Franz Konrad Macké

Franz Konrad Macké (1756–1844), Mayor and Mayor of Mainz (lithograph by Gauff)

Franz Konrad Macké (born July 2, 1756 in Krautheim an der Jagst, † March 17, 1844 in Mainz ) was the first elected Maire ( mayor ) in Mayence , the French city of Mainz , during the French period . During the later affiliation of the city to the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt , he was re-elected to the office of mayor. Macké was a very popular politician in Mainz and shaped the city in its eventful history at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.

Life and career before the French Revolution

Franz Konrad Macke (as Macké wrote himself until 1792) was born in 1756 in Krautheim an der Jagst in the Electorate of Mainz as one of ten children of the local clerk Macke. The first lesson in the family circle was followed by further education by the Dominicans in Mergentheim an der Tauber and the Jesuits in Mainz. He studied in Würzburg and Mainz Jura and was in 1777 appointed his sick father's deputy. Active in family affairs in Mainz in 1782, where he met high dignitaries of the electoral court. Apparently because of their protection, he went into the Electoral Mainz state service and was already subordinate to the Vizedomamt (electoral self-government of the city) as Mainz police commissioner in 1782 at the age of only 26. In this office he was responsible for one of the two police districts of the electoral area. His areas of responsibility included the surveillance of public safety and morality, the sale of food and the assumptions of citizens. During this time in Mainz he married Wilhelmine Betz from Bingen , who died in 1804.

Macke opened up to the ideas of the Enlightenment and was a member of the Illuminati Order, which existed until 1785 , under the name of Johann Reuchlin . From 1791/92 he represented the ideals of the order of liberty and equality in a private circle, which now sympathized more concretely with the ideas of the French Revolution .

Macké and the first French occupation of Mainz (1792/93)

When the French revolutionary troops moved into Mainz on October 21, 1792 as part of the First Coalition War , Franz Konrad Macke was the electoral police commissioner. He made no secret of his Francophile attitude and showed this in the addition of an accent ( accent aigu ) to his surname, which was very popular at the time , which made it look and sound French. Shortly after the establishment of the Mainz Jacobin Club on October 23, 1792, he became a member and was quickly regarded as a moderate Jacobin. Since Macké was popular and respected as a police commissioner in Mainz, many citizens who had been hesitant up to that point trusted his political convictions and at least tolerated the new political realities.

Macké quickly began to play an increasingly important political role in the French-occupied Mainz and in the Mainz Republic . In November 1792 he was appointed parish procurator by General Adam Philippe Custine . In the municipality that had been in office since November 19, 1792 , he represented the first mayor of Mainz, the lawyer Franz Joseph Ratzen . In the first democratic election on February 24, 1793, which only showed an 8% turnout, Franz Konrad Macké was finally elected Maire (mayor) of Mainz, an office which he took up on March 3, 1793

Maire von Mayence (February – July 1793 / 1800–1814)

Seal of Mairie Mayence, 1805-1811

Mainz city coat of arms awarded by Napoleon on June 13, 1811

The low turnout was the result of many negative circumstances surrounding what was actually the first election on German soil, which was actually to be described as democratic. So there were reprisals by the French occupying power against the Mainz guilds , which were the strongest opponents of the new political situation and organized an election boycott . This even led to the guilds being banned while the election was still ongoing. Furthermore, politically unpopular Mainz citizens and clergymen were expelled to the right bank of the Rhine in the run-up to the elections. Finally, there was also an oath before the election, personally ordered by Custine: The Mainz residents who were entitled to vote should publicly swear by popular sovereignty and "freedom and equality" before voting. However, in this politically unstable time, this no longer seemed acceptable to many Mainz residents. Of the 4,626 men eligible to vote, only 372 voted, and even the majority of the active Jacobins did not vote.

Despite these electoral circumstances and the boycott of the election, Franz Konrad Macké was the first mayor of Mainz to be elected in a free election. As Maire of the city, now called Mayence , Macké headed the city administration known as the municipality. His deputy was the official attorney (candidate for court and administrative service) Wassmann, officials and merchants resident in Mainz dominated the municipal council, which was also elected.

Macké was not in office for long. As early as April 14, 1793, the city ​​was surrounded by German troops . The French occupying power reacted to the increasingly critical mood among the citizens of Mainz with tough measures. Among other things, the municipality was deposed on July 13th. The city itself was captured on July 23, 1793 after the French troops surrendered. Like other "active clubists", Macké was immediately charged and sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment for high treason. He was imprisoned in Königstein im Taunus . Macké was released from prison in September 1794, but was only allowed to return to Mainz at the end of 1796. His popularity among all strata of the Mainz population can be seen in petitions from the Mainz population and parts of the clergy to the elector during his imprisonment.

In 1797 the French made another foray into the Rhine, reoccupied Mainz and this time held the city until 1814. Franz Konrad Macké was still a staunch but moderate supporter of the French and was very popular with the people. He stopped the "Patriots" (the clubists from Mainz who were expelled to France after 1793) who returned in 1798 from taking revenge against parts of the Mainz population. He also immediately became politically active again. In April 1798, together with other staunch supporters, he publicly voted in a “Reunion Adresse” for the union with France. For a short time in February 1798 he was appointed President of the Chamber Court. Also known as the "Embarrassing Court", it was responsible for capital crimes. Shortly after taking power in 1799, Napoléon Bonaparte created new administrative structures throughout France in September 1800 . Large parts of the later Rheinhessen and parts of the Palatinate were combined in the new French Département du Mont-Tonnerre . Mayence became the capital of this administrative district and the seat of the prefect .

The city administration was also affected by the administrative reform. The municipality was replaced by the Mairie (mayor's office). Here, too, as in the départements, there was one person at the head of the administration , the Maire . Franz Konrad Macké was appointed Maire de Mayence by the First Consul Napoléon on November 25, 1800 . Despite the centralized administrative system of the French administration, he had a strong position, since the city administration was under his sole responsibility.

As Mayor of Mainz, Macké was the right hand of the Prefect Jeanbon St. André, who was commissioned by the French state . Both worked well together and St. André could rely on his Maire to carry out his political guidelines and plans . Both were convinced, but rather moderate Jacobins at the beginning of the revolution. Both proceeded with a certain pragmatism in their political activities , which also extended to the well-being of the people entrusted to them. This same political worldview also meant that Macké and St. André easily accepted the political changes in the post-revolutionary period and were extremely loyal to Napoléon.

Macké himself had become a small but important and still convinced part of the Napoleonic system of rule. Napoléon made him a knight of the French Legion of Honor and Franz Konrad Macké naturally belonged to the new bourgeois elite, the "Citoyens notables", the society of notables. It also included bourgeois merchants and wealthy craftsmen, and it replaced the aristocratic class from the time of the elector. Macké traveled in August 1802 as the official representative of the city to swear Napoléon as consul for life, and he also attended the imperial coronation in Notre-Dame de Paris on December 2, 1804 . He always tried to link the requirements of his prefect and the administration in Paris with local patriotic interests. His efforts to get closer to the citizens and to achieve consensus among the population groups were also noted positively. During his tenure, Macké carefully removed some relics from the time of the revolution, such as B. the large number of so-called “national festivals ” and the “ cult of the decade ” in St. Peter , both of which no longer fit into the post-revolutionary Napoleonic era.

Macké's career as Maire de Mayence came to an end in May 1814 as a result of the siege of Mainz after the defeat of Napoléon's troops near Leipzig and Hanau in 1813. After the final withdrawal of the French troops on May 4, 1814, he remained in office for 16 days, which was now called mayor again. On May 19, the 58-year-old Franz Konrad Macké was deposed by the new provisional Prussian administration. His successor was Franz Freiherr Gedult von Jungsfeld , a conservative representative of an old noble family from Mainz. Macké's advanced age was given as a reason, but he was denied the pension he was entitled to. That Macké's Francophile stance and his political activities under Napoléon were the actual main reason for the deposition was shown by an accusation made shortly afterwards against the former mayor . It was alleged that Macké embezzled coins from the city's coin cabinet and harmed the city's interests in a property transfer. In court, however, Macké was acquitted on both counts. Franz Konrad Macké then withdrew from political and public life for the time being.

Mayor of Mainz (1831–1834)

According to the decision of the Congress of Vienna , Mainz was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1816 , and Macké was again employed in the judicial system of the Grand Duchy. Franz Konrad Macké returned to the political life of Mainz in 1831. At that time, the political climate had changed again. Democratic-liberal currents in the run-up to the Hambach Festival in Germany on the one hand and re-emerging sympathies for France on the other provided a suitable political environment for the now almost 75-year-old Macké, who was now a member of the Grand Ducal Hessian Supreme Court. In the mayoral elections, he replaced the conservative Franz Edmund Freiherr Gedult von Jungsfeld as elected mayor.

However, his second political career as Mayor of Mainz did not last very long. Due to his age, Macké was no longer very successful in office and there was constant friction with members of the city and municipal council. His resignation from October 2, 1833 was accepted; his term of office expired on March 31, 1834. After this brief political engagement, Macké retired again. Franz Konrad Macké died in Mainz on March 17, 1844.

The work of Franz Konrad Macké in Mainz

Franz Konrad Macké worked primarily during his time as Mayence under the Prefect Jeanbon St. André in Mainz. The city owes numerous innovations that are still important today to these two, but above all to Macké as head of the city. There were also serious changes in the city during Macké's tenure as Maire. In 1802, for example, secularization changed the image of Mainz, which had been dominated by the church until then, whereby it should be noted that as early as the 1780s under Elector Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, several monasteries were dissolved in favor of the university fund. But this time the effects were much more dramatic and Mainz finally became a bourgeois city. Macké also benefited personally from the sale of the confiscated church property (the so-called national property sale ): he acquired the Franciscan monastery as private property.

Based on the instructions of the prefect, the city of Mainz also bought the site of the former Dalheim monastery for the new extra-urban cemetery complex. On May 30, 1803, the new " Aureus " cemetery was inaugurated under the prefecture of Jeanbon St. André and the Maire Macké, who both found their final resting place there.

In 1805 the urban area was enlarged again for the first time in a long time. Zahlbach, which until then was in union with Bretzenheim , was incorporated into the city of Mainz. Macké's plans went further, however: under his leadership, the city council passed the resolution on February 16, 1804 to incorporate the villages of Weisenau , Mombach and Bretzenheim (with Zahlbach). However, this failed due to the strong resistance of the local councils, so that the city council withdrew its decision. After a second advance in November 1804, Macké had to be content with the incorporation of the Zahlbach area. The Mainz free port opened in 1809, in turn, revitalized the economy of Mainz, which had been in decline since the end of the Electoral era.

In his later term as mayor of Mainz, Macké promoted the first activities that led to the construction of the Gutenberg monument on the farm. As Mayor of Mainz, he named five representatives of the city administration who worked together with the private commission for the erection of a monument in Mainz for Johann Gutenberg , which was then able to start work as early as December 1831. In 1833 the municipal theater was completed towards the end of his tenure .

Macké also campaigned for the beautification of the city, which had been largely destroyed since 1793. The planting of deciduous trees on the banks of the Rhine goes back to his instructions. The first tree was planted by himself on November 9, 1801.

Grave in the main cemetery in Mainz

Grave of Franz Konrad Macké in the main cemetery in Mainz

Franz Konrad Macké's grave is still preserved in the main cemetery in Mainz , even though the inscription on the gravestone has been badly damaged by environmental influences in recent years. The original grave inscription read:

Franz Conrad Macké
Born June 3, 1756,
died March 17, 1844.

Mayor of the city of Mainz,
member of the legislative
body in Paris until the year 14.

Mayor of the City of Mainz.
Grossh. Hess. High Court Councilor.

Member of the Legion of Honor and
the Grossh. Hess. Order of Louis.

Monument to filial love.

literature

• Anton Maria Keim : Just a marginal note from the Republic of Mainz. Franz Conrad Macké, Maire, Mayor, Lord Mayor died 150 years ago. In: Mainz. Quarterly issues for culture, politics, economics, history . Number 1/14. Born in 1994. Verlag H. Schmidt Mainz, pp. 85-89, ISSN  0720-5945
• Mainz: personalities of the city's history ; Wolfgang Balzer; Kügler Verlag, Ingelheim 1985-1993
  • Volume 1: Honorary citizens of Mainz, princes of Mainz, military figures, Mayors of Mainz ISBN 3-924124-01-9
• Karl Georg Bockenheimer : Franz Konrad Macke, Mayor of Mainz (1756-1844) , Mainz 1904
• Mainz - The history of the city ; Ed .: Franz Dumont, Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz; 2nd ed.; Verlag Philipp von Zabern , Mainz 1999 ISBN 3-8053-2000-0

Web links

• Franz Konrad Macké - Regionalgeschichte.Net

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 23, 2006 .