Friedrich Madeweis

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Friedrich Madeweis

Friedrich Madeweis , also Mateweis (born November 10, 1648 in Sammenthin , Neumark ; † August 7, 1705 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German educator , polymath and administrative officer.

Life

Madeweis was the son of the village pastor of Sammenthin, Johann Madeweis (* September 20, 1609 , † 1693 ).

From 1659 to 1664 he attended the Gröning College in Stargard and enrolled at the University of Jena in 1664 . He studied theology, law, medicine, philosophy and mathematics. In April 1672, at the age of 24, the Berlin magistrate appointed him vice-rector of the grammar school for the gray monastery in Berlin .

Friedrich Madeweis was universally gifted even as a pupil; Among other things, he is said to have mastered several languages ​​such as Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, French, English, Dutch.

On June 6, 1681, the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm appointed the then 32-year-old Friedrich Madeweis during his visit from June 2 to 8 in Halle as electoral Brandenburg or royal Prussian secretary and court postmaster in Halle.

After the death of the administrator Duke August von Sachsen-Weißenfels in 1680, the Lutheran duchy of Magdeburg and the city of Halle went to the electorate of Brandenburg under the electoral prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who attached great importance to the development of an efficient postal system. Precisely because of his universal knowledge, the Elector thought Madeweis particularly suitable for the postmaster's office, which was very popular and highly endowed.

Friedrich Madeweis moved his residence to Halle and successfully laid the administrative foundations for the installation of an efficient electoral Brandenburg postal system. His post allowed Madeweis to run a complex household. Two prestigious residences, but also failed projects, illustrated his financial possibilities. According to his plans, the so-called in 1697. Giant house built for 41,000 thalers on Great Berlin, which was completely rebuilt in 1905. However, the imposing baroque portal with the two giant sculptures of Heracles and Atlas - hence the name - was retained.

Madeweis intended to use the giant house as an academy, which he called the “Athenaeum Salomoneum”, in which, according to his programmatic writing from 1702, lectures in the subjects of mathematics, physics, nature, medicine, law, politics and statistics were given and in Craft skills should be learned in neighboring workshops. However, given the opening of the university in 1694 and the pedagogy established by August Hermann Francke in 1702 , this plan was no longer feasible and doomed to failure.

In addition to his residence, the giant house, he had a larger property in the area of ​​today's Francke Foundations with an orchard, vineyard, winegrower's house, barns and stables, which should also benefit the planned academy. August Hermann Francke bought the Madeweis property in 1703 for 1350 thalers. Since 1697 Madeweis was also registered as a Pfänner .

In Trotha , Madeweis acquired the property of the von Trotha family , which had been destroyed in the Thirty Years' War , in 1685 , where he built a single-storey, later two-storey building with a pleasure garden in the Baroque style. Elector Friedrich III. was visiting his property in July 1694 when he opened the university and laid the foundation stone for the Saaleschleuse in Trotha .

Madeweis died of a heart attack in his bed on August 7, 1705. After a reburial , he found his final resting place in Halle's Stadtgottesacker in crypt arch 57.

Merits

In the area of infrastructure , his work was of great importance for Halle, especially in integrating the city into the network of the postal traffic at the time and in setting up new postal routes, such as the Halle-Merseburg-Naumburg-Jena post connection in 1686. Since 1699, weekly service a stagecoach from Halle to Koethen, Magdeburg and Leipzig. In 1703 he succeeded in establishing a connection to Berlin. The new post office he created served as a border post office to Electoral Saxony . This gave him a special meaning in the conflicts between Brandenburg-Prussia and the Electorate of Saxony.

In the 24 years of his work in Halle, he developed into a patron who promoted art and science.

Madeweis published various articles on scientific issues. He was ingenious, engaged in astronomy and developed mathematical apparatus and calendar clocks.

On the basis of mathematical calculations, he also devised a sixth, but never noticed column order in addition to the five ancient orders , which he called columna brandenburgica .

Works (selection)

  • The reappearance of the unusually large star rod, understand the New Comet, in December, the 1680th, and then in January of the 1681st year . Rupert Voelcker, Berlin 1681 ( digitized ).
  • Oon Romaion thaumasion. he Ovum Mirabile, Romae Gallina (ceu ferunt) natum. Or report of the wondrous Ey, which a hen is said to have laid in Rome . Rupert Voelcker, Berlin 1681 ( digitized ).

literature

  • Johann Christian Poggendorff : Biographical-literary concise dictionary for the history of the exact sciences . Volume 2, Leipzig 1863, pp. 14-15 ( online ).
  • Siegmund GüntherMadeweis, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 35.
  • Gustav Hertzberg : History of the city of Halle on the Saale during the 16th and 17th centuries (1513-1717) . Volume 2, Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, Halle 1891, pp. 570–572, 609–611.
  • Lothar Noack and Jürgen Splett: Bio Bibliographies. Brandenburg scholars of the early modern period. Berlin-Cölln 1640-1688 . Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-05-002840-8 , pp. 251-263.
  • Felix Bachmann: Dominance and Effect. Nobility and large landowners in Halle and the western Saalekreis . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2009, ISBN 978-3-89812-560-4 , pp. 33–43, 50–53.
  • Andrea Thiele : Competition on both sides of the walls: The “Athenaeum Salomoneum” by Friedrich Madeweis - a parallel project to the “Waysenhaus” August Hermann Francke in Halle. In: Battle for Enlightenment? Institutional competition and intellectual diversity in the hall of the 18th century. Edited by Renko Geffarth, Markus Meumann and Holger Zaunstöck. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2018, pp. 99–125.

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Madeweis  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Matthias Gross: Historical Lexicon of Protestant Jubilation Priests . 1727, pp. 249-250.
  2. Bachmann, p. 35 (see literature)
  3. Hertzberg, Gustav, pp. 610-611. (see literature)
  4. Bachmann, p. 50ff. (see literature)
  5. Hertzberg, Gustav, p. 611. (see literature)
  6. Bachmann, p. 36f. (see literature)
  7. ^ Lothar Noack and Jürgen Splett: Bio-Bibliographien. Brandenburg scholars of the early modern period. Berlin-Cölln 1640–1688 . Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-05-002840-8 , pp. 251-263 ( restricted preview ).