Johann Gottfried Pahl

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Johann Gottfried Pahl - from 1832 by Pahl - (born June 12, 1768 in Aalen , † April 18, 1839 in Stuttgart ) was a Württemberg publicist and writer, Protestant clergyman, historian and politician. He is considered one of the most important authors of the Late Enlightenment in Württemberg .

Life

The son of a gingerbread baker and impoverished merchant received thorough ancient language lessons in Aalen under the Preceptor Rieger. Pahl studied Protestant theology in Altdorf from 1784, but left the university prematurely in 1786 for financial reasons and had to stay afloat with parish vicariates (in Fachsenfeld and Essingen ). Inspired by the philosopher and Catholic reform theologian Jakob Salat and the writer Friedrich David Gräter in Schwäbisch Hall , he developed a literary activity at an early age. As a village pastor in the knightly Neubronn (from 1790) he wrote numerous writings, including the two chivalric novels Ulrich von Rosenstein (Basel 1795) and Bertha von Wöllstein (Nördlingen 1794).

In 1791 he married Ernestina Ehrhardt (1768–1850) from Stuttgart in Aalen, with whom he had six sons and eight daughters, including Wilhelm Matthäus Pahl and Christian Pahl, both high school principals. The literary works of Pahl were supposed to ensure the livelihood of the rapidly growing family.

Pahl was on the side of the Enlightenment . His work, life and deeds of the venerable Father Simpertus, printed in Heilbronn : or History of the Darkening of the Principality of Strahlberg; for teaching and warning for obscurants and enlighteners / written by the brother Thomas, gatekeeper at the Jesuit high school in Strahlberg. - Madrit: Gedr. at the expense of salvation. Inquisition, 1799 satirically devoted to anti-enlightenment efforts at the University of Dillingen . Because of this writing, he came into the sights of the Austrian secret police in 1800.

In the mask of the schoolmaster Sebastian Käsbohrer von Ganslosen , who defends the nobility , Pahl denounced the privileges of the Württemberg nobility in the 1790s . Several extensive contemporary historical representations related to the French Revolutionary Wars in southwest Germany.

From 1801 he had a political magazine published by the book printer Johann Georg Ritter in the imperial city of Schwäbisch Gmünd , the National Chronicle of the Teutschen (from 1807 to 1809 under the title Chronik der Teutschen ). It was banned in 1809 by King Friedrich I of Württemberg. A New National Chronicle of the Germans. He published a political magazine from 1820 to 1824.

In the same year 1801 Pahl also became a secular civil servant in Neubronn. During the period of secularization he acted as government commissioner for Prince Karl von Ligne , who had owned the Edelstetten monastery (1802-1804).

His novel Magister Ulrich Höllriegel , published in Nördlingen in 1802 , was re-edited in 1989 by Johannes Weber and recognized as the source for the affair (1792/93) surrounding the revolutionary political club at Tübingen Abbey, to which Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel belonged.

In 1807 Pahl became an honorary member of the Pegnese Flower Order . In 1808 he received the parish of Affalterbach , in 1814 he moved to Fichtenberg . In 1824 he was also dean of Gaildorf . In 1832 he was appointed general superintendent of Schwäbisch Hall , based in Gaildorf. He was now a prelate and at the same time personally a member of the nobility. As general superintendent, he was also a member of the Chamber of Deputies (second chamber) of the Württemberg estates according to § 133 of the Württemberg constitution of 1819 . He turned down the mandate won by election for Göppingen in December 1831 because of his appointment as prelate.

Pahl is buried in the Hoppenlau cemetery in Stuttgart .

Quite a few of his many writings (including over 50 independent publications) appeared anonymously or under a pseudonym (Sebastian Käsbohrer, Alethinos, Athanasius Wurmsamen).

Appreciation

“You saw in him one of the most capable and cleverest men in Swabia,” wrote his great-great-grandson Hermann Strenger in 1962.

For Johannes Weber the following emerged when considering Pahl's biography and writings

“The image of a gentleman and Swabian enlightener who is averse to militant political attitudes - and even more abstractly revolutionary phrases -, but with courage and determination the principles of reason and social and political justice against the 'backward movement' of the ancien régime and the Restoration champions "

- Weber 1990, p. 112f

Johann Gottfried Pahl was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown in 1836 .

A street named after him commemorates Pahl in his hometown of Aalen. Nevertheless it was allowed that in 1959 the house where he was born, on which there was a memorial plaque, was demolished.

There is also a Pahlstraße in Fichtenberg.

literature

  • Johann Gottfried v. Pahl: Memories from my life and from my time . After the author's death, ed. from his son Wilhelm Pahl. Tübingen: Fues, 1840 ( extensive, vividly written autobiography, main source of secondary literature ) Commons .
  • Eugen Schmid: Johann Gottfried Pahl (1768-1839) . In: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 1 (1937), pp. 189–223.
  • Hermann Strenger: Johann Gottfried Pahl. Publicist, historian and prelate 1768-1839 . In: Lebensbilder from Swabia and Franconia, Vol. 8 (1962), pp. 161–177
  • Wilhelm Koch: Johann Gottfried Pahl. A son of the city of Aalen . In: Aalener Jahrbuch 1978, pp. 143-169 ( online ).
  • Dieter Narr: Studies on the Late Enlightenment in the German Southwest . Stuttgart 1979, pp. 317-355 ISBN 3-17-004364-1 .
  • Johann Gottfried Pahl: Ulrich Höllriegel: entertaining and instructive story of a Württemberg master's degree . Ed., Introduced a. commented by Johannes Weber. Frankfurt am Main: Insel 1989 ISBN 3-458-16013-2 .
  • Johannes Weber: Magister Ulrich Höllriegel and the French Revolution. A novel as the source of political activity in the Tübingen monastery in 1792/93 . In: The German novel of the late Enlightenment. Edited by Harro Zimmermann, Heidelberg 1990, pp. 106–153.
  • Hermann Bausinger : A little immortal . Tübingen 1996, pp. 144-155 ISBN 3-928011-21-9 .
  • Klaus Graf : "... a handsome Swabian knight, bold and brave ..." Johann Gottfried Pahl's novel "Ulrich von Rosenstein" (Basel 1795) on the Internet . In: einhorn-Jahrbuch Schwäbisch Gmünd 2005, pp. 115–128 online .
  • Kurt Oesterle: Democrat without radicalism. The Swabian pastor Johann Gottfried Pahl (1768-1839). Tübingen: TVT 2010 ISBN 978-3-929128-46-8 .
  • Klaus Graf : A political head from East Swabia: Johann Gottfried Pahl 1768-1839. Pastor and publicist (= Untererm Stein 22). Einhorn-Verlag Schwäbisch Gmünd 2018. ISBN 978-3-95747-072-0

reference books

Web links

Commons : Johann Gottfried Pahl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Johann Gottfried Pahl  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. https://www.blumenorden.de/index.php/Stammliste .
  2. Life pictures from Swabia and Franconia, Vol. 8, p. 176.
  3. Decree of September 26, 1836, according to the government gazette for the Kingdom of Württemberg of September 29, 1836 online .