Wernher von Homberg

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His father was Louis I of Homberg (d. 1289 in the battle of Schosshalde, the son of Hermann IV of Frohburg), and his mother Elisabeth von Rapperswil (d. 1309), the heiress of Rudolf of Rapperswil.

At the death of her husband, Elisabeth gave her estates in Rapperswil to her children. Wernher inherited territories that today form the northern part of the canton of Schwyz. Beginning in 1302, king Albert I of Germany laid claim to these territories, prompting Wernher to enter a pact with the people of Schwyz. In 1303, Wernher sold Homberg castle and the city of Liestal to the bishop of Basel. In 1304 he joined the Livonian crusade of the Teutonic order, in 1309 he was given the position of reeve of Schwyz. Wernher entered the service of king Frederick in 1314. In 1315, he married the widow of his step-father, Maria von Oettingen (d. 1369). Countess Elisabeth was like her mother and father before, an ally of the city of Zürich, had those citizenship (Burgrecht), and she was patron of the Oetenbach nunnery. Thus Ludwig's sister Cecilia von Homberg (* probably before 1300; † after 1320) became the prioress of the Dominican nunnery, promoted its further development, and her brother donated the Our Lady Chapel in 1320. He died in a campaign in Genoa.