Jacob von Melle

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Jacob von Melle in his younger years
Jacob von Melle around 1743. Portrait on his epitaph in the Marienkirche in Lübeck (destroyed in 1942) by Jürgen Matthias Kniller

Jacob von Melle (born June 17, 1659 in Lübeck , † June 13, 1743 ibid) was a German Lutheran theologian, polymath and author.

family

Jacob von Melle was born in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck as the son of the iron trader Gerhard (Gerdt) von Melle and his second wife Anna Maria, daughter of the Marienpastor Jacob Stolterfoht .

The family probably originally came from Melle . In the 14th and 15th centuries, members of the von Melle family, all of whom had the first names Hermann and Johannes, belonged to the council of the city of Osnabrück, in which they held the new office of mayor 21 times from 1360 to 1447. Later members of the family lived in Quakenbrück , where a Johannes von Melle was senior in the collegiate church in 1563 .

Grandfather Johannes von Melle was born in Quakenbrück in 1583 and was a businessman like his father Gerhard von Melle, who immigrated to Lübeck in 1629.

Life

Jacob's parents moved to Kappeln in his early childhood in 1660 and placed him in the care of his uncle Bernhard Krechting, who was the main pastor at St. Marien .

After studying at the age of 15 in Kiel , Jena (where he received his master's degree in 1680 ) and Rostock , he prepared for the pastor's office in Lübeck. In 1683 he went on a six-month study trip through the Netherlands, England and France with his fellow student, the lawyer Christian Heinrich Postel . His travel diary, later published in print, demonstrates his diverse interests, especially for foreign universities and libraries.

From 1684 he worked as a pastor at the Marienkirche , first as a preacher, then from 1706 as the successor to Balthasar Gerhard Hanneken (clergyman, 1641) as the main pastor . In 1719 he was elected senior in the Ministry of Spirituality in Lübeck. He retained both offices until his death in 1743. His successor as senior pastor was Bernhard Heinrich von der Hude (1681–1750); Balthasar Gerhard Hanneken (clergyman, 1678) became senior .

Memorial plaque to Jacob von Melles for his son who died in 1733 in St. Aegidien

In 1685 von Melle married the daughter of the Lübeck superintendent Samuel Pomarius , Dorothea (1664–1731); the marriage produced four sons and five daughters. His son Samuel Gerhard (1690–1733) was a preacher at St. Aegidia ; Franz Jacob (1696–1770) became a city ​​physician in Lübeck.

In 1707 he had already acquired a burial chapel for himself and his family in the Burgkirche ( Maria Magdalenen Church (Lübeck) ), in which he was also buried.

The founder of the Lübeck wine trading company HF von Melle , the pedagogue and librarian Johann Hermann von Melle and the Hamburg mayor Werner von Melle (1853–1937) are descendants of Jacob von Melle.

plant

As a student in Jena, von Melle published studies on the history of Lübeck. During his tenure at St. Marien, he devoted himself both passionately and comprehensively to the history of his hometown. He wrote the first standard work on the history of Lübeck, the Thorough Message from the Kayserlichen, Freyen and H. Römis. Imperial City of Lübeck (1713, second expanded edition 1742). In addition, he devoted himself to studies of paleontology, genealogy, heraldry and numismatics as well as the publication of the first dictionary of the Middle Low German language.

He owes the tradition of many sources that are lost today. Melles Lubeca Religiosa , a handwritten version of his detailed description of the city of Lübeck , is now a first-rate source for monuments and inscriptions in Lübeck's churches. After decades of war-related relocation and deportation to the Soviet Union, the unique piece came back to Lübeck from Georgia in 1997. It records the Low German verses of the dance of death by Bernt Notke in the Marienkirche before it was replaced in 1701 by a copy with High German verses.

Fonts (selection)

Digitized copy of the copy from the Lübeck city library with extensive handwritten additions by Melles, copy with many handwritten additions and comments by the cantor Johann Hermann Schnobel
  • Historia Urnae Sepvlcralis Sarmaticae Anno MDCLXXIV Repertae. Jena 1679
Digital copy of the copy in the Herzog August Library , Wolfenbüttel
  • Description of a trip ... to the Netherlands and England in 1683 by Jacob von Melle and Christian Heinrich Postel, ed. Carl Curtius, Katharineum School Program . Lübeck 1891
Digitized from the Harvard University Library copy
  • Notitia maiorum , Jacob von Melle (Leipzig 1707) in German translation. In: Lübeck contributions to family history and heraldry of the Working Group for Family Research eV Lübeck, issue 17/18, October 1981
  • Nova literaria Maris Balthici & Septentrionis: Collecta Lubecæ, MDCCVIII. Lübeck and Leipzig 1708
Digital copy of the copy in the Herzog August Library
  • Thorough news from the Kayserlichen, Freyen and H. Römis. Reichs Stadt Lübeck 1713, second expanded edition 1742, 3rd edition 1787 edition. by Johann Hermann Schnobel
Digitized version of the 1st edition , copy from the Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library
Digitized version of the 3rd edition , copy from the Bavarian State Library

Manuscripts

  • Detailed description of the Imperial, Freyen, and the Holy Roman Empire City of Lübeck from tried and tested scribes, irrefutable documents and many years of experience. [after 1701]
Lübeck City Library, Ms Lub 2 ° 83, digitized
Lübeck City Library, Ms Lub 2 ° 85, digitized
Lübeck City Library, Ms Lub 2 ° 86 digitized
The detailed description of the city of Lübeck in two parts. , Lübeck City Library, Ms. Lub. 2 ° 87 digitized

literature

Web links

Commons : Jacob von Melle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Jacob von Melle  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see also: Enrollment and reception of Jakob von Melle in the Rostock matriculation portal
  2. ↑ Thorough message from the Kaiserl. freyen and the HR Reich city of Lübeck. , P. 270
predecessor Office successor
Christoph Wendt Senior of the Spiritual Ministry in Lübeck
1719 - 1743 		Balthasar Gerhard Hanneken (clergyman, 1678)
personal data
SURNAME Melle, Jacob from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melle, Jakob von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran theologian, polyhistor and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1659
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1743
Place of death Lübeck