Johann Kalkberner

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Johann Kalkberner (also: Kalckberner , in later generations rather Kalkbrenner or Kalckbrenner ; * around 1560 in Jülich ; † around 1616 there) was a German goldsmith and mayor of the imperial city of Aachen .

Live and act

Johann Kalkberner grew up in a family whose name was initially passed down as Kalkberner and in later generations more as Kalkbrenner. He was the son of the shopkeeper Jakob Kalkberner and Helene Craschel, sister of the Auxiliary Bishop Theobald Craschel from Cologne . Johann Kalkberner completed his training as a goldsmith and became a successful and wealthy craftsman in Aachen. After his father had converted to the Lutheran faith, he made a significant contribution to the interests of the Lutheran community of Aachen and in 1591 became their elder and spokesman.

It was the time when the Aachen religious unrest was approaching its climax and in the context of which an imperial ban, which had been passed in 1593, was enforced, in which the Protestant citizens were excluded from any say and all their preaching houses and schools were closed, as well as many leading Protestants and officials from the City were exiled. Kalkberner then rose to be the spokesman for the Protestants who remained in Aachen and tried to reorganize them again, for which he was repeatedly punished with short-term imprisonment and fines. He received support from the Protestant state estates in the neighboring United Duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg , where many Aachen Protestants had received their exile.

After the current Catholic city council arrested some Protestant citizens who had attended Protestant church services in the surrounding area in 1611 and wanted to revoke their citizenship, the Protestants storm the Aachen city hall and the Aachen Jesuit college on July 5, 1611 . The Protestants took over a large part of the council seats and Kalkberner was elected as the new mayor of Aachen together with the Calvinist Adam Schanternel in the following official mayoral election in May 1612. This was also one of the rare cases since the introduction of the Aachen gaff letter that two mayors were appointed from the ranks of the guilds and not, as usual, one from the ranks of the guilds and the lay judges. At the same time, Kalkberner took over the office of Meiers von Burtscheid instead of Ludolf von Linzenich, who was intended for this purpose and who died unexpectedly . A few weeks later he led the delegation that was to present the new emperor Matthias with the imperial insignia on the occasion of his coronation on June 16 in Frankfurt am Main . The imperial court forbade the delegates to attend, however, since the legality of the officials had not been clarified, and the handover was carried out by the chapter of the monastery.

After the coronation, at the insistence of the stale (former) mayor Joachim Berchem , the emperor sent a commission to Aachen to mediate between the warring religious groups. The negotiations dragged on with no results for the time being and at the next regular mayoral election in May 1613, Joachim Berchem and Christian Meess were elected by the Catholic side, but the now Protestant-dominated council prevailed and again appointed two Protestant guild members, Lambert and Jodokus von Beeck Mayors, followed a year later by Kalkberner and Schanternel. Since the ongoing negotiations with the imperial commission continued to produce no noteworthy results and the situation for the Catholics was becoming more and more difficult due to economic and social disadvantages, Emperor Matthias finally imposed the imperial ban on Aachen again in August 1614. With the help of a 16,000-strong Spanish army from the Netherlands under the command of the Marquis Ambrosio Spinola , the imperial urban conditions of 1598 were reinstated and the majority evangelical city council was deposed. Like Schanternel, Kalkberner was relieved of the mayor's office and the stale mayors Berchem and Meess were reappointed.

The behavior of the Protestants now drew legal consequences and harsh sentences were passed against them, including two citizens sentenced to death and 77 families banished, including the entire Kalkberner family. Johann Kalkberner himself was able to evade criminal prosecution by fleeing to the Jülich region, where he was reported to have died in 1616 at the latest.

Former column of shame on the market square

As a warning to the population, a " pillar of shame " was erected on the market square in 1616 for Johann Kalkberner, the leader of the Protestant uprising , which was only removed by the French in 1793. It bore the inscription:

"Sic pereant / Qui hanc Rempublicama) / Et Sedem Regalem / Spretis Sacraeb) Caesareaec) Maiestatis / edictis / Evertere moliuntur
Ad / damnandam memoriam / Ioannis Kalckbernerd) / In ultimo tumultu Anno MDCXIe) / Hic excitato / Inter ha perduelles / Antesign ex decreto / D (ominorum) f) Subdelegatorumg) Sac (rae) h) Caes (areae) Maiest (atis) / Erigi iussa / III. Nonas Decembris anno MDCXVI

Translation : So perish those who seek to overthrow this community and this royal seat by despising the ordinances of the Holy Imperial Majesty. In the damnable memory of Johann Kalckberner, the leader of the last tumult, who had been conjured up between the enemies here in 1611, it was ordered that this pillar be erected on the 3rd day before the Nones of the Holy Imperial Majesty's emissaries December 1616. "

Johann Kalkbrenner was initially married to Apollonia von Beeck (1555–1610), who gave birth to six children, including the later goldsmith Jakob Kalkbrenner (1575–1631), in whose house in Aachen's Trichtergasse sermons were secretly held. His son Adam Kalkbrenner (1608–1685) later became a successful brass dealer in Norrköping and Adam's half-brother Peter Kalkbrenner (* 1629) goldsmith in Amsterdam , who in 1698 donated the baptismal font in the Evangelical Lutheran church De Kopermolen in Vaals . After the death of his first wife, Johann Kalkberner married a lady whose name has not been passed down, with whom he had two more children, and then married Adelheid Düppengießer.

Literature and Sources

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Inscription catalog : Aachen (city). DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 106. German Inscriptions Online , accessed on June 20, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kalkberner, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kalkbrenner, Johann; Kalckberner, Johann; Kalckbrenner, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German goldsmith and mayor of the imperial city of Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH around 1560
PLACE OF BIRTH Jülich
DATE OF DEATH around 1616
Place of death Jülich