Hutten-Sickingen Monument

The Mercenary Leader and the Poet – The Glory and Downfall of Ebernburg
The Hutten-Sickingen Monument
Those who reach Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg on the B 48 see before them the hill of Ebernburg, as it has been rebuilt since the 19th century. Upon a second glance, one discovers a group of figures halfway up. Cast in bronze are the knight Franz von Sickingen (1481-1523) and the poet Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), crowned with laurel by the emperor. Both represent a moment in world history when Ebernburg was at the center of events. In the early years of the Reformation, when Luther was excommunicated and his followers faced persecution, the mercenary leader Franz von Sickingen gathered around him a circle of theologians who were early supporters of Luther, such as Martin Bucer, Johannes Oekolampad, Kaspar Aquila, and Johannes Schwebel. However, particularly close to the knight, who can be described as a ruthless war entrepreneur, was Ulrich von Hutten. He was a widely known and highly esteemed humanist poet. With his propaganda against the “priestly rule,” against the papacy, and especially the financial exploitation of the German territories, he provided Sickingen with arguments for his actions, should he need them. Furthermore, he was suffering from syphilis and used the mercury mined in the region for treatments. The five-meter-high monument on the granite base features the two life-sized figures. On the left, the poet points the listening knight in the right direction with a scroll. The knight has his hand on the sword but hesitates. The sculpture, crafted by Hugo and Ludwig Cauer based on designs by their father Carl Cauer in 1889, expresses a Protestant-Prussian, anti-Catholic motivated national sentiment, thus reflecting the spirit of the Kulturkampf. The inscription celebrates both as “Forerunners of German Unity and Greatness.” The praised ones perished in this conflict. Sickingen died in battle against a princely alliance he had challenged. Ebernburg was destroyed. Hutten succumbed to his severe illness on the island of Ufenau near Zurich.