Emanuel Froben
Emanuel Froben (born March 4, 1640 Bencken Castle near Basel , † June 18, 1675 in the Battle of Fehrbellin ) was the stable master of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg .
Life and legend
As stable master, Froben had been responsible for the procurement, accommodation, care and daily use of the elector's horses since 1663 and was part of his personal environment. In 1675 he fell near Linum in the battle of Fehrbellin when he saved the life of the elector. The legend reports that during the battle he exchanged his horse for that of the Elector, which is why the bullet intended for the Elector hit him instead.
On the same day, the Great Elector raised his youngest brother Jacob Christoph to the nobility, with the name "von Froben", and took him into his service (this is the origin of the Prussian family "von Froben" on Quanditten). The elector gave him a white horse on a blue background as a coat of arms.
Emanuel Froben was solemnly buried in the Berlin Cathedral and a medal was minted for the event, which shows the Elector and Froben, who has just fallen from his horse. The stableman's “sacrificial death” contributed significantly to the formation of legends about the battle and was later even included in school books. This event is described in the biography of the Great Elector by Jacob Paul von Gundling , written in 1708 , then mentioned by Frederick the Great in his Mémoires de Brandebourg, 1751, and found from there through Heinrich von Kleist's Prince of Homburg or through Julius Minding's poem Emanuel von Froben inclusion in beautiful literature.
The legend seems to be an abbreviation of the actual events, which possibly goes back to the elector. In fact, Froben was held in high esteem by the elector, and he apparently did indeed fall near the elector, hit by bullets aimed at the prince. The story of the horse that was exchanged is mixed up with the fact that the body hunter Uhl persuaded the elector to exchange horses with him during the battle. Thereupon the horse was shot away from under Uhl and Uhl was wounded twice in the thigh.
family
He was a son of the electoral Palatine stable master Emanuel Froben from the Swiss Frobenius family of publishers and officials , who descended from the humanist and printer Johannes Frobenius . His father took in Theodor Falkeise after he was banned from Basel. His brother Aurelius Sebastian Froben (* 1641) died in 1676 in the service of the Prince of Orange near Mont Cassel .
Honors
Streets in Berlin-Lankwitz , Berlin-Schöneberg , Düsseldorf and Munich ( Alt-Riem district ) have been named in his honor . The latter leads to the Riem racecourse .
literature
- Rudolf Schwarze : Froben, Emanuel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 124 f.
- Family table Froben by Carl Roth (register of arms of the city of Basel)
- Heinrich Banniza v. Bazan: German history in pedigrees . Volume I. 2nd edition. Alfred Metzner, Berlin 1940, pp. 184-85
- Peter Bahl : The court of the great elector. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2001, p. 478
- Helmut Caspar: Friedrich Wilhelm came, saw and won. How the Great Elector cannibalized Fehrbellin's victory . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 10, 2000, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 88–92 ( luise-berlin.de - on the battle of Fehrbellin and Froben's role).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Julius Minding: Five books of poems . Mittler, Berlin / Posen / Bromberg 1841
- ↑ Tankred Koch: … there is a horse halter on the wall, famous horses and their history. Frankfurt / M. 1997, p. 109
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Froben, Emanuel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Frobenius, Emanuel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 4, 1640 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Basel |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 18, 1675 |
| Place of death | Fehrbellin |