Abraham von Dohna (writer)

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Abraham von Dohna (born March 10, 1579 in Mohrungen , Duchy of Prussia , † December 14, 1631 in Schlobitten ) was a Brandenburg statesman and colonel .

Life

Origin and family

Abraham was a member of the Prussian line of the noble family of the von Dohna family . His parents were the Prussian councilor and governor Achatius von Dohna (1533-1601) and Barbara, née von Wernsdorf (1547-1607). The governor of the Principality of Orange , Christoph von Dohna (1583–1637) was one of his 11 brothers. In 1624 he married Anna Euphrosyne, born von Proeck (1598–1667), in 1623 widowed von Below . The marriage resulted in three daughters.

Career

Dohna first studied at the universities in Rostock and Altdorf , then undertook his grand tour of Paris, Geneva and Florence, and finally attended Abraham Scultetus' lectures in languages, history, mathematics, and above all theology in Heidelberg in 1601/1602 .

After his return to Schlobitten, he took part in the Warsaw Imperial Council in 1603 . In 1605 and 1606 he took part in the campaign Moritz von Orange (1567-1625) in the Netherlands . In the Dutch service he dealt mainly with the theoretical arts of warfare and fortress construction . In 1606, for example, he submitted a draft for the fortification of Emden. In 1609 he became quartermaster general of the Union Army in the service of Christian von Anhalt (1568-1630). He was able to excel in the siege and capture of Jülich in 1610.

He then returned to Prussia and in 1611 took part in the Brandenburg embassy to Warsaw on behalf of his uncle Fabian I von Dohna (1550–1621) , where he was appointed curator and enfeoffment with Prussia for his employer Johann Sigismund (1572 –1619).

In 1612 he was elector of Emperor Matthias (1557–1619) in Frankfurt (Main) and also took part in the 1613 Regensburg Reichstag . In the same year he became the Brandenburg Privy Council. In addition to his actual area of ​​responsibility, the supervision of the state fortifications, armories, artillery and war construction, he also devoted great attention to the consolidation of the Reformed Church in the Mark Brandenburg, and his employer had just been transferred.

In 1618 he was able to reach a settlement with Poland about shipping on the Warta and the Oder . In the same year he entered the military service of Duke Hans Georg von Jägerndorf (1577–1624) as a colonel and fought in the Bohemian uprising in 1618 .

Dohna retired again to Schlobitten in 1621 and devoted himself to the administration of his property and his scientific studies. During the Polish-Swedish War , he was repeatedly consulted by Duke Georg Wilhelm (1595–1640) in matters of fortification for Memel , Elbing and Koenigsberg and repeatedly sent to negotiate with King Gustav Adolf (1594–1632).

Works

Dohna left behind works of historical, geographical and theological content, an important collection of mathematical instruments and an extensive library. With his architectural plans for the fortification of Königsberg and the reconstruction of his Schlobitten Castle , the Dutch Renaissance was introduced in Prussia. He also wrote a ballet draft for Cyrus and Thomyris and, together with his brothers, the Eternal Testament of the Dohnas (1621) and the “arbitrariness” of the Dohnas goods (1626). The latter two in particular are shaped by the religious and social spirit to which Dohna felt an obligation.

  • Historically rhyming from the inconsistent Reichstag anno 1613 , Munich 1896;
  • Christian thoughts on the strange execution of the people of Israel from Egypt , Frankfurt (Oder) 1647

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Christian August Ludwig Klaproth, Immanuel Karl Wilhelm Cosmar: The royal Prussian and electoral Brandenburg real secret Council of State on its 200-year foundation day January 5, 1805 , Berlin 1805, p. 338, no. 15.
  2. ^ Anton Chroust (Ed.): Abraham von Dohna. His life and his poem on the Reichstag from 1613. Publishing house of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1896 ( digitized on Google Books ).
personal data
SURNAME Dohna, Abraham of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brandenburg statesman and colonel
DATE OF BIRTH March 10, 1579
PLACE OF BIRTH Mohrungen , Duchy of Prussia
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1631
Place of death Schlobitten