Christian Julius Wackerhagen

Christian Julius Wackerhagen (born August 6, 1667 in Michaelstein near Blankenburg (Harz) , † before 1748 in Goslar ) was bailiff and chief factor in Braunlage . He gained sad notoriety through the " process of the 4 major factors " against Duke Ludwig Rudolph from 1725.

Origin, family and profession

Wackerhagen came from a family of officials and pastors who can be added to the gradually emerging educated middle class. Already his great-grandfather Wilhelm Wackerhagen was a Brunswick-Lüneburg Oberamtmann in Wolfenbüttel , the grandfather Julius Wilhelm Wackerhagen (1575–1662) pastor and vicar of the St. Blasii monastery in Brunswick. Of his sons, the first was pastor in Dransfeld and Einbeck (Johann Wilhelm Wackerhagen, 1619–1660), the second lived in Blankenburg (Julius Adolf Wackerhagen, 1622–1686). The third son Georg Friedrich Wackerhagen (1632–1712), Christian Julius' father, was a senior bailiff in Michaelstein near Blankenburg and a factor in worry . He was married to Anna Katharina born in 1665. Walther (1647–1716), daughter of Christian Walther (1625–1685), iron factor in Braunlage .

Christian Julius Wackerhagen was the first born from this connection and was baptized on September 4, 1667 in Michaelstein. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth or his education.

In 1694 he married Dorothea Margarethe von Wehnde in Goslar (born December 2, 1664 ibid., Died April 1720 in Braunlage). Her father Georg Caspar von Wehnde, who died early in 1687 , was the canon of the Simonis et Judae monastery , canon and syndicus. For Dorothea it was the second marriage after her first husband Johann Friedrich Walther (1659-1692), chief factor and leaseholder of Braunlager Hüttenwerke, died and left her with (at least) three children of five, three and one year old. The late Walther was a younger brother of Wackerhagen's mother who married his uncle's widow.

The trading post was located in the later forester's house in Braunlage

At the same time as he was responsible for his wife, who was almost seven years older than him, and her children, he was the professional successor of the deceased, in that he became the chief factor and tenant of the hut in Braunlage and stayed for many years. Braunlage and the leased ironworks were in the area of ​​the County of Blankenburg , which was elevated to the status of an imperial principality in 1707. From 1717 Duke Ludwig Rudolph acted as the lessor as the reigning Prince of Blankenburg. Under the lease agreements, the hut leaseholder had the right to smelt the mined and delivered "iron stones" and to sell the iron freely, in Germany, however, only at contractually agreed prices, in return for payment of the lease agreed in advance . The princely landlord had to deliver fixed amounts of the (wood) coal required for this.

That Wackerhagen lived in a certain prosperity can be seen from the epitaph which he and his wife had built for their first daughter Johanna Catharina (1695–1707) in the Bartholomäuskirche in Blankenburg, who died young .

In 1714 he became a bailiff in Braunlage.

Family and contractual relationships of the 4 major factors

The lease from 1717 ran for six years until 1723. As early as 1719, the prince approached Wackerhagen and three of his colleagues with the request that they grant him an interest-bearing loan for the high amount of 100,000 thalers. In return, their lease contracts should be extended by a further ten years after the agreed term.

Duke Ludwig Rudolf of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (portrait by Johann Conrad Eichler )

The three colleagues who entered into the contract with Wackerhagen and granted the duke the loan were

• Christian Walther (1680–1728), bailiff at Benneckenstein , from 1711 chief factor and hut leaseholder in Tanne ,
• his brother Johann Heinrich Walther, from 1718 head factor and hut tenant in Rübeland , as well
• Joachim Johann Grofe (born approx. 1680), from 1711 head factor and hut leaseholder in Altenbrak and Neuenwerck near Blankenburg.

All four were in complex family relationships with one another: The father of the Walther brothers, Gabriel Bernhard Walther (1652–1728), who had already been the tenant of the huts as the predecessor of his sons, was another brother of Wackerhagen's mother, so the colleagues were also his cousins . Grofe, on the other hand, was married to the sister Anna Catharina Walther (born 1687) of his colleagues, so was to a certain extent a cousin by marriage of Wackerhagen. Wackerhagen's stepdaughter Anna Dorothea Walther from his wife's first marriage had married a Johann Heinrich Grofe (born 1674), whose presumed sisters Anna Eleanore (1672–1746?) And Christine Elisabeth in turn each with a Wackerhagen (the brother Justus Andreas, born. 1669, or the cousin Johann Friedrich Wackerhagen, 1658-1710) were married. The daughter of the latter, Anna Eleonore Wackerhagen (1688–1751), married Christian Walther in 1705.

After the death of his first wife in 1721, Wackerhagen himself married the widow Barbara Sophia geb. Windheim (born 1658) of his uncle Gabriel Bernhard Walther, which made him the stepfather of his cousins.

The “ nepotism ” corresponded to the custom of the time and was neither unknown nor undesirable to the sovereign. The four main factors were able to collectively obtain the high loan amount they required. The leases were extended, with the unannounced lease being increased by around 50%.

Investigation and trial

In the same year 1723, the Prince of Blankenburg asked the tenants to consent to an investigation. Blast furnaces of a Württemberg design supposedly delivered better yields, so their possible introduction on site should be considered. Before doing this, they want to check the actually existing profitability. The top factors consented to the investigation and undertook to cooperate, also with a second commission in 1724, since they were threatened to withdraw their rent otherwise. They were allowed to choose one of the members of the supposedly impartial commission, but were completely banned from participating in the investigation, which quickly spilled over to the private books of the tenants and other areas, which the tenants protested. In May 1725, all four of those affected were ordered to the residence city of Blankenburg under a pretext and were each arrested there individually; their factories were sealed and guarded.

Blankenburg Castle . Here two of the four major factors were arrested

Blankenburg town hall. This is where the other two top factors were imprisoned

The allegations made against them in the aftermath were that they had tried to hide the true quality of the huts through manipulative methods during the investigation, including overfilling the ovens, using wet coal, etc. So they would have the true quality from the prince Concealed the amount of their earnings and cheated him of several tons of gold. You would have to answer not only under civil law , but also criminally .

Those arrested turned to the royal court of Brunswick in Wolfenbüttel . Soon after, came to an agreement with the accused in such a way that the arrested persons in comparison ways committed, to cover all claims of Prince sums of money totaling 180,000 taler to him to pay and withdraw from the lease contracts. Three of the accused, but not Christian Walther, made partial payments, pledged their belongings to the Prince and affirmed on oath that they were currently unable to make higher payments. They were then released after two months in detention.

Soon afterwards Wackerhagen left Braunlage, went with his household effects to neighboring Ilsenburg in the Stolberg region and placed himself under the protection of the Brandenburg-Prussian king, which, according to his opponents, was also guilty of perjury and an alleged breach of peace. Christian Walther remained in custody and was sentenced to death by the Duke's verdict in autumn 1726 , according to a report by the Altdorf Law Faculty , but died on March 14, 1728 before the verdict could be carried out.

Legal and journalistic debate

Because of the injustice inflicted on them, the four main factors brought an action before the Reich Chamber of Commerce , which referred them to the Reichshofrat in 1726 . They had the support of the law faculty of the Prussian University of Halle and were represented by the secret war councilor Michael Kulenkamp from Minden . He suspected the Duke's desire to save himself the repayment of the loan and, on top of that, to make his own profit from the huts as the motive of the whole investigation.

The plaintiffs alleged that the entire investigation, and even more so the arrest, was unlawful. They had neither deceived the prince nor had this claim to a higher rent than that which he had agreed upon himself. While in custody, they were denied any visits from their wives and children and even a doctor or legal assistance, were not given any details of the allegations made and were not given access to the files. An initially promised release on bail was wrongly refused. Tired and worn down by months of isolation, they only concluded the settlement because they were told that otherwise they would face torture and other physical consequences.

The ducal opposing side pointed out that they had obtained legal advice from an expert opinion from Tübingen , and that everything had proceeded lawfully. Ludwig concluded the settlement without making much higher claims and only in order to prevent the appeal to the court in Wolfenbüttel, which he did not consider to be responsible for his domain.

Both sides tried to strengthen their respective legal position and public image through various referring publications:

• First appeared in 1727 Brief preliminary species in matters of their 4th Ober-Factoren contra die Fürstl. Blanckenburg government .
• In the same year, the princely opposing side replied with a brief preliminary report on the matter of the Fourth Major Factors brought to the Inquisition in the Principality of Blanckenburg for their frauds and falsorum .
• Thereupon the defenders countered also in the same year with the best-founded counter-report and honor rescue on von der Hochfürstl. Blanckenburg government provisionally published the brief report of our Christian Julius Wackerhagen, Johann Heinrich Grofen, Christian Walther and Johann Heinrich Walther as the Fürstlich-Blanckenburg Ober-Factors (...) urgently drafted and printed .
• Another six publications followed.

The outcome of the proceedings before the Reichshofrat, the further fate of the accused and their whereabouts are currently unknown. Wackerhagen died in Goslar before 1748 .

Children and siblings of Wackerhagen

The Wackerhagen trial does not seem to have had any impact on the reputation and advancement of his family members:

After their first daughter, who died early, the Wackerhagen couple had at least five other children, two of whom died in infancy. The son Heinrich Christian Friedrich Wackerhagen (1697–1764) became a Prussian bailiff in Wegeleben in 1731 and was a forest councilor in Wernigerode from 1745–1752. The daughter Sophie Elisabeth (1700–1774) married the bailiff Anton Caspar Christoph Cleve (1694–1765) in 1719, who was briefly arrested in 1725 in connection with the departure of his father-in-law on charges of breaking the peace. The other daughter Johanna Sophia Auguste (1707–1773) married the bailiff Heinrich Christoph Breymann (1694–1766), a citizen of the free imperial city of Goslar, where his father-in-law apparently lived at the end of his life.

The younger Wackerhagen brothers also worked as bailiffs or mining officials: Justus Andreas (born 1669) was a bailiff in Hayn , Georg Bernhard (1674–1729) was a factor in Schierke and a factor in Gittelde . Johann Friedrich (1681–1747) was Schwarzburg Hofrat and Oberamtmann in Großbodungen , where he acquired the kemenate there . He supported his brother in finalizing the settlement, which should have saved him the fate of Christian Walther.

Individual members of the family were ennobled.

literature

• Leibrock, Gustav Adolf: Chronicle of the city and the principality of Blankenburg, the county of Regenstein and the monasteries Michaelstein and Walkenried , vol. 2, Blankenburg 1865, pp. 233 to 248
• Gustav Heyse : On the Proceß against the Blankenburger Oberfactoren , in: Journal of the Harz Association for History and Antiquity, 3rd year Wernigerode 1870, p. 713 to 718

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d} Hans Funke: Wackerhagen lineage 1436 - 1862. Lower Saxony State Association for Family Studies eV founded in 1913, 1995, accessed on April 30, 2020 (genealogical information). 
2. ↑ Kurtzer preliminary report In the matter of those in the Principality of Blanckenburg their committed frauds and falsorum due to the Inquisition four major factors, Christian Julius Wackerhagen, Johann Heinrich Grofen, Christian Walthers, and Johann Heinrich Walthers, spread out some time ago by the well-behaved Malversanten Speciem Facti arranged, and required news to be printed. Henning Conrad Struve, accessed on May 1, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Well-founded counter-report and honor rescue on the von der Hochfürstl. The Blanckenburg government provisionally published the brief report mentioned by our Christian Julius Wackerhagen, Johann Heinrich Grofen, Christian Walther and Johann Heinrich Walther as the Princely Blanckenburg Ober-Factors. Retrieved May 1, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Listed by Johann Christian Lünig, Gottlieb August Jenichen: Bibliotheca Deductionum . Leipzig 1745, p. 150-153 .
5. ↑ AT Östa / HHStA Rk Smaller states-138-4-3 inheritance by Christian Julius Wackerhagen. In: Austrian State Archives. Retrieved May 1, 2020 . 
6. ↑ AT Östa / AVA Adel RAA 442.26 Wackerhagen, Bernhard Friedrich. In: Austrian State Archives. Retrieved May 1, 2020 .