Johann Ferber (businessman)

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Johann Ferber on the altar painting in the Ferber Chapel

Johann Ferber (born January 20, 1430 in Danzig ; † August 31, 1501 in Danzig) was a German merchant and mayor of Danzig from 1479 to 1501.

Life

Johann was the son of the merchant Ewerd Ferber , who had come to Danzig from Kalkar on the Lower Rhine, and of Dorothea Ossenbrugge. He was a very successful businessman. In 1460 he exported salt , hops and copper to Livonia , imported ash from Stockholm , rye from Reval and herrings from Scania . During the Thirteen Years War he traded with Poland from 1454. Ferber exported salt and herrings on the Vistula and imported raisins. In 1469/70 he imported cloth and oil from Lübeck . Ferber owned ships that sailed between the Dutch Zealand and Reval. He organized trading companies in Cracow, Warsaw and Thorn. He ran credit business and earned considerable interest and pension income from houses.

In 1463 he became a lay judge , 1470 royal burgrave in Danzig, 1475 councilor and 1478 judge . In 1479 Ferber was elected one of the city's four mayors. Johann Ferber was often envoy of the city of Danzig to the Polish king and their representative at the Hanseatic days in Lübeck.

Johann Ferber gave considerable funds for the completion of the vaulted ceiling in the Marienkirche . 1481–1484 he had the family chapel in the church decorated with wood carvings and a valuable altar painting made. The carvers and painters probably came from the family's homeland on the Lower Rhine. He is shown with his family on a side wing. In 1482 Ferber acquired the property at Langgasse 28, on which the family house (Ferberhaus) has stood since then.

Johann Ferber was present with Tiedemann Giese at the coronation of King Johann Albrecht in Cracow in 1492. He died in 1501 and was buried in the Ferber chapel in the Marienkirche.

Marriages and offspring

Johann Ferber was married to Barbara Tannenberg since 1454. Their children were

  • Eberhard Ferber (* 1455)
  • Hans Ferber (* 1456)
  • Dorothea Ferber (* 1459)
  • Govel Ferber (* 1461)
  • Eberhard II. Ferber (1463–1529), Mayor of Danzig.
  • Mauritius Ferber (1471–1537), Bishop of Warmia

After 1484 he married Barbara von Stein.

literature

  • Schwarz: Ferber, Johann I. In: Old Prussian Biography. Volume 1. Marburg / L. 1941, p. 180.
  • Gotthilf Löschin : The mayors, councilors and shoppers of the Danzig Free State and the patrician families to which they belonged . Danzig 1868. Reprinted Hamburg 1984.
  • Family history relationships between West Prussia and the Rhineland . Contributions to family history in Danzig. Issue 3. Danzig 1938. P. 24ff.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ferber, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German merchant and mayor of Danzig (1479–1501)
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1430
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1501
Place of death Danzig