Gottfried Christoph von Zimmer

Gottfried Christoph von Zimmer (* 1524 in Seedorf Castle, today in Dunningen ; † 1570 in Constance ) was canon and clergyman in Strasbourg and Constance, among others . He was a member of the southern German noble family von Zimmer .

Life

He is the fourth son of Count Johannes Werner (the younger) von Zimmer and his wife Katharina von Erbach. His biography is closely linked to that of his older brother Johann Christoph, who is also spiritual, and that of his brother Froben Christoph . The author of the Zimmerische Chronik , his biological brother Froben, reports in it about Gottfried Christoph's birth. Accordingly, he was born in Seedorf Castle in 1524. "Rich and poor, women and men" made a pilgrimage to nearby Heiligenbronn to pray for a good birth.

Heinrich Ruckgaber summarized the life of the three brothers in his story of the Counts of Zimmer , published in 1840 (the text was left in the spelling from 1840):

"... As for the older brother [...] Johann Christoph first, he was appointed to the clerical position in early youth because he betrayed few talents [... and] less able boys were appointed to the mentioned class. [...]

In the meantime Gottfried Werner, [the uncle], had taken on the upbringing of the youngest, [...] Gottfried Christophs, on a fatherly basis. His older brother, Johann Christoph, was meanwhile [in 1542] after the death of the cathedral dean in Strasbourg, […] he was unanimously elected cathedral dean by the cathedral chapter there. Two years later [1544] he received a prebend [benefice] at the pen in Constanz.

But because Johann Christoph was now in possession of four prebends (in Strasbourg, Speyer, Cologne and Constanz), he resigned [renounced] his benefice at Cologne and later (1553) also handed over those in Constanz […] to his brother Gottfried Christoph. [...]

Gottfried Christoph, who received the same, then left Constanz, where he didn't like to be anyway, because, as our chronicler says, he was plagued by a lot of ghosts there. "

[A ghost drove him out of Constance]

“He had the same thing, as our chronicler relates, conjured up by a Thurgau black artist named Jakob Holzer, with consecrated lights, water and the like, whereupon the spirit appeared in a priestly robe and pretended to be the deceased Count Hans von Lupfen , and said that he had to atone for 6 to 8 years because he had brought the Constanz Abbey at a disadvantage and had led an unchaste life. Before these 6 - 8 years had elapsed, nothing could be done, so the spirit continued its being as before, and thereby caused the spiritual master to leave the house in the end, which was probably not right for that Thurgau black artist, since he was now doing nothing More with our Gottfried Christoph, whose purse he seems to be aiming for, was able to earn and went to Strasbourg, where now both brothers, it seems, lived to their deaths. [...] Nothing more is known about these two spiritual masters. "

Ruckgaber is wrong here. Since the chronicle ends before the death of the two spiritual brothers, he could not find any references to their burial places.

Strasbourg ruled out as a burial place with great certainty, since the city was Protestant between 1529 and 1681 and "Canon of Strasbourg" could be used as a title, the income from the benefices were usually paid, but residence or even burial in the Protestant city for Catholic clergy were completely excluded.

In fact, the Zimmerische Chronik reports in many places the stay of the two spiritual brothers as Strasbourg canons, but the events usually took place in Saverne (Zabern) or Erstein.

Archives clerk Kuthe from the Konstanz city archive writes:

“In 1550, Gottfried Christoph Graf moved into the Botzheim canon court. This name comes from the canon and humanist Dr. Johannes Botzheim, who had this building rebuilt in major parts at great expense. [...] It was [...] one of the most attractive canon courts that the clerical count moved into here. "

dig

Epitaph of the Canon of Zimmer

In the east chapel of the Mauritius rotunda of the Constance Minster there is an epitaph of Canon Gottfried Christoph von Zimmer. In the standard work of Heribert Reiner's description of the cathedral , he describes this in 1955:

"... limestone, 4.13 × 2.15 m, excellent work with a powerful effect ... above the coats of arms Zimmer and Erbach ..."

Reiners was wrong here: the work is not made of limestone, but of gray molasses sandstone. Extensive restoration work took place in the east chapel in 1971. The report of the Münsterbauhütte writes about this:

“The painting found here consisted of a gray lime casein paint. Removing this total overpainting by mechanical means enabled the uncovering of the original remains of the frame, which were, however, severely decimated .. "

The epitaph was covered with a casein color that had yellowed over the centuries, giving the impression of limestone. This led Reiner to believe that it was limestone.

Another riddle is the base, which was unprofessionally processed. Reiners suspects that this was an inscription that was chiseled off for an unknown reason.

The epitaph inscription

The inscription testifies that Gottfried Christoph was buried in Konstanz:

Anno domini 1570 the 9th day of Septeb_ris died the Erwurdig and Wolgeborn mr mr gottfridt Christoff Grave and mr zu Zimber beeder hoche stifft Strasbourg Thumkamerer [cathedral treasurer] and Thumherr [canon] zuo Constantz Grace to God. Ame

literature

• Winfried Hecht; Hans Peter Müller: 1000 years of Bösingen and Herrenzimmern, 994 - 1994. Contributions to local history . Bösingen, municipal administration, 1994
• Paul Herrmann (Ed.): Zimmerische Chronik . 4 volumes. Meersburg, 1932
• Bernhard Ihringer: From the chronicle of those of rooms . Munich, 1911
• Karl Kimmich: Gottfried Christoph v. Rooms . In: Journal of the Herrenzimmerner Geschichts- und Kulturverein e. V., 2005
• Mathias Köhler: Konstanz Münster our dear lady . Lindenberg, 2003
• Heribert Reiners: The Minster of Our Lady of Constance . Constance, 1955
• Heinrich Ruckgaber: History of the counts of rooms . Rottweil, 1840

Archive information:

• Archives de la Ville et de la CUS Strasbourg
• Archbishop's Archives Freiburg i. Br.
• General State Archives Karlsruhe
• State Property and Building Authority Konstanz - Münsterbauhütte
• City Archives Konstanz, Mr. Kuthe