page_title: Bündner Wirren
section_title: Jörg Jenatsch and  Valtellina murders
hierarchical_section_title: Bündner Wirren / Jörg Jenatsch and  Valtellina murders
caption_attribution_description: de:Georg Jenatsch 1636
context_page_description: The Bündner Wirren was a conflict that lasted between 1618 and 1639 in what is now the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
  Initially a revolt by local Catholics against their Protestant overlords, many regional powers became involved as it potentially affected control of the Valtellina alpine passes. A loose alliance of France, Venice and the Duchy of Savoy supported the Three Leagues against the Grison rebels, backed by the Habsburg Monarchy. The conflict threatened to draw the Swiss Confederation in the Thirty Years War.
context_section_description: In 1618, the young radical Jörg Jenatsch became a member of the court of 'clerical overseers' and a leader of the anti-Habsburg faction.  The popular court in Thusis, which was associated with the overseers, outlawed many leading men from the pro-Habsburg faction, notably Rudolf Planta and his brother Pompeius Planta.  With the support of the anti-Habsburg court, armed mobs attacked and arrested several pro-Habsburg leaders including the archpriest Nicholas Rusca and the provost at Johann Baptista who was known as Zambra.  The Planta brothers escaped the mob, but their estates were burned.  The mobs brought the captured men to the court in Thusis.  Zambra was accused of conspiring with the Spanish, convicted and executed.  Nicholas Rusca was beaten and died before the court could sentence him to death.  The court also handed down 157 convictions against men who had escaped the mobs.
  The harsh judgments of the Thusis court against a number of Catholics in the Valtellina, led to a conspiracy to drive the Protestants out of this southern valley.  The leader of the conspiracy, Giacomo Robustelli of the Planta family, had ties to Madrid, Rome and Paris.  On the evening of 18/19 July 1620, a force of Valtellina rebels supported by Imperial and Spanish troops marched into Tirano and began killing Protestants.  When they finished in Tirano, they marched to Teglio, Sondrio and further down the valley killing every Protestant that they found.  Between 500 and 600 people were killed on that night and in the following four days.  The attack drove nearly all the Protestants out of the valley, prevented further Protestant incursions and took the Valtellina out of the Three Leagues.
  During 1620, Pompeius Planta, believing that enough time had passed, returned home to Rietberg Castle.  However, on 24 February 1621, a force of anti-Habsburg troops led by Jörg Jenatsch assembled to attack the castle.  Early in the morning on 25 February, the troops attacked the castle and killed Pompeius Planta as he attempted to flee.  According to one version of the story, Pompeius attempted to hide in a chimney, but was discovered by a dog.  He was attacked by the raiders and killed by Jörg Jenatsch with an axe.
caption: Jörg Jenatsch
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