Claus Stalburg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Claus Stalburg , called the Rich (* 1469 in Frankfurt am Main ; † November 15, 1524 ibid), was a Frankfurt patrician and councilor . He was considered the richest Frankfurt citizen of his time and was several times the younger and older mayor of his hometown.

Life

Claus Stalburg the Rich and his wife Margarethe vom Rhein
Copy of the fresco donated by Claus Stalburg

Claus Stalburg was born in 1469 as the son of the businessman Claus Stalburg (1428–1474) and his wife Margarethe, b. von Ergersheim († 1479) born. He was able to add the business shares of his uncle Crafft Stalburg , his stepfather and his wife's dowry to his father's inheritance , so that on his own death he left behind a fortune of 45,000 guilders , which was very large for the time .

Coat of arms of the Stalburg am Römer (Frankfurt am Main)

In 1497 he joined the city council. In 1505 and 1514 he became the junior mayor , and in 1521 senior mayor . Since 1516 he was also a lay judge.

In 1499 he married Margarethe vom Rhein (1484–1550), with whom he had 14 children. Stalburg owned numerous houses and lands in Frankfurt and the surrounding area, including the new family seat he built, the Great Stalburg on Kornmarkt in the old town . For this purpose he bought four older houses in 1496 and had them demolished. It was the most splendid stone patrician house of the Gothic in Frankfurt, even before the stone house or the canvas house that has survived to this day . His descendants sold it to the Reformed community in 1789 . It was torn down and the German Reformed Church was built in its place .

He also owned other houses, including the Wertheym house at Fahrtor , which still exists today, and the Stalburger Oede - a country house on Eckenheimer Landstrasse .

Stalburg was a supporter of humanism and the Reformation . He was in close contact with Philipp Melanchthon and had his sons Claus (1501–1574) and Crafft (1502–1572) educated by the humanist Wilhelm Nesen , the first rector of the municipal Latin school founded in 1520 . The transition to the Reformation period can be traced in Stalburg's wills: In his first will from 1501 he made numerous bequests for the Frankfurt churches and monasteries. In 1518 he renewed his will, in which he bequeathed only 10 guilders to the Carmelite monastery . He had a special relationship with the Carmelite monastery throughout his life. In 1514 he commissioned Jörg Ratgeb to create a large mural in the cloister of the monastery. The picture was supposed to serve as an epitaph for the family grave of the Stalburgs. It represented the adoration of the kings , with Stalburg having himself portrayed as one of the three kings. This painting was destroyed for a gate opening around 1880 when the Carmelite monastery was temporarily used as a fire station.

Stalburg died on November 15, 1524 in Frankfurt am Main. He was buried in the Carmelite monastery. A street in the Nordend district of Frankfurt on the former site of the Stalburger Oede is named after him.

His picture of the founder, created in 1504, is now in the Frankfurt Städel together with the picture of his wife . These are the oldest life-size donor pictures in German painting. The unknown master, also known as the “Master of the Stalburg Portraits”, is in the circle of Hans Holbein the Elder. Ä. attributable to who worked at the Dominican monastery around 1500 .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Stalburg, Claus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Claus Stalburg the Rich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Frankfurt patrician and councilor
DATE OF BIRTH 1469
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH November 15, 1524
Place of death Frankfurt am Main