Jakob von Kleist

Jakob von Kleist (* unknown; † 1625 ) was the ducal Pomeranian court hunter, governor of Neustettin and landowner . He was a well known witch hunter.

Life

Duke Johann Friedrich v. Pomerania

Kleist came from a Pomeranian noble family and was the eldest son of Peter von Kleist , landlord on Zadtkow . From 1574 Kleist was court squire with Duke Johann Friedrich zu Stettin and Amt Friedrichswalde with Naugard . On 22 February 1575 he was with his father's estate Zadtkow invested . At that time - from around 1575 - Melchior von Doberschütz , who came from Brandenburg , was city ​​governor of Neustettin and had won the duke's favor, which led to great envy among the Pomeranian court officials. Kleist, together with the ducal court marshal and secret councilor Peter von Kameke , is said to have purposefully pushed Doberschütz out of office through intrigues and slander in order to succeed him as city governor. Rumors about his wife Elisabeth von Doberschütz that she was a witch served him for this purpose . Kleist finally had success with the Duke in 1584 and took over the office of city governor, which he held until 1594.

Witch persecution in Neustettin

But even in the years after 1584 Kleist continued his hunt against Elisabeth von Doberschütz . She and her husband had long since fled to their Brandenburg homeland, where they were finally captured in Crossen (Oder) , brought to Stettin and, after a long trial, executed as a witch in 1591 on the Stettiner Heumarkt. During this time, the witch hunts carried out by Kleist reached their climax in Neustettin. From 1585 to 1591 the prisons of the castle and the city were always overcrowded with suspicious persons, more than 30 people were executed as guilty of sorcery during this time. Another specific case is known from Kleist's family history: He had the wife of Neustettiner's mayor Augustin Rutze “not only arrested for witchcraft, but also laid on the horizontal bench on various occasions and tortured her almost to death. This ordeal lasted almost a whole year with interruptions. ” After the mayor had complained, it was not until June 22, 1592 that Kleist received the ducal mandate “ that he should abstain from all judging ” .

"The then captain Jacob von Kleist acted with inhuman severity against all suspects, so that Duke Johann Friedrich zu Stettin, who was certainly not lenient in such matters, had to reprimand him sharply and admonish him to comply." With his witch hunts, Kleist seems to be gradually losing his favor with the duke to have.

End of life

Because two years after this warning, he resigned from his position as captain of Neustettin and retired to his Feldmark Zamborst . He had already bought this estate on September 28, 1583 for 1,000 thalers from his predecessor Doberschütz - while he was still in office - and had it confirmed as a fief by the duke. Around 1613/1614 the Duke exchanged the Zamborst field for the Dolgen estate near Neustettin. At this point in time, Kleist also owned the Klingbeck and Lanzen estates near Neustettin.

On March 15, 1600, Jakob von Kleist was one of the 20 pallbearers at the burial of Duke Johann Friedrich and on October 18, 1603, he escorted his brother, Duke Barnim X. , to the grave.

After Kleist had to swap his first retirement home, Zamborst, he spent his old age on his new estate at Dolgen.

Web links

• Detailed biography in the history of the von Kleist family - Muttrin-Damensche Linie , page 56f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Max von Stojentin: From Pomeranian Ducal Days. Cultural history pictures , Verlag Herrcke & Lebeling, Stettin 1902, pp. 1–35.
2. ^ Max von Stojentin: The great witch fire in Neustettin from 1586–1592 . In: Monthly sheets of the Society for Pomeranian History and Archeology, 12 (1898), pp. 41–47, 61
3. ^ Family history of Kleist, page 58
4. ^ Max von Stojentin: From Pomeranian Ducal Days
5. ↑ Ludwig Wilhelm Brüggemann : Detailed description of the current state of the Königl. Prussian Duchy of Western and Western Pomerania , 1749, Volume 2, Page 749 Excerpt