Christian Ketelhot

Christian Ketelhot on an engraving

Christian Ketelhot (also Ketelhodt ) (* around 1492 in Görke (today Górzyca in Gryfice ); † 1546 ) was a German reformer . Together with six other monks, he brought Luther's teaching to the Hanseatic city of Stralsund .

biography

Ketelhot was born in the village of Görke in the district of Greifenberg i. Pom. born. As a canon of the Premonstratensian Monastery of Belbuck , he met Johannes Bugenhagen and made friends with his teachings. He later worked as a pastor at the Nikolaikirche in Stolp , where he preached the doctrine of the Reformation . Bogislaw X. deposed him in 1522 at the instigation of Bishop Erasmus von Manteuffel-Arnhausen . Ketelhot tried in vain to explain himself to Bogislaw X.

He gave up preaching and went on a wandering through Pomerania and Mecklenburg , where he earned his living with manual activities and military service. His destination was Livonia , where he wanted to start a new life.

On the way there he came to Stralsund in the spring of 1523 . In the absence of a ride, he initially stayed in Stralsund and learned to dye cloth from a master craftsman. He observed the Catholic clergy in the churches and monasteries of the city and was recognized one day by the priest preaching at a sermon in the Katharinenkirche ; The latter called him a “runaway monk” in front of the assembled crowd, to which Ketelhot replied, “It was all talk of an ignorant donkey” and left the church.

Stralsund citizens, including Franz Wessel, went to see him and asked that Luther preach publicly. Ketelhot preached for the first time on May 10, 1523, in the open air, in front of the Hospitaler Tor, at the St. Jürgen cemetery . After the third sermon he was asked by the Catholic clergy to stop preaching, and the Catholic-dominated council then issued such a ban. Ketelhot initially followed the ban, but preached again after the subsequent insults from the Catholic priests.

On June 1, 1523, he preached for the first time within the city, in the Nikolaikirche ; more sermons followed. He was from out of Treptow an der Rega coming Johann Kureke supported. The city council did not enforce its ban, as some council members as well as the mayor Nikolaus Smiterlow , who henceforth protected Ketelhot, already belonged to the Protestant faith. At Pentecost 1524 a revolt of dissatisfied citizens broke out against the council. Under the leadership of Roloff Möller, Stralsund town hall was stormed and the establishment of a citizens' committee ("48 Committee") was enforced. This supported the Protestant movement.

Church window of the Heilgeistkirche with a representation of Ketelhot

In the autumn of 1524 the conflict between Catholics and Protestants broke out openly. Both sides preached in the same churches, sometimes even with reference to the current sermon of the other; Catholic priests and monks were mocked on the street, preachers interrupted and insulted during the sermon. The clashes reached their climax on April 10, 1525 in the so-called church breaking , when churches and monasteries were looted. As a result, the majority of citizens and the council turned to evangelical doctrine. The two reformers Ketelhot and Kureke received the main parishes in St. Nikolai. Ketelhot was also subject to the newly elaborated church and school regulations. When Superintendent Johannes Knipstro was appointed General Superintendent of Pommern-Wolgast in 1535, Ketelhot succeeded him in the office of Superintendent of Stralsund.

There is a representation of Ketelhodt in the church window of the Heilgeistkirche next to Martin Luther and King Gustav Adolf II of Sweden . A portrait of him was hung in the Nikolaikirche.

family

Ketelhots belonging to the noble family Ketelhodt is not documented, but plausible, since he is said to have used the same family coat of arms . He married the daughter of the citizen Detmar Röling in Stralsund on July 24, 1524.

Literature / source

• Fritz Adler: From Stralsund's history . Second completely changed edition. Carl Meincke's Buchhandlung, owner: H. Bucksch, Stralsund 1937.
• Herbert Ewe : History of the city of Stralsund . Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Successor, Weimar 1984 (Publications of the Stralsund City Archives, Volume 10)
• Dorothea and Erika Köpp: Interesting and little known about three important Pomeranians: Christian Ketelhut, Rudolf Virchow, Heinrich von Stephan changed the lives of many Pomeranians . Husum 1992
• Theodor Pyl:  Ketelhodt, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 666 f.