Johann Caspar Malsch
Johann Caspar Malsch (born December 14, 1673 in Staffort , † September 12, 1742 in Karlsruhe ) was the first Karlsruhe historian, Baden church councilor and rector of the princely high school illustrious Karlsruhe .
Life
The parents Andreas and Margaretha Malsch, serfs of the Margrave of Baden-Durlach , gave their first-born, gifted boy Johann Caspar into the care of Rector Bulgowsky, who came from the Hungarian nobility and who ran the Durlach Illustre Gymnasium. He became the principal's famulus and passed the 6 classes of the grammar school in just 3 years.
When Melac's troops also devastated the margraviate in the Palatinate War of Succession , teachers and students at the grammar school had to flee. In the further chaos of the war, Malsch finally came to Stuttgart . His Latin poems made him so popular at the ducal court at the time that he received a two-year scholarship to the University of Tübingen . Then a distinguished field pharmacist of the imperial troops passing through took him into his service. Through him, Malsch came into the vicinity of Emperor Charles VI. , to whom he was allowed to perform his own Latin works. The offer of a court diplomatic career at the price of converting to the Roman Catholic denomination, however, turned down the Protestant Malsch.
After several years as a high school teacher in Cannstatt, Württemberg and a ducal scholarship for further studies in Tübingen, he received the call from Margrave Friedrich Magnus to teach the "eloquence of Greek and history" in Durlach. He accepted out of loyalty to the Margrave and later became Pro-Rector of the grammar school. In 1721 he was commissioned to found a higher educational institution in Karlsruhe, the "Athenaeum", which he also headed for three years. But then the margrave decided to move the Illustre grammar school from Durlach to Karlsruhe and merge it with the Athenaeum. Malsch became the rector of this institution and a “real councilor”.
Act
In 1728 Malsch published the first of the two issues of his culture and science magazine "Lanterns of the non-working nights" in Latin, which contains the history of Karlsruhe, which was then only 13 years old.
He explains why the plan for a summer residence in the forest eventually led to the relocation of the headquarters of the princely government. He sees the reason mainly in the fact that after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714, the state treasury could not cope with an adequate reconstruction of the Karlsburg in Durlach.
He was court poet and serf of the margrave Karl Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach , which explains why he praised the margrave beyond measure and even compared him to some gods. However, he was also a free spirit, so he wrote, the happiness of mankind reigns where one can freely express one's opinion and also publish it. It was with this in mind that he wanted to found his magazine. As an advocate for education, science and law, Malsch was one of those who called for the start of the Age of Enlightenment in the era of absolutism.
literature
- Wilhelm Otto Hauck: Staffort - castle and village at the constant ford (local chronicle). Stutensee municipality 1993
- Manfred G. Raupp: The Stafforter families 1669-1975 ; Kinship book Manuscript deposited in the Staffort Citizens' Office and in the Evangelical Church Community in Staffort; Local family book Staffort , published by the city of Stutensee, Verlag Gesowip Basel 2010, ISBN 978-3-906129-64-8 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Malsch, Johann Caspar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German historian and rector of the Illustre Karlsruhe high school |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 14, 1673 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Staff location |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 12, 1742 |
| Place of death | Karlsruhe |