Hieronymus Schultze

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Hieronymus Schultze , also Schulz (e) or Schulte (* 1534 in Hamburg ; † May 8, 1591 in Husum ) was a German lawyer, councilor and chancellor.

education

Hieronymus Schultze was a son of Peter Schulte, who died in Hamburg before September 22, 1564. His mother's name and life data are not known. It is documented about the father that he owned land in the Hamburg parish of St. Petri. Due to his son's long studies with a stay abroad, it can be assumed that he was a rich family.

Schultze studied law in 1552 at universities in Wittenberg and Rostock. In 1560 he attended the University of Bologna and lastly in 1564 the University of Frankfurt / Oder. Here he taught law himself. He had probably completed his doctorate in both rights in Italy, where he belonged to a group of students from Brandenburg nobles. The contacts with the noble students probably helped him a lot in his later work.

Service at the courts of Lauenburg and Gottorf

Probably because of his work as a university teacher, Schultze initially served the Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg . Duke Adolf von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf made Schultze his court chancellor around 1570 and also court chancellor in 1584. He also referred him to Franz II von Sachsen-Lauenburg , in whose service he entered as Chancellor in 1570/71. In these rarely encountered double functions, he worked until the end of his life.

Around 1571 Schultze moved to Lübeck , where he repeatedly changed his residence. In 1580 he bought a farm in front of the castle gate . Around 1580 he also acquired a farm in Fredeburg . In the 1580s he also owned a house in Lauenburg and in 1590 another in Flensburg . In addition, he owned a house on the Hamburg horse market and had other, not precisely documented property in Billwerder and Holstein. He also bought a large farm in Obermarschacht on the southern bank of the Elbe . This had belonged to a descendant of the Chancellor Johann Förster from Celle, who had tried unsuccessfully under Franz I to turn it into a manor. Schultze was more successful and in 1584 received the Marschacht fief. Thus he became a Lauenburg knight. His prince had previously been very cautious, whereupon Schultze had returned the village of Besenhorst that had been given to him earlier . The entry into the knighthood provided the basis for his later work in the context of a power crisis. It also led to his descendants belonging to the landed gentry and bearing the name "von Schulz".

Schultze was able to acquire so much real estate within a short period of time because he was the best-paid employee of an actually poor prince. For his services in Lauenburg he received between 500 and 700 thalers and several 100 thalers from Gottorf annually. As of 1584 he received 1000 thalers as the chancellor of Gottorf. He invested his income in property and books. He gave some of them to Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel .

Schultze initially dealt with securing the succession of Franz II, when his father was still alive. He was in close contact with Duke Adolf von Gottorf. This culminated in a Treaty of Kiel in 1574 and later, shortly before the death of Franz I, resulted in Franz II and not his younger brother being appointed as heir. During this time, Schultze wrote letters and memoranda to Franz II, which show that the processes involved were difficult. He had a practical sense in his political actions and showed great, sometimes educational, commitment. This was related to one's own humanistic-ethical attitude. This was probably one of the reasons for Schultze's friendship with Johannes Caselius .

For the House of Lauenburg, Schultze traveled to other royal courts, including those in Dresden and Wolfenbüttel . He also worked for other princes, the Bishop of Lauenburg and the Guelphs Julius and Heinrich zu Danneberg. In 1585 he traveled with Franz II to negotiate at the emperor's court in Prague . Here the Reichshofrat confirmed the prince as regular governor of his deceased father and declared the younger brother's claims null and void. As part of these negotiations, Schultze created the "Union of Knights and Landscapes". In his contract, he combined the most important elements of the Treaty of Ripen with the Union of Estates and combined the estates unification with a power contract.

In his contract, Schultze took into account that the Lauenburg knights and estates attached great importance to legal security. They wanted their privileges confirmed and wanted a regulated process that could be used in the event of legal violations. In addition, he created the institution of the four elders from the knighthood, which had prominent powers as a crisis team to which he himself belonged and which administered the finances of the country for many years. Thus he strengthened the position of the estates, which finally assured Francis II that the rule could only be continued by one of his sons after his death.

The body set up by Schultze in his contract checked in particular the income, negotiated with creditors and made sure that outstanding taxes were paid. The relationship between Schultze and Franz II suffered as a result. The prince spent too much money on his relationship and accused Schultze of overpaying lawyers who supervised ongoing trials at the Imperial Court of Justice. In addition, Schultze was often absent, although he had been expressly pointed out to him when he was given the loan in 1584 that he should mainly work in Lauenburg. The prince repeatedly asked him to reform the chancellery and create police regulations. He failed to do either of these. The knights from Lauenburg, however, continued to show great confidence in him and elected him their spokesman during a state parliament.

In Lauenburg, Schultze had made himself irreplaceable. He increasingly took on other tasks. After Duke Adolf died in 1568, he worked in particular at the Gottorfischer Hof, where he was appointed Chancellor in 1584. He participated in the affairs of the estates government, which ran the affairs of the underage descendants of Adolf. Christine von Hessen tried to influence this. She got into serious conflicts with Schultze and hired lawyers from Marburg who were less friendly to the estates.

In the course of the conflict, Schultze initiated a "union" of the government college. He took over some of the basic ideas of the "Union of Knights and Landscapes" created by him in 1585 and applied them to the guardianship government. He wanted to support unity, avert defamation and boasting and get everyone to stand up for one another in the event of possible denunciations at court.

Political importance

Schultze was of outstanding importance for the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg. His "Union" served as an important constitution for a long time after his death. At the Gottorfer Hof, however, Adam Tratziger gave the direction for a long time . It is therefore not easy to determine how extensive Schultze was able to influence Adolf's policies. In any case, it was of great importance to the Treaty of Kiel. Since Schultze succeeded Tratziger in 1584, it can be assumed that he had already been significantly active in the Gottorf administration. By helping to overcome a government crisis, he was later able to lead the estates-accepted guardianship government.

After his death, Duke Johann Adolf donated an epitaph to him that was erected in the Husum town church.

family

Schultze was married to Katharina von Blanckenfeld. The couple had five daughters and one son.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 360-361.
  2. ↑ Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal
  3. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 361.
  4. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 361.
  5. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 361.
  6. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 361-362.
  7. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 362.
  8. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 362-363.
  9. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 363.
  10. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 363.
  11. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 363.
  12. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 363.
  13. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 363-364.
  14. ↑ Armgard von Reden-Dohna: Schultze, Hieronymus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 363.
  15. ↑ Zippenverband Karl Fritsche 1936 p.96
personal data
SURNAME Schultze, Hieronymus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schulz, Hieronymus; Schulze, Hieronymus; Schulte, Hieronymus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, councilor and chancellor
DATE OF BIRTH 1534
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1591
Place of death Husum