Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof

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Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof (f) (* 1525 in Kassel ? † September 30, 1605 , earlier assumptions 1602 or 1603 at Spangenberg Castle ) was a German mercenary , burgrave , forester , baroque poet and translator .

Parents and family

He was the son of Peter Kirchhof, who was called Peter von Halle and was probably born in Halle . In 1521, Peter Kirchhof accompanied the young Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous to the Diet of Worms . Landgrave Philipp appointed Peter Kirchhof mayor in Felsberg (Hesse) in 1533 and mayor and forester of Wanfried near Eschwege in 1533 . In 1544 he promoted him to chief forester of the Lower Principality, and in this role Kirchhof supervised the Reinhardswald , Habichtswald , Seulingswald , Kaufunger Wald and other forests of the Lower Principality. He died on January 9, 1561.

Peter Kirchhof was married to Barbara. In addition to Hans Wilhelm, a daughter named Katharina Kirchhof and the ailing son Peter Kirchhof , who became a well-known baroque painter, came from the marriage . Barbara died on December 2, 1561. The parents lived in modest prosperity and enabled their children to have a solid upbringing and an extensive education.

Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof was first married to Margarethe, who died on December 15, 1576 in Kassel. His second marriage was to Margarethe Stuckenrad , with whom he had nine children.

Soldier life

In 1535 he gave first insights into his life in the military publication Militaris Disciplina and reported about his parents' house. In 1540 Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof attended school in Eschwege . In Kassel , Petrus Nigidius was his teacher, who was rector in Kassel from 1539 . Whether Kirchhof was taught by Nigidius this year, or after his school days in Eschweg, can no longer be determined with certainty. During his school days he read about the heroic deeds of the Roman generals Julius Caesar and Titus and left school early to satisfy his pursuit of military awards.

"To separate (break off) my started studies, I want to hang on to the nail and mix up (switch over) into the life of the warrior"

Landgrave Philipp probably made it possible for him to gain his first war experience. In 1543 Kirchhof was mentioned in a document in Dresden . It could be that he goes to school again, as he himself reports in the Mititaris Disciplina that he suspended his school attendance for some time and was taught in various places outside Hesse. In 1545 he appeared in Nuremberg . When Duke Heinrich von Braunschweig tried to regain his lost land, Landgrave Philipp began an extensive mobilization in September 1545 . Kirchhof was probably active as a recruiter for soldiers and draftsman for Landgrave Philipp at this time.

Kirchhof then became a Landsknecht and, since its first mention as the Bamberg Landsknecht, has remained loyal to the soldier's life for years. From 1545 until his release in autumn 1554, he took part in numerous sieges, campaigns and battles in Germany and France, mostly in the service of Landgrave Philipp. He was a supporter of the Protestant attitude, which he strongly supported. 1546 he took and the Elector John Frederick of Saxony against the emperor in the war of Landgrave Philip Charles V in part. After the defeat of the Protestant army and the arrest and imprisonment of Landgrave Philipps, he moved to Switzerland and then worked in the French service as a mercenary, so u. A. in the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont camp in front of Boulogne-sur-Mer in Picardy , which was besieged by the English. In 1550 he returned to Germany and served the city of Braunschweig on the occasion of the siege by Duke Heinrich the Elder. J. of Braunschweig . He was wounded and narrowly avoided plague death . On December 19, 1550, he took part in the siege of Magdeburg by the Elector Moritz von Sachsen and Duke Georg von Mecklenburg rather unwillingly . In 1551 he returned to Braunschweig and was again a recruiter. In February 1552 he lived briefly in Kassel , only to switch back to French services.

Kirchhof took part in the liberation of Landgrave Philip, who was held captive by Charles V, under the leadership of King Heinrich II and Elector Moritz of Saxony . He then took part in the siege and storming of Chateau Conte on the Franco-Flemish border and then stayed in Amiens until January 1553 . In the war between the bishops of Würzburg and Bamberg and the city of Nuremberg against Albrecht von Brandenburg-Kulmbach , he took part as a mercenary. After the Bishop of Würzburg dismissed his soldiers in the fall of 1554, Kirchhof also ended his time as a mercenary.

His concern during the war was:

"... to stand by the truth / to handle justice / to protect widows and Waysen."

Literary man

In the winter of 1554 he probably studied at the Philipps University in Marburg an der Lahn. However, it is not verifiable through the university register. In 1555 he returned to Kassel and, because of his fluency and extensive experience, was employed by Landgrave Philipp for diplomatic assignments. While on a messenger ride to France, he was captured in Luxembourg and only released after a month. In 1558 and early 1559 he made several trips to Paris on behalf of Landgrave Philipp .

From 1560 he chose Kassel as his permanent residence. He did not take part in any further campaigns or messenger rides. After the death of his parents in 1561, he was unable to come to an agreement with his sister Katharina about the inheritance of the estate, and in 1564 there was a trial at the court court in Marburg that could not be settled until 1571. In 1563 the first volume of his Wendunmuht appeared. Since 1569 Kirchhof appeared as a mill master and citizen in Kassel.

In 1584, Landgrave Wilhelm IV appointed him burgrave at Spangenberg Castle in Hesse. He married Margarethe Stuckenrad for the second time and had nine children with her. In addition to his work as a burgrave, he was active as a writer at Spangenberg Castle. From 1584 to 1605 he wrote the rest of his Wendunmuhth . He died around the age of 80.

Works

Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof left a rich and varied collection of works. The foothills of the Schwank collections of the 16th century even give the number of his printed and handwritten works as more than 60. Actually Kirchhof only wanted to make a translation of the Latin Faetien of the humanist Heinrich Bebel , which he had received in 1555 from his friend Georg Otterler. He characterized the translation as follows: "Not just from the word / but according to which in our German it was best to send to my understanding / it vertieret (transferred)."

Shortly after, the collection lost the character of a translation and became an independent Schwank - anecdotes - and stories collection Wendunmuth . The high proportion of animal fables and proverbs is remarkable . He used oral traditions and stories from antiquity, Germany and Italy and, for the first time, from French. During the Frankfurt fasting fair in 1569, 118 copies were sold by the Frankfurt bookseller Michael Harder .

In 1602 his Militaris Disciplina was published , in which he recalled his many years of military experience as a mercenary. The script was also written at Spangenburg Castle. In a moral wisdom of old he expressed himself negatively about the character of war - "... the grayish angry evil" - and also described fortress building , fortress warfare and his eleven years of adventurous land servant life in the age of the Reformation .

Wendunmuth was a source for Jacob Grimm's Grimm collection of fairy tales and sagas (KHM 168 , 174 , 177 ).

Originals (excerpt)

  • Wendunmut, also Wendunmuth from 1563
  • 5 occasional pamphlets sad and happy events from the life of the Hessian landgrave family in 1564
  • Militaris Disciplina from 1602
  • Treasure chests (lost)
  • Commentaries by the historian Philipp von Commines (translation, lost)
  • Hessian stage play from the Peasant War of 1570 (presumed author)

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literature

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personal data
SURNAME Kirchhof, Hans Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kirchhoff, Hans Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1525
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH around 1605
Place of death Spangenberg