Johann Eberhard zu Eltz

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Johann Eberhard, Edler Herr zu Eltz , also called Sohn zu Eltz (* 1594 in Saarbrücken ; † around 1655 in Mainz (?)) Was Chancellor of the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in the Thirty Years War in 1626/27 and from 1628 to 1634 in Services of Wallenstein's Chancellor in the Duchy of Mecklenburg.

Life

Johann Eberhard, from the von und zu Eltz family, the Calvinist son of an Electoral Palatinate bailiff and grandson of Johann Adolph zu Eltz-Bliescastel and Katharina von Brandscheidt-Rodendorf, studied law at the University of Giessen from 1608 . In 1619 he was ambassador to the Electorate of the Palatinate when Ferdinand II was elected emperor . In 1620 his sovereign, Friedrich von der Pfalz , was expelled from Bohemia as the “winter king” after a year of reign and the Palatinate was occupied by Spanish-Habsburg troops.

Eltz now entered the service of Friedrich Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , an incompetent ruler who was exploited by his councilors. In 1624 Eltz became Vice Chancellor and in 1626 Chancellor in the Principality of Wolfenbüttel. Friedrich Ulrich initially tried to remain neutral during the Thirty Years' War. However, when his uncle, the Danish King Christian IV , marched into northern Germany in support of the Protestant Union and wanted to force him on his side, he succeeded by calling Eltz and the ducal councilor Bartold von Rautenberg (father-in-law of Eltz's brother Philipp Samson ), which enabled the Danes to take possession of the Wolfenbüttel fortress in early 1626 . The war events were now carried to the state of Braunschweig. After King Christian IV lost the Battle of Lutter am Barenberge in August 1627 , the fortress was attacked by the Imperial General Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim and conquered in December 1627. This ended the Chancellorship of Eltz.

Eltz now switched sides and turned to the Imperial and Catholic League . He won the trust of Wallenstein , the commander in chief of the imperial troops. This converted Catholic, although without religious zeal, used Protestants as well as Catholics as officers in his troops and he kept it in the state administration of the Duchy of Mecklenburg, which he ruled from 1628. In his restructuring of the previously ineffective state administration and judiciary, he attacked locals as well as Bohemians and other foreigners who were brought with him. In December 1628 Eltz von Wallenstein was appointed chancellor. He belonged to the ducal cabinet, together with the governor (the chairman of the three-person secret council ) and the regent (responsible for the finances in Wallenstein's lands).

The Mecklenburg chancellery headed by Eltz, previously responsible for all government affairs and also for the administration of justice, was reduced to a clearly defined range of tasks with the extensive separation of justice and administration: sovereign rights, feudal and border matters, relations with the Roman Empire and diplomacy. It consisted of the chancellor, the director, five councilors, an archivist, a protonotary, three secretaries and three registrars. In 1630 Wallenstein's rule in Mecklenburg ended as a result of the conquest by the Swedes. Eltz, however, remained in Wallenstein's service as Chancellor, now formally in his Duchy of Friedland , but actually as a factotum, which was also used in diplomatic missions: “The legal scholar knew how to make himself indispensable that he endured his great employer, in Germany like in Bohemia, until the last day, although in agony, as Eltz let the world know after the last day ”( Golo Mann ). The baroque poet Martin Opitz was to be appointed to the planned Wallenstein University in Sagan on his recommendation.

After Wallenstein's murder in 1634, Eltz converted to Catholicism in Vienna in 1635. He then worked as a councilor in Baden. From 1645 to 1654 he was the Elector of Mainz governor for the Eichsfeld in Heiligenstadt under the elector-archbishops Wambolt and Schönborn .

Contemporary voices described Eltz as "the most cunning Calvinists in all of Germany". In the 19th century Eltz was certified as having a "smooth versatility" in questions of faith and political intrigues. From today's perspective, it is established with regard to his chancellorship in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel that he played a negative key role in the expansion of the war on the Braunschweig region .

literature

  • Dieter Lent : Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz). In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century. Appelhans, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , pp. 199f.
  • Johann Eberhard von Eltz . In: Friedrich Bülau: Secret stories and enigmatic people. Collection of hidden or forgotten oddities . FA Brockhaus, 1850, Volume 2, pp. 404-406

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Golo Mann ( Wallenstein. His life 1997, p. 560) he was a Lutheran.
  2. ↑ Cf. Dieter Lent: Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz) . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, p. 199
  3. ↑ Cf. Dieter Lent: Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz) . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, pp. 199f.
  4. ↑ Golo Mann : Wallenstein. His Life , Frankfurt am Main 1997 (first 1971), pp. 558-561.
  5. ↑ Golo Mann: Wallenstein. His life 1997, p. 560
  6. ↑ Cf. Dieter Lent: Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz) . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, p. 200; Georg Christian F. Lisch: About Wallenstein's form of government in Meklenburg . In: Georg Christian F. Lisch (ed.): Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. 36th year, Schwerin 1871, p. 18f. Online edition
  7. ↑ Cf. Friedrich Bülau: Secret stories and enigmatic people. Collection of hidden or forgotten oddities . FA Brockhaus, 1850, Volume 2, Chapter Miscellen 2. Johann Eberhard von Eltz , p. 406; Dieter Lent: Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz) . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, p. 200
  8. ↑ Quoted from Dieter Lent: Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz) . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, p. 200 with further references.
  9. ↑ Cf. Friedrich Bülau: Secret stories and enigmatic people. Collection of hidden or forgotten oddities . FA Brockhaus, 1850, Volume 2, Chapter Miscellen 2. Johann Eberhard von Eltz , p. 406
  10. ↑ Cf. Dieter Lent: Eltz, Johann Eberhard zu (also called: Sohn zu Eltz) . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent u. a. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, p. 200
personal data
SURNAME Eltz, Johann Eberhard too
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eltz, Johan Eberhard's son too; Elz, Johann Eberhard; Oelß, Johann Eberhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chancellor in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1626–1627) and in the service of Wallenstein's Chancellor in the Duchy of Mecklenburg (1628–1634)
DATE OF BIRTH 1594
PLACE OF BIRTH Saarbrücken
DATE OF DEATH around 1655
Place of death uncertain: Mainz