Hans Melchior Marshal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grave slab in the Weimar Jakobskirche .

Hans Melchior Marschall (Marschalch) (born January 12, 1602 in Weimar ; † June 14, 1628 between Erfurt and Weimar) was a young nobleman who died in the Thirty Years' War and who is still remembered today by a grave slab in the Jakobskirche in Weimar .

Life

Hans Melchior comes from the old Thuringian aristocratic family of the Marschalle and was the son of Hans Dietrich Marschall (* 1557 † 23 July 1630) zu Wechmar and Wülfershausen and the Sibyls of Spitznas . The grandparents were Hans Dietrich Marschall zu Wülfershausen and Tannheim and Clara geb. from Lichtenberg.

At the age of eleven, his parents sent him to Magdeburg to see his mother's brother, Canon Wolfgang von Spitznas , to study with his son. In 1617 he had to break off his studies for health reasons and return home. Since he was more interested in a practical activity than studying, he became the personal page of Count Günther von Schwarzburg in Arnstadt . After four years he switched to the court of Duke Albrecht von Sachsen as a page, where he spent five years. In 1625 he became the page of Duke Bernhard of Saxony . He subjected him to military training in the Danish army from September 1627. He died at the age of only 26 in combat operations in the Thirty Years' War . As a life guard lieutenant, he fought alongside Duke Bernhard of Saxony in southern Thuringia, not far from his closer home. When Duke Bernhard and his troops moved from Georgenthal to Erfurt to join the army units of his brothers, Duke Albrecht and Ernst, on June 14, 1628, they were attacked by the roaming Croatian imperial army units near the village of Bösefeld . The situation for the duke was extremely dangerous in that he was surprised at lunch without weapons and without a horse and so could not defend himself. When the Croatians came near the Duke to kill or to capture him, Hans Melchior Marschall and two comrades jumped protectively in front of his master like a living shield, whereby the young lieutenant was fatally hit by bullets.

When the Croats were repulsed, the dead lieutenant was first brought to the dwelling of the forester Wilhelm Schieferdecker near the village of Linderbach and the next day to the city of Weimar by order of Duke Bernhard. There he was buried "according to noble custom" on June 20, 1628 in the town and court church of St. Jacob after the funeral sermon and blessing of the court pastor David Lipach in the presence of the dukes Ernst, Albrecht and Bernhard.

Duke Ernst, deeply impressed by the heroic death of the young bodyguard, wrote a comforting letter to his father in Wechmar on June 15th. The participation of the dukes in the funeral ceremony led by the court priest, the burial site, which is otherwise reserved for high nobility and high court officials, and the grave slab ordered by the court are indications of how much appreciated Hans Melchior Marschall at the Weimar court and how grateful the ruling family was for his self-sacrifice.

After Hans Melchior Marschall's death, his parents had an elaborate grave slab made. This was found in 2007 - almost 400 years after his death - during renovation work in the Jakobskirche in Weimar . Marschall was shot on June 14, 1628 between Erfurt and Weimar . His funeral in the Jakobskirche was on June 20, 1628.

The title of his funeral sermon by David Lipach , which was published by the publisher Tobias Steinmann in Jena in 1629 , is:

"Christian sermon / Bey of the funeral of Des WohlEdlen / Vhesten and Manhafften Hans Melchior Marschalchs S. Des ... Hans Dietrich Marschalchs zu Wechmar and Wölffershausen some womb son: Which the 14th June of the past 1628th year in a [...] Auffauff the Crabaten between Weimar and Erfurth / next to other two princes. Saxon. Servants shot down in a miserable and unreasonable manner / And at Weimar [...] in the church at S. Jacob the 20th also been adjudicated / held in the city churches / and [...] put under pressure by M. David Lipachen Fürstl . Saxon. Preacher of hope there. "

The grave slab

The grave slab is of high artistic quality and is in a good state of preservation. The relief shows a knight in armor with a sword, a helmet with feathers at his feet. The figure is surrounded by tape, which also names the cause of death, and ancestral coat of arms. The plate is still under the floorboards of the church and can be seen through a glass plate embedded in the floor with switchable lighting. This grave slab raised a number of questions, including: a. for the reasons for such elaborate family graves.

literature
personal data
SURNAME Marshal, Hans Melchior
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marschalch, Hans Melchior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soldier in the Thirty Years' War, whose grave slab has survived
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1602
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1628
Place of death near Erfurt