Andreas Cramer (politician, † 1679)

Andreas Cramer (* before 1620 in Magdeburg ; † December 11, 1679 in Schleswig ) was a German politician and Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf statesman.

Life

The names of Andreas Cramer's parents are not known; Childhood, youth and education as well. Neither his character traits nor a portrait of him are documented. He probably joined the army of Gustav II Adolf at a young age . He suffered serious injuries during the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631. He then lived in Magdeburg for some time . He finished a subsequent law degree with a doctorate.

From 1639 Cramer worked for Count Anton Günther von Oldenburg . In April 1655 he followed a call from the ducal-Gottorfischen court, where he worked as a count's Oldenburg councilor. In 1659 he was appointed to the court and chancellery of Gottorf. From 1665 he worked as a chamber councilor, from 1671 as a privy councilor.

Cramer also managed this social advancement with the help of his three marriages. On November 13, 1639, his first marriage in Hamburg was Maria Elisabeth Schultz. In his second marriage, he married Clara Danckwerth on May 19, 1655 in Schleswig, who died in May 1656. The father of the second wife, Joachim Danckwerth (1606–1656), was a rent master from Schleswig-Gottorf. Cramer thus came into the possession of the Hoyersworth manor in Eiderstedt . The couple had a son. In their third marriage, Cramer married Augusta Maria Hecklauer (1634–1668) on February 27, 1659 in Tönning . Her father was the official inspector (and organ builder) Johannes Hecklauer (1596–1652). From this marriage he had four sons. In addition, he had several daughters.

Working in politics

Through his brother-in-law Friedrich Hecklauer, Cramer joined the so-called "Hecklauer Group" at the court of the Duke, some of which positioned itself against leading politicians such as Johann Adolph Kielmann von Kielmannsegg . In 1660, Cramer recommended to the Duke that if necessary take action against the local nobility and curtail their power. Their positions should be filled by able, non-noble rural children.

Since Cramer knew how to write well, he took on numerous diplomatic broadcasts and took part in many negotiations. Together with the Danish diplomat Friedrich von Ahlefeldt , he traveled as an envoy after the death of Duke Friedrich III. to the emperor. At the court there, he accepted Christian Albrechts' share in the fiefdom of Holstein. In the 1660s and 1670s he participated as one of the main negotiators in negotiations on the succession in Oldenburg . He wrote an extensive deduction on this in 1663 .

In order to secure the peace of Copenhagen , Cramer advocated a conciliatory policy towards Denmark. He helped negotiate the Glückstadt Recess and the marriage contract of 1667 between Christian Albrecht and Friederike Amalie of Denmark . Since he was in opposition to the group around Johann Adolph Kielmann von Kielmannsegg, he was only appointed to the Privy Council after his retreat to Hamburg in 1671. A little later, Duke Cramer, whom he mistrusted due to Kielmannsegg's rejection, again excluded from confidential consultations. Schweder Dietrich Kleihe , who, as the Swedish representative, was in charge of the Gottorfische court, probably also worked towards this.

When Kielmann von Kielmannsegg negotiated with Denmark in 1672/73 about compensation for Gottorf's renunciation of Oldenburg, he complained that Cramer did not want to meet the Danes sufficiently. At the negotiations in Rendsburg in June 1675, however, Cramer supported von Kielmannsegg's proposals for an exchange deal with the Danes, with which the Danish crown should be satisfied. The negotiations with the Danes ended in the Rendsburg settlement , which was humiliating for the duke. Kielmann von Kielmannsegg and his sons were arrested by the Danes. Cramer's brother-in-law, Colonel Hans Walter, who had been in command of Tönning Fortress for many years , was forced to hand over the fortress to the Danish king. Walter only obeyed this order after Cramer had brought him an invitation personally signed by the Duke. He then entered the Danish service. These incidents ended the relationship of trust between Christian Albrecht and Cramer. The Duke later accused Cramer and his brother-in-law of having acted irresponsibly in handing the fortress over to the Danes. Cramer therefore resigned from the succession of the Duke's affairs of state, which were now in Hamburg.

Despite the disturbed relationship, Cramer worked again for the duke: in autumn 1676 he traveled to Copenhagen with District Administrator Jasper von Buchwaldt . There he negotiated a Schleswig fiefdom, which he might want to take with him. When, however, in the same year Friedrich Hans Gloxin , who had left the service of the Gottorfischer court two years earlier, married a daughter of Cramer, the relationship of trust between Cramer and the duke was again strained.

In the spring of 1677 there was a conflict between Colonel Walter and Major Rantzau, for which the duke demanded reparation. The new Chancellor Hermann Höpfner von Cronstedt, who had previously considered accepting Cramer into the ducal consilium, refrained from appointing him for this reason. Cramer then worked as a councilor until the end of his life. He was buried in Schleswig.

Fonts

• Actenmessige and rightly founded causes / Why the Königl. Mayest. to Dennemarck / Norway ... and to Schleßwig Holstein / Stormarn and the Dithmarschen co-governing HochFürstl. Passed through to the Graffschafften Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in real possession only and privately authorized / And the Princely House of Plöen / respectively the presumptuous consorts not to be heard with their request / but to be rejected , 1670

literature

• Hermann Kellenbenz : Cramer, Andreas . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 2. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1971, pp. 112-114

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CO Bøggild-Andersen: Johannes Hecklauer in: Dansk Biografisk Leksikon , 3rd ed., Gyldendal 1979-84 (accessed on January 17, 2017)
2. ^ Emil Schrøder: Hans Walter, a forgotten general from Schleswig . In: Mitteilungen zur Schleswiger Stadtgeschichte 17 (2001) , pp. 19–21 (PDF file, accessed on January 17, 2017).