Franz was called

Stonemason's mark Franz Hieß

Franz Hieß (* 1641 in Eggenburg , Lower Austria , † December 2, 1675 in Vienna ) was an Austrian master stonemason and sculptor of the Baroque and subordinate of the Viennese building works .

The Eggenburg quarter drawer of the stonemasonry and bricklaying trade was incorporated into the ancient Viennese main drawer.

Life

Franz Hieß learned the stonemason trade in Eggenburg. The princely quarter town of Eggenburg was the seat of numerous guilds and, thanks to the large stone quarries with the white stone, the most important stonemason center in Lower Austria. To become a master in a stonemason's brotherhood was a "rocky" road, often it led through marrying a master widow.

Eggenburg belonged to the catchment area of ​​the main Viennese hut. The journeyman Franz Hieß sought work from the Viennese stonemasonry and was assigned to the master Hans Khain. The master died, the widow had the right to continue the business with a journeyman for a year, then she had to marry in the trade. The connection of the widow Katharina Khainin with the journeyman Franz Hieß was agreed, and on May 20, 1665 the young journeyman appeared in front of the trade and asked to give him the masterpiece , which then happened on June 2, 1665.

The day before, on June 1, 1665, he married the widow Katharina in St. Stephen's Cathedral , one of the best witnesses was the cathedral builder Adam Haresleben .

championship

On July 27, 1665, he presented the masterpiece and it was deemed just and good . Nevertheless, defects were also found in him, for which he would have to pay a fine of eight Reichstalers . He took over the Khainian trade.

A year later, on June 26, 1666, Katharina wrote her will. Requested witnesses were Adam Haresleben and Urban Illmayr . At that time, Franz Hieß's household was very modest.

Homeowner

From 1667 to 1671, Hieß was a tenant in the Kärntnerviertel and changed from 1673 to 1675 to a wealthy house owner in Krugerstraße 40 (old 1013), identical to Walfischgasse 7. Originally there were three houses there. The flour knife Jacob Franz bought the house "B" on July 8, 1671 for Meister Hieß and his wife Helene.

Teacher

On March 25, 1667 he acquitted Peter Khurmayer of Vienna, his first apprentice . The usual formulation for this was ... made into right stonemasons and entrusted to them the hairiness . Zacharias Prunner and Valentin Wittmann, both from Vienna, became further journeymen on November 25, 1669. In the last year of his life, Michael Reichhart from St. Peter in Hungary and Johann Georg Prunner from Vienna were acquitted on February 17, 1675 .

On May 21, 1675 the masters at the town hall elected him Unterzechmeister. That was the usual beginning of a professional career. In the following year, he was regularly elected head of department, something that Franz Hieß did not experience.

testament

epitaph

The young widower had remarried to Helene N., according to the joint will of July 14, 1675, when the master died, the house came to his widow Helene, who was later married to Graef.

Some passages from it:

• ... the dead leuchnamb should christian catholic use according to bey St. Stephans khürchen on the freythoff to the orthl bought by us, ...
• my dear brother Paul Hieß, a bourgeois master stonemason ... 600 guilders
• He bequeathed the children of his first wife Hanß Gottfridt and Elisabetha, ... whose foster father I was for many years ... Witnesses requested were Adam Haresleben, Matthias Knox and Urban Illmayr.

death

In the death record on December 2, 1675, it says: Franz Hieß, burger and steinmez, in his house in Khruegstrassen, died on the hectica, aged 34 . David Khöll took over his stonemasonry .

Master Franz Hieß had worked his way up from poor to wealthy master. This is also shown by the artistically designed epitaph on the west facade of St. Stephen's Cathedral . Made of red marble , a skull and stonemason's mark in a cartouche at the bottom .

literature

• Vienna City and State Archives : Steinmetzakten .
• Alois Kieslinger : Stone handicraft in Eggenburg and Zogelsdorf . In: Our home . Monthly newspaper of the Association for Regional Studies and Homeland Protection of Lower Austria and Vienna, No. 5-7, 1935.
• Otto E. Plettenbacher: History of the stonecutters of Vienna in the 17th century. An economic and cultural historical as well as sociological investigation. Price list 1688, set order of the stone carvings . Dissertation, University of Vienna 1960.
• Burghard Gaspar: The white stone of Eggenburg. The Zogelsdorf sand-lime brick and its masters . In: The Waldviertel . Issue 4, 1995.