Wilhelm von Grumbach

Wilhelm von Grumbach (1 June 1503 – 18 April 1567) was a German adventurer, chiefly known through his connection with the so-called “Grumbach Feud” (German: Grumbachsche Händel), the last attempt of the Imperial Knights to prevail against the power of the territorial Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

A member of the old Franconian noble family von Grumbach (a branch of the Wolfskeel Uradel family), he was born in Rimpar near Würzburg, and having passed some time at the court of the Hohenzollern margrave Casimir of Bayreuth, fought alongside the princes during the German Peasants' War in 1524 and 1525.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Frankenhausen, the peasant leader Florian Geyer was one of the last survivors of Thomas Müntzer's army. During the night of 9 June 1525, he was contacted in Würzburg by two servants of his brother-in-law Wilhelm von Grumbach (reportedly including Christoph Kretzen of the Grumbach-Zobel affair below), who had the stated intention of helping him rekindle the rebellion. While travelling together, they stabbed Geyer to death in the Gramschatz Forest near Grumbach's hometown.

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.

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