SICKINGEN, Franz von (1481-1523), a powerful German baron, was born at Sickingen, Baden, the castle of his family, on 1st March 1481. He was the greatest of those Rhenish knights who held their lands immediately of the emperor, and was much esteemed by Maximilian I. and by Charles V., to both of whom he rendered good service in war. He held the position of imperial councillor and chamberlain, and won great fame as a protector of the poor and the oppressed. In 1517 he was put under the ban of the empire in consequence of a war with the imperial city of Worms. Afterwards he carried on wars with the duke of Lorraine, the imperial city of Metz, the landgrave Philip of Hesse, and Duke Ulrich of Würtemberg. For a short time he was disposed to serve Francis I. of France, from whom he received a pension; but in the imperial election of 1519 Sickingen exercised his influence on behalf of Charles V., and in 1521 he took a prominent part, with the count of Nassau, in the war with France. In 1522 an assembly at Landau elected him head of the confederation of Rhenish and Swabian barons. He was an enthusiastic adherent of the Humanists and Reformers, and when Luther seemed to be in danger offered to provide for him a place of safety. Through the influence of Ulrich von Hutten, Sickingen formed a vast scheme for the overthrow of the spiritual and temporal princes, his intention being that all Germany should be brought into immediate subjection to the emperor. He was so popular among the landsknechte or mercenary foot soldiers of the time that he had no difficulty in bringing together a powerful army; and in September 1522 he began the war by attacking the archbishop of Treves. Much alarm was excited by this sudden movement, and the landgrave Philip and the palsgrave Louis hastened to ...