Godart Wigerinck

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Grave slab of Godhart Wigerinck

Godhard Wigerinck , also Wiggeringk , Wiggering and in Upper German sources Gothard Wagenring (* in Westphalia , † April 24, 1518 in Lübeck ) was a Lübeck long-distance merchant, banker and patron.

Life

Godhard Wigerinck came from Westphalia, probably from Ahaus . He had three brothers Stephan († 1513), Georg and Johannes († 1530), who lived as monks and artisans in the Marienmünster Abbey near Höxter, which is why he gave this monastery rich consideration in his will in 1511.

Merchant

He was first mentioned in Lübeck documents in 1492/93 when he became a member of the Leonhard Brotherhood and the Antonius Brotherhood. The membership in both brotherhoods proves that he was already a wealthy merchant at that time who conducted his business mainly with southern Germany and Italy. He appears in the Lübeck pound customs books as a Livonia and Scania trader . Essentially, Wigerinck's interests were directed towards the purchase of copper and metal goods and their distribution in the Baltic Sea region; but he also traded in spices and substances from Italy as well as in wax .

He ran a trading company with Nikolaus Lüdinghusen and Jörg Baier from Nuremberg . Above all, however, he was entrepreneurially close to the Fugger in Augsburg and promoted their Lübeck branch. From 1504 at the latest he was in charge of the “Fugger branch in Lübeck” and, as a “liaison man of the Nuremberg Fugger Society in Lübeck, apparently a key position in money and exchange transactions from Scandinavia to Rome”, as u. a. with the Roman notebook of the Lübeck cleric Thomas Giese . This also included the transfer of indulgences.

The Fuggers, who disrupted the Hanseatic copper trade in Swedish copper in the Baltic Sea region with cheaper Hungarian copper, were fought by Lübeck with diplomatic means internationally and at the national level. During the Danish-Hanseatic War (1509–1512) in August 1511, during an attack on the enemy fleet off Danzig, a Dutch suburban driver with a copper load of Fuggers worth 9,000 marks Lübisch was confiscated from Lübeck and had to return through the Fugger for 8,000 marks Lübisch can be acquired. This led to the involvement of the Emperor Maximilian I on the part of the Fuggers associated with him, and the Lübeckers could only get out of the affair without losing face with the proposal to negotiate the Fuggers' unlawful trade monopoly in front of the Reichstag . A trip by Council Secretary Henning Osthusen to Augsburg is reflected in Wigerinck's books. Schedel's world chronicle is also reflected in his accounts with the imperial city of Nuremberg .

social network

Like Mathias Mulich , who also immigrated , Wigerinck was closely networked on business, friends and family in the circles of the Lübeck merchant and councilor families. His four wives came from well-respected and wealthy families in Lübeck, two of them, Anna Claholt and Anna Dives, even had close relatives on the council. About Anna Claholt he was with the later mayor Gotthard III. by marriage by Hoeveln . Even after the death of the women, he remained closely connected to the relatives by marriage.

In addition to the two brotherhoods already mentioned, he was accepted into the corporation of the Skåne drivers and the Greveradenkompanie before 1500. In the last years of his life he was head of the Leonhard Brotherhood. His reputation is also shown in the fact that he often appears as surety, administrator and executor for other merchants in the Lübeck Niederstadtbuch and the council judgments. In 1504, Wigerinck is mentioned in a document in connection with a document in which he, like the later councilor Moritz Loff , represented the external executors of Adolf Greverade in connection with the foundation of the vicarage in Lübeck Cathedral , which was responsible for furnishing the side chapel of the cathedral with Hans Memling's reredos . But he was neither a member of the circle society nor of the Lübeck council.

family

Wigerinck was married four times:

  • Anna, born Prume († July 4, 1497),
  • Anna, born Claholt († January 14, 1510), daughter of councilor Hermann Claholt ,
  • Anna, born Dives († July 3, 1511), a relative of Mayor David Divessen ,
  • Anna, born Kindt who survived him.

From his second marriage to Anna, geb. Claholt († January 14, 1510), daughter of councilor Hermann Claholt , he had at least eight surviving children, including:

  • as the eldest son Johann Wigerinck , who continued the company,
  • Hermen Wiggerinck, who became a member of the Greveradenkompanie in 1530, moved to Danzig as a merchant before 1531 and became a confrere at the Christopher Bank in Artushof Danzig , but was again a citizen of Lübeck by 1544 at the latest,
  • Godert Wiggerinck the Elder J. († September 2, 1550), who stayed in Lübeck and was also a member of the Greveradenkompanie, and
  • the studied lawyer and Canon Hieronymus Wigerinck († 1549), who was noticeable "through a messy life",
  • Kunneke, who married into the family of his business partner Nikolaus Lüdinghausen, and
  • Gertrud, who became a nun in the Johanniskloster , to whom Wigerinck promised considerable amounts of rice, sugar and spices in his will.

He is said to have had a total of twelve children.

Grave slab

Wigerinck's grave slab as a bronze grave slab from the Nuremberg workshop of Peter Vischer the Elder is a specialty for Lübeck, which on the one hand highlights Wigerinck's good relations with Nuremberg, but also his wealth compared to other Lübeck merchants during this time. It is the first work of art in the Renaissance style in Lübeck. It is worked as a coat of arms grave plate and shows in the center Wigerinck's coat of arms (a curved rafter accompanied by three rings) and in the corners the coats of arms of his four wives and the dates of death of the first three of them: Anna, geb. Prume († July 4, 1497), Anna, b. Claholt († January 14, 1510), Anna, b. Dives († July 3, 1511). The fourth heraldic cartouche by Anna, b. Kindt, is empty. The grave slab must therefore have been made during her lifetime. The grave slab has a Latin inscription.

Spiritual foundations and wills

Cheek with the coat of arms of Godart Wigerinck

Wigerinck made numerous foundations, especially for churches in Lübeck. So he donated precious antependia and vestments to the Marienkirche in Lübeck . While still alive, he took care of the restoration of the rood screen in St. Mary's Church, which was destroyed in a fire in 1508 . He donated the northern half, the carvings and paintings of which were adorned with his coat of arms and those of his four wives. The other half was taken over by councilor Johann Salige , who was also active in trade with Upper Germany . The carving work was done by the Lübeck carver Benedikt Dreyer , the paintings were presumably by Jacob van Utrecht . The rood screen burned during the air raid on Lübeck in 1942. Wigerinck did not live to see the rood screen completed. Immediately next to it was his grave slab.

As a member of the Marienbruderschaft, Wigerinck cared about the solemn arrangement of the Marientides and the chapel. He and his wives appear regularly on donor lists. In his will he made a bequest of 300 marks for the Marientiden or Sängerkapelle - the highest sum that has ever been bequeathed to the chapel by an individual. His estate administrators, together with Rumbolt Frese, who also came from Westphalia, used this to finance one side of the stalls in the Marientidenkapelle. Two cheeks with Wigerinck's coat of arms are preserved in the church.

His will, which he made after the death of his third wife in 1511, contained not only the foundation for the Marientidekapelle but also other legacies ad pias causas . He gave the Birgittenkloster near Mölln 100 guilders "for an eternal memory" for Wigerinck, his deceased wives and children. The St. Anne's monastery , which is still under construction , received the same amount, 300 marks, which was exactly the amount with which a novice was bought in the monastery. Shortly before his death, he doubled the donation. Heinrich Dormeier suspected that he was planning to accommodate two unmarried daughters in the new monastery. He also considered the poor, brotherhoods, infirmaries and monasteries. With the latter, he preferred those who had turned to the Bursfelder and other monastic reform movements. Just as generously as the Möllner Birgittenkloster, the monasteries Marienmünster and Gehrden were provided with legates in which relatives of his lived who were supposed to pray for the salvation of his and his family's soul. Wigerinck's will shows that, like many of his contemporaries, he was very afraid of the plague . So he donated a vicarie for a newly founded brotherhood of the plague saint Rochus , who was until then rather unknown in Lübeck , who also represented a figure on the rood screen he donated. One or more of his wives may have died from the disease. His brother-in-law Hermann Claholt d. J.

literature

  • Gustav Schaumann , Friedrich Bruns (editor): The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck. Edited by the building deputation. Volume 2, part 2: The Marienkirche. Nöhring, Lübeck 1906, pp. 391-394 ( digitized version ).
  • Philippe Dollinger : Die Hanse (original title: La Hanse translated by Marga and Hans Krabusch), 5th edition, Kröner , Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-37105-7
  • Klaus Krüger: Corpus of medieval grave monuments in Lübeck, Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg 1100-1600 , Jan Thorbeke Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, p. 927/928 ISBN 3-7995-5940-X
  • Adolf Clasen : Unrecognized treasures - Lübeck's Latin inscriptions in the original and in German. Lübeck 2002, p. 52 ff. ISBN 3795004756
  • Uwe Albrecht , Jörg Rosenfeld, Christiane Saumweber: Corpus of medieval wood sculpture and panel painting in Schleswig-Holstein, Volume I: Hanseatic City of Lübeck, St. Annen Museum . Ludwig, Kiel 2005, ISBN 3933598753
  • Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165 ( digitized version ).
  • Heinrich Dormeier : Economic success, lay piety and art in Lübeck around 1500. The foundations of the banker and wholesale merchant Godert Wiggerinck . In: Enno Bünz / Klaus-Joachim Lorenzen-Schmidt (ed.): Clergy, Church and Piety in Late Medieval Schleswig-Holstein , Neumünster 2006, pp. 274–297 ( digitized version )
  • Tamara Thiesen: Benedikt Dreyer - The work of the late Gothic carver. Kiel 2007, pp. 73–86 ( The two founders Johann (Hans) Salige and Godart Wigerinck ) ISBN 978-3-937719-57-3

Web links

Commons : Godart Wigerinck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Spelling on his grave slab in the Marienkirche in Lübeck
  2. ↑ Max Jansen: Jakob Fugger the Rich: Studies and Sources I. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 1910, p. 147
  3. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 148f.
  4. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 98f.
  5. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; Pp. 105-107.
  6. ^ After Dollinger
  7. ↑ BuK II, p. 394
  8. ↑ BuK II, p. 391 ff.
  9. ↑ Johannes Baltzer , Friedrich Bruns : The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck. Issued by the building authorities. Volume III: Church of Old Lübeck. Dom. Jakobikirche. Aegidia Church. Verlag von Bernhard Nöhring, Lübeck 1920, p. 144. (Unchanged reprint 2001: ISBN 3-89557-167-9 )
  10. ^ About the children from the marriage with Anna Claholt see: Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 155f.
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Prange : maid - cook - housekeeper. Women among clergymen at the end of the Middle Ages. In: Bishop and Cathedral Chapter of Lübeck: Hochstift, Principality and Region 1160–1937. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2014, ISBN 978-3-7950-5215-7 , pp. 271–288, here p. 279, see also the directory of Canons ebed., P. 345 no. 20
  12. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 146.
  13. ↑ Christiane Schuchard, Knut Schulz : Thomas Giese from Lübeck and his Roman notebook from 1507 to 1526 , Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2003, p. 15 ff.
  14. ↑ BuK II (lit.)
  15. ↑ Text with explanation and translation by: Adolf Clasen : Unknown treasures - Lübeck's Latin inscriptions in the original and in German. Lübeck 2002, p. 52 f. ISBN 3795004756
  16. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 124.
  17. ↑ BuK II, p. 188 ff
  18. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 142.
  19. ^ Heinrich Dormeyer: Foundation and early history of the Lübeck St. Anne's Monastery as reflected in the testamentary tradition . ZVLGA 2011, pp. 29-69; Pp. 36f and 54f.
  20. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 151.
  21. ^ Heinrich Dormeier : The wholesale merchant and banker Godert Wiggerinck († 1518 April 24). In: ZVLGA 85 (2005), pp. 93-165; P. 153f.
personal data
SURNAME Wigerinck, Godart
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wigerinck, Godhard; Wigerick, Gedort; Wigerinck, Godart; Wiggerinck, Godert; Wiggerinck, Gotthard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German long-distance trade merchant
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1518
Place of death Lübeck