Gerhard Struckelmann

Gerhard Struckelmann was since 1487 chief freeman of the Arnsberger Oberfreistuhl . He was also released from other free chairs, including those in Eversberg , Rüthen and Bilstein . At that time the court in Arnsberg claimed supraregional importance, but this reached its limits.

Life

In 1487 Struckelmann was freed of the Arnsberger Oberfreistuhl. He described himself as " Gerhart Struckelmann eyn gewert Richter and Freygreve des hilligen Roman Richs of keiseriker and Konincklicher violence ... " The Oberfreistuhl was since 1483 appellate instance of the Westphalian females courts . Struckelmann invited princes and imperial cities to his court to settle and decide on disputes. Shortly after taking over the office, he summoned the abbess of the Essen Imperial Monastery and the Essen city council to settle disputes between the two sides. The abbess turned to her cousin Duke Johann von Klevewho sent a representative to the court day. Nothing is known about the outcome of the proceedings.

However, Struckelmann also exceeded his competencies. In 1489 a representative of the Pope banned him because he had summoned a Jew from Frankfurt am Main to his court. Residents from Frankfurt were not allowed to be summoned to appear before the Veme Courts. The exemption from prison who violated it was threatened with the papal ban. This meant that he could not make a valid judgment during the duration of the ban. Apparently, Struckelmann did not recognize the ban, as shortly afterwards he sent loading letters to men from a village near Frankfurt. The ban could be lifted through the mediation of the Archbishop of Cologne Hermann von Hessen .

Therefore, in 1490 Struckelmann was able to convene a general chapter of the Westphalian Feme with several hundred participants in Arnsberg. On this, important decisions about the rights of the chairmen , exemptions and free judges as well as questions of jurisdiction and procedures were clarified. There are two extensive documents from the chapter from 1490. One is a wisdom from Gerhard Struckelmann. A little different from this, there are also minutes of the meeting.

In 1500 he ostracized a free count who had acted against his oath. In 1505 he acquitted Friedrich von Fürstenberg of the accusation of being a traitor to friends. Another big chapter of the free chairs took place under his direction in 1508 in Arnsberg. In 1512 the Reich Chamber of Commerce declared Struckelmann's judgments to be unlawful and demanded that they be overturned. Since Struckelmann did not comply, the eight was imposed on him .

Apparently Struckelmann was still alive in 1523, as he appeared as a witness that year. In the same year the Reich Chamber Court decided on the jurisdiction of the Arnsberger Oberfreistuhl. It affirmed the rank of the Oberfreistuhl as a court of appeal.

Individual evidence

1. ^ State Archives of the Kayserl. and of H. Rom. Reichs Cammer -gericht (...) Part 3 of 1759 113f.
2. ↑ http://www.westfaelische-geschichte.de/que91426 . February 1523 in the digital Westphalian document database

literature

• Friedrich Philipp Usener: The free and secret courts of Westphalia: Contribution to their history according to documents from the archive of the free city of Frankfurt. Frankfurt am Main, 1832 pp. 19f., 34, 129f., 131f
• Karl Féaux de Lacroix : History of Arnsberg. Arnsberg, 1895. [Reprint: Werl, 1983] pp. 178ff.
• Heinz Pardun: The remote jurisdiction and the Arnsberger Oberferistuhl under the castle at the Oleypforte. In: Der .: From Arnsberg's past. Arnsberg, 1998 p. 196f.