Brandes (family)

Brandes is the name of a patrician family from Helmstedt , which has made a particular contribution to the Julius University .

Family history

The Brandes family comes from Schöningen . Her loan letters go back to 1399. In Helmstedt they appear as patricians and wholesalers as well as long-distance traders . According to the Helmstedter Bürgerbuch and the oldest pattern roll, they can be traced here at least since 1495, namely with Henrik / Heinrich Brandes, who is also referred to as the mayor in 1502. Other family members held the offices of councilors: chamberlain, a "bricklord", city clerk, bailiff, "gatekeeper". Some serve as gang leaders in the citizenry. In terms of their profession, members of the Brandes family were often Kramer and merchants. They owned “want shops” and were elegant tailors. There are also higher clergymen (canons) among them (Schaper, Bürgerb.). For reasons of risk diversification, they were active - on a large scale - in a wide-ranging economic commitment, for example in the wool and cloth trade, clothing cutting, beer brewing, as bankers and trading in the agricultural income of their rich fiefdoms. Several of the sovereigns were among their fiefdoms. These included fiefs of the dukes of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, the archbishops of Magdeburg and the bishops of Halberstadt and Hildesheim.

Well-known representatives

Ludegke Brandes the Elder Ä.

Ludegke (Ludegke / Lüddecke / Ludwig) Brandes the Elder (* 1500–28 November 1590), Ludeckes son.

It was customary for urban aristocrats to buy into one of the city's most distinguished guilds in order to gain easier access to one of the coveted council offices. The “Wantschneider” guild (clothing tailors / cloth trade) offered the best conditions for this. Ludegke Brandes the Elder Ä. was in the possession of the municipal "Wantladen" under the town hall.

Hermann Brandes

Hermann Brandes (* - died while traveling in Dresden 1661)

Son of Ludegke Brandes the Elder. He inherited his father's Wantladen and held the office of Mayor of Helmstedt.

Bookseller, publisher and university patron

The Julius University, founded in 1576, quickly became the third largest university in the empire. For a long time it was the only location of a university in what is now Lower Saxony. The university was initially under the jurisdiction of the privileged "academic booksellers". The city council tried to get the university under its suzerainty. For this purpose, the municipal book trade association was founded with the help of well-funded members of old local council and patrician families. Among the patrician families were the mayor Ludegke Brandes, Heinrich Bühring and Ludegke Brandes the Elder. They joined forces with the first Helmstedt university printer and master of woodcut, Jacob Lucius the Elder, appointed by Duke Julius . Ä. , together.

In April 1586 they reported to the Duke about their “big publisher” and that they “relocated and promoted the book trucking facility in SFG Julius Universitet at great and heavy costs”, “as the work carried out unnecessarily testifies”. And these are "in all four facultets: Theologica, Juridica, Medica and Philosophica ... with elegantibus Typis uff gut papyr brought to light ..."

Ludegke Brandes the Elder , known as a bookseller since 1582, was the tenant of the municipal bookstore on the market from 1584. He took on the dominant role within the city's book trade association early on and did a great deal of credit to the newly founded university. He was regarded as a generous sponsor of the ducal university printing press, which he regarded as "an essential cleinod and ornament" for this school.

The Brandes acted with their books for the academic readership on the most important "international" bookshops in Germany, for example in Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig and also at the trade fairs in Braunschweig, Magdeburg, Wittenberg, Halle, Dresden, Cologne etc. Hermann Brandes was a bookseller and publisher in the succession of his father and appeared as a publisher until 1605. Until 1610 he was the tenant of the municipal bookstore.

Due to the workload of the Helmstedt printing plant, it was necessary to involve external printing workshops. There is also evidence from Magdeburg, Zerbst, Heinrichstadt (Wolfenbüttel), Leipzig and Frankfurt / M. in front.

The book production of the Julius University exceeded that of all other cities in today's Lower Saxony many times over. The Brandes were the most important booksellers and publishers in this area. In the first 20 years of printing in Helmstedt, around 537 titles with a print run in some cases exceeding 1,000 copies can be identified. When they were about to retire from the book business in 1605, they sold 32,000 books in a single contract - and there was more inventory.

Hermann Brandes made a contribution to the university in another way: when the Herzogliche Papiermühle zu Oker / Harz could no longer fulfill its obligation to supply the Ducal Printing House to Helmstedt. Hermann Brandes then founded a paper mill in Räbke in 1594 "In honor of his princely grace Julius-Uniuersitet zu Helmstedt".

This was repeated in 1609 in a modified form in Salzdahlum near Wolfenbüttel, and, as it seems, again in Räbke. This meant that at least three paper mills were temporarily obliged to Julius University. Correspondingly, a number of Brandesian coats of arms in various designs as Räbker watermarks as well as proof of the existence of the Räbker or Brandessian paper mill have been identified and displayed.

coat of arms

Bronze baptism from 1590

The Brandes had a "talking" coat of arms: As a crest, fresh green grows from the imaginary fire (or its ashes) in the form of two intersecting branches, each with three leafy leaves, one of which has a bud. The Knorrenkreuz is usually shown in the form of the St. Andrew's Cross. At the beguinage, however, it stands upright in both cases. Sometimes it is also used as a helmet ornament, such as on the Rohrschen House in Helmstedt. Another proof is the bronze baptism of 1590 - a foundation of the council (although Ludegke Brandes the Elder was without office in this year - the year he died!). The five names of the founders include all three names (and coats of arms) of the book trade and publishing firm, including two members of the Brandes family.

literature

Joachim Lehrmann: The early history of the book trade and publishing industry in the old university town of Helmstedt and the history of the once important paper mills at Räbke am Elm and Salzdahlum / Helmstedter and Räbker book and paper history , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 .
Johannes Mebesius: Bey der Begrebnis des ... Ludigke Brandes , Helmstedt 1591 (funeral sermon)

Web links

Family history Brandes, Wahnschaffe, Scharschmidt u. Co.

Individual evidence

↑ Joachim Lehrmann : Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (p. 51f.).
↑ Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (p. 43ff.).
↑ Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (pp. 81f. And appendix).
↑ Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (p. 115ff.).
↑ Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (pp. 316 and 325f.).

[1] Joachim Lehrmann : Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (p. 51f.).

[2] Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (p. 43ff.).

[3] Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (pp. 81f. And appendix).

[4] Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (p. 115ff.).

[5] Joachim Lehrmann: Helmstedter and Räbker Book and Paper History , Lehrte 1994, ISBN 978-3-9803642-0-1 (pp. 316 and 325f.).