Germanus Luidtke

Germanus Luidtke (born February 5, 1592 in Havelberg ; † November 10, 1672 in Stendal ) was a German lawyer , mayor in Stendal, Canonicus in Havelberg and a decree of the Altmark landscape.

ancestry

His parents were Lucas Luidtke , resident canon and owner of the Dompropstei in Havelberg, and Mrs. Catharina Hoffmeister. The father of Lucas Luidtke was Matthaeus Luidtke ( Matthäus Ludecus ), canonicus and decanus of the cathedral monastery in Havelberg for 44 years. His mother was the granddaughter of the Chancellor Johann Weinlob of the Brandenburg Elector Joachim II. The above and below information are essentially taken from the funeral sermons for Matthäus Ludecus and Germanus Luidtke.

schooldays

When his father died, Germanus Luidtke was four years old. His grandfather initially let him teach with private tutors in Havelberg. In 1604 he sent him to the Stendal School. When the plague broke out in Stendal in 1607, he returned to Havelberg and received private lessons from Matthias Karstadt . In 1608 he was sent to Stettin by his guardian, the then dean of Havelberg, Reimar von Karstedt , where he and his cousin Johann Luidtke had a private tutor and was also taught at the Princely Pedagogy in Stettin.

Education

From 1611 he studied in Wittenberg for three years a. a. with Valentin Wilhelm Förster, Helferich Ulrich Hunius, Martinus Titius Philosophy, Law and Political Science. As early as 1612 he published a treatise that dealt with the doctrine of the " res publica mixta " that emerged at the beginning of the 17th century . This teaching established the modern doctrine of the separation of powers , which has become the basis of modern democracy.

He then went to Leiden in the Netherlands to continue his studies, and then traveled to England and France. He stayed for a time in the royal residence and the capital London, attended the universities of Cambridge and Oxford and studied police science there . After a few months he traveled from there to France in 1614 and stayed in the royal residence and the University of Paris for eight months.

He returned to Stendal in 1615 and intended to attend a German university again. However, he was prevented from doing this because he was attacked by a life-threatening illness and after he recovered he decided to pursue a professional activity in Stendal.

Journal for Heinrich Julius von Arnstedt

Register sheet by Germanus Luidtke for Heinrich Julius v. Arnstedt

The register sheet was kept in the Lüdke family. Before the Second World War it was owned by the Kgl. Police Council a. D. Karl Lüdke in Berlin and is missing today. The photograph was taken around 1930. The original colors on the coat of arms are red (crest and shield below) and black (drawing of the cranes). The coat of arms differs from the coat of arms of his grandfather Matthäus Ludecus in that the two spears are no longer included. Luidtke's Latin text, dedicated to the friend, uses a similar form of Latin proverb that is also used in other ways, which translates a Greek dictum communicated by Aulus Gellius .

Heinrich Julius von Arnstedt (1593–1660) studied in Rostock from 1614 and from 1625 until his death in 1660 was dean of the senior collegiate monastery for Our Dear Women in Halberstadt

Transcript (illegible or difficult to read text in square brackets):

Si quid feceris turpe cum voluptate, voluptas abit, turpitudo manet: Si quid feceris honestum cum labore, labor abit, honor manet.

Viro-Juveni non genere solum, sed et virtutibus vere nobilissimo dom. Henric [o] Julio ab Arnstedt fautore ac amico meo fraterne colendo huc W [ietebe] rgae in amicitiae signum apponebat […] February [ario] Anno 161 [4]
Germanus Luidtke Marchicus

Translation :

If you have done something shameful with pleasure, pleasure fades, shamefulness remains. If you have done something worthy with effort, the effort fades and the honor remains.

Not only because of his origins, but also because of his virtues, Heinrich Julius von Arnstedt, my patron and friend, who is truly the noblest man and youth, gave this token of friendship in Wittenberg on [...] February of the year 161 [4]
Germanus Luidtke , the Märker.

Professional activities

In 1620 Luidtke was appointed councilor through the election of the Stendal council. The appointment was confirmed by the Elector Georg Wilhelm . Although he would have liked to have held this office for a while, he was elected Council Chamberlain in 1626 at a time when the Thirty Years' War was causing unrest. In addition, a great plague raged in the city, which resulted in the death of many people and the two ruling mayors.

He was appointed consul and mayor of this city in 1633 by the unanimous election of the council and by electoral confirmation. He held this office in the odd years from 1633 to 1671. On July 24, 1643, he gave the acceptance speech to Elector Georg Wilhelm, who had fled to Stendal from Wallenstein .

At the request of the Altmark and Prignitz cities, he was appointed by Georg Wilhelm to decree these cities in 1641. He did not enjoy this position as the cities were heavily in debt and negotiations with the lenders were unsuccessful. But since the necessary means of payment were not made available, although he had turned to the elector about it, but this was rejected by the court councilors of the elector, he gave up his office.

At the suggestion of the Altmark towns, he was confirmed in 1649 by Georg Wilhelm as a decree of the landscape (representation of the estates in Brandenburg). He held this office until his death.

Church activity

In the period from 1632 to 1648 he was “1. Canonicus absens ”from the Havelberg monastery.

family

In 1617 he married Anna Krahne, daughter of the freedman and lawyer at the prince-electoral Brandenburg Altmark quarter court Adam Krahne. The marriage had seven children (five sons and three daughters). His wife died in 1631 and left him with five small children. Two children had died earlier.

In 1632, after the year of mourning, he married Elisabeth Fattmann, daughter of Simonis Fattmann, former mayor and administrator of the University of Frankfurt an der Oder. Two sons were born during the marriage, but both of them and their mother died of the plague in 1636.

In 1641 he married Elisabeth Lentin, the widow of Heinrich Döhren, a former Brandenburg bailiff in Neuendorf. Two children were born in the marriage, a son who died early, and a daughter Elisabeth, who was married to Christoph Praetorius , Altmärkischer Quarterly Court Counsel, treasurer in Stendal and song writer.

He had 20 children's children, 15 of them were still alive when he died. The daughter of Adam's eldest son, Anna, had married Johann Prätorius , pastor of Staats and Vinzelberg , immediately before the death of Germanus Luidtke .

Known descendants

• Germanus Luidtke , High Princely Brandenburg Court Councilor and secretary in Bayreuth.
• Christian Luidtke , baptized on January 11, 1621 in St. Marien in Stendal, in the city council of Stendal in the even years from 1672 to 1680, treasurer 1626, mayor 1685, grandfather of
• Friedrich Germanus Lüdke , Protestant theologian of the Enlightenment in Berlin (1730–1792)

plant

• Germanus Luidtke, Exercitatium politicarum quarta Republica in generale, in specie de republica mixta. Wittenberg 1612 (Library of the University of Marburg, Vol. 95, No. 25) Digitale.bibliothek.uni-halle.de

References and comments

1. ↑ Bartholomaeus Rheins, Christl. Funeral sermon for Matthaeus Ludecus, Jena 1608
2. ↑ Matthias Bugaeus, funeral sermon for Germanus Luidtke, Stendal 1673 (Stadtarchiv Braunschweig Vol. 95 no. 25)
3. ^ Germanus Luidtke, Exercitatium politicarum quarta Republica in generale, in specie de republica mixta. Wittenberg 1612 (including the library of the University of Marburg, Vol. 95, No. 25), Digitale.bibliothek.uni-halle.de
4. ↑ Manfred E. Schmidt: An introduction to the democratic theories. 5th edition 2010, p. 419
5. ↑ Carl Hosius (Ed.): A. Gellii Noctium Atticarum libri XX. Leipzig 1903 Volume 2, Section XVI p. 159
6. ^ Matriculation of the University of Rostock , matrikel.uni-rostock.de
7. ↑ Meisner, Basilius, Halberstadt approx. 1661, funeral sermon for Mr. Heinrich Juliussen von Arnstädt and his wife Ursulen geb. von Neindorff, died on June 2, 1660 and January 20, 1659, both buried on June 6, 1661 in the dear Frauen Stiffts-Kirchen, Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Sign .: Xa 1: 2 (16)
8. ^ Samuel Lenz: Diplomatic monastery and state history of Halberstadt and neighboring Oerter . Halle 1749 p. 349 f., Books.google.de
9. ↑ Ludwig Götze: Documented history of the city of Stendal . Reprint of the original edition Stendal 1873, Leipzig 1978, p. 394 ff., Reader.digitale-sammlungen.de
10. ↑ Ludwig Götze: Documented history of the city of Stendal . Reprint of the original edition, Stendal 1873, Leipzig 1978, p. 487, reader.digitale-sammlungen.de
11. ↑ The above incorrect information ("five" sons and "three" daughters) is based on the above. Funeral sermon for Germanus Luidtke by Matthias Bugaeus.
12. ^ Lu:  Praetorius, Christoph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 26, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, p. 515.
13. ^ Julius August Wagenmann:  Lüdke, Friedrich Germanus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 383 f.