David Hilchen

David Hilchen (* around 1561 in Riga ; † March 1610 in Orissow) was a Livonian humanist and syndic of the city of Riga.

Life

David Hilchen came from a middle-class family of the upper class in Riga. His father, who immigrated from Cologne , was Hans Hilchen († 1597), a merchant and guild elder in Riga. His mother was Catharina Kalb († 1588), sister of Johannes Kalb , pharmacist and city physician in Riga, and from 1600 to 1606 personal physician to three tsars .

From 1580 he studied law in Tübingen , Heidelberg and Ingolstadt . After his doctorate , he accompanied Prince Aleksander Olelkowicz Słucki († 1591) on his grand tour of Europe's capitals as court master . Hilchen was then accepted into the office of the Polish Grand Chancellor and Grand Hetman Jan Zamoyski , who remained a friend and supporter of his life.

In 1585 he returned to Riga and became senior councilor there. Hilchen thus played an essential role during the calendar unrest in Riga , as a result of which, as the city's legation leader, he finally drafted the so-called Severini Treaty, in which the relationship between the council and the guilds of Riga, but also the calendar dispute, was regulated. He also had Riga's German privileges over the Polish crown confirmed.

In 1588 he brought Klaas Mollyn, the first book printer, to the city and also had a fair share in the expansion of the city library founded in 1553.

As city syndic, Hilchen was delegated three times to the Warsaw Reichstag in 1589, 1590 and 1595 to present and represent Riga's interests. In 1596 the estates , represented by Reinhold Brackel and Otto Dönhoff , sent him again to Warsaw to defend the Livl and Courland state privileges . The king then set up a commission in Riga which did its work until the turn of the year 1599/1600. The new Livonian land law, written by Hilchen in 1599, did not come into force.

His representative Jokob Godemann from Lüneburg , appointed by himself, conspired against Hilchen together with the mayor and burgrave of Riga Nicolaus Eck and accused Hilchen of high treason against the city. As a result, Hilchen was sentenced to death in absentia on May 8, 1601 and declared outlawed.

Hilchen, meanwhile, joined Jürgen Fahrensbach , who died in 1602 before Fellin in his arms from the wounds he had received there. In the Polish-Swedish War fought for the Polish side. He then came to Cracow with the army and took up residence at Zamoyskis Gut Orissowo, from where he continued the legal dispute with Godemann. It was only after Zamoyski's death in 1605 that Hilchen's mortal enemy Godemann was expelled from Riga. Only many years later, in 1609, King Sigismund III rehabilitated. Hilchen and his father-in-law Nyenstede and formally restituted them in all offices, dignities and honors. Hilchen did not leave Orissowo, however, and died there in exile . His body was transferred to Riga and buried in the family home.

Already on 2 January 1591, he was with his brothers John and Thomas in the Polish nobility raised and included in the coats of arms cooperative "Jelita". He was also from King Sigismund III. Wasa donated with Bresemoise in 1595, with Westerotten in 1596 and with the Hilchensholm estate named after him or his family in 1696. In 1598 he also acquired Planup and in 1599 he also bought the Hilchensfähr, which then also bore his name, from Thomas von Ramm .

family

Hilchen married in Riga on January 8, 1587 with the merchant's daughter Katharina Krummhausen, stepdaughter of the mayor of Riga Franz Nyenstede († 1622). The marriage resulted in four sons and several daughters.

• Franz Hilchen († before 1632), studied in Gießen around 1618 , ∞ Sophia Friedrichs
• Alexander († after 1632), owned the Planup estate in 1631 and Kipsal in 1632
• Johann
• David (* 1604), ∞ before 1631 Christiane von Huelsen

Works (selection)

• Livoniae supplicantus ad S. Regiam Maiestatem (…) Orotio (…) , Cracow 1597; Riga 1597 (Ruien 1803)
• Cypeus innocentiae et veritates , Zamosc 1604 (Ruien 1804)
• Epicedion memoriae et honori magnifici et generosi domini Georgii Schenking , Zamosc 1604 (Ruien 1807)
• Honori herois Zamoscii (...) , Helmstedt 1605 (Ruien 1807)
• Vita illustris, ac magnifici herois Georgi Farensbach, Palatini olim Vendensis , Zamosc 1609 (Ruien 1803)

literature

• Heinz Mattiesen:  Hilchen, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 117 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Johann Friedrich von Recke , Karl Eduard von Napiersky : General writers and scholars encyclopedia of the provinces of Livonia, Esthland and Courland , Volume 2, Mitaß 1829, pp. 296-303
• Theodor Schiemann :  Hilchen, David . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 394 f.
• Carola L. Gottzmann , Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 578-582 .
• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on David Hilchen. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The princes Olelkowicz Słucki were descendants of Gediminas and died out in the male line in 1612 .
2. ↑ Named after Severin's day of honor , October 23rd .
3. ^ Heinrich von Hagemeister : Materials for a history of the Livonia estates , Volume 1, Riga 1836, pp. 43, 55, 58 and 62.
4. ↑ Hans Feldmann , Heinz von zur Mühlen (ed.): Baltic historical local lexicon: Latvia (South Livland and Courland) , Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 1990, p. 218.
5. ↑ Karina Kulbach-Fricke: Bürgerbuch Riga. Riga its population from the 14th to 19th centuries. CD, Merzhausen 2nd edition 2011, pp. 1847–1848.

Web links

• Literature by and about David Hilchen in the catalog of the German National Library