Bernhard Heinrich von Germeten

Chamberlain of the von Germeten

Bernhard Heinrich Germeten (1728/32 Knight and Edler von Germeten ) (* 1680 in Volkmarsen ; † May 12, 1737 in Vienna ) was a professor of law in Prague , as well as a high-ranking official in the Habsburg service.

Life

Germeten came from a middle-class upper class family in Volkmarsen. His ancestors came from the neighboring village of Germete near Warburg. He was initially secretary of the Oelinghausen nunnery near Arnsberg . He later attended the universities in Marburg and Mainz and studied law . He then worked after an unsuccessful application for a professorship in Olomouc in Prague. There he became consistorial assessor and in 1710 extraordinary and in 1712 full professor of law.

In addition, in 1719 Germeten was appointed learned councilor of the Kingdom of Bohemia and later Chancellor of the Kingdom. In 1728 he was raised to the Bohemian nobility. In the process of the canonization of John of Nepomuk he took over the function of advocatus diaboli in 1729 . He evidently performed this task in an exemplary manner and was honored many times for it. Among them was the appointment as chamberlain. It is unclear who gave him this title. During his time in Prague he married Maria Anna von Widmann.

He later moved from Prague to Vienna. There he was initially director of the Royal Hungarian State Chancellery and later Reichshofrat. His title was: “Court Chamber Council, Advisory Board of the Royal Hungarian Court Chancellery , also secret chancellery director of the Duke of Lorraine.” At the same time he was raised to hereditary imperial nobility in 1732.

Since he himself had no other sons apart from one son who was an abbot in a Hungarian monastery, he made sure that the title of nobility was extended to his family of origin in Volkmarsen. He left a Fideikommisgut of 16,000 guilders, which should be passed on to the eldest descendant of the family. He also gave the parish church in his hometown, among other things, an 8-pound monstrance , a precious communion chalice and other pieces such as a reliquary in the form of a star, set with stones and an image of St. Nepomuk.

In the House Hövener in Brilon be is chamberlain's key issued. He came to the city of Volkmarsen through marriage and family ties.

He wrote a number of legal writings.

literature

• Carsten Vorwig: The Advocatus Diaboli with the golden key. The offices of Bernhard Heinrich von Germeten . In: Stefan Baumeier / Katharina Schlimmgen-Ehmke (ed.): Golden times. Sauerland economic citizens from the 17th to the 19th century. Essen, 2001 pp. 118–121
• Johann Suibert Seibertz: Westphalian contributions to German history. Vol.1: News about the writers of the Duchy of Westphalia . Darmstadt, 1819 p. 239f
• Christian d'Elvert: History of the study, school and educational institutions in Moravia and Austrian Silesia in particular the University of Olomouc in recent times . Brno, 1857 p. 5f. Digitized