Christian Wilhelm von Krohnemann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christian Wilhelm Baron von Krohnemann , also written Kronemann, (* May 1636 in Königsburg near Dorpat in Livonia ; † April 27, 1686 in Kulmbach ), was an officer , mint director, mining director, privy councilor , alchemist and fortress commander of the Plassenburg in the service of Margrave Christian Ernst from Brandenburg-Kulmbach-Bayreuth .

From the Universal Tinctu r

Life and work

The bourgeois Christian Wilhelm Krohnemann was born in May 1636 in Königsburg near Dorpat in Livonia and is said to have been the son of a Swedish major general. After he lived for a short time in Forchheim in Bamberg in 1677 and was on Prince Bishop Peter Philipp von Dernbach's payroll as an alchemist in May 1677 , he joined Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Kulmbach-Bayreuth as an officer in 1677 .

He must have made a great impression on the margrave, who in a few years made him mining director, secret council, then "chief president", chamberlain and mint director in Bayreuth . Finally, the prince appointed him in command of the Plassenburg fortress .

Krohnemann made the margrave believable that he could "extract" silver from base metals. He later also developed a recipe for extracting gold from mercury. The conversion of base metals into gold, in contrast to the "silver production", is extremely difficult, but the margrave insisted on producing this alchemically. The basis of his alleged ability to transform metal is his "secret tincture", which he brewed in "philosophical ovens" made from extremely expensive components , and a secret "white powder", the composition and origin of which he kept secret. He boiled mercury in iron pans with vinegar, salt and verdigris. Krohnemann bought gold from the margravial silver donations, melted it down and presented it as the alleged result of his obscure experiments.

Krohnemann had his coins minted in a provisionally set up mint in Bayreuth Castle. He now needed more and more capital for his experiments, it also flowed in the form of the margrave's silver crockery and in the form of a credit from the court preacher and privy councilor Caspar von Lilien, who also hoped for an increase in his wealth. The deceiver lived in Bayreuth on a large scale, with a body servant, cook, stable master, servants and maids. He has been accused of fraud several times. He evidently escaped legal proceedings and punishment through another trick: he claimed to be able to cure diseases with another tincture and treated several members of the margravial court society. In addition, the lavish and lavish Margravine Sophie Luise von Brandenburg-Kulmbach-Bayreuth held her protective hand over him for a long time.

In 1684, according to other reports as early as 1681, Krohnemann was accused of fraud for the first time by the mint master Johann Junge, brought before the margravial court and subsequently imprisoned at the Plassenburg. There another laboratory was set up for him in the "Red Tower" of the fortress and, on the orders of the margraves, despite all the concerns of the advisors, he had to continue to make gold. According to other sources, he is said to have persuaded the margrave himself to give him the title of fortress commander and to provide him with a laboratory on the Plassenburg.

When he could not win any new donors for his experiments while working on the Plassenburg, he fled with a rope over the fortress walls and made his way towards Kupferberg in the neighboring bishopric of Bamberg . He changed to the Catholic faith and wanted to enter the Marienweiher monastery , but was arrested after an extradition request from the Margrave of Bamberg's military and on March 1, 1686 at Untersteinach he was extradited to Kulmbach soldiers and imprisoned in Kulmbach at the Fronfeste . A court sentenced him to death. Krohnemann was hanged in his red uniform on April 27, 1686 on the Galgenberg near Kulmbach, allegedly only hours before the margravial pardon reached him.

The coins produced by Krohnemann enjoyed great popularity as early as the 18th century and were included in large collections. The copperplate engraver Johann Sebastian Leitner made precise illustrations of it for the many interested parties: The coin prints of this fraudster will be all the more desirable to the readers, the rarer the coins themselves are, which cannot be brought together otherwise than at great expense. They are tapped by the hand of skillful now deceased engraver Leitner, the most accurate of loud original research ... .

Works

The coins that can be clearly attributed to him and which Krohnemann had produced as the mint director of the margrave are all marked with his initials CWBDK (= Christian Wilhelm Baron De Krohnemann). Johann Jakob Wohlrab from Nuremberg cut some of the dies.

  • large foam coin with tied Mercury on Margrave Christian Ernst from January 8, 1678, minted in silver and gold.
  • Whole thaler with double-headed eagle , arm from 1679 holding a shield on the back, minted in silver and gold.
  • Gulden with half-length portrait of Margrave Christian Ernst , inscription on the reverse, minted in 1679 in silver and gold.
  • Reichstaler on the pregnancy of Margravine Sophie Luise von Württemberg , silver, 1679. Obverse: Cupid aims at the crown on a column wound with vines, in front of it 2 beaking pigeons, on the right a sunflower. Reverse: Palm tree lit by the sun, to which two crowned hearts with the initials of the margrave couple are chained.
  • Reichstaler on Hereditary Prince Georg Wilhelm , silver, 1679.
  • Half-Talerstück on Margravine Sophie Luise , silver, 1681.

literature

  • Alexander Bauer: The nobility documents of Austrian alchemists and the images of some medals of alchemical origin . Vienna 1893.
  • Georg Adam Ernst Deuerlein: Two Krohnemann Thaler . In: Erlanger Heimatblätter 17 (1934), pp. 14–15.
  • Georg Wolfgang Augustin Fikenscher : Christian Wilhelm Baron von Krohnemann. Story of this alleged gold maker, one of the greatest and strangest crooks of the seventeenth century . Nuremberg 1800.
  • Carola L. Gottzmann / Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . 3 volumes; Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 . Volume 1, pp. 339f.
  • Johann Wilhelm Holle : Krohnemann, the gold maker . In: Archives for history and antiquity of Upper Franconia . 8th volume, 2nd issue. Bayreuth 1861. pp. 47-54.
  • Vladimir Karpenko: Alchemical Coins and Medals . In: Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseum . Nuremberg 2001, pp. 49-72.
  • W. Mages: The gold maker from Kulmbach . In: Heimaterzähler , weekly supplement to the Marktredwitzer Tagblatt, No. 46. Marktredwitz 1958.
  • Bernd Mayer: Bayreuth G'schichtla: Curiosities from the city's history . Bayreuth 2002.
  • Michael Neubauer: "Goldmacher" Krohnemanns Tincture . In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia . 93rd volume. Bayreuth 2013. pp. 79-98.
  • Karl Christoph Schmieder: Schmieders complete edition of the history of alchemy . Reprint of the edition from 1832. Leipzig 2009.
  • Gerhard Schön: Coin and monetary history of the principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth in the 17th and 18th centuries . Dissertation, Munich 2005.
  • Article Krohnemann, Christian Wilhelm Baron de , in: Karl Sitzmann : Artists and craftsmen in East Franconia , published by Georg Fischer; on behalf of the association "Friends of Plassenburg" EV, (= Die Plassenburg. Writings for local research and cultural maintenance in East Franconia; Volume 12), Kulmbach 1957, p. 554

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Bauer: The nobility documents of Austrian alchemists and the images of some medals of alchemical origin . Vienna 1893, p. 66.
  2. ↑ Herwig Buntz: Alchemists in the service of Bishop Peter Philipp von Dernbach (1672–1683). In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 3, 1985, pp. 335-353, here: pp. 338 ff.
  3. ^ Gerhard Schön: Coin and monetary history of the principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth in the 17th and 18th centuries , dissertation. Munich 2005, p. 314.
  4. ^ W. Mages: The gold maker from Kulmbach . In: Heimaterzähler , weekly supplement to the Marktredwitzer Tagblatt , No. 46, Marktredwitz 1958, p. 2.
  5. ^ Karl Christoph Schmieder: History of Alchemy . Halle 1832. p. 447.
  6. ↑ The gallows Baron Christian von Krohnemann . In: Sunday in Franconia from August 15, 2010. S. 6
  7. ^ Karl Fries: History of the study institute in Bayreuth. Invitation to the 200th anniversary celebration of the Royal High School , Bayreuth 1864, p. 26.
  8. ↑ Krohnemann, the gold maker . In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , 8/2, Bayreuth 1861, p. 54.
  9. ^ Georg Wolfgang Augustin Fikenscher: Christian Wilhelm Baron von Krohnemann. Story of this alleged gold maker, one of the greatest and strangest crooks of the seventeenth century . Nuremberg 1800, p. 7.
  10. ^ Gerhard Schön: Coin and monetary history of the principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth in the 17th and 18th centuries . Dissertation, Munich 2008, p. 286.
personal data
SURNAME Krohnemann, Christian Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Krohnemann, Christian Wilhelm Baron von; Kronemann, Christian Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Officer, mint master, mining director, alchemist and fortress commander
DATE OF BIRTH May 1636
PLACE OF BIRTH Royal castle near Dorpat , Livonia
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1686
Place of death Kulmbach