Friedrich Bährens

Friedrich Bährens around 1798

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bährens (born March 1, 1765 in Meinerzhagen , † October 16, 1833 in Schwerte ) was a German councilor , doctor , pastor , natural scientist and universal scholar .

youth

Friedrich Bährens was born in Meinerzhagen as the son of the preacher and rector Conrad Heinrich Bährens. His mother Johanna Dorothea Cath. born Glaser died in 1772 when Bährens was only seven years old. At the instigation of his godmother, he went to school in Hagen , Gummersbach and finally in Lennep , where he was promoted by the humanist and publicist Gottlieb Erdmann Gierig (1752-1814). From 1784 to 1786, he studied theology and philosophy in Halle an der Saale and doctorate Dr. phil.

Pedagogy in Meinerzhagen

Bährens returned to Meinerzhagen with the aim of founding a pedagogy and giving both boys and girls a higher education there. This brought him into conflict with his father, who also taught and feared for his money. The dispute ended up in court. Bährens wanted to give up and leave the city, but he was urged to stay. In 1786 he opened his plant garden educational institute for future global citizens . It provided extensive training with classes in Latin, Greek, French, Hebrew, Italian, Arabic, religion, natural history, natural science, world history, letter style, art theory, speech exercises, philosophy, accounting, coin theory, geometry and arithmetic. At his wedding, 30 students, some of them from outside Germany, attended the pedagogy, which was a considerable success for the time. But financial problems and a prolonged liver disease of Bährens, which prevented classes for weeks, plunged the pedagogy into a crisis from which it was no longer to recover. Minister of State von Woellner sent Bährens to Schwerte instead.

Change to Schwerte

In 1789 Bährens took up a position as the third preacher in the Lutheran congregation of St. Viktor's Church in Schwerte. Associated with this was the office of rector at the Latin school. So Bährens was able to continue teaching, but at the same time received a secure salary. The concept from Meinerzhagen also proved itself in Schwerte, the school grew and Bährens alone taught ten subjects. He took students in need to school free of charge. With the success, however, there were also envious people, especially his predecessor Wulfert, who founded another school to compete in the southern county of Mark. In 1796, Bährens' opponents succeeded in driving the Latin school into ruin. The damage to himself was limited, however, and he continued to teach private students until the end of his life.

Polymath and swords personality

Bährens as councilor

doctor

In addition to his teaching activities, Bährens ran a medical practice; He expanded this activity more and more and received his doctorate in medicine in 1798. In 1802 he carried out the first vaccination against smallpox for the population in Schwerte and the surrounding area. He did his best as a poor doctor and treated the needy free of charge. In his book on "Animal Magnetism" he described his efforts to cure patients by the laying on of hands (magnetization). This method was also very controversial in the Dortmund / Schwerte area and led to strong criticism of Bährens.

Naturalist and inventor

He also researched in many other areas, so he invented the "Bährens'sche Boussole", an instrument for use in astronomy and land surveying . He became interested in magnetism and glass grinding , developed an improved electrifying machine, and collected herbs.

publicist

Bährens published an almost incalculable number of medical, theological, philosophical, educational, historical and economic writings and books; Its topics range from a textbook on "reading the Greek and Latin classics appropriately" to "instructions on how to prepare Westphalian pumpernickel in the best way and how to bake it tasty and healthy". He translated from Greek and Latin, wrote textbooks for his students and wrote texts for the Westfälischer Anzeiger . He also kept the city chronicle of swords. Bährens brought out the "Westfälischer Anzeiger" and the "Bergische Archiv" and was one of the most important publicists of his time. He was persecuted because of his critical attitude towards the Napoleonic occupation of the western provinces of Prussia.

Alchemist and esotericist

Bährens became interested in alchemy from an early age . Together with Karl Arnold Kortum, he founded the alchemical "Hermetic Society" around 1796, which initially only consisted of the two founders. His contacts extended to the Badischer Hof, where he corresponded with the Duke's personal physician, Schrickel, among others. He had contacts with Freemasons and Rosicrucians , but his membership in these leagues has not been proven. He was a passionate representative of the "Animal Magnetism" that Messmer had brought to life, was in lively exchange with the Berlin doctor Wolfarth and saw himself as an esotericist . There is also evidence of contacts to the group of Swedenborgians, whose most prominent representative was the Iserlohn District Administrator Müllensiefen at the time. The esoteric interests of Bährens fired the imagination of the sword population and led to the creation of legends about his person. Bährens was said to have the ability to bilocation , and he is said to have been seen as a ghost several times after his death.

Pastor and educator

Bährens rose to the second and in 1821 finally to the first preacher of the Lutheran St. Viktor congregation. In this function, he took care of the school system in Schwerte and built schools in the districts of Geisecke, Villigst and Holzen and supervised schools. Together with the preacher Haver, he set up a singing training association to train his congregation in church singing. He was also committed to a union of the Lutheran and Reformed congregations in Schwerte; but at this task he failed.

For many years he also headed the literary association of Grafschaft Mark , which included prominent members such as the Iserlohn district administrator Peter Eberhard Müllensiefen , the Westphalian chief president Ludwig Freiherr von Vincke and the cloth manufacturer Friedrich von Scheibler .

City council

As a city councilor, Bährens made a great contribution to the construction of roads and paths. In 1818 he took over the chairmanship of the road commission. Under his leadership, the Schwerter streets were paved and the paths in the districts were expanded. He also secured Schwerte the city forest as a municipal property; He fought this through years of litigation in court against private individuals who claimed it.

Private life and family

Listed "Bährens House" in Schwerte, built around 1810 as a residence for Bährens

Friedrich Bährens married on May 29, 1787 in Meinerzhagen against the wishes of his father Christina Elisabeth Charlotte Weylandt. They had eight children together. His wife supported Bährens in his research. She died on April 17, 1810 of a lung disease. Bährens designed a tombstone made of Ruhr sandstone with an engraved rose with thorns and the dedication “This is how she was”, it is still in the churchyard of St. Viktor to this day.

Bährens died on October 16, 1833 at the age of 68 as a highly respected sword personality. His grave is in today's Schwerter Stadtpark, which Bährens himself inaugurated as a cemetery in 1821.

Honors

In 1812, the Grand Duke of Baden appointed Bährens to the Baden court councilor. In 1833, shortly before his death, the Prussian king awarded him the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th class. In 1952, the Schwerter Friedrich-Bährens-Gymnasium (FBG) was named after him. In Meinerzhagen a street was named after Christoph Friedrich Baehrens; it flows into the campus of the Protestant grammar school.

Works

• Textbook to read the Greek and Latin classics appropriately. Hendel, Hall 1786
• Critical and exegetical attempt on the eighth psalm. Halle 1785 - A frank investigation into the orcus of the ancient Hebrews. Hendel, Hall 1786
• Message to all people and children friends of the Westphalian audience about a pedagogy to be set up in Meinerzhagen in the county of Mark. Frankfurt / M. and Leipzig 1786
• On the value of sensitivity, especially with regard to novels. Along with a postscript on the moral value of sensitivity by JA Eberhard. Gebauer, Halle 1786
• Isocrates ad Nicoclem oratio, graece; denuo latine vertit, notis illustravit, prolusionemque de vera scriptores classicos interpretandi ratione praemisit. Hall, without a year
• About patriotism. Piece 1. Hall 1787
• Program on the way to determine human happiness. Cologne 1787
• German Chrestomathy for the formation of the taste and the heart, and for the purpose of translating from German into French. Hermann, Frankfurt / M. 1788
• Program on the Spirit of the Age. Dortmund 1790
• Programs 1 and 2 on the progressive formation of the human race. Dortmund, 1791
• Description of a new astronomical = geometric Boussole, which consists of a compass, an equinoctial = sundial, a quadrant and an astronomical periscope with a dragonfly and an improved tripod equipped with a nut, and with which the time, the noon line, the deviation of the magnetic needle, the Poles = equator = and sun height, the deviation of the sun and the true horizontal position of the places or the difference between it found, also each as inaccessible height, depth and distance can be measured and calculated with little effort / by Johann Christoph Friedrich Baehrens , the philosophy doctor, the freyen arts master, evang. Luther. Preacher and Rector zu Schwerte also member of several societies. JE Hendels, Halle 1793.
• On the inestimable value of the redemption of man through Jesus. Cologne 1795
• The happiness of citizen loyalty. A sermon. Dortmund 1796 Via the Westphälische Grobbrod or the Pumpernickel. Dortmund 1797
• About the only true theory of natural and man-made manures. Blothe, Dortmund and Leipzig 1797
• Instruction to prepare the Westphalian pumpernickel in the best way and to bake it tasty and healthy. Mallinckrodt, Dortmund 1800
• Draft of a natural-philosophical introduction to medicine. Schönian, Elberfeld and Leipzig; Büschler, Leipzig 1815.
• System of natural and artificial fertilizers , 2nd edition, Dortmund and Leipzig 1801.
• Draft of a natural-philosophical introduction to medicine , Leipzig 1815.
• Animal magnetism and the cures caused by it , Elberfeld and Leipzig 1816.

literature

• Adolf Sellmann: Preacher Hofrath Dr. phil. Dr. med. J. Chr. Fr. Bährens, a pastor, doctor, alchemist and home chronicler on Red Earth. Swords 1934.
• City of Schwerte (ed.): The Chronicle of the Court Councilor Bährens 1822–1827. Text and image selection by Gerhard Hallen. Meinerzhagen, 1987.
• Gerhard Hallen: Johann Christoph Friedrich Bährens, universal genius, esotericist, city councilor swords . In: Publications on City History, ed. from the city archive of Schwerte, Schwerte 1997.

Web links

• Literature by and about Friedrich Bährens in the catalog of the German National Library
• Johann Christoph Friedrich Bährens in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors
• A universal genius with "dark sides" (detailed biography)
• Website of the grammar school named after Bährens