Fürst is one of the main characters in the story of William Tell. Walter Fürst was approximately the right age to be Hemma’s grandfather or great-grandfather.) He left:
• 7. Walter Zumbrunnen, third of the name, Landammann from 1435 to 1439. Married Idda von Branberg of an illustrious family of Lucerne, of which were born: 1. Johann, who follows. 2. Johann the younger, bailiff of Sargans in 1466 who, besides several children who died young had Ulrich, bailiff of Sargans in 1495, who died without posterity. 3. Marguerite, wife of Werner Zumberg.
• 8. Johann Zumbrunnen, first of the name, Landammann in 1469, 1470, 1481, 1482. Married Margarita Hofer, daughter of the Landammann Arnold Hofer, and left:
• 9. Johann Zumbrunnen, second of the name, bailiff of Baden in 1477, Landammann in 1515. Captain-General the same year, he commanded the Uri at the famous Battle of Marignano where, according to Paolo Giovio (A famous Italian military historian; will have to see if I can track down his account of Johann Zumbrunnen), he fought fiercely and bravely and lost his life gloriously and was worthy of a better fate, if there be one more envious than that of shedding his blood for his country. He had married Dorothea von Beroldingen in his first marriage. In his second Verena Reichmuth. Out of his first bed came 1. Mansuetus, who follows. 2. Andreas, married to Catherine Zukas of Bliggeringen, whose son, Martin, married Anne de Weingarten, and left only Anne, allied to Pierre Schlooser. Of the second bed was born Anne, married to Melchior Wollaeb, Amman of the Urseren Valley from 1531 to 1546, citizen of the Canton of Uri.
• 10. Mansuetus Zumbrunnen, first of the name, treasurer of the Canton from 1527 to 1537, Landammann in 1548, deputy to the Helvetic diets in 1530, 1531, 1532. Died in 1549. He had married Barbara Aschwanden, with whom he had: 1. Johann, Lieutenant of the Regency in 1577, Landammann in 1579, deputy to the Swiss diets in 1579 and 1580, in charge of the affairs of Switzerland at Rome, married without children to Anne Schuler. 2. Erasmus, married without posterity to Gertrude Kluser. 3. Madelaine, wife of Jacques de Behsler. 4. Margaretha, married to Johann Imhof of Blumenfeld. 5. Walther, captain of the Pope’s guards, married without children to Anna Reichmuth. 6. Dorothea, wife of Colonel Peter a Pro. 7. Lucretia, married to Sebalde Magnus Bessler of Wattingen. 8. Mansuetus, following. 9. Kunigunda, wife of Jakob Jauch, Counselor. 10. Hugo David, secretary of state, without alliance. 11. Josua, author of the third branch.
• 11. Mansuetus Zumbrunnen,, second of the name, chancellor of Lugano, in the name of the 12 constituent cantons. His wife was Dorothea Imhof de Blumenfeld, daughter of Caspar and his second wife Dorothea von Hassfurt of Attisweil, had:
• 12. Johann Zumbrunnen, third of the name, bailiff of Pollegio in 1626. With his wife Veronica de Reppulin had: 1. Caspar, Ensign without alliance. 2. Melchior. 3. Francois. 4. Catherine. 5. Anne Marie, wife of Sebastien Lusser. 6. Balthasar. 7. Madelaine, allied to Francois Tanner. 8. Mansuetus. 9. Joachim, Ensign, without posterity.

Third Branch, Resulting from the Previous

• 11. Josua Zumbrunnen, first of the name, chancellor of Lugano in 1565. Married Margarita von Fleckenstein and had: 1. Heinrich, who follows. 2. Josua, author of the fourth branch. 3. Marguerite, wife of Captain Philip de Mentlen. 4. Madelaine, without an alliance.
• 12. Heinrich Zumbrunnen, second of the name, ensign in the service of France, died young, married Marie Jauch, daughter of Captain Joffe and Dorothea Schmid of Uri, granddaughter on the paternal side of Joffe, Service of France, killed at the siege of Orleans, and Barbara Behsler, on the maternal side, of Louis Schmid of Uri and Catherine of Mentlen.(This is a convoluted passage in the original, and it’s unclear if Heinrich was killed at the Siege of Orleans or if his wife’s grandfather was. Either way, it’s not the right time period for the famous Siege of Orleans.) He had: 1. Johann Heinrich who follows. 2. Fridolin, without alliance. 3. Josua, Captain. 4. Francois. 5. Johann, Captain in the service of France, killed in Flanders.
• 13. Johann Heinrich Zumbrunnen, first of the name, Knight of the order of St. Michael, Colonel in the service of France, Treasurer of the Canton of Uri from 1611 until 1617, Lieutenant of regency from 1617 until 1621, Landammann In 1621 & 1622, 1637 & 1638, Captain General from 1638 until his death in 1648. He was known as one of the most celebrated magistrates of the republic, and obtained glory in the career of arms and politics. (Will explain this story in some future post.) In September 1622, the Swiss, at the requisition of the Emperor and Archduke Leopold, resolved to send their Ambassadors to the Congress of Lindau, to conciliate the means of putting an end to the troubles with the Grisons. The Landammann Zumbrunnen was deputized by his Canton to represent them there, but the conference was unsuccessful. In the month of September 1625, he attended a Swiss diet in which the Spaniards, who were then strongly accredited in some cantons, demanded a free passage for their troops. Inviolably attached to France, he contributed, by his speeches, to the resolution which had been taken to discourage the Spaniards, and to grant a regiment to France to help subdue the Grisons. He was named Colonel, and repaired to the country of the Grisons, where he soon complained of the bad quarters assigned him by the French commanders, who, in their turn, made a very disadvantageous portrait of him to the Marshal de Grisons, Bassompierre. It is well known that in such cases it is necessary to be careful not to throw all the stones on one side. Be that as it may, the Marquis de Coeuvres highly praised his valor, and the severe discipline which he had observed among his soldiers, till the month of September 1626, that he brought his regiment back to Switzerland. (Some Zumbruns in America have had an oral tradition that their ancestors were Hessian Mercenaries. Although not Hessian, the regiment referred to here is indeed a mercenary regiment that Johann Heinrich Zumbrunnen owned, which may be the origin of that oral tradition.) Ogliani, the Spanish ambassador, welcomed him badly on his return because Ogliani was persuaded that the continual refusals were Johann Heinrich’s work. Ogliani endeavored, but in vain, to discredit Johann Heinrich with his mouth and in writing. Johann Heinrich was also sent to the Helvetic diets in 1637, 1638 and 1644. From his wife Madelaine Reding von Biberegg, he left Anton following.
• 14. Anton Zumbrunnen, raised a company in the regiment of Swiss Guards in France in May 1638. He served in 1640 at the fief of Arras; to the army of the Marshal de Meilleraye, in the Boulonnois in 1641; the same year at the taking of the Bassée. In 1642 he marched into Roussillon, where he helped to carry the sword in his hand, the Forneuf, near Collioure on the 16th of March; To repulse an exit of the besieged on the 19th and to storm the fort of the tower of St. Theresa, on the 24th of the same month. He commanded the Swiss guards on this last expedition with Captain Jean-Baptiste de Salis; He knew of the blockade of Perpignan, and possessed his entire company until 7 February 1645, which he gave to Captain Josse Schmid of Uri. From his marriage with Maria Elizabeth von Beroldingen, he left: 1. Heinrich Burkard, who died without posterity. 2. Anton Joseph, without an alliance. 3. Madelaine, allied to Charles Ernest de Roll de Bernau and Captain Jean Charles Schmid de Bellikon. 4. Margarita, married to Josua Zumbrunnen. (Josua is #14 below. He would have been her second cousin, once removed.) 5. Franz Florien, without alliance.

Fourth Branch

• 12. Josua Zumbrunnen, second of the name son of Josua I and Margarita von Fleckenstein, Counselor of Altdorf, Captain General in 1604, died in 1608, was married first to Barbe Hessi of Glarus. Second married to Apollonia Jauch, daughter of Johann Jauch, Captain in France, and Darie Puntener of Brunnberg; Of the first bed came. 1. Burkard, which follows. 2. Erasmus 3. Mansuetus 4. Barbe, wife of Henri Arnold of Spiringen. 5. Magdalena
• 13. Burkard Zumbrunnen, Captain, and Ana Catharina Behsler, daughter of Captain Alexander of Bessler and Catherine of Varese. 1. Josua following. 2. Burkhard. 3. Francois. 4. Primus, Capuchin. 5. Johann Karl, Lieutenant. 6. Madelaine, wife of Johann Martin Straumeyer, Bailiff of Rheintal in 1686. 7. Anne Barbe, allied to Johann Walther Rothuot, Secretary of State.
• 14. Josua Zumbrunnen, Counselor of Altdorf, bailiff of Sargans in 1663, married in the first Anne Margarita Zumbrunnen, daughter of Captain Anton and Marie Elisabeth of Beroldingen; In second wedding, Barbara von Beroldingen. He left. 1. Heinrich Burkhard, without posterity. 2. Francois. 3. Apollonia. (Before immigrating to America, Heinrich Zumbrun gave one of his daughters this unusual name.) 4. Sebastian, Captain. 5. Burkard. 6. Joseph. 7. Marie-Elisabeth, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Henri-Antoine Crivelli.