Cornelius Menzen

Cornelius Menzen (born July 7, 1778 in Lechenich ; † May 3, 1848 in Cologne ) was one of the most important speculators of goods in the areas on the left bank of the Rhine, as well as real estate brokers and dealers in secularized goods during the French era .

Cornelius Menzen grave site - now sponsorship grave of the Hahn family (October 2018)

Cornelius was born the son of Lechenich Senator and Mayor Paul Mentzen. Even as a young man, Cornelius established a leading position in the real estate market on the left bank of the Rhine in Cologne . There were a few real estate dealers and brokers there who sold or brokered more objects in terms of numbers, but Cornelius took a top position in terms of the value of the objects, even though he actually focused on goods in the Cologne area and on goods in the neighboring departments had specialized.

Due to its importance in the real estate market, Cornelius Mentzen maintained numerous contacts with well-known personalities in the Cologne area in the first half of the 19th century. He bought goods for the banker Abraham Schaaffhausen and knew the Chancellor of the Archbishopric of Cologne , Joseph Edler von Groote , among his customers. Cornelius' influence reached as far as Paris , where he cooperated with the powerful banker, army supplier and member of the Compagnie des Négociants réunis Marc Antoine Grégoire Michel (le jeune).

In 1846 Cornelius Menzen was one of the first class heirs in Cologne . He died in 1848 at the age of 69. He was buried in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (Lit. F No. 178). The tomb was later sponsored and the listed tomb was restored in its original colors.

Some of the largest goods and houses brokered or sold by Cornelius Menzen were:

• Cologne, Propsteihof of the Andreasstift
• Cologne, deanery of Mariengraden Abbey
• Cologne, Hofgut Kitschburg in the Cologne city forest
• Cologne-Junkersdorf , Fronhof
• Köln-Meschenich , estate of the St. Lucia Monastery in Cologne
• Lommersum , Kapellenhof
• Sinnersdorf (Pulheim) , Brungshoff
• Bottenbroich , Bottenbroicher Hof
• Dirmerzheim , Heustershof
• Lövenich (Zülpich) , Probstmühle
• Borr / Scheuren , Domhof of the Cologne Cathedral Monastery
• Osterath , Gumpertzhof
• Hackenbroich , Sasserhof
• Buschdorf (Bonn) , cloister courtyard

literature

• Richard Büttner: “The Secularization of Cologne's Spiritual Institutions”, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv zu Köln, self-published, Cologne, 1971
• Wolfgang Schieder (Ed.): "Secularization and Mediatization in the Four Rhenish Departments 1803 - 1813", series consisting of 8 individual titles, Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard, 1991
• Georg Mölich, Joachim Oepen, Wolfgang Rosen (eds.): "Monastery culture and secularization in the Rhineland", a publication by the Rhineland Regional Association, Klartext-Verlag, Essen, 2002
• "Directory of the community voters of the city of Cologne from 1846", digital collections of the University of Cologne, call number RHR1370-1846