Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl 1443
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1443 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Switzerland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Old Zürich War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 47.3736, 8.5308 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl was a battle of the Old Zürich War that occurred on 22 July 1443, resulting in a defeat for Zürich.
The battle took place outside the gates of Zürich, beyond the Sihl (today's Aussersihl district). The troops of Zürich, with Habsburg reinforcements, met the attacking confederates on the Sihlfeld north of St. Jakob on 21 July. The confederation army, which numbered about 6,000 men, was met by Zürich's disorganized troops and about 500 Austrian knights. The following morning the confederation army attacked the front and then the left flank of the army. Zürich's forces were pushed back and had to escape across the Sihl into the city. The confederates did not have the means to lay siege to the city and withdrew. The defeat of Zürich was thus not decisive, and the war continued until 1446.
The commander of the Habsburg forces, Albrecht Freiherr von Bussnang, was killed behind the altar of the St. Jakob chapel. According to Zürich chroniclers, Zürich's bürgermeister Rudolf Stüssi fell at this battle amongst the defenders of the bridge across the Sihl. Stüssi was covering his troops' retreat when he was killed by a confederate hiding below the bridge.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl (revision 1374781659), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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