Christoph von Dohna (1539–1584)

Christoph von Dohna (also: zu Donaw ; * 1539 in Mohrungen ; † July 4, 1584 in Nyborg ) was a Prussian burgrave, Danish military, politician and diplomat.

Life

Christoph came from the noble family Dohna , whose first documented enfeoffment with the hereditary imperial castle county Dohna by King Friedrich I. Barbarossa took place in 1153 in Merseburg. In the 15th century the family was widespread in Bohemia, Silesia and Meissen. It was transplanted to Prussia around the middle of the 15th century by Stanislaus or Stenzel von Dohna, who joined the German order . In 1453 the landed gentry rose against the order and, together with the cities of the order state, allied themselves with the Poles. In the protracted war that followed, Stanislaus rendered important services to the Grand Master and defended Meve Castle so bravely in 1464 that, after the unfortunate Peace of Thorn in 1466, he received Teutopage or German village as a fief, where he quietly ended his life.

Two of his sons died very early, the third, Peter von Dohna (* 1483; † January 18, 1553), also served in the German Order. On the occasion of a trip to Rome in 1520, he became acquainted with Martin Luther on the way back in Wittenberg, for whose convictions he was enthusiastic. During the time when Grand Master Albrecht of Brandenburg tried in vain to win West Prussia back, but received East Prussia as a duchy under Polish suzerainty in the Treaty of Krakow, Peter rendered him the most important services, for which he rewarded him with the goods that the Countess Form Dohna Majorat, namely Morungen, Schlobitten, Braunsberg, Stuhm etc. His first marriage with Elisabeth von Eylenberg remained childless, his second marriage with Katharina († 1557), the daughter of the Polish senator and Marienburger starost Achatius von Zehmen (around 1485– 1565), however, there were many children. She bore him a daughter and seven sons.

Christoph had received his first training at the University of Königsberg , where he was matriculated on October 8, 1551. He continued his education on March 20, 1558 at the University of Wittenberg , where the young Prussian nobleman was given the position of rector of the Alma Mater with honorable recognition . As such, he participated as an opponent in disputations, for example on November 28, 1559 with Paul Eber . In Wittenberg he also witnessed the end of Philipp Melanchthon's life , who in the last year of his life wrote him a dedication in his Bible, which subsequently became the family Bible of the Silesian Counts of Dohna and which has been in the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin since 1945 . After he had finished his studies in Wittenberg on October 21, 1560 with a farewell speech, he followed his brother Friedrich to Denmark in 1563.

In the following year he entered the Danish military service and in the same year visited Daniel Rantzau , with whom he went to the Three Crowns War . In the following year he was in Danish service as the commander of a unit, was wounded during a battle for Varberg Fortress and taken prisoner with other Danish nobles while defending the castle on September 15, 1565. They were taken to Stockholm under scorn and mockery . In 1567 he was freed again and returned to the Danish court, where he delivered a report on the situation in Sweden. With Rantzau he took part in the train in Östergötland , where he distinguished himself as captain of the leadership guard. This department was disbanded after the campaign.

After the deaths of Ranzau and Frand Brockenhuus (1518–1569), King Friedrich II himself appointed him leader (generalissimo) of the Danish troops. However, he did not achieve much. Mutinous soldiers and adverse weather phenomena did the rest. After the Peace of Szczecin he was released from this position in January 1571. He became court squire and the following year court marshal at the Danish royal court, which he remained until 1575. In 1572 he had already received the goods of the former All Saints monastery in Skåne . He went to the Övedskloster Castle in 1575 , left it in 1581 as Imperial Councilor and was also the king's diplomatic representative in various matters abroad. In 1571 he had considered marrying the former sweetheart of King Friedrich II, Anna Hardenberg. But this request was broken, so that he remained unmarried. After he died in 1584, his body was buried on July 22nd in St. Knuds Kirke in Odense , where an epitaph was erected.

literature

• Heinz Scheible, Corinna Schneider: Melanchthon's correspondence. (MBW) Volume 11: People AE. Verlag frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 2003, ISBN 3-7728-0993-6 , p. 358.
• Helmar Junghans: Directory of the rectors, vice-rectors, deans, professors and castle church preachers of Leucorea from the summer semester 1536 to the winter semester 1574/75. In: Irene Dingel, Günther Wartenberg: Georg Major (1502–1574) A theologian of the Wittenberg Reformation. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-374-02332-0 , p. 242.
• Mollerup: v. Dohna, Christoffer . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 4 : Clemens – Eynden . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1890, p. 294-295 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
• Ernst Erdmannsdörffer, Karl Wilhelm Georg Fritsch (Freiherr von): The cession of Alsace to France: A contribution to the history of the Peace of Westphalia. Verlag E. Karras, 1895, p. 127.
• Christian Krollmann: autobiography of the burgrave Fabian zu Dohna. Duncker & Humblot Publishing House, 1905.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Daughter Sophia von Dohna had married Hans Jacob's cloth chair from Waldenburg-Mohrungen in 1558.
   Son Achatius von Dohna (1533–1619), ducal Prussian councilor and governor
   son Abraham von Dohna (born October 22, 1542; † October 1569 in Tarascon / Pyrenees) was treasurer of Duke Albrecht of Prussia, went to Livonia in 1567.
   Son Hans von Dohna (* 1545; † 1565 at the Holstein court) was brought up at Venediger in Pomerania,
   son Heinrich von Dohna (* 1534; † 1563) came as a teenager Alter at the Polish court, distinguished himself in the Livonian wars, was the Polish envoy in Denmark in 1562, led a Prussian auxiliary corps to Livonia in 1563 † October 30, 1563 outside Pernau, buried in Riga
   son Friedrich von Dohna (* 1536, † June 1564 near Malmö, during a ship crossing) studied in Konigsberg in 1547, entered Danish service in 1559, was captain in the war against the Swedes, was buried in Lund church.
   Son Fabian von Dohna (born May 26, 1550 in Stuhm, † June 4, 1622 in Carektiven)
2. ↑ Archive Dohna, it is part of the few holdings that could be saved from Schlobitten
3. ↑ m. June 25, 1573 with Oluf Mouritsen; † February 15, 1589.