Hans Waldmann (mayor)
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Hans Waldmann (1435 – 6 April 1489) was mayor of Zurich and Swiss military leader. The son of a peasant in Zug, he married well and became Squire of Dubelstein.
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Waldmann lead the Confederates in the Burgundian Wars defeating Charles the Bold with an army estimated at 12,000 men. As mayor of Zurich and a representative of the oligarchs in the Confederacy, Waldmann sought to impose higher taxes on neighboring rural villages which, taken together with a disdain for his reputed aristocratic excesses, led to a peasant revolt.[2] 500 peasants from Knonau are said to have toppled Waldmann as mayor in 1489. Waldmann was beheaded on April 6, 1489 following accusations of financial corruption, foreign connections and sodomy.[3]
The equestrian monument at the Münsterhof plaza in front of the Fraumünster church (47°22′11″N 8°32′32″E / 47.3698°N 8.5421°E) respectively at the Münsterbrücke Limmat crossing towards Limmatquai was unveiled on 6 April 1937 by the Kämbel guild, aiming to rehabilitate Waldmann who they proposed had been the victim of a judicial murder. It was the subject of controversy for artistic reasons, deemed by conservative critics as being overly modern for the historical city center.
References
- ↑ "Kleine Zürcher Verfassungsgeschichte 1218–2000" (PDF) (in German). Staatsarchiv Zürich. Retrieved 2014-12-20.
- ↑ Christopher Allmand, The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 7: c. 1415-c. 1500, p. 659
- ↑ Helmut Puff, Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, 1400-1600 (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)
Gallery
- Castle Dübelstein, Dübendorf
- «Haus zum Sitkust» (Trittligasse), former home of Hans Waldmann
- «Haus zum Sitkust», Detail
- Memorial (Oberdorfstrasse)
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