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- BIOGRAPHY
Froben Christoph, Graf von Zimmern, was born on 19 February 1519 in the castle of Mespelbrunn in the Spessart, a son of Johann Werner II, Graf von Zimmern, and Katharina von Erbach. He was educated there and in Aschaffenburg by his maternal grandmother Gräfin Elisabeth von Werdenberg-Sargans and her second husband Philipp Echter von Mespelbrunn.
In 1531 Froben came for the first time to the Zimmern lands. After a short stay in his father's castle of Falkenstein, and a first conflict-laden meeting with his father that led to him going to his uncle Gottfried Werner in Messkirch, he began his studies in Tübingen together with his elder brother Johann Christoph; these would continue until 1533.
After a stay in Strasbourg he studied in Bourges from the winter of 1533/34 until 1536. He then spent the winter of 1536/37 in Köln, and from Easter 1537 he stayed without his brother Johann in Löwen. There he remained until July 1539.
Froben left for a short stay at home at the beginning of November 1539, with the intention of travelling via Löwen to Spain to continue his studies there. However he dropped this plan in Löwen and in December 1539 he travelled over Paris to Angers.
Froben's first historical work _liber rerum Cimbriacarum_, written in Paris, is dated 23 February 1540, and was effectively the first short version of the _Zimmern Chronicle,_ the work for which he is now remembered.
Shortly after Easter 1540 Froben travelled with his younger brother Gottfried, whom he had met in Paris, to Angers. However, in the winter of 1540/41 they continued their studies in Tours, as the cost of living had become too high in Angers. Froben fell severely ill in Tours, apparently with smallpox. However, it is possible that the illness resulted from his alchemist experiments there.
After his recovery Froben made a rushed return journey to Messkirch, fearing for his life because of a feud. He reached Messkirch at the end of July 1541. However his fears proved groundless, and he was able to continue his studies in Speyer in the autumn. He lived there with his uncle Wilhelm Werner, who had been called to the imperial chamber court there in 1537 (he became an imperial judge in 1548). When Wilhelm Werner gave up his activities pro tem in the imperial chamber court in July 1542, Froben gave up his studies.
Significantly, Froben had practically no contact in the first twenty three years of his life with his father, during the first 12 years none at all, and in later years less than one year in all, spread over four contacts. The aversion was mutual. It is not surprising, therefore, that Froben spent the time, until he took over the estate, with his childless uncle Gottfried Werner in Messkirch and Wildenstein, and not with his father in the castle of Falkenstein.
The next 12 years were a hard apprenticeship, because Gottfried Werner kept his ward on a very tight rein, but a warm relationship existed between them. After the death of his father in January 1548 he fulfilled the obligations of a nobleman, managing his own and his uncle's estates, attending tribunal hearings, and meeting his social obligations.
In 1544 Froben married Kunigunde von Eberstein, daughter of Wilhelm, Graf von Eberstein, and Gräfin Johanna von Hanau-Lichtenberg. They had eleven children of whom four daughters would have progeny.
In 1547 Froben took part in the Reichstag at Augsburg. In 1548, after the death of his father he took steps to protect his inheritance. This included paying off his father's mistress and urging his brothers to give up their succession rights. In June 1549 he travelled to Innsbruck to ensure the confirmation of his Austrian fiefs.
On 17 June 1549 Froben's only son Wilhelm was born. As did his uncle Gottfried Werner (in the hope that his wife Apollonia von Henneberg, whom he married in 1511, would give him a son; they had two daughters, Anna and Barbara), Froben used this occasion to launch building projects for a dynastic future. In 1550 they were begun with the expansion of the outskirts of Messkirch.
On 9 March 1554 his uncle suffered his first stroke. After it he handed full power of attorney over to his nephew, before witnesses. After the death of Gottfried Werner on 12 April 1554, Froben accepted the hereditary tribute of his uncle's subjects. Also his brothers were again urged to renounce their succession rights.
In 1556, on the occasion of the wedding in Saint Omer of Froben's brother-in-law Philipp von Eberstein and the rich heiress Jeanne de Bailleul, Froben and Kunigunde undertook a visit to Flanders via Zweibrücken, Trier, Liège, Tongeren and Brussels.
On 9 May 1557 Froben laid the foundation-stone for the rebuilding of the castle of Messkirch. It was to be the first four winged castle layout on Italian lines in South Germany. In the spring of 1558 he complemented this by laying out an orchard according to Heidelberg model.
On 8 October 1558 Froben's ninth child, his daughter Sybille, was born. These tidings were the last entry in the _Zimmern Chronicle._ From 1559 he withdrew from all public commitments, though he visited the Reichstag in Augsburg. The beginnings of the _Zimmern Chronicle_ as we know it today lie probably in that year, and it was not even finished at Froben Christoph's death in 1566.
In the winter 1565/66 he probably undertook a visit to Italy. He had held this as a wish since his student days when his father denied him a period of study in Bologna. The _Zimmern Chronicle_ refers to stays in Venice and Rome.
Froben died on 27 November 1566, probably in Messkirch. With the expiry of the Zimmern family with the death of Froben's only male heir Wilhelm in 1594, the _Zimmern Chronicle_ never materialised as the memorial and textbook for future generations that is was originally intended to become. The chronicle manuscript eventually wound up in the possession of the counts of Fürstenberg, probably via Froben's daughter Apollonia von Helfenstein, whose granddaughter Johanna Eleonora married Graf Wratislaus II von Fürstenberg.
The books were stored for nearly four centuries in the Fürstenbergische Hofbibliothek at Donaueschingen, until that library was sold and scattered by the princes of Fürstenberg for financial reasons in 1993. Since 1993 the manuscripts are in the possession of the Württemberg State Library (Württembergische Landesbibliothek) in Stuttgart.
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