Great Stalburg

Great Stalburg
Große Stalburg before 1789, watercolor by Carl Theodor Reiffenstein , 1853
Data
place	Frankfurt am Main
Client	Claus Stalburg
Construction year	1490s
demolition	1789
Location of the building in Frankfurt's old town

The Große Stalburg , also just called the main building in older literature , was a historic building in the old town of Frankfurt am Main . It was in the western development of the Großer Kornmarkt (today Kornmarkt ) roughly at the point where the Federal Audit Office building in Frankfurt am Main is today. At that time, the house address was F9 according to the old quarter numbering , after the abolition of the system in 1845 this would have corresponded to Großer Kornmarkt 17 .

According to contemporary reports, the stone house, built at the end of the 15th century, was the most beautiful secular building of the Frankfurt Gothic in terms of architecture and original furnishings . Although the builder Claus Stalburg had determined never to change or demolish it, it had to give way as early as 1789 for the construction of the German Reformed Church in Frankfurt.

history

prehistory

Hypothetical building situation around 1490

Due to a large number of documented mentions and book entries , the topographical situation at the Großer Kornmarkt , which is only known as Kornmarkt today, can be reconstructed around 1490. Accordingly, instead of the Great Stalburg, there were previously four old town houses, named from south to north, Zur Krone , Zum Stern , Friburg and Heussenstamm . Judging from the rather short written evidence, however, it seems to have been simple buildings with the typically narrow but very deep plots without any special function.

Regarding the age, for example whether the buildings originated from the first construction of the street in the 12th century, in view of the earliest documentary mention of one of the four buildings in 1336, no serious considerations can be made. Houses that were at least comparable in terms of their parceling, but were certainly completely new built in the late Middle Ages or early modern times , had survived, especially at the northern end of the Great Corn Market, until the old town was destroyed in 1944. The ownership structure of the 14th and 15th centuries is in the dark, although further research on sources could probably still provide clarity today.

The time of edification

Claus Stalburg and his wife Margarethe vom Rhein, 1504

There is documentary evidence, however, that the wealthy Frankfurt patrician and councilor Claus Stalburg probably took possession of the four buildings in the 1490s, laid them down and had a new stone building carried out there by 1498. A document dated January 24, 1498 already mentions the large Stalburg named after the client and in this context an “other nuwe husung” , so that the building can be considered completed by this time at the latest.

The existing literature almost completely mentions the year 1496 as the start of construction; Anja Johann mentions 1497, at least 1496. Apparently, at least 1496 is based only on a statement in the second part of the Frankfurter Chronik by Georg August von Lersner , whose statements in view of the historical standards in the early 18th century should at least be questioned critically. Compared to other, better documented building projects of those years, such as the Stone House , a construction period of two years seems realistic.

The skilful choice of the building site can still be seen in the cityscape today, despite changes in the course of the streets, especially in the post-war period. In medieval Frankfurt, along with Fahrgasse and Neue Kräme, the Große Kornmarkt was the most important north-south connection between the northern city gate Katharinenpforte and the Leonhardstor at the Mainhafen in the south, its importance for traffic roughly comparable to today's Kurt-Schumacher- Street .

Stone houses in such a prominent location, of which there were only about twenty in the city anyway, could be rented out for the most valuable goods, especially at the twice-yearly fair . Compared to the other buildings in the city, mostly made of wood, they were far less at risk from the constant threat of fires. In addition, only wealthy guests from the upper classes came to a building like this.

Further history, demolition and successor development

After Claus Stalburg's death, the house passed to his second son, Craft Stalburg , who, however, remained without an heir and died in 1572. However, he still had thirteen siblings, eight of whom had reached adulthood. In his will of August 3, 1567, he therefore determined that the oldest male representative of the Stalburg line should always own the house and maintain it at the same time, but never change it or even tear it down.

So the house was passed on from generation to generation, and apparently the will was so satisfied that the contemporary witness Johann Karl von Fichard wrote at the beginning of the 19th century: “Claus Stalburg [...] gave posterity the image of a luxurious private apartment in this house how these could be set up as a sample at the end of the 15th century. "

But pre-revolutionary classicism , which was very fertile in Frankfurt , had little left for the architecture of previous centuries. Despite a slowly awakening interest in art history , as demonstrated by the works of Heinrich Sebastian Hüsgen from the late 18th century, extensive medieval building stock was changed in the new zeitgeist or, even if it was seldom seen relatively at later times, was completely demolished. Thus, apart from Lersner's chronicle, the Große Stalburg is not even mentioned in any major city description from the 18th century, let alone noted as significant.

In 1788 the Frankfurt German Reformed Congregation began to look for a plot of land to build a church. The first Reformed religious refugees , mainly from France and the Netherlands , came to Frankfurt as early as 1555 and settled there. After violent theological disputes with the Lutheran ministry of preachers , however, the council had banned Reformed worship in 1594 and, with a brief exception from 1601 to 1608, did not allow the Reformed church buildings of their own in the city. It was not until November 15, 1787, that the council allowed the two Reformed congregations to build their own churches under strict conditions.

Despite the obvious interest of the family owner at the time, the imperial councilor and senior lay judge Johann Adolph Friedrich von Stalburg , in selling the house, the will from 1561 was still valid. The case was brought before the lay judges' court . In December 1788, Craft Stalburg's testamentary will was effectively canceled, thus making sale and demolition possible.

According to the reasoning of the court, there were “the most important motives” for this, for example “that after the changed times this house no longer meets the purpose, but rather is far behind all bourgeois apartments in terms of its internal furnishings and its external reputation” . Ultimately, however, the decisive factor was that, according to the expert report, at least 30,000 guilders would have to be estimated for an allegedly necessary new building of the house "if it wanted to be converted into a real apartment for the von Stalburg male tribe" , but the German Reformed community 45,000 guilders would have offered.

German Reformed Church on Kornmarkt, around 1880

In conclusion, the court said that the “intention of the founder of Fideicommiss [Craft Stalburg] to designate his house as an apartment for his husband would certainly have been achieved in all respects, since this would remain in its destination for more than 2 seculae after his death and now afterwards ravages of time had made unbewonbar which, obtained by a stroke of luck as high retail price of fl.  substituiret was 45,000 for the same purpose Fideicommis. "

Only a short time later, at the beginning of 1788, the presbytery of the German Reformed congregation concluded the purchase agreement, and the fate of the Great Stalburg was finally sealed with the consent of the city to choose this place in July of the same year. The house was demolished in 1789 together with its unique and well-preserved furnishings. Only the middle part of the house altar went into private hands in Hanau , where it burned when the French marched in 1813. The wings of the altar depicting Claus Stalburg and his wife were later bought by the Städelsche Kunstinstitut .

The new building in the then modern classical style - its design is attributed to Nicolas Alexandre Salins de Montfort - did not look like a church. This was a consequence of the council decree, which had ordered the Reformed congregations to insert the facades of their church buildings into the street fronts and not to erect bell towers. However, this sobriety also drew criticism. Fichard later commented on the demolition and rebuilding : “The church built at this point, at the sight of which anyone who is unknown with the purpose of the building can hardly guess the purpose for which lime and stone were put together here, in no way replaces this loss. - So instead of a dignified old work in the bookcase, a miserable freak of recent times is often put down. ” The art historian and later mayor of the Free City of Frankfurt , Philipp Friedrich Gwinner , wrote in 1862: “ This time was able to provide a more pathetic testimony to your sober Philistine taste truly not exhibit. "

With Johann Adolph Friedrich von Stalburg, who remained childless, the Stalburg family died out in the male line in 1808.

architecture

Exterior

Building on Frankfurt's Merian plan from 1628

In 1853, Carl Theodor Reiffenstein made a watercolor reconstruction of the house, which in turn was based on information from Johann Georg Battonn and Johann Karl von Fichard , who knew the house and reported about it while they were still alive. Although the watercolor was actually used to illustrate a later work about the Goethe sites in Frankfurt, since the house south of the Great Stalburg was the house where Lili Schönemann was born, the painter also provided impressive evidence of the splendor that Claus Stalburg put on public display.

The house with three full storeys, each estimated to be at least 4 meters high, was therefore completely solid and entirely in the Gothic style of comparable Frankfurt patrician buildings of the 14th and 15th centuries. It was the only known building in the city to combine a circular crenellated wreath reminiscent of defense architecture with stepped gables like the Roman . These extended along the north and south axis of the house between polygonal corner turrets at each corner of the gable roof , which probably had at least two more full floors.

Most likely the model in the rest of Frankfurt's secular building was a figure of Mary , which was placed above the ogival entrance gate, flanked to the left and right by two equally large portals. The gate was "[...] covered with so much and delicately worked iron works that the passers-by often stopped and looked at the beauty of antiquity with admiration" . On the other hand, what seemed exotic about a building from the late 15th century was that “the rainwater collected on the gutters [...] flowed out through elephant heads with trunks” . This is confirmed by findings later obtained from inventories, according to which there were numerous natural history books in Stalburg's private library.

Alternative reconstruction by Reiffenstein, probably around 1850

So far, the notes by Battonn, Fichard and Reiffenstein's graphical explanations regarding the external appearance of the house coincide. With regard to further details, it is problematic that Reiffenstein made a second reconstruction picture of the house, which Walter Sage did not give unfounded suspicion that he relied on a description that was either no longer preserved or at least no longer known. The second sketch shows the most important and for a Frankfurt building very rare detail, an oriel , in the middle of the facade. In the watercolor, however, as described by Battonn, it is shifted to the south.

However, the above-mentioned bay window in both pictures extended in a slim and ascending shape typical of the Gothic period from about half the height of the first floor to over the roof area and ended here with a pointed helmet . This is confirmed by Matthäus Merian's city ​​map from 1628, despite the unfavorable perspective, so that at least the appearance of the bay can be regarded as secure.

Further details, such as the walled-up windows in both pictures, confirm the assumption that the source is dark today, as its arrangement and number is not given anywhere in Battonn or Fichard. It would be most likely that Reiffenstein questioned contemporary witnesses who were still alive in his day , which must remain unproven due to the fact that he did not make any records of his sources.

Interior

Through the main portal on the Kornmarkt one entered a ground floor completely spanned by cross vaults. From here, a staircase that was only described as "very strange" led to the first floor. From here on there are descriptions of other rooms in the house, but no specific information about where they were in the house.

Most remarkable was probably the so-called Great Hall , the window arrangement according to Reiffenstein on the first floor. In the hall, “above under the ceiling on a 2-shoe wide panel”, three ceiling paintings executed in fresco technique could be admired, which “were explained by the verses above” . Battonn copied the verses, unfortunately without a more detailed description of the portraits themselves, and thus received them for posterity:

I.	II.	III.
Koriolanus was away from Rome So he would like whoever stayed by jm That he occupied Rome That the council asked jn for a friend.	Min phert that wolt i jump lon As what a poor witfrawen son of unhistory came to that min phert has taken life.	I sit here vons Keissers because of That I judge and that I should care. So it has tempted me that I am innocent.
The prister also al tzu in the walk And searched for frid in these things He spoke latt ask and because of Ir prister should care for the temple.	Oh my poor call uch That jr the right wolt gan So I complain uch mine not Uvwer son gave me min child erdod.	Oh, got well you have mercy on me, innocent poor, I do not deserve it, how you can enjoy me.
Oh, jr should we frawen and we should be like the fredes He spoke I wil not ab lon I wil hone Rome as my own.	As ir me fraw here you complained So you said that t right, I wanna give you your own Do not put the burden in life	The judge hears what we say The Keizer has fon uch horn complain That jr burns the innocent in pin Des must jr sin prisoner sin.
Veturia versont irs sones tzorn Rome that who sust even ferlorn Because with it she deserves to mol That one should all frawen eren.	So I have won over right, so I should be my myn elich, I better not think so. Dan that makes me a different child.	That you have spoken false judgment The sal nu are smelled on you That you burn the innocent jn pin Des mustu here battered syn.
Koriolanus is worth his mother. Everything that delighted your heart. Then the whole senate came and went to the statute.		The Keizer lisz to bind the judge And apparently for everyone to flog That a jecklicher judge for himself se That jm nit also so well.
The romer thanked the frawen ser And daden ir disse great eer That they and all frawen should ask Furters what they wanted		The hat lisz er on Richtstul neln Dem son sins fatters ampt befeln The er right iederman Ader im wörd also dared.
		So he did it right that everyone must be right And since jm God who commanded him There was the noble Keizer dot.
		So he has led sin live And give byspil to all the people who want to judge, And al judges want to tighten, They do n't judge as they should.
		Wol uber Vc (500) jor afterwards Since an old gebu was moved. The Kysers was lying in the hole and still has his tongue.
		Since you hapt the Keisers da fant, you bring it to the babst to hant who waited by understanding that he would have been right at all.
		The bobst asked got for den hiden That he divorced in nit lis fon jm The holy bobst was valued What he fon got dem hern.

Accordingly, the legend of the Roman patrician Coriolan was depicted , in first- person form the story of a widow who asks the man who killed her son to marry her and make her "another child" as well as the story of a German Emperor as a just judge . They made clear the representative claim of the builder, as one found sequences of images of this kind at that time mainly in town halls . The performing artist remained unknown, but attempts have been made to attribute it to Jerg Ratgeb, who worked for Claus Stalburg from 1514 .

Another room in the house was the house chapel . Your altar, which is still fragmentary today, showed the builder and his wife, Margarethe von Rhein, almost life-size on the inside of the wings . It was in the bay window of the house that was visible from the outside, which is why the room, following Reiffenstein, was most likely located on the second floor.

Finally, there is news that at least announces the existence of a larger private library in the house. It initially consisted of some traditionally religious and edifying works, but above all humanistic, natural history and historical literature. It was also unusual that the titles were exclusively in German, as Latin was still widespread in classical literature at that time.

literature

Major works

• Johann Georg Battonn: Local description of the city of Frankfurt am Main - Volume I. Association for history and antiquity to Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 1861, p. 250 u. 251 ( online ).
• Johann Georg Battonn: Local description of the city of Frankfurt am Main - Volume V. Association for history and antiquity in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 1869, pp. 80-88 ( online ).
• Philipp Friedrich Gwinner: Art and Artists in Frankfurt am Main from the thirteenth century to the opening of the Städel'schen Kunstinstitut. Publisher by Joseph Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1862, pp. 42–47.
• Anja Johann: The Frankfurt patrician Claus Stalburg the Rich (1469–1524). In: Dieter Rebentisch and Evelyn Hils-Brockhoff on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Frankfurter Geschichte e. V. in connection with the Institute for City History (Ed.): Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art. Volume 68, Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-7829-0535-0 .
• Walter Sage: The community center in Frankfurt a. M. until the end of the Thirty Years War. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1959 ( Das Deutsche Bürgerhaus 2), p. 22 and 23.

Further works used

• Johann Friedrich Boehmer, Friedrich Lau: Document book of the imperial city Frankfurt. Second volume 1314-1340. J. Baer & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1905.
• Johann Heinrich Faber: Topographical, political and historical description of the imperial, electoral and trading city of Frankfurt am Mayn. Verlag der Jägerische Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1788.
• Philipp Wilhelm Gercken: Historical-statistical description of the free imperial city of Frankfurt am Mayn and the surrounding area of ​​Homburg, Darmstadt, Hanau, Aschaffenburg, Gelnhausen etc. Kranzbühler, Worms 1788.
• Rudolf Jung, Julius Hülsen: The architectural monuments in Frankfurt am Main - Volume 3, private buildings. Self-published / Keller, Frankfurt am Main 1902–1914.
• Ute-Nortrud Kaiser: Jerg Ratgeb - trace security. CA Starke Verlag, Limburg 1985, ISBN 3-7980-0225-8 .
• Friedrich Krug: The house numbers in Frankfurt am Main, compiled in a comparative overview of the new with the old, and vice versa. Georg Friedrich Krug's publishing house bookshop, Frankfurt am Main 1850.
• Achilles August von Lersner, Georg August von Lersner: Postponed, increased, and continued Chronica of the well-known free imperial, election and trade city of Franckfurth am Mayn […]. Self-published, Franckfurt am Mayn 1734 ( online ).
• Johann Anton Moritz: Attempt to introduce the state constitution of the Upper Rhine imperial cities. First part. Imperial City of Frankfurt (sections 1–3). Andreean Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1785 ( online ).
• Johann Anton Moritz: Attempt to introduce the state constitution of the Upper Rhine imperial cities. Second part. Imperial City of Frankfurt (Section 4). Andreean Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1786 ( online ).
• Johann Bernhard Müller: Description of the current state of the free realm election and trade city Franckfurt am Mayn. Johann Friedrich Fleischer, Franckfurt am Mayn 1747.
• Carl Theodor Reiffenstein: Pictures to Goethe's Poetry and Truth. Look at the places where the poet spent his childhood. Shown based on our own research and provided with an introduction. Published by Karl Theodor Völcker, Frankfurt am Main 1877.
• Heinrich Voelcker: The old town in Frankfurt am Main within the Hohenstaufen wall. Moritz Diesterweg publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1937.

Web links

Commons : Große Stalburg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Krug 1850, p. 117.
2. ↑ Battonn 1869, pp. 80-82.
3. ↑ Battonn 1869, p. 80; Quote: "[...] domum dictam zum Sterne sitam in foro frumenti [...]" ; also reprinted in Boehmer, Lau, p. 548; there § 52 of the oldest Insatzbuch, entry from January 1, 1336.
4. ↑ Sage 1959, p. 22; Original in ISG Frankfurt a. M. in the house documents for F9.
5. ↑ Johann 2002, p. 49.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Lersner 1734, first book, p. 204.
7. ↑ Voelcker 1937, p. 49.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Battonn 1861, p. 251.
9. ↑ Johann 2002, p. 46.
10. ↑ Jung, Hülsen 1902-1914, p. 281 and 282.
11. ^ Battonn 1869, p. 82.
12. ↑ Battonn 1869, p. 87 and 88, large parts of the court decision cited below can be found there verbatim.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Gwinner 1862, p. 46.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Battonn 1869, p. 83, literal quotation Battonn.
15. ↑ Battonn 1869, pp. 82-88.
16. ↑ Reiffenstein 1877, p. 31.
17. ^ Battonn 1869, p. 84, literal quotation from Fichard.
18. ↑ Johann 2002, p. 53.
19. ↑ ^{a b} Sage 1959, p. 23.
20. ↑ Battonn 1869, p. 82 and 83, based on Fichard's childhood memories.
21. ^ Battonn 1869, p. 84, literal quotation Battonn.
22. ↑ Battonn 1869, reprint on pp. 84–87.
23. ↑ Johann 2002, p. 50.
24. ↑ Kaiser 1985, pp. 66-70.
25. ↑ Battonn 1869, p. 83.
26. ^ Johann 2002, p. 53 u. 54.

Remarks

1. ^ Heinrich Sebastian Hüsgen wrote news from Franckfurt artists and art matters [...]. (1780) and Artistisches Magazin […]. (1790) the first Frankfurt-specific art history treatises ever.
2. ↑ Examination of the author: no mention in the four most important city descriptions of the 18th century, besides Lersner, i.e. Faber 1788, Gercken 1788, Moritz 1785/86 a. Müller 1747.

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 39.2 "  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 45.8"  E

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 13, 2008 .