Johann Jakob von Collas

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The coat of arms of the von Collas family

Johann Jakob von Collas (born June 28, 1721 in Königsberg , East Prussia , † December 1, 1792 in Haldern bei Rees ) served as a royal Prussian captain ( captain ), was with his family in the fortress of Magdeburg for almost three decades and was in 1786 as Major adopted with pension. He was landlord on Dommelkeim (later in the district of Bartenstein (East Pr.) ) And on Haus Aspel near Haldern on the Lower Rhine.

family

Collas was the son of the scholar and builder John von Collas , multiple landowner in East Prussia, and Christina Charlotte Pelet.

On May 2, 1754 at Haus Aspel, he married the 22-year-old Wilhelmina Charlotte Dorothea Freiin von Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld (* July 29, 1732 - July 28, 1776 in Magdeburg ), the daughter of the royal Prussian Lieutenant General Friedrich Otto Freiherr von Wittenhorst- Sonsfeld and Anna Dorothea von Schwerin from the Rehberg house. Frederick the Great had personally given his consent to this marriage on April 1, 1754, but noted that Collas would hardly see any money in this marriage, but " the sackcloth full of debts " of his father-in-law.

Collas was the brother-in-law of Lieutenant General Paul von Natalis , who had married his sister Charlotte Maria Rahel von Collas around 1750 .

Life

Collas joined as a cadet in the Cuirassier - Regiment . No. 4 (v Hessler.) One, which in Saalfeld , Morag and Osterode in garrison stood. Out of "boredom", the wait for the promotion was probably too long for him, he enrolled at the University of Königsberg on January 13, 1738 .

In 1741 he was finally promoted to ensign in the Dragoon Regiment No. 1 (by Posadowsky) in Wriezen and Schwedt (Oder) , in 1743 he became a second lieutenant here and took part in the battles near Mollwitz , Hohenfriedberg and Prague .

In December 1747, however, he was transferred to the Fusilier Regiment 44 (von Britzke) in Wesel because of a brawl , where he was promoted to prime lieutenant. In 1751 he became a staff captain and in 1755 a company commander . His daughter Friederike was born in Wesel in 1756.

In the Seven Years' War , Collas took part in the battles at Brieg and Neisse as a captain in 1759 . His Hofmann regiment also belonged to the occupation of the city of Dresden . When Dresden surrendered on September 4, 1759 under its governor , Lieutenant General Karl Christoph Graf von Schmettau , Collas was employed by him as a parliamentarian and negotiator. One of his orders was to deliver the report of the handover of Dresden as a courier to Frederick the Great . Count von Schmettau was then dismissed from the army by the king, but the negotiator von Collas was diminished as a “ whipping boy ” on April 12, 1760 and brought before a court martial . On August 12, 1760, Collas was finally arrested and interned in the Magdeburg fortress . Historians portrayed Captain von Collas as an upright officer and dutiful subordinate who carried out his difficult and humble assignments with a stony face and demeanor.

During his stay in the Magdeburg Fortress, Collas was supported by his uncle, Lieutenant General Johann Albrecht von Bülow , who felt obliged to him because Collas' younger brother, Friedrich von Collas (1727–1762), Bülow in the fight near Reichenbach (Eulengebirge , Lower Silesia) saved his life on August 16, 1762, but lost his own life through a cannonball. In the battle near Reichenbach the Austrians tried to relieve the besieged Schweidnitz , which the Prussians were able to reject.

On October 20, 1773, Collas sold the inherited Dommelkeim estate for 10,000 thalers to Dietrich von Meirentz , who had also been established in Magdeburg by the end of 1763.

Collas spent a long 27 years in the Magdeburg Fortress, where his wife Charlotte followed him. During these years of internment his three children Ludwig (* 1763), Friedrich (* 1766) and Amalia (* 1767) were born. His wife Charlotte died in Magdeburg in 1776.

Only after the death of Frederick the Great was Collas finally freed by King Friedrich Wilhelm II immediately after his assumption of office on November 13, 1786, but was retired from military service with a promotion to major with a pension of 200 thalers. He then retired to Haus Aspel, where he died in 1792. In an earlier assessment, which the King himself had written, it had been read: "Everything is fine, except that his conduite (behavior) is a bit nervous and casual at times."

literature

  • König: Collectio genealogica , manuscript in the Berlin State Library.
  • Georg Friedrich von Tempelhoff: History of the Seven Years' War in Germany between the King of Prussia and the Empress Queen with her allies , part 3, page 209f., Berlin 1795.
  • " Teutsche Kriegs-Canzley: on the year 1759 ", Volume 3, Part 9, No. 56f., Frankfurt and Leipzig 1759.
  • Sigismund von Dobschütz: “ The von Collas Huguenot family - a list of tribe over more than 600 years and 20 generations from 1390 to today. “, GENEALOGIE, issue 3/1998, page 465f., Verlag Degener & Co, Neustadt (Aisch) 1998, ISSN  0016-6383 .

See also

personal data
SURNAME Collas, Johann Jakob von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian major and landowner
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 1792
Place of death Haldern at Rees