Georg Honauer

Contemporary leaflet about the execution of Georg Honauer, 1597

Georg Honauer (* 1572 in Olomouc ; † April 2, 1597 in Stuttgart ) was a goldsmith and alchemist during the Renaissance . He called himself Herr zu Brunhoff von Grobschütz when he entered the ducal service in 1596. He had obtained the job with fake attempts.

Honauer worked for Duke Friedrich I of Württemberg , for whom he wanted to convert iron into gold . Duke Frederick tried his considerable financial needs with the help of alchemy to cover and built in Freihof in Kirchheim unter Teck and in the pavilion, which the zoo in Stuttgart stood laboratories . It was not just greed for money, but also a considerable scientific interest in this passion for alchemy as a natural and secret science. Honauer wanted to transform iron from Mömpelgard into silver . The “raw material” was brought in with considerable effort; it weighed approximately two tons (36 quintals and 18 pounds).

When this did not succeed, the Duke wanted to execute Honauer in 1596/1597. Honauer guessed what to expect and fled Stuttgart in time. The duke had his portraits painted, which were to serve for the capture. Jonathan Sauter made seven such portraits .

After the capture, the duke ordered an unusually spectacular execution. Honauer was brought to the scaffold in a garment covered entirely with gold tinsel . A gilded gallows on a stone foundation, built especially for him in the Wolframshalde on a hill facing the Brag , was made from 36 hundredweight iron, on which he was hanged. Honauer had promised the prince that he would convert this amount of Mömpelgard iron into gold. The execution was intended to set a chilling example. The execution is said to have cost Duke Friedrich around 3000 fl . The spectacular execution was intended as a deterrent and was therefore advertised through leaflets. With a height of 12 meters, it was the highest gallows in the German Empire.The iron was not melted down again after the execution, but the gallows were used several times: for the unsuccessful gold maker Petrus Montanus on June 28, 1600, Heinrich Nüscheler on July 16 1601 and Hans Heinrich Müller, called Mühlenfels, on June 30, 1606. On February 4, 1738, Joseph Suss Oppenheimer was hanged in an iron cage on this same gallows, where the body remained until 1744 when Duke Carl Eugen took office .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Fleischhauer : Renaissance in the Duchy of Württemberg , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1971, p. 374
2. ↑ Südwestpresse: Of gold makers and treasure hunters: Alchemy and superstition

literature

• Zdeněk Václav Tobolka : Jiří Honauer z Olomouce, alchymista při dvoře virtemberském . In: "Československý časopis historický", 1895, issue 4
• Dr. Carl Pfaff History of the city of Stuttgart according to archival documents and other sources: History of the city from the earliest times up to the year 1650 ,, CA Sonnewald Stuttgart, 1845. Pages 155–156
• Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg : archive unit A 47 Bü 1/7, files relating to Georg Honauer's attempts to turn iron into gold. Hzl. Letter to Honauer that the duke wants to check the gold and silver samples received. Tübingen October 9, 1596 - Honauer's letter requesting the delivery of Mömpelgarder iron for his experiments. Oct. 12, 1596 - State and order of gold makers and laboratory assistants by Duke Friedrich. sd 1596.
• Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg : Archive unit A 47 Bü 1/9, tender from Duke Friedrich after the volatile gold maker Jörg Honauer, Lord of Brumhof and Grabenschütz - Duke Friedrich's patent to stop the runaway gold maker Georg Honauer, goldsmith from Olomouc. November 17, 1596 - The Duke's letter to the King of Denmark, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, to the Bishop of Halberstadt, the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, the Duke of Mecklenburg, the Queen of England was not sent 17./18. November 1596, each with a copy of the patent - letter from the court master Daniel Miller about the persecution of Jörg Honauer. Nov. 26th - Letter from the Vogt zu Cannstatt, Nikolaus Krauss, that a butcher in Cannstatt, Jörg Weckherlin near Moosbach, saw a person who matched Honauer's description. November 28th - concept hzl. Tendering to all governors to report reports from Honauer concerning. November 29, 1596
• Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg : archive unit A 47 Bü 1/10, files relating to the imprisonment of Jörg Honauer and his stable master Hans von Werder by Count Adolf von Schaumburg, Benjamin Buwinghausen's trip to him to collect them and the lengthy negotiations about their extradition. Concept of writing by Duke Friedrich to Georg Honauer that he had never doubted his art and that he wanted his return. December 18, 1596 - Instructions for Benjamin Buwinghausen v. Wallmerode. December 18, 1596 - Concept status for Buwinghausen to obtain the passage for his prisoners through the different countries. 1596 December 19 - reports from Buwinghausen about his trip and the refusal of Count Adolf to have the Honauer removed. - Honauer's letter to Buwinghausen explaining his escape from Stuttgart. sd - Letter from Landgrave Moritz von Hessen regarding his mediation for the extradition of the prisoners. January 10, 1597 - Detailed relationship between Buwinghausen and his negotiations with Count Adolf. January 1597 - Note from Duke Friedrich's hand on instructions for Louis Edelknecht (Lescuyer) about his mission to Count Adolf. sd - handwritten concept hzl. Writing to Landgrave Moritz von Hessens. sd secondary instruction for Buwinghausen, when he should make the count and his surroundings submissive with money. January 17, 1597 - Concept reversal of the duke against the count that the extradition of the prisoners should not bring him any disadvantage. January 19, 1597 - Copy of Ludwig Edelknecht's letter from Prague, what he learned about the lords of Brunhofen and Grabenschütz. January 22, 1597 - List of Hans Müller von Urach imperial court blacksmith what he learned in 8 years about Georg Honauer von Ölmütz. With original letter from Honauer to him (May 12, 1596). February 13, 1597 - Honauer's list of what he left behind in Stuttgart. - The Duke's correspondence with Burkhard von Berlichingen, his ambassador in Prague. - Copy of Honauer's letter to the Kaiser. 1597 January 5, 1597 - Copy of imperial letter to Count Adolf. March 3, 1597