Jakob III von Lamberg was one of the most remarkable figures in Carniola during the first half of the sixteenth century. He was the son of the famous knight Caspar (1463–1515/17), a youthful friend and companion of Emperor Maximilian, whose duels with other knights were immortalized through depictions in the well-known book of tournaments. Immensely proud of his father’s exploits, Jakob showed the book to his guests, asking them to sign it before leaving. Believed to have been rather small in stature but ferociously driven, authoritarian, and power-hungry, he held the position of provincial governor and ruled over Carniola as a veritable provincial prince. A few preserved anecdotes about his life also portray him as a quarrelsome, intriguing, and vengeful man. Johann Josef Baron von Egkh, with whom he entangled himself in an affair in early 1557 over a libelous letter, described him as follows: “He causes harm to everyone around him, struts like a peacock, and flaunts his superior intelligence in front of all the estates and even in front of all his friends.” Although he converted to Protestantism, he seems to have done so more for pragmatic reasons than a deeper motive related to his beliefs. Some noble Protestants in Carniola even suspected that it was none other than Lamberg and his son that snitched on Primož Trubar at court.
On the other hand, it should be acknowledged that, as the senior member of the Lamberg lineage, Jakob von Lamberg took great care of its material welfare. He expanded the family estate and restored quite a few castles. He enlarged and gave a Renaissance-style makeover to medieval Kamen (Stein) Castle near Begunje, Glanz or (New) Gutenberg Castle, and Gamberk Castle in the Central Sava Valley. In addition, he built the monumental and prestigious new fortified Renaissance mansion in place of small medieval Boštanj Mansion (Weissenstein) with towers west of Žalna near Grosuplje. A few years before his death, he composed a comprehensive Lamberg genealogy in honor and memory of his family.
His motto “May God bless us with a happy ending!” may be seen on his heraldic plaques. One of them was produced in 1549, when he rebuilt Kamen Castle. His successors subsequently abandoned it and moved in the mid-eighteenth century to lowland Katzenstein Castle (Sln. Kacenštajn) in Begunje, which had been in the possession of the Katzianer family for centuries. They also transferred the heraldic plaque to Katzenstein and built it into a wall in the mansion courtyard. This plaque, too, consists of the Lamberg coat of arms and the inscription asking God to bless them with a happy ending: ANNO DNI § / M § D § XLVIIII / LIES § MICH § MACHE[N] § HER / IACOB § VON § LAMBERG § ZV[M] § / STAIN § RITTER § ROM § KVN § MT § / RAT § DISER § ZEIT § LANNDTS= / VERWESER § IN § CRAIN § VND § / WVNSCHT § SEIN̅ § NACHKVMEN § / ZVR § SEEL § LEIB § EER § VND § GVET § / ZV § WANDELN § IN § GOTES § HVET § / GOT § GEB § GLVCKHSALIG § END.
Although most sources state 1566 as the year of Jakob’s death, Dušan Kos assumes that he in fact died in 1569. During the last three years of his life, he was in very frail health, perhaps also suffering from the consequences of a stroke. Whether or not God blessed him with the happy ending that he had longed for all his life therefore remains unclear.

Sources:
Dremelj, Luka: Začetki rodbine Lamberg na Kranjskem (s poudarkom na liniji s Kamna in Gutenberga). Kronika 70, 2023, no. 1, pp. 5–28 (DOI: 10.56420/Kronika.71.1.01)
Kos, Dušan: Turnirska knjiga Gašperja Lambergerja. Ljubljana, 1997.
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Smole, Majda: Graščine na nekdanjem Kranjskem. Ljubljana, DZS, 1982.
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Žvanut, Maja: Korespondenca dveh kranjskih plemičev iz sredine 16. stoletja. Zgodovinski Časopis, 43, 1989, pp. 477–506.