Hans von Schönitz
Hans von Schönitz or Johann Schenitz (* 1499 in Halle an der Saale ; † June 21, 1535 there ) was a German merchant, chief chamberlain , foreman and confidante of Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg , who was elector and imperial arch chancellor . He met a violent death from his execution .
Live and act
Hans von Schönitz or Schenitz came from an old Bohemian noble family. She came to Saxony in the middle of the 15th century and established herself there as a wealthy merchant family. His father Martin Schönitz had been a respected citizen and Pfänner (patrician) in Halle since 1481 at the latest ; there he held the high office of Ober- Bornmeister several times . He has been proven to have been married three times. His first wife was Walpurga Bauwins, his second Katharina von Drachstedt and his third, mother of Hans von Schönitz, was Margaretha Prellwitz, a daughter of the Pfänner Laurentius Prellwitz.
First he learned the trade of a merchant in his father's cloth business, later he studied mathematics. He soon went on trading trips and established relationships and connections with the great trading houses of the Holy Roman Empire . His contacts gave him early access to Cardinal Albrecht's court; From 1520, von Schönitz entered his service.
His first tasks were buying and selling at trade fairs, and later there were also financial transactions, such as obtaining loans, which Albrecht urgently needed for his lifestyle. The cardinal appointed him his treasurer in 1522.
When his father Martin Schönitz died in 1521, he and his brother took over the father's business. On May 23, 1522 he married the daughter of a merchant and councilor Magdalena Walter. She was the daughter of Hieronymus Walter, who held the office of councilor in Leipzig in 1514 and 1536. In the same year he acquired the property of the former Lamperti chapel on the market in Halle in order to build his residential and commercial building, the Kühler Brunnen . The building became part of the urban redesign initiated by Cardinal Albrecht in the spirit of Renaissance architecture.
In the following years, von Schönitz succeeded in further consolidating and expanding his position at court and his influence on Albrecht, so that in 1528 he was appointed chief treasurer and building architect. He worked as a building manager and perhaps also as a draftsman until September 1534; he was responsible for the procurement of finances and the implementation of Albrecht's construction projects. From May 1533 to 1537 this task was taken over by the architect (foreman) Andreas Günther († 1541), who was already the court architect of the Archbishopric of Mainz and Magdeburg and the Diocese of Halberstadt. From May 1537, Bastian Binder took over the task.
As a special expression of the electoral favor of the cardinal, Schönitz was commissioned in 1531 to bring Albrecht's lover Belina Mazarotti from Frankfurt am Main to Halle. Because of the lavish lifestyle of the cardinal, he intended to raise taxes again in 1534; The Calbe Estates Day required an insight into the sovereign's bookkeeping. When the books were checked, there was a difference of 59,000 guilders . A difference that Chamberlain Schönitz could not explain. It is assumed that the cardinal used the money to cover private expenses and that von Schönitz tried to cover up this issue.
His execution, hypotheses
The correspondence between Albrecht and Schönitz shows an extraordinarily confidential relationship to one another. This can also be confirmed for the financial affairs of the prince-bishop. This also includes the appearance of Schönitz, instructed by Albrecht, in relation to the archdiocese in accounting matters. The correspondence exposes unfair financial manipulations that both parties, the cardinal and his adlatus, must have known about.
Despite or because of his loyalty, the Cardinal had von Schönitz arrested and tried him for embezzlement. Schönitz was sentenced to death on June 21, 1535 and hanged on the gallows of the Giebichenstein office on the same day .
According to another hypothesis, a relationship conflict led to a lasting crisis between Schönitz and Albrecht. In 1531 Schönitz was commissioned to bring Albrecht's lover the singer Belina Mazarotti from Frankfurt am Main to Halle. According to the assumptions, a relationship developed between Schönitz and Mazarotti on the journey that they both maintained in attempted secrecy even after arriving in Halle. This was the real reason or an important factor behind the death sentence against Schönitz.
Several years later, after Albrecht had his chamberlain Hans von Schönitz executed in the course of his dark financial affairs and was involved in his conviction himself, Martin Luther wrote and published the old suspicion against Albrecht in relation to the murder of Georg Winckler . Luther had campaigned for the von Schönitz family and accused the cardinal of judicial murder.
literature
- Christina Seidel, Kurt Wünsch: A judicial murder in Halle - rise and fall of Hans von Schönitz. Heiko Richter Verlag, Halle 2000, ISBN 3-9805826-4-7 .
- Georg Theodor Strobel: Life and Writings Simonis Lemnii: in which especially of his notorious epigrams sufficient information is given. Monath & Kussler, Nuremberg 1792, p. 141 f.
- Jan Hirschbiegel : Close relationships at court - manifestations of trust: careers in imperial service at the end of the Middle Ages. (= Norm and structure. Volume 44). Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22441-7 , p. 13 f.
Web links
- Portrait painting of Hans von Schönitz mz-web.de
- The Hans Schenitz case: no “judicial murder” Texts for the exhibition in the Kühler Brunnen by Heiner Lück. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg lueck.jura.uni-halle.de
- Inscription catalog: The inscriptions of the city of Halle an der Saale Appendix 1: The building-related inscriptions of the city godsack. insschriften.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans von Schönitz, www.buergerstiftung-halle.de buergerstiftung-halle.de
- ^ Andreas Tacke (ed.): Continuity and caesura: Ernst von Wettin and Albrecht von Brandenburg. Lectures at the 1st Moritzburg Conference (Halle / Saale) from May 23rd to 25th, 2003 (= series of publications by the Moritzburg Foundation. Volume 1). Wallstein Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-89244-955-4 , p. 100 f.
- ↑ Schönitz story. Story of Hans von Schönitz, 2011 Mike Schönitz www.schoenitz.eu schoenitz.eu
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schönitz, Hans von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schantz, Hans; Schenitz, Hans; Schönitz, Hans; Schönitz, Johann |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German merchant, chief chamberlain, foreman and confidante of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1499 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Halle (Saale) |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 21, 1535 |
| Place of death | Halle (Saale) |