Christian Detlev von Reventlow (1671–1738)

Christian Detlev from Reventlow

Christian Detlev Graf von Reventlow (born June 21 or 26, 1671 in Hadersleben ( North Schleswig ); † October 1, 1738 in Tølløse on the island of Zealand ) was Danish and imperial general and later royal president in the city of Altona .

Biographical data

The Reventlows were a widespread Holstein-Schleswig primeval noble family (first mentioned in 1223), which was raised to the Danish count status in 1673 . Christian Detlev was a son of the Danish Grand Chancellor Conrad von Reventlow from his first marriage to Anna Margarete von Gabel (1651–1678), daughter of the governor Christoffer von Gabel . By marrying his half-sister Anna Sophie in 1712 he became the brother-in-law of the absolutist King Frederick IV of Denmark .

As was typical for many nobles, he initially devoted himself to the craft of war (especially during the military conflicts with Sweden ). But he also fought in the War of the Spanish Succession . From 1702 he commanded a Danish auxiliary corps in Italy, then temporarily joined the Austrian army as a field marshal lieutenant and in the absence of Eugene of Savoy, commanded the imperial forces in Italy. He was wounded in the Battle of Cassano . In 1706 he suffered a heavy defeat as the Imperial Commander in the Battle of Calcinato . In 1709 he took his leave of the Austrian army with the rank of General Feldzeugmeister and returned to his homeland. In 1709 he led the Danish troops in Skåne as Lieutenant General of the Royal Danish Infantry. He then became a bailiff in his hometown Hadersleben (Danish Haderslev ); he presented himself as a competent administrative specialist. Therefore, on March 16, 1713, the king appointed him Oberpräsident of the city of Altona. Reventlow held this function until 1732; then he gave up the office and left the Holstein city because the dissatisfaction of the population with his autocratic leadership style increased and his royal brother-in-law († 1730) could no longer hold a protective hand over him.

Reventlow died in 1738 on Zealand ( Sjælland in Danish ).

family

From 1700 he was married to Benedikta Margarethe von Brockdorff (1678–1739). She was the youngest daughter of Cay Bertram von Brockdorff on Kletkamp from his second marriage to Hedwig Ranzau and half-sister of Cay Lorenz von Brockdorff . The couple had eleven children, including:

• Conrad Detlev (* July 23, 1704; † July 24, 1750)
• Christian Detlev (March 10, 1710 - March 30, 1775)
• Christina Irmengardis (May 2, 1711 - October 6, 1779); she married Duke Friedrich Karl of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön in 1730

"New founder of Altona"

"Sweden Fire" (1713)

Altona, raised to the rank of city in 1664 as a competitor of neighboring Hamburg , had grown to 12,000 inhabitants by 1710, but this role was endangered by two catastrophes: on November 2, 1711, a damaging fire destroyed around 270 apartments, leaving around 1,350 people homeless - and Altona had not yet recovered from this when on 8/9 On January 1st, 1713, the Swedish General Magnus Stenbock had the unfortified city burned down as planned after the city fathers had dragged out negotiations about the sum he had demanded (50,000 Reichstaler) over and over again. After this “Swedish fire” only about 200 houses and stalls were unscathed, the plague was rampant and a large number of the residents had left the city.

The town hall from 1721
(destroyed in 1943)

In this situation Reventlow, endowed with two far-reaching royal privileges (from March 18, 1713) and also responsible for the neighboring Pinneberg communities Ottensen and Neumühlen , came to "Hamburg's beautiful sister" Altona to organize their reconstruction. The first thing he did was to appoint a town builder, namely Claus Stallknecht (1681–1734) from Schleswig-Holstein, who planned and supervised the new Altona building while retaining the old street layout. As early as April 1713, the first 100 houses - all of stone - began to be built; at the same time, a court, prison and an " excise office" (taxpaying office) were rebuilt. In February 1714, the chief president dismissed the previous members of the magistrate "for incompetence, corruption and drunkenness" (and did not appoint a mayor until his own resignation); In the same year, the jetty on the Elbe was rebuilt, the town hall and fish market expanded in 1715 and construction of the town hall designed by Stallknecht in the Baroque style began in 1716 (completed in 1721). In 1717, Reventlow had four rows of linden trees planted on Altona's former and present boulevard, the Palmaille , which had meanwhile been completely run down and was only used by Reepschläger to twist ropes , in order to create a "public avenue". As a result of this and the measures mentioned below, Altona, which was largely destroyed, already had as many residents as before the two fires in 1720.

Administrative modernizer and business promoter

In the first ten years of his senior presidency in particular, Reventlow issued an abundance of ordinances and created municipal responsibilities, which today for the most part appear normal, but which were by no means in the cities of northern central Europe in the early 18th century :

• A tax exemption for a maximum of 20 years was granted for new buildings in order to promote reconstruction.
• The mandatory registration and approval of buildings as well as the definition of building lines can be regarded as a forerunner of today's building planning, advice and supervision.
• For the first time a land register was created in Altona .
• A private carter was hired and paid from the city treasury for regular street cleaning and rubbish removal (“Ordinance on how to keep the streets in the city of Altona clean” of February 22, 1714).
• The voluntary and private insurance was replaced by compulsory building insurance with the municipal fire fund (general fire regulations of September 18, 1714), from which the Schleswig-Holstein state fire fund later emerged.
• A privately operated well company was founded and licensed to improve the hygienic conditions (1722; it existed until 1854).
• In addition, Reventlow introduced the obligation to report for strangers to the city and a police hour and issued orders for regular mail traffic.

The royal privileges of March 18, 1713 already contained competitive advantages for the Altona economy: the freedom of guilds from 1664 was confirmed, exports to the Danish heartland and the duchies of Holstein and Schleswig remained largely duty-free, and imports via the Altona port were also favored - and even if These rights were restricted from around 1725 in order to expand the position of the capital Copenhagen , they also contributed to the fact that the following decades were called the city's heyday, as did other economic measures initiated by Reventlow himself: the improvement of the infrastructure became public Standard task, which can be seen, for example, in the new paving of streets and alleys, the construction of a new harbor basin (“Holzhafen”, 1722–1724) and the establishment of a Latin school (later the “ Christianeum ”, construction started in 1721).

Reventlow's poor pen

Reventlow has left traces in Altona not only in his office, but also with his private fortune: he donated 7,000 thalers, with which an orphanage, poor houses and a small church (from 1745 Heiliggeistkirche) on urban land between Palmaille and later Königstraße 1713 to 1718 called) were built. Although this poor foundation was awarded to the city of Altona after his death in a legal dispute (1739), the founder is still present in the cityscape: the "Gräflich-Reventlowsche Armenstiftung", 1883 at today's Bernstorff- / Thadenstraße in Altona-Altstadt relocated and now a residential and nursing home for the elderly, still bears the name "Reventlow-Stift".

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry Reventlow In: Allgemeine Militärenzyklopädie Bd. 7, Leipzig 1872, p. 364

literature

• Hans Berlage : Altona. A city fate. (Broschek & Co), Hamburg 1937.
• Hans-Günther Friday, Hans-Werner Engels: Altona. Hamburg's beautiful sister. A. Springer, Hamburg 1982.
• Renata Klée Gobert: The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Volume II Altona Elbe suburbs. C. Wegner, Hamburg 1959.
• P [aul]. Piper: Altonas Brand on January 8, 1713. J. Harder, Altona 1913.
• Agathe Wucher: The commercial development of the city of Altona in the age of mercantilism (1664-1803). In: Martin Ewald (Ed.): 300 years of Altona. Contributions to its history. H. Christians, Hamburg 1964.
• HW Harbou: Reventlow, Christian Ditlev . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 14 : Resen – Saxtrup . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1900, p. 26–31 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
• The genealogical-historical Archivarius. 1738, pp. 566-570 ( books.google.de ).

Web links

• Reventlow family Danish / English