Berleburger Chronicles

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The Berleburger Chroniken, published in 1964 as supplement 2 of the Wittgensteiner Heimatverein.

The Berleburg Chronicles are prosaic representations of the town history of Bad Berleburg and the Wittgensteiner Land , beginning in 1488 and spanning more than three centuries. They lay, partly unnoticed, in various archives and with private individuals and were brought together for the first time in 1961 and published on behalf of the Wittgensteiner Heimatverein .

structure

The Berleburger Chronicles consist of a total of five parts:

1. Chronicle of Georg Cornelius for 1488–1587, completed on February 20, 1587 in Berleburg.

The Berleburger mayor Georg Cornelius dedicated his chronicle to the then sovereign, Ludwig the Elder, and summarized the events known to him at the time. He mentioned the town fire of 1488, described the events around 1506, when Berleburg was struck by the plague with numerous victims, and also gave a brief review of the founding of the town and castle in 1258. From 1506, the descriptions of the chronicler Cornelius are more precise and more extensive. Cornelius continued his description of the events in Berleburg until 1587 and died on September 13, 1587. The original of the first chronicle is considered lost. There are only copies of the Girkhausen pastor Johann Guden (* around 1535; † July 2, 1587), which Guden (often also Latinized : Gudenus ) made during the lifetime of the first chronicler.

2. Chronicle of Antonius Crawelius for 1587–1629, completed on January 5, 1630 in Wingeshausen.

Anton Grauel (* 1572; † October 2, 1634 in Raumland ) was after his training at the pedagogy in Herborn first rector and second pastor in Berleburg (1601-1624), then pastor in Wingeshausen (1625-1630), last pastor in Raumland (1633). On March 4, 1601 he received the order from the notary and town clerk Joachim Breusing to continue the chronicle of Cornelius. Since Grauel was only 15 years old at the beginning of his chronicle and was also matriculated at the pedagogy in Herborn from 1587 to 1594 , he should first have written down the perceptions of other people, including those of his client Breusing. From 1601 on, Grauel recorded the events he had personally experienced.

3. Intermediate chronicle of Johann Daniel Scheffer for 1621–1741, completed in Berleburg around 1741.

Cover of the Chronicle, Princely Archives Berleburg, Acta A - C 007

This section is called the intermediate chronicle because the chronicler Johann Daniel Scheffer endeavored to fill in events from the end of Cornelius' chronicle to the beginning of his own chronicle. From this it becomes clear that he did not know Anton Grauel's chronicle. This can also be seen in the fact that Scheffer's information, which partially overlaps with Grauel's descriptions, is poorer for this period than the detailed and interesting information provided by his predecessor. Scheffer was only able to report more extensively with the introduction of the Berleburg church records in 1621.

4. Chronicle of Johann Daniel Scheffer from June 5, 1741 until his death on September 18, 1795.

Johann Daniel Scheffer (born May 27, 1714 in Birkelbach ; † September 12, 1795 in Berleburg) was the Count's road commissioner and merchant. He held the office of mayor of Berleburg from 1751 to 1755 and from 1762 to 1767, in 1772 he was again acting mayor. Scheffer's chronicle is the most extensive of all Berleburger chronicles. It begins with the assumption of government by Count Ludwig Ferdinand zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg , who inherited from his father, Count Casimir . The chronicler had been an independent merchant in Berleburg for three years and was 27 years old. Then Scheffer reports from his own experience for 54 years about the events in the northern county of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, but also about the neighboring southern county of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein.

5. Chronicle of Ludwig Christian Schäfer from 1795–1799 (short continuation).

Ludwig Christian Schäfer (born May 4, 1751 in Berleburg; † August 2, 1826 there) was the youngest son of Johann Daniel Scheffer. In his later years he changed the spelling of his family name, this change was also adopted by his son. Ludwig Christian was his father's successor professionally and, with his consent, took over the continuation of the Berleburg Chronicles. After Ludwig Christian first appeared as his father's scribe, who presumably dictated his perceptions to him, he continued the chronicle until 1799 after his father's death. At the end of the 18th century, the continuation of the Berleburger Chroniken also came to an end. The reasons for this are not yet known.

Historical processing

The Berleburg Chronicles are among the most important and informative sources, not only for the local history of the city of Bad Berleburg, but for the entire Wittgenstein region, which included two counties from 1605. In addition, they provide a lot of family history connections from a time when the Berleburger and Laaspher parish registers were not yet introduced. The special thing about them was that they were initially unknown in their scope.

It was not until basic research in the 1950s, largely carried out by Wilhelm Hartnack (1893–1963), that gave an inkling of the extent of the records, some of which have been lost in Germany. Some of the originals are in the Princely Archives Bad Berleburg and in the city's archives. Under the direction of Wilhelm Hartnack and the collaboration of local researchers Werner Wied and Eberhard Bauer, the texts were transcribed , classified and commented on. The results were first published in the association's own journal Wittgenstein from 1961 to 1963. Wilhelm Hartnack did not live to see the publication of the complete works of the Berleburger Chroniken in May 1964.

literature

The Berleburger Chronicles of Georg Cornelius, Antonius Crawelius and Johann Daniel Scheffer. Wittgenstein. Pages of the Wittgensteiner Heimatverein eV, Supplement 2, edited by Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Hartnack † with the collaboration of Eberhard Bauer and Werner Wied, Verlag Buchhandlung Carl, Laasphe 1964.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Hartnack: Die Berleburger Chroniken , Laasphe 1964, p. 7
  2. ^ Wilhelm Hartnack: Die Berleburger Chroniken, Laasphe 1964, pp. 11-87
  3. ↑ Fürstliches Archiv Berleburg, Acta A – C 6: ... This castle master copied the chronica, according to Erbar George Corneli, mayor of Berleburg from 1488 Jar bis vff his government, through the worthy Hernan Johan Guden of Cöllen pastor of Girckhausen to let.
  4. ↑ Ulf Lückel: The Evangelical Church Girkhausen . In: Blätter des Wittgensteiner Heimatverein eV, supplement 9, Bad Laasphe 2019, pp. 21-23.
  5. ↑ Fürstliches Archiv Berleburg, Acta A – C 007: Chronicle of the city of Berleburg by Crawelius, Pastor of Wingeshausen. 1587 ff.
  6. ^ Wilhelm Hartnack: Die Berleburger Chroniken, Laasphe 1964, pp. 88-118.
  7. ^ Wilhelm Hartnack: Die Berleburger Chroniken, Laasphe 1964, pp. 119-146
  8. ^ Wilhelm Hartnack: Die Berleburger Chroniken, Laasphe 1964, pp. 147-294.
  9. ^ Wilhelm Hartnack: Die Berleburger Chroniken, Laasphe 1964, pp. 295-306.
  10. ↑ Wittgenstein magazine , sheets of the Wittgensteiner Heimatverein Jg. 49/1961, issue 1 to year 51/1963, issue 4.