French colony in Magdeburg

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The French colony of Magdeburg ( la Colonie Française de Magdebourg ) was a separate from the city of Magdeburg independent community in Magdeburg. It existed from 1685 to 1808 parallel to the old town citizenship and the Palatinate Colony, which was founded a little later, without demarcated territory . Its members were French religious refugees who were under the protection of the elector. The colony had its own town hall, an administration called a court and also its own civil guard.

history

In 1661 France had abandoned the previously practiced religious tolerance towards the Huguenots living in the country . The Calvinist- reformed Huguenots saw themselves exposed to increasing persecution. On October 22, 1685, Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau , in which Catholicism was declared the French state religion . The practice of other religions was banned and Reformed churches were destroyed.

Edict of Potsdam

On October 29, 1685, the Brandenburg Elector Friedrich Wilhelm issued the Edict of Potsdam in which Brandenburg-Prussia , to which Magdeburg belonged since 1680, invited religious refugees from France to settle in the country. The edict was secretly distributed as a leaflet in France. The aim of the Brandenburg-Prussian government was the settlement of as many skilled workers, entrepreneurs and craftsmen as possible in order to receive economic impetus. Asylum seekers were offered considerable privileges , such as ten years of tax exemption, exemption from military service and financial support for houses and workshops. A total of nine cities were recommended as residences, including Magdeburg, where the largest and most economically important colony in Brandenburg-Prussia, next to Berlin , soon emerged. The first Huguenot refugee families arrived in the autumn of 1685. The founding date of the colony could be seen as December 1, 1685, when the Magdeburg city commander Ernst Gottlieb von Börstel (1630–1687) received the order from Berlin to arrange everything as soon as the preacher Banzelin arrived with the first French families. The first troop of 50 Huguenots then arrived in Magdeburg on December 27, 1685.

However, the settlement of religious refugees in Magdeburg met with considerable resistance from the population and the local authorities. The Calvinist newcomers were considered heretics in the Lutheran Magdeburg . Electoral orders to facilitate settlement, such as the provision of houses and desert land against compensation, were disregarded. The electoral civil and military authorities based in the city therefore had to take on part of the supply tasks. The reception of the colonists who immigrated from the Palatinate three years later and who, with similar privileges, formed the Palatinate Colony, also known as the Walloon Colony , was much more friendly.

By 1703 the number of French colonists had grown to 1,350 people. The economic situation of the French colony turned out to be bad, at least considerably worse than that of the Palatinate Colony. The proportion of craftsmen among the colonists was relatively low. Due to the refugee situation, the people had left behind large parts of their movable property. Many refugees were poor. Also, unusual for the time, 34 female heads of household were listed. These women and their families only made a laborious living from sewing, to the annoyance of long-established craftsmen.

The hoped-for manufacture foundations also took place in Magdeburg, where around 200 to 250 refugee families worked. It soon became apparent, however, that the goods manufactured there in large numbers for the time were difficult to sell to the numerically and economically weak population of Brandenburg-Prussia. Exports to other countries were also difficult to achieve, as many factories had just started there too. This led to bankruptcies and business closures, each of which also endangered the economic existence of the employees.

Administration of the colony

Since the French colony brought together people from different parts of France with different traditions, traditional local government with a mayor and a council was not suitable. The administration of the colony, called the court , was primarily used to settle disputes within the colony. It consisted of a director, at times a deputy who was both assessor and (secret) clerk ( greffier ), three assessors, a fiscal (he was the public representative of the colony and corresponded to a public prosecutor; he ranked above the assessors), two Lawyers, police assessors and a bailiff. Until its dissolution in 1808, French was the language of correspondence in the colony. 

Die Direktoren der Französischen Kolonie zu Magdeburg

  1.  André de Persode 	
  2.  Jean Jacques de Rozel de Beaumont aus Castres	
  3.  Dr. jur. Paul Lugandi (ehemals Parlamentsadvokat in Montauban)	    bis 1693
  4.  Dr. jur. Isaac de l'Espinasse
  5.  Dr. jur. Paul Lugandi (ehemals Parlamentsadvokat in Montauban)            1699	
  6.  Dr. jur. Paul Lugandi (ehemals Parlamentsadvokat in Montauban)        bis 1717
  7.  Scipion le Jeune                                                 1717 bis 1726
  8.  Jean Péguihen de Lavergne                                        1726 bis 1749
  9.  Pierre Bernard                                                   1749 bis 1766
  10. Isaac Bernard d'Ammon                                            1766
  11. Jendszeivetzky genannt Jean André Michel Andresse                     bis 1784
  12. François Guillaume Michel ( Sohn des Jean Adam Michel)           1784 bis 1808



  Die Fiskale der Französischen Kolonie zu Magdeburg

  1.  Dr. jur. Pierre Mucel (aus Pont Royan im Dauphiné)                      - 1716
  2.  Claude Clavière (Sohn eines Parlamentsnotars aus Grenoble)         1716 - 1720
  3.  André Pelet                                                        1721 - 1754
  4.  R. S. Roccard (aus Schwedt)                                        1754 - 1757
  5.  Raimond Rossel                                                     1757 – 1761
  6.  Vierne (auch Greffier)                                             1761 - 1775
  7.  François Guillaume Michel (auch Greffier); (danach Koloniedirektor)1775 - 1784
  8.  Daniel Boileau (auch Greffier)                                     1784 - 1787
  9.  Jacques Colbe(auch Greffier)                                       1787 - 1797
  10. Friedrich Wilhelm Abraham Gaertner (auch Greffier)                 1797 - 1808

Personalities of the French colony in Magdeburg

literature

  • Johannes Fischer: The French colony of Magdeburg (= Magdeburg cultural and economic life; 22). City administration, Magdeburg 1942.
  • Eduard Muret: History of the French colony in Brandenburg-Prussia . Berlin 1885.
  • Henri Tollin: History of the French Colony of Magdeburg . Max Niemeyer, Halle 1886, ( online , PDF), accessed April 7, 2016

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johannes Fischer: The French Colony of Magdeburg (= Magdeburg cultural and economic life; 22). City administration, Magdeburg 1942, p. 36.