Grumbach-Zobel Affair
About 1540 Grumbach became associated with Margrave Casimir's son, the turbulent Albert Alcibiades of Bayreuth, whom he served both in peace and war. As a landholder, Grumbach was a vassal of the Würzburg Bishops and had held office at the court of Conrad von Bibra, who was elected Prince-Bishop in 1540. Just before his death in 1544, Conrad gave Grumbach 10,000 gold florins as a gift, without obtaining the consent of the cathedral chapter. When the new Prince-Bishop Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt asked for the money back from Grumbach, he paid, but the harmonious relationship between lord and vassal were destroyed. Unable to free himself and his associates from the suzerainty of the bishop by appealing to the imperial courts he decided to adopt more violent measures, and his friendship with Margrave Albert was very serviceable in this connection.
After the conclusion of the Peace of Passau in 1552, Grumbach assisted Albert in his career of plunder in Franconia during the Second Margrave War and was thus able to take some revenge upon his enemy, Melchior Zobel. Albert's career, however, was checked by his defeat at the Battle of Sievershausen in July 1553 and his subsequent flight to France, while the Würzburg bishop took advantage of this state of affairs to seize Grumbach's lands. The knight obtained an order of restitution from the Imperial Chamber Court (Reichskammergericht), but he was unable to carry this into effect. In 1558 Zobel (like Florian Geyer earlier) was seized and killed by Grumbach’s henchman Christoph Kretzen who interestingly was married to Katherine Biber, Zobel's predecessor Conrad von Bibra's natural daughter. Grumbach declared he was innocent of this crime, but his story was not believed, and he fled to France.
Read more about this topic: Wilhelm Von Grumbach
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