Gottfried Lengnich

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Gottfried Lengnich

Gottfried Lengnich (Polish Gotfryd Lengnich ) (* December 4, 1689 in Danzig ; † April 28, 1774 ibid) was a Danzig historian , lawyer and state theorist.

Life

Lengnich came from a merchant family. He first attended the Academic High School in Danzig and then from 1710, attracted mainly by the scholar Nikolaus Hieronymus Gundling , studied law, history and rhetoric in Halle . Here, thanks to Gundling's help, he was able to work on the magazine Neue Hallische Bibliothek .

After completing his studies, he returned to Gdansk. Initially without a job, he devoted himself to historical studies and from 1718 published the magazine Polish Library , which was discontinued a year later. Lengnich wanted to put his country's history on a critical and scientific basis. As part of Prussia's royal share , Danzig was assigned to the crown of Poland from 1466 . He wrote in his book History of the Prussian Lands :

"By voluntarily handing over to the King of Poland, Prussia submitted to a new master without relinquishing the old freedoms ... The connection with a foreign people made no change in the main pieces of the bitter constitution ... the King .. had to comply with various regulations. From this it followed that the Poles and Prussians also made up two special states under one king. "

Western Prussia became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772/1793 .

In 1721 the city council commissioned him to continue the Historia Rerum Prussicarum (1592) by Caspar Schütz ; the nine-volume history of the Prussian lands appeared from 1722 to 1725 and is considered his main work. In 1729 he was appointed professor of poetry, rhetoric, history and law at the Academic Gymnasium Danzig . He was also temporarily the tutor of the future King Stanislaus Poniatowski . In 1738 he became an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences , in 1740 adviser to King August III. As Danziger city counsel he tried from 1750 between the Polish court to mediate the Council formed mainly from scholars of the city and the commercial opposition, at the same time he researched and systematized the traditional laws of the city.

In 1740 Lengnich wrote the book Polish History , which was printed in 1741 in Dan (t) zig. He dedicated it to Messrs. Stanislao Ciolek Poniatowski . Lengnich is considered one of the pioneers of enlightened historiography in Poland. Politically, he supported the strivings for autonomy of the bourgeoisie in Gdansk and Polish Prussia, which he and Daniel Gralath and two other Gdansk councilors documented legally and historically and expressly considered Prussian lands as his "fatherland". Programmatically, he named the town of Tannenberg as the place of publication of the first edition of the Polish Library . In 1410 the army of the Teutonic Order was defeated by the united Polish-Lithuanian forces in the Battle of Tannenberg (1410) , which later enabled the Prussian cities to break away from the order.

Works

  • Of the Syndicus of the City of Danzig Gottfried Lengnich ius publicum civitatis Gedanensis or the City of Danzig Constitution and Rights (books.google.com) . ed. v. O. Günther, Danzig 1900 (originally only intended for internal use by the city administration).
  • History of the Prussian Lands of the Royal Polish Association since 1526 . Danzig 1722-1727.
    • Volume 1: Since the year 1526. Bite on the death king Sigismundi I. Danzig 1722 (online)
    • Volume 2: Under the Sigismundi Augusti government. Danzig 1723 (online)
    • Volume 3: Since the death of Sigismund Augusti, until the death of King Stephen who invaded at the end of 1586 . Danzig 1724 (online)
    • Volume 4: That happened from the death of King Stephen under the government of Sigismundi III until 1605 . Danzig 1726 (online)
    • Volume 5: Since the year 1606. Except for the death of King Sigismundi III. Danzig 1727 (online)
  • Polish history From Lechii to August, 1740/41, Dan (t) umpteen - later in Latin
  • Historia Polona A Lecho In Annum 1748 . Danzig 1750.
  • Jus Publicum Prussiae Polonae . Danzig 1758.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Polish History, Gottfried Lengnich, 1740/41 Dantzig dedicated to Messrs. Stanislao Ciolek Poniatowski .
personal data
SURNAME Lengnich, Gottfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lengnich, Gotfryd (Polish)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian, lawyer and state theorist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1689
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1774
Place of death Danzig