Johann II

Johann II von Habsburg-Laufenburg (also Johannes von Rapperswil-Laufenburg-Habsburg, von Laufenburg-Rapperswil; born around 1330; died 17 December 1380) was the Count of Habsburg-Laufenburg and later Count of the House of Rapperswil. Early life Johann was born around 1330, probably in the Rapperswil Castle in the Swiss medieval city of Rapperswil, as the oldest son of Agnes von Werd († 1352) and Johann († 1337), Countess Elisabeth von Rapperswil's († 1309) son of second marriage with Count Rudolf von Habsburg-Laufenburg († 1315). He had three younger siblings: Agnes who became a nun, Rudolf (IV) and Gottfried (II). Johann may have been raised in Rapperswil and even educated at the royal Habsburg court after the death of his father on 21 December 1337 on the occasion of a battle against Zürich-Toggenburg invaders at the Grynau Castle. As did his grandmother, Johann II also supported the Rüti Abbey and assigned an estate and all rights in the name of his younger siblings on 17 June 1340. Count of Habsburg-Rapperswil Feud between äusseres Zürich and Brun's regime On 18 July 1336, Rudolf Brun, mayor of the city of Zürich, defeated his political opponents, and probably the majority of the former members of the Rat (council) of Zürich found refuge by count Johann I in Rapperswil. In feud (German: Fehde), an approved tradition in medieval law, the so-called Äusseres Zürich, meaning the banned councillors, formed a coalition that was supported by Johann I, some knights and noble families of the Grafschaft Rapperswil, and Count Johann I became the leader of the opposition in the city of Zürich. Brun's regime was supported among others by the House of Toggenburg as its military arm, as well as by the Einsiedeln Abbey. Some, if not most of the refugees, were decades before their exile vassals of the Counts of Rapperswil, including the ancient councillors family Bilgeri those members lost four of their seats in the council of Zürich. The counsellors hoped for support by the House of Rapperswil and offered probably in return the forgiveness of debt of the Herrschaft Rapperswil, as some sources hypothesize. On 21 September 1337 Graf Diethelm von Toggenburg moved from Zürich over the Obersee to the Grynau Castle at the confluence of the Linth river in the former Tuggenersee. Johann's father was killed by the Zürich troops, while his opponent was killed by the count's vassals.