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See also: German knight, one of the most notable figures of the first See also: period of the See also: Reformation, was See also: born at Ebernburg near See also: Worms
.
Having fought for the emperor See also: Maximilian I. against Venice in 1508, he inherited large estates on the Rhine, and increased his See also: wealth and reputation by numerous private feuds, in which he usually posed as the friend of the oppressed
.
In 1513 he took up the See also: quarrel of Balthasar Schli r, a citizen who had been driven out of Worms, and attacked this city with 7000 men
.
In spite of the imperial See also: ban, he devastated its lands, intercepted its commerce, and only desisted when his demands were granted
.
He made war upon Antony, duke of See also: Lorraine, and compelled See also: Philip, landgrave of Hesse, to pay him 35,000 gulden
.
In 1518 he interfered in a
See also: civil conflict in See also: Metz, ostensibly siding with the citizens against the governing oligarchy
.
He led an army of 20,000 men against the city, compelled the magistrates to give him 20,000 gold gulden and a See also: month's pay for his troops
.
In 1518 Maximilian released him from the ban, and he took See also: part in the war carried on by the Swabian See also: League against See also: Ulrich I., duke of See also: Wurttemberg
.
In the contest for the imperial See also: throne upon the See also: death of Maximilian in 1519, See also: Sickingen accepted bribes from See also: Francis I., See also: king of
See also: France, but when the election took place he led his troops to See also: Frankfort, where their presence assisted to secure the,election of See also: Charles V
.
For this service he was made imperial
See also: chamberlain and councillor, and in 1521 he led an expedition into France, which ravaged
See also: Picardy, but was beaten back from See also: Mezieres and forced to retreat
.
About 1517 Sickingen became intimate with Ulrich von Hutten, and gave his support to Hutten's schemes
.
In 1519 a See also: threat from him freed See also: John
See also: Reuchlin from his enemies, the See also: Dominicans, and his castles became in Hutten's words a See also: refuge for righteousness
.
Here many of the reformers found shelter, and a retreat was offered to See also: Martin
See also: Luther
.
After the failure of the French expedition, Sickingen, aided by Hutten, formed, or revived, a large scheme to overthrow the spiritual princes and to elevate the See also: order of See also: knighthood
.
He hoped to secure this by the help of the towns and peasants, and to make a See also: great position for himself
.
A large army was soon collected, many nobles from the upper Rhineland joined the See also: standard, and at See also: Landau, in See also: August 1522, Sickingen was formally named See also: commander
.
He declared war against his old enemy, See also: Richard of Greiffenklau, archbishop of See also: Trier, and marched against that city
.
Trier was loyal to the archbishop, and the landgrave of Hesse and See also: Louis V., count palatine of the Rhine, hastened to his assistance
.
Sickingen, who had not obtained the help he wished for, was compelled to fall back on his
See also: castle of Landstuhl, near See also: Kaiserslautern, See also: collecting much booty on the way
.
On the 22nd of See also: October 1522 the council of regency placed him under the ban, to which he replied, in the spring of 1523, by plundering Kaiserslautern
.
The rulers of Trier, Hesse and the See also: Palatinate decided to See also: press the See also: campaign against him, and having obtained help from the Swabian League, marched on Landstuhl
.
Sickingen refused to treat, and during the siege was seriously wounded
.
This attack is notable as one of the first occasions on which artillery was used, and by its aid breaches were soon made in an otherwise impregnable fortress
.
On the 6th of May 1523 he was forced to capitulate, and on the following See also: day he died
.
He was buried at Landstuhl, and in 1889 a splendid monument was raised at Ebernburg to his memory and to that of Hutten . His sonSee also: Franz See also: Conrad was made a baron of the See also: empire (Reichsfreiherr) by Maximilian II., and a descendant was raised in 1773 to the See also: rank of count (Reichsgraf)
.
A branch of the See also: family still exists in See also: Austria and See also: Silesia
.
See H
.
Ulmann, Franz von Sickingen (See also: Leipzig, 1872); F
.
P
.
See also: Bremer, Sickingens Fehde gegen Trier (Strassburg, 1885); H
.
Prutz, " Franz von Sickingen " in Der neue Plutarch (Leipzig, 1880), and the " Flersheimer Chronik " in Hutten's Deutsche Schriften, edited by O
.
Waltz and Szamatolati (Strassburg, 1891)
.
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