Joachim Irgens av Vestervig

Coat of arms of Joachim Irgens av Vestervig

Joachim Baron Irgens av Vestervig , until 1640 Joachim Jürgens , (born May 19, 1611 in Itzehoe ; † August 29, 1675 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish merchant, mine owner , aristocrat , landowner in Itzehoe, chamberlain , doctor of medicine , pension clerk and mint master . Irgens was one of the largest landowners in Denmark.

life and work

Joachim Jürgens was born as the son of Henrik Jürgens (* 1580) and Catharina Fruchtnicht (* 1584). In addition to his brother Johannes Juergens (1613–1669) (later also called Irgens ), he is the tribe of the Irgens family . Joachim Jürgens was brought up in his youth together with Heinrich Müller, another merchant's son from Itzehoe , at the court of the young imperial count Christian zu Rantzau in Breitenburg. Afterwards Joachim Juergens entered the service of the Danish nobleman Fredrik Urne .

In 1634 he became chamberlain to the Danish king Christian IV. Joachim Jürgens had been able to acquire a fortune early on, and in 1636 he became a partner in Hannibal Sehested's Norwegian mines in Telemark and in the Lesje factory, for which Jürgens received the sole privilege in 1660. Juergens also received diplomatic assignments from the Danish government. Around 1640 the king changed his name from Jürgens to Irgens .

In 1646 he accompanied the Danish king to Trondheim . In a report from the time he was described as a man with a particular taste for mines . By the royal resolution of Rendsburg of October 19, 1646 he was granted the privilege for the Röros work. At about the same time he took part in the leasing of the Faroese trade .

After the king's death in 1648, he was dismissed as a court servant and was paid to manage the royal estate Vestervig , a monastery in Jutland . In 1656 he married Cornelia Bicker (1629–1708), the daughter of the important Dutch regent and statesman Andries Bicker . There were no descendants from this marriage. Irgens was connected to the Amsterdam De Graeff and Jakob de Petersen , Truchsess of Denmark, through his marriage .

Irgens lent large sums of money to the Danish crown, which in 1657 had already given him 60,000 rounds. owed. This amount increased further during the Swedish war. During this war he was able to procure goods and money worth a ton of gold for the Danish government. As payment, Irgens received in 1661 a letter of purchase for 111,688 Reichstaler to the Vestervig monastery. And in the same year he received the monopoly of buying copper in Norway for the royal crown. He also received in 1664 and the bill of sale for Gjorslev in the Danish municipality Stevns with the entire royal estate in the districts of Ringsted and Stevn on Zealand and in 1666 for the great good of the crown in Nordland that has since than Irgens-Gut referred becomes. At that time Joachim Irgens was one of the largest landowners in the kingdom and lived mostly in Copenhagen . In Holland, the home of his wife, Irgens owned the Irgensthal estate in 's-Graveland .

Joachim Irgens was ennobled on October 4, 1674 under the name Irgens von Westerwich (Vestervig) and at the same time raised to Baron von Vestervig. His coat of arms consisted of a four-part shield, the first and fourth fields of which show a golden fish between two gold crowns on a red background. The second field has a red bar on a gold background. The third field is divided, three white sea flowers grow out of the water into the blue sky.

Irgens died on August 29, 1675 in Copenhagen and, like his widow and children, was buried in Vestervig.

Web links

• PL Hald: Joachim Irgens til Vestervig (PDF; 123 kB)
• Joachim Irgens & Cornelia Bickers
• The sex of the Irgens. By Einar Irgens Loe ( RTF ; 11 kB)