Michael Gruber – The Turncoat
The Rise from Rebel Leader to Wealthy Princely Official
Michael Gruber was a mining entrepreneur who, before 1525, held a share in the Jufen mining operation near Kitzbühel. Although it has often been assumed that he came from Bramberg in the Pinzgau region, this has never been conclusively proven.
On 3 July 1525, the Salzburg rebels, who had elected Gruber as their military commander, joined forces with Styrian peasants and miners to defeat the army of the Styrian governor Sigmund von Dietrichstein at Schladming. This victory is considered the greatest military success achieved by the insurgents during the entire German Peasants’ War.
Gruber proved himself to be a clever and capable strategist. In the following weeks, he successfully defended rebel positions. However, at the end of July 1525, Kaspar Praßler was elected supreme commander of the insurgent forces. The rebels wished to focus their efforts on the Salzburg region, and Gruber’s military operations in Habsburg-controlled Styria came under criticism. By the following summer, the uprising had largely come to a standstill, and a fragile truce was negotiated.
At the end of November 1525, Gruber committed a homicide. After the incident, he was granted asylum at St. Georgenberg Monastery near Schwaz. The Archduke of Tyrol viewed this with concern, fearing renewed unrest. Gruber, however, could no longer be arrested, having already fled to Kirchberg in Brixental, which at the time belonged to the Archbishopric of Salzburg.
The former rebel commander, wanted for homicide, was subsequently “received into the Archbishop’s favour and entrusted with the command of a small archiepiscopal force” (quoted from F. Koller).
Gruber then fought successfully alongside the Swabian League against the peasants. Once again, he demonstrated considerable military skill. The conflict culminated on 1 July 1526, when the peasant army suffered a devastating defeat near Zell am See.
For Michael Gruber, changing sides proved highly rewarding. On 19 August 1526, the Archbishop of Salzburg appointed him judge of the mining court in Brixental. On 24 December 1527, he was additionally granted jurisdiction over the mining court of Upper Pinzgau. His income was thus more than secured; historian Fritz Koller describes his remuneration as exceptionally generous.
From this period onward, Michael Gruber can be documented in Bramberg, including through his purchase of a house there. He died in 1553, leaving the property to his daughter Rosina.
Text: Waltraud Moser-Schmidl
Literatur:
Koller, Fritz: Bramberg und Bramberger im Bauernkrieg 1525/26 – Michael Gruber. In: Hönigschmid, Hans: Bramberg am Wildkogel, 1993, 488-496.