Adolph Knigge

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Adolph Freiherr Knigge
Signature Adolph Knigge.PNG

Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig Freiherr Knigge (born October 16, 1752 in Bredenbeck near Hanover , † May 6, 1796 in Bremen ) was a German writer and educator . From 1780 to 1784 he was a leading member of the Illuminati Order . He was best known for his work on dealing with people . Today his name is representative, but erroneously, of etiquette guides that have nothing in common with Knigge's more sociologically oriented work in the sense of the Enlightenment .

Life

Origin and childhood

Manor house of the estate, which was created in 1825, on the former castle grounds in Bredenbeck, where Adolph Freiherr Knigge was born

He was a scion of the noble Lower Saxon, albeit impoverished, noble family Knigge . In his birthplace Bredenbeck on the eastern edge of the Deister , the knight Hermann Knigge owned a castle as early as 1338. With ducal permission, it was expanded into the mightiest moated castle in the Calenberg region . The castle burned down in 1550 and was rebuilt even more defensively.

His father was Carl Philipp Freiherr Knigge (1723–1766) and his mother Louise Wilhelmine (1730–1763), the daughter of the chamberlain Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr Knigge from Weimar . Knigge grew up in Bredenbeck, where he was brought up appropriately. His mother died when he was eleven and his father when he was 14. As an orphan , he inherited a debt of 130,000 Reichstalers . The creditors took the property under compulsory administration and granted it an annual pension of 500 Reichstalers.

education

Göttingen memorial plaque for etiquette at the "Michaelishaus" in Prinzenstrasse 21.

At the age of 14, the parentless child was sent to Hanover by his guardian for upbringing through private lessons. He studied law and camera studies in Göttingen from 1769 to 1772 . In his student days he was Göttingen - occupied by pedigree leaves - the Gustav-box in inseparable Concordienorden to which the student medal was associated CET. His lodge name was "Philo".

Employment

In 1771 Knigge was appointed court squire and assessor of the war and domain chamber of Kassel by Landgrave Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel . He only held this office for a short time because he "made himself impossible by official and social disagreements".

In 1776 he got another job at a royal court. Duke Carl August von Sachsen-Weimar appointed him Weimar Chamberlain, where he “frequented the court there a lot as a popular entertainer”.

Between 1777 and late autumn 1780 Knigge lived at the lordly court of the Hereditary Prince and later Elector Wilhelm in Hanau , where he published a number of writings and - until he had to flee from grace due to various incidents - evidently led a very pleasant court life, financed by the Hereditary Prince. The existence of a courtier was repugnant to the free spirit Knigge, however, in his satirical novel The Story of Peter Clausen , which he completed in 1785 , he mocked what he judged to be the “most pathetic courtiers” and all of the “court trimmings”.

Knigge therefore lived in Frankfurt am Main from 1780 to devote himself to his literary projects and work in various lodges and secret societies . In 1783 he moved to Heidelberg , later he went back to Hanover to look after his goods.

From 1790 until his death he lived in Bremen , where he took over the post of captain of the British-Hanover government due to financial difficulties. In addition, he was involved in the city's cultural life and promoted a theater for lovers until, from 1795, nervous fever and gallstones tied him to bed.

family

In 1773 he married the lady-in-waiting Henriette von Baumbach (1749-1808), allegedly because Landgravine Philippine von Brandenburg-Schwedt had forced him to do so: Shortly before, he had exposed the lady-in-waiting by stealing her shoe at court, which was meant as a joke. Knigge moved with her and their daughter, Philippine Auguste Amalie (1775–1841), who was named after the Landgrave, to the Baumbach estate in Nentershausen . Under his guidance, his daughter wrote an attempt at a logic for women (1789) and a short biography of her father (1823).

details

The "from" in the name

The grave slab in the Bremen Cathedral with the name spelling "Adolph Freyherr Knigge"

It is controversial whether Knigges maiden name contained the nobility predicate "von". Sometimes it appears in his books, depending on the year of publication and the publisher, and sometimes not.

According to the Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility , the Knigge family belongs to the Lower Saxon nobility , but never had a “von” in their name. The correct name is therefore "Adolph Freiherr Knigge". The name is also found in this form on the grave slab of Freiherr Knigge in the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen. According to Knigge's biographer Karl-Heinz Göttert , Knigge was born as "Adolph Freiherr von Knigge". As a supporter of the French Revolution in 1789 after the abolition of the nobility in France, he dropped the “von” .

Lodges and medals

Knigge joined the Strict Observance in 1773 , but due to his limited financial resources he was unable to move up into the narrow leadership circle of the elite order. In Kassel Knigge was accepted into the Freemason's lodge Zum crowned lion . In Hanau he was a member of the Wilhelmine Caroline Lodge . As Eques a cygno (Latin: Swan Knight) he corresponded with their leaders and with those of the Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians . In the service of Freemasonry, he traveled a lot. At the convents of the Strict Observance in Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel and Wilhelmsbad , he campaigned for reforms.

Disillusioned and deeply disappointed by his contacts in the field of Freemasonry, he also joined the radical Enlightenment Order of Illuminati via Marquis Constanzo in 1780 under the code name "Philo" . Knigge was commissioned to build the order in northern Germany, whereby the restless and skilful organizer managed to recruit around 500 members, mainly nobles and intellectuals. Johann Christoph Bode , recruited by Knigge , even won Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . On behalf of the founder of the order Adam Weishaupt , he anonymously published the polemic about Jesuits, Freemasons and German Rosicrucians in 1781 , in which he spread the conspiracy theory that the Strict Oberservanz and the Rosicrucians were secretly instruments of the Jesuit Order, which was dissolved in 1773, with which it pursued its anti-Enlightenment goals. After violent power struggles with Bode and Weishaupt, Knigge was excluded again in 1784. In retrospect, he said that the "renewal of the spiritual life of the nation" he had hoped for by the order had not been feasible.

He was also involved in working out the foundations of the Eclectic League . During his life Knigge dealt with various projects of egalitarian men's and friendship associations; shortly before his death in 1795 he drafted the manifesto of a patriotic covenant.

These diverse activities, especially the prominent role he played in the Illuminati Order, which was dissolved shortly after his forced resignation, made etiquette suspicious of the authorities after the French Revolution . He was considered a dangerous Democrat and Jacobin . In 1796 the Viennese secret police sent him forged letters under the name of the ex-Illuminati Aloys Blumauer , in the hope of gaining insight into the network of German supporters of the French Revolution from Knigge's response letters.

memory

Knigges grave is in the Bremen Cathedral . The Levester family branch of the Knigges became feudal successors and took over the castle, which is now owned by the Knigge family as an estate.

On the occasion of his 250th birthday, Deutsche Post issued a special postage stamp in 2002.

The Kniggeweg in Bremen- Oberneuland and other streets in Hamburg-Wilstorf, Hanover-Nordstadt and Munich-Waldperlach are named after Knigge . In 2014 he was honored with one of the Göttingen memorial plaques at the Michaelishaus in his university town of Göttingen .

About dealing with people

About dealing with people . Title page of the first edition

In 1788 , the first edition of his most famous work, On dealing with people, was published (now known simply as "Knigge" for short). Knigge intended to be an explanatory pamphlet for tact and politeness in dealing with generations, professions, characters, which should also spare you disappointment. One can very well appreciate his well-thought-out and world-class explanations as applied sociology , which is what is described in the sections on dealing with children , dealing with doctors , dealing with the irate , dealing with villains and, last but not least, dealing with yourself becomes clear.

Later this book was mistakenly misunderstood as a etiquette, often only after hearsay. The publisher reinforced this misunderstanding by adding etiquette to the work after Knigge's death. It is also known that a new edition was published about every ten years - mainly with dress rules. Today one expects from an etiquette mostly instructions on how to group red and white wine glasses together at the set table; Knigge himself completely ignored this.

In 2004, the descendant Moritz Freiherr Knigge , with the intention of a contemporary adaptation, gave a modern version of the most famous work under the title Rules of the Game. How we should deal with each other . Persephone Verlag published a version of the work in 2017, which the publisher describes as a “translation into modern German” and represents a linguistically modernized version of the original ( ISBN 978-3-9524729-2-7 ).

Works

Fonts

  • General system for the people. On the basis of all knowledge for people from all nations, classes and religions given in one extract. Nicosia. 1873 , [o. O. 1778]
  • The novel of my life , 1781–1783, 4 volumes
  • History of Peter Clausen , 1783–1785, 3 volumes
  • On dealing with people , 1788, Google Books: 13th edition in one volume, ed. by Karl Gödeke, Hahn, Hanover 1853
  • Story of the poor Herr von Mildenburg , 1789
  • Benjamin Noldmann's story of the Enlightenment in Abyssinia, or news of his and his master's cousin's stay at the court of the great Negus, or priest John. Göttingen 1791, 2 volumes projekt-gutenberg.org online edition, further edition Benjamin Noldmann's history of the Enlightenment in Abyssinia , presented and provided with an Ethiopian-German bridge by Asfa-Wossen Asserate , Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn 2006, Die Andere Bibliothek series , ISBN 978-3-8218-4569-2
  • Papers left by Blessed Mr Budget Councilor Samuel Konrad von Schafskopf , 1792
  • The trip to Braunschweig , Hanover 1792
    • French translation (1806): Le Voyage de Brunswick. Roman comique, d'après l'original allemand du Baron de Knigge par J [ohann] B [aptist] Daulnoy. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Joseph von Wurmbrand, Imperial Abyssinian ex = minister, present notarii caesarii publici in the imperial city of Bopfingen, political creed, with regard to the French revolution and its consequences , Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1792
  • Journey to Fritzlar in the summer of 1794 , 1795
  • About selfishness and ingratitude: A counterpart to the book: About dealing with [the] people , Bremen 1795, Google Books (complete book)
  • Adolph Freiherr Knigge - Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann: Correspondence 1779 to 1795. With a selection of Knigges writings on the theater. Edited by Michael Rüppel. Wallstein Publishing House. Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0580-9 .
  • " Honorable, good defender of human rights!" The correspondence between Adolph Freiherrn Knigge and Sophie and Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus 1791–1796 , ed. v. Günter Jung and Michael Rüppel. Wallstein, Göttingen 2019.

In March 2010, Wallstein Verlag , Göttingen , published a selection of his writings under the title Works ( ISBN 978-3-8353-0410-9 ). The four volumes in the slipcase were put together in cooperation with the German Academy for Language and Poetry , Darmstadt , and the Wüstenrot Foundation and introduced by Sibylle Lewitscharoff .

Compositions

  • Concerto for bassoon, strings and basso continuo in F major , 1776
  • Six sonatas for piano , 1781
  • Two piano songs : The silent evening comes and takes hold of the work, you good children , 1785/86

bibliography

  • Knigges works. A bibliography of the printed writings, compositions and letters of Adolph, Freyherrn Knigge and his daughter Philippine von Reden , b. Freiin Knigge . With an appendix: secondary literature, compiled by Ernst August Freiherr Knigge. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-89244-229-0 .

literature

Overviews

Biographies and Introductions

  • Karl Goedeke : Adolph Freiherr Knigge - Knigges life and writings, Hanover . Published by Hahn'schen Hofbuchhandlung, 1844.
  • Hans Georg Brenner: The secret of Adolph Freiherrn von Knigge: The ways of someone who knows people , Hamburg 1936.
  • Peter Kaeding: Adolph von Knigge. Encounters with a free gentleman. Union, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-372-00397-7 .
  • Karl-Heinz Göttert: Knigge or: From the illusions of a decent life. dtv, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-04672-4 .
  • Ingo Hermann: etiquette. A biography. Propylaea, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-549-07260-8 .
  • Heiko Postma : “Be what you are, always and completely”. About the educational writer Adolph Freyherr Knigge (= From books and people . Volume 13). jmb, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-940970-13-8 .

Studies on individual aspects

  • Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The former Bredenbeck Castle . In: If stones could talk , Volume III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1995, pp. 127–129, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1 .
  • Michael Schlott (Ed.): Effects and evaluations. Adolph Freiherr Knigge in the judgment of posterity (1796–1994). A collection of documents (= The Knigge Archive . Volume 1). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 1998, ISBN 3-89244-287-8 .
  • Paul Raabe : ... returned to my fatherland: Adolph Freiherr Knigge in Hanover 1787–1790 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-89244-639-3 .

Web links

Commons : Adolph Freiherr Knigge  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Adolph Freiherr Knigge  - Quotes
Wikisource: Adolph Freiherr Knigge  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Abbreviation for "Concordia et Taciturnitas"
  2. ↑ Stammbuch Rüling , p. 205 and p. 136, manuscript department of the SUB Goettingen.
  3. ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility. Nobility Lexicon. Vol. VI (= volume 91 of the complete series), CA Starke Verlag, Limburg 1987, p. 317; Genealogical manual of the nobility. Freiherrliche Häuser, Volume XX (= Volume 118 of the complete series), CA Starke Verlag, Limburg 1999, p. 205; Genealogical manual of the nobility. Freiherrliche Häuser A, Vol. IV, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg 1962, pp. 139–153.
  4. ^ Karl-Heinz Göttert: Knigge or: From the illusions of decent life . dtv, Munich 1995, p. 18 f.
  5. ^ Karl-Heinz Göttert: Knigge or: From the illusions of decent life. dtv 1995. pp. 46-47.
  6. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurer Lexikon. 5th revised and expanded edition. Herbig, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-7766-2478-7 .
  7. ^ Ralf Klausnitzer: Poetry and conspiracy. Relationship Sense and Sign Economy of Conspiracy Scenarios in Journalism, Literature and Science 1750-1850 . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2007 ISBN 978-3-11-097332-7 , pp. 147 f., 182 f. and 193 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
personal data
SURNAME Knigge, Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knigge, Freiherr Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and educator
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Bredenbeck , Hanover
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1796
Place of death Bremen