Johann Georg Gödelmann

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Portrait of Gödelmann, engraved by Aegidius Sadeler

Johann Georg Gödelmann (also: Godelmann ; * May 12, 1559 in Tuttlingen ; † March 20, 1611 in Dresden ) was a German lawyer, diplomat and witch theorist .

Life

Godelmann came from an influential family and enrolled on September 18, 1572 at the University of Tübingen , where he obtained the academic degree of a baccalaureate on March 31, 1574 and that of a master's degree on February 16, 1576 . In November 1578 he moved to the University of Wittenberg to study law , where he was a student of Joachim von Beust and Matthias Wesenbeck .

In June 1579 he continued his studies at the University of Rostock and in July 1580 went to the University of Basel . Here he received his doctorate in law on September 1, 1580 and received a professorship at the Rostock Academy in 1583 , where he had been a lecturer since 1579. After giving lectures on Roman law, feudal law and criminal law in Rostock, he was entrusted by the city of Riga with the protection of their interests in 1587 .

In 1592 he became court counselor to the elector Christian II of Saxony and envoy to the court of emperor Rudolf II. He made a name for himself as a humanist in legal history, especially with his commitment against the witchcraft trials caused by the witch craze . He refused to jump to conclusions from the results of torture and cautioned against drawing conclusions from the results of the hasty death penalty . Among the witch theorists , Anton Praetorius was influenced by Georg Gödelmann.

His position in the trial against the Saxon Chancellor Nikolaus Krell is controversial. In his writings he dealt mainly with Roman law and in 1597 he was appointed Count Palatine .

In 1602 he married Katharina Jenitz, daughter of the chamber secretary Johann Jenitz and widow of chamber master Gregorius Unwirth.

Witch theorists

The Mecklenburg lawyer considered the flight of witches at the Witches ' Sabbath to be “nothing but devil's web, deceit and fantasy. The same fantasy is also that some believe that witches and wizards can be transformed into cats, dogs and wolves. "

Regarding the magic of the weather, he wrote: “Even though weather-making is God's and no man's work. - Because of this, no judge can torment someone on such points, much less kill them, because the same is not thought of with a word in the Embarrassing Neck Judgment Code (the Carolina). "

He spoke out against the water test , but not consistently against torture and the death penalty (see Tractatus de magis, veneficis et lamiis, III, 10 + III, 11). Compared to the doctor and witch theorist Johann Weyer , who began to fundamentally shake the witch craze with his approaches, the lawyer Gödelmann only demanded that the legal regulations of the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina be adhered to when witch hunts were concerned .

But the Carolina, Cape, knows such precisely formulated indications for torture. 44 not, as Godelmann z. B. in III, 10, 27-29.

27: "The 6th complaint for torture occurs when the sorceress was seen throwing dust or the lot over the cattle and then immediately killing them."
28: "The 7th complaint for torture occurs when the sorceress has made herself suspicious in a house or is caught in another's stable and shortly afterwards death or illness strikes one."
29: "The 8th complaint for torture is present when a pot filled with toads and other magical things is found in the house of the suspected and badly reputed sorceress."

He finds further examples in the Hexenhammer (malleus maleficarum) by Heinrich Kramer. In his Latin work, which he had written for Richter, Gödelmann nevertheless called for prudence in the treatment of the accused.

This concern was thwarted by the German translation (first edition: 1592) by the Hessian superintendent Georg Nigrinus (1530–1602). He also deliberately wanted to address non-lawyers and thus sensitize a broad public who only knew how to read about the subject of "witches". Nigrinus supplemented Gödelmann's work with z. T. tendentious marginal remarks as well as a letter enclosure and a preface in which he z. B. the authorities of the city of Frankfurt a. M. and elsewhere eagerly urged “to control all sins and vices and to punish them according to their ability: then why not also magic? Where has it been revealed and witnessed? "

Selection of works

  • Disputatio de magis, veneficis, maleficis et lamiis , praeside Ioanne Georgio Godelmanno… respondente Marco Burmeistero… habita Rostochii XXVI. Febr. Anni LXXXIIII. in collegio fratrum, Frankfurt am Main 1584, German [tendency translation] Frankfurt 1591
  • De lites contestatione , Rostock 1578
  • Prolegomena lectonium in Ciceronis libros de legibus , Rostock 1583
  • Oratio de legum Romanorum dignitate adversus eos, qui, vel ob legum multitudinem, vel varias jurisconsultorum opiniones, a studio juris abhorrent , Rostock 1583
  • De jure patronatus , Rostock 1585
  • De studiis privatis in jure recte institudendis , Rostock 1588
  • De Magis, Veneficis Et Lamiis, Recte Cognoscendis & Puniendis, Libri Tres , His accessit ad Magistratum Clarissimi et Celeberrimi ICD Iohannis Althusij Admonitio, Vol. 1 , Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 , Frankfurt 1591; German translation =
  • Of sorcerers / witches and fiends / Warhrachtiger and Wolgegründter report by Mr. Georgii Gödelmanni / both the right doctor and professor in the high school in Rostoch / as they recognize and punish: All officials at our time / because of many unequal and contentious opinions / very useful and necessary knowledge / now and all lovers / with prior knowledge of the authoris ... Germanized to the most diligent / with a special advice and concern increased / everything by M. Georgium Nigrinum [...]. Frankfurt / Main 1592

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Godelmann, Johann Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gödelmann, Johann Georg von; Godelmann, Johann Georg; Godelmann, Johann Georg von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, diplomat and witch theorist
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1559
PLACE OF BIRTH Tuttlingen
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 1611
Place of death Dresden