Georg Esslinger

Georg Eßlinger (* 1560 in Kochendorf ; † in May 1622 near Obergimpern ) was the Württemberg state procurator under Duke Friedrich I. After the Duke's death, a trial was opened against Eßlinger for excessive administration.

Life

Georg was the son of Hieronymus Eßlinger, who was the schoolmaster , notary and cellar of Messrs Greck von Kochendorf . Georg attended the Latin school in Wimpfen and then studied in Heidelberg . With a document dated May 24, 1597, he was appointed to the newly created office of the Württemberg state procurator. His areas of responsibility included the supervision of all ecclesiastical and secular administrative officials in the country as well as all magistrates of the estates . He also had to raise money for the Württemberg crown in particular. He was in the favor of and under the special protection of Duke Friedrich I of Württemberg (1557-1608), who repeatedly increased Esslinger's salary and provided him with further rights, including the hereditary justice of the Ugenhof , which belonged to the Anhausen monastery on the Brenz . In 1606, Eßlinger was among the four Württemberg councilors who conducted the purchase negotiations for Württemberg over a third of his hometown Kochendorf including Lehen Castle , which, after negotiations for 50,000 Württemberg guilders had been concluded, came from Messrs Greck to the Württemberg duke, who set up a trading port there wanted to. Eßlinger was also entrusted with further negotiations with Messrs Greck in order to buy up further parts of Kochendorf for the Württemberg crown. After the death of Frederick I (1608), the port plans in Kochendorf were shattered, and Eßlinger was criticized by contemporaries who lamented his excessive and ruthless behavior towards his subjects. Wolf Conrad Greck II is even ascribed a humiliating poem about Eßlinger. The new Duke Johann Friedrich suspended Esslinger from office and finally had him arrested. An indictment against him comprised 189 items, including many offenses related to the confiscation of property from Anabaptists . The lawsuit came before the court in Stuttgart, where it was contested as unlawful. In 1610, at Esslinger's efforts, the Reich Chamber of Commerce dealt with the matter, which acquitted him on May 9, 1611. His release continued until 1615, after which he was expelled from the country. Esslinger then settled in the imperial city of Wimpfen, where he owned goods and a house. His first marriage was to a born Reinhardt from Wimpfen and, after her death, to Katharina Gomer from Schorndorf. His son became a helmstatt bailiff in Obergimpern. During the Battle of Wimpfen , Esslinger stayed with this son in Obergimpern. When the residents fled from plundering soldiers into the surrounding forests, Eßlinger was violently killed.

literature

• Bad Friedrichshall 1933–1983 . City of Bad Friedrichshall, Bad Friedrichshall 1983, pp. 207ff.
• Bernd Ottnad:  Georg Eßlinger. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 660 ( digitized version ).