Benjamin Ursinus (Bishop)

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Benjamin Ursinus von Baer, ​​copper engraving 1705 by Jacob Wilhelm Heckenauer
Benjamin Ursinus at the coronation ceremony in 1701, chalk drawing by Anton von Werner (1884)

Benjamin Ursinus von Baer (also Bär ; * February 12, 1646 in Lissa ; † December 23, 1720 in Berlin ) was court preacher to the Elector of Brandenburg and later bishop of the Reformed Church .

family

Benjamin Ursinus came from a family of clergymen. His grandfather, David Ursinus (* 1588, † 1644) was first pastor in Gollmitz , then coadjutor in Lissa, from 1625 court preacher at Carolath Palace and finally pastor again in Laßwitz . Benjamin Ursinus' parents were Benjamin Ursinus († 1657), who was first vice rector in Lissa and from 1648 pastor at St. Petri in Danzig , and Elisabeth Titius from Thorn .

Ursinus was married twice. His first marriage was from 1671 to Amelia Margarethe van Bilderbeck († 1677), the daughter of the Dutch merchant and resident in Cologne Hendrick van Bilderbeck and Anna Frantse. His second marriage was in 1678 with Anna Adelheid Huss († 1723), daughter of the royal Swedish general auditor and Minden government councilor Matthias Wilhelm Huss and Adelheid Kempen.

From his two marriages there were 18 children:

  1. Friedrich Heinrich (* 1672; † 1739), Kurbrandenburg, later royal Prussian court advisor, secret secretary and librarian, protonotary as well as professor of philosophy at the Brandenburg University of Frankfurt , finally secret tribunal advisor in Berlin
  2. Benjamin (* 1673; † 1734), Prussian tribunal councilor, gentleman on block women , Sanditten and Solnicken in Prussia ; ⚭ I. after 1700 Louise (von) Sievert (* around 1680; † 1709); ⚭ II. 1709 Dorothea Anna Emerentia von Glaubitz († 1752)
  3. Emilie Elisabeth (* 1674; † after 1709); ⚭ I. 1691 Jacob Merchier (* 1661; † 1700), court preacher to Kurbrandenburg and consistorial councilor in the Duchy of Magdeburg in Halle ; ⚭ II. 1706 Sigismund Lupichius (* 1680; † 1748), preacher of the Swiss colony in Nattwerder near Potsdam , reformed court preacher to the Hereditary Princess Henriette Marie von Württemberg , most recently pastor in Ins in the canton of Bern
  4. David Benjamin (* 1675; † after 1714), Prussian lieutenant, arrested at Peitz Fortress in 1714
  5. Henriette Johanne Christine (* 1679); ⚭ 1693 Dr. Mattheus Wendt, Kurbrandenburg secret court judge in the Duchy of Western Pomerania
  6. Philipp Wilhelm (* 1680; † 1680)
  7. Johann Wilhelm (* 1681; † 1750), Prussian stable master and director of the knight academies in Berlin and Frankfurt, lord of Gütergotz ; ⚭ I. 1709 Maria Barbara (von) Sievert (* around 1690, † 1739); ⚭ II. 1740/1749 NN by Perbandt (* around 1720, † after 1756)
  8. Marie Amalie (Maria Emilia) (* 1682, † after 1710); ⚭ 1699 Peter Ludwig Hendreich (* 1673; † 1725), Kurbrandenburg librarian, court preacher at the Reformed Court Church in Potsdam, Dr. theol. in Frankfurt / Oder, later also a professor there
  9. Louisa Christina (* 1684; † 1737); ⚭ Gottfried von Jena (* 1684; † 1734), 1705 Prussian legation, court and chamber judge, heir to Döbbernitz ( Neumark ), Cöthen, Dannenberg and Falkenberg (all in the Mark )
  10. Karl Albrecht (* 1686)
  11. Dorothea Elisabeth (* 1687)
  12. Sophie (Anna) Adelheid († 1772); ⚭ Friedrich Emanuel von Froben , (* 1684; † 1757), Prussian court judge and secret judge, heir to Quanditten
  13. Eleonora Juliana (* 1691; † 1691)
  14. Sophie Eleonore (* 1693; † 1754), abbess of the Fräuleinstiftes in Halle
  15. (August) Friedrich (* 1695; † after 1708), student at the Brandenburg Knight Academy
  16. Ottonella Henriette Sybille (* 1696)
  17. Johann Kasimir (* 1698; † 1777), heir to Bornzin ; ⚭ I. 1731/1734 (Regina) Eva Euphrosine von Stojentin († 1741); ⚭ II. 1742 Maria Juliana von Versen († after 1771)
  18. Christian Ludwig (* 1699; † after 1748), criminal advisor, then secret judicial advisor in Berlin and councilor at the court of appeal; ⚭ 1733 Sophie Charlotte von Wenden (* 1713)

Life

Benjamin Ursinus grew up in Danzig and studied theology in Heidelberg from 1663 . On the recommendation of his teacher and later brother-in-law Friedrich Spanheim , Ursinus became a preacher in the secret Reformed community in Cologne in 1667 . In 1670 he became court preacher to the Elector of Brandenburg in Berlin-Cölln .

After Frederick III came to power. In 1688 Ursinus gained growing influence with the new elector. In 1700 he was appointed the first royal court preacher and church councilor and in 1702 received the title of bishop and the title of benevolent . In January 1701 he anointed Friedrich III in Königsberg . to the first king in Prussia. He organized the coronation service together with the Lutheran court preacher Bernhard von Sanden .

On behalf of the new king, he was involved in discussions about a church union in 1703 , which was only realized as the Old Prussian Union a century later .

In 1705 he was raised to the hereditary nobility as Ursin von Baer and thus the progenitor of the aristocratic family Ursinus von Baehr, which died out in the 19th century . In 1712 he baptized the son of the crown prince, later Frederick the Great . After Friedrich Wilhelm I came to power, his influence at the court quickly waned. The king halved his salary in the course of general financial consolidation and dismissed four of his sons from civil service.

From 1680 Ursinus was hereditary lord on Stolpe , 1700–1715 also on Gütergotz.

He died in Berlin and was buried in Gütergotz in 1720.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In Daniel Henry Hering New contributions to the history of the Evangelical Reformed Church in the Prussian-Brandenburg countries , Berlin Part 1 1786, page 99, is to be found, according to Alfred Nicolovius , the episcopal dignity in Prussia Protestant church. A contribution to the history of Protestant canon law. , Königsberg 1834, p. 93 , the statement that Benjamin Ursinus descended from the Courland nobility, his father Hanns von Baer was a Swedish lieutenant colonel, the mother was the daughter of a colonel von Blankenheim and the father gave him a pension to a preacher in Polish Lissa , but died soon afterwards without leaving anything behind. The preacher advised Benjamin von Baer to devote himself to theology and after Benjamin von Baer followed the advice, he also changed his name to Ursinus .
  2. ↑ Maximilian Ferd. Gritzner : Chronological register of the Brandenburg-Prussian class increases and acts of grace . Berlin 1874. 1600–1873.
  3. ↑ Andreas von Klewitz: "As before times ..." A documentation about the Brandenburg-Prussian court preacher and Bishop Benjamin Ursinus von Bär (1646–1720). Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-7450-6082-9 .
  4. ^ Gütergotz Duncker Collection.

literature

  • Peter Bahl : The court of the great elector. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-412-08300-3 , pp. 605–606 ( publications from the archives of Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Supplement 8th excerpt online ).
  • Lothar Noack, Jürgen Splett: Bio Bibliographies. Brandenburg scholars of the early modern period. Berlin-Cölln 1688-1713 . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-05-003318-5 , pp. 483-492.
  • Lars A. Severin: Contributions to a list of descendants of the court preacher Benjamin Ursin (us) von Bär. In: Der Herold, quarterly for heraldry, genealogy and allied sciences. New series, Volume 18, Volume 56, Issue 1–2, Berlin 2013, pp. 446–456.
  • Paul Tschackert :  Ursinus, Benjamin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 39, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1895, p. 365 f. (partly outdated state of research).
personal data
SURNAME Ursinus, Benjamin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ursinus von Baer, ​​Benjamin; Baer, ​​Benjamin Ursinus from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Elector of Brandenburg court preacher, Protestant Reformed bishop
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1646
PLACE OF BIRTH Lissa
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1720
Place of death Berlin