Benedict Schmiedel

Benedict Schmiedel also Benedikt Schmiedel or Benedix Schmiedel (* around 1589; † October 31, 1654 in Schmiedeberg ) was a Bohemian hammer master and administrator who, according to an anecdote, fell out of favor with Emperor Matthias .

Life

The hammer master Benedict Schmiedel appears in the Bohemian list of souls from 1651 as an electoral Saxon subject who has the imperial hammer mill in Schmiedeberg. As early as 1632 he was mentioned as a hammer lord on the Schmiedeberg near Preßnitz . In 1646 he is listed in the registers as a distinguished imperial hammer administrator for Schmiedeberg . In 1622 Schmiedel rediscovered the iron stone entrance of Orpus , which had previously been dismantled and was considered one of the richest in the Ore Mountains and whose ore mining was later resumed. In 1644 he leased the factory, which soon had three smithies again. It previously belonged to hammer master Hans Schwarz from Kaaden in 1601 and, after him, a captain Schindler, who built the third hammer.

According to an anecdote, a large female bear once threatened his charcoal burners and forest workers. That is why Schmiedel has been armed since then when he visited his cabbage stalls in the forest. One day the said she-bear and her two cubs attacked him fiercely, so that he shot the animal to save his life. The boys immediately rushed to their dead mother and suckled on her. But as people came up the young animals climbed onto a fir tree, from where they were brought down again. Although the hammer master acted out of self-defense, he fell out of favor and should inevitably rode into Prague . The dead she-bear was also brought in with her cubs. At that time, Emperor Matthias and his wife Anna held court at Prague Castle. The emperor had the dead bear with her two live cubs brought into the hall and instigated his wife to tease the bear cubs with a gauntlet. Then the boys defended themselves and drove the Empress into her apron, whereupon everyone was startled, but also sometimes burst out laughing. The emperor had to recognize how dangerous the threat in the forest from such a large animal was, with which Schmiedel obtained pardon.

During the Thirty Years War on March 16, 1632 sixteen imperial horsemen came from Preßnitz and wanted to plunder the old hammer lord. When he had heard of it, he pushed a wagon castle in front of his house and holed up with a pistol in his upstairs room. The looters withdrew unsuccessfully after an exchange of fire. His servant had immediately taken fifty men from the guard, who were pursuing the imperial and driving them out of the village. On October 31, 1654, Benedict Schmiedel died on the Bohemian Schmiedeberg / a good schüz and owner of the hammer mill there .

family

Benedikt Schmiedel was married to a Maria in his first marriage and to a Dorothea (* around 1611) in his second marriage. The following children are known:

• Regina (* around 1610); ⚭ 1632 Georg Miesel, later butcher in Platten
• Dorothea (* around 1625); ⚭ 1646 Andreas Leibolt from Neudek
• Christian (* around 1641)
• Georg, hammer lord on the Red Hammer in Unterwiesenthal

literature

• Christian Lehmanns Sen. Weiland Pastoris zu Scheibenberg Historical scene of their natural highlights in the Meißnischen Ober-Ertzgebirge, Lanckisch, 1699, p. 541
• Hercynia, Vol. 25-26, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Geest & Portig., 1988, p. 51

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Kellenbenz: Main focus of iron extraction and iron processing in Europe 1500-1650 . Böhlau, 1974, ISBN 978-3-412-02874-9 ( google.de [accessed on March 18, 2018]).
2. ^ Messages from the Association for the History of Germans in the Sudetenland . Der Verein, 1883 ( google.de [accessed on March 18, 2018]).
3. ^ Christian Lehmann: The German War Chronicle: Saxony with the Erzgebirge . BoD - Books on Demand, 2016, ISBN 978-3-8370-8163-3 ( google.de [accessed on March 18, 2018]).
4. ↑ Detailed description of the Meißnische Ober-Ertzgebürges, according to its location, shape, mountains (etc.) . Lanckisch, 1747 ( google.de [accessed on March 18, 2018]).