Hans Harrer

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Hans Harrer (* around 1530 ; † at the end of June 1580 in Dresden by suicide ) was the Saxon rent chamber master of the Elector August , a wholesale merchant and industrialist . He was the landlord of Wahnsdorf and builder of the Bennoschlösschen .

Life

Around 1550 Harrer entered the electoral service. In 1557 he is mentioned as rent chamber servant and in 1562 he was appointed rent chamber master by Elector August as the successor to Andreas Hampel. Harrer stands out among the electoral Saxon officials, as he held the widely ramified, responsible and important office of chamber master for almost three decades and he managed to save up an extensive state treasure.

Even today, Harrer is still important, as the electoral accounting system underwent a complete overhaul during his administration and with his special involvement . For example, all expenses had to be documented with receipts, confessions, evidence slips and due documents. Lending of funds from the electorate was not permitted without the elector's express written or oral order. Only craftsmen who had taken over deliveries were allowed to make advances, as well as officials who were sent on trips for electoral affairs. There were regulations on the keeping of files, which Elector August attached great importance to.

In 1571 he leased the Hermsdorf manor from Christoph von Carlowitz . In addition, there were other goods, not of their own accord, but from the insolvency of the previous owner.

On November 15, 1575, together with the Chamber Secretary Johann Jenitz, he received a privilege to produce the color substance safflower from bismuth ore from Schneeberg - in fact, the cobalt content of the ore is decisive.

Harrer committed suicide in June 1580 because he had speculated in the pepper trade and not only caused a loss to his employer, but also personally owed the Rentkammer 130,000 guilders (see also: Konrad Rott ). For fear of torture, he hanged himself in the silver chamber of the Dresden Palace . Harrer's successor was Georg Hermann, who died in November 1581.

family

Little is known about his personal circumstances and his homeland. To his older stepbrother of the same name, Hans Harrer d. Ä. († 1570), lutenist in the electoral chapel, maintained close relationships with the chamber master. He had a tense relationship with his younger brother Melchior, landlord on Markersbach .

Harrer was married to Barbara Funke. With her brothers Michael, lawyer at the Imperial Court of Justice in Speyer , Bastian and Hans Funke in Schneeberg in the Ore Mountains , Harrer was in familiar family and business relationships.

Two sons are named: The older, August, entered the business of his relative Konrad Rott in Augsburg , but drowned in Spain in the year of his father's death (1580) . The younger son Ernst received civil rights in Dresden in 1595 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Sporschil : Walks through Saxon Switzerland . Georg Wigand, Leipzig 1840, p. 238 ( online in Google book search).
  2. ↑ Uwe Schirmer : Public Economics in Kursachsen (1553-1631) . In: Jürgen Schneider (Ed.): Public and private economic activity in changing economic systems . Lectures at the 18th working conference of the Society for Social and Economic History from April 7th to 9th, 1999 in Innsbruck, page 154, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3515078681 or ISBN 9783515078689 ( digitized version )
  3. ^ Uwe Schirmer: Kursächsische Staatsfinanzen (1456-1656) , page 599, Verlag der Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2006 ISBN 3515089551 or ISBN 9783515089555 ( excerpt )
personal data
SURNAME Harrer, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Electoral chamber master, wholesaler and industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1530
DATE OF DEATH June 1580
Place of death Dresden