Johann Moth

Johann Moth (born February 11, 1639 in Breklum , † January 6, 1705 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish archivist and book collector.

Live and act

Johann Moth was a son of Nicolaus Moth (* around 1614; † March 16, 1642) and his wife Brigitte, nee Lange (* October 22, 1610; † April 26, 1706). The father worked as a pastor in Breklum from 1638. The mother had previously been in her first marriage to Johannes Breckling (1588–1637), who was Nicolaus Moth's predecessor in Breklum.

After attending school in Flensburg , Moth studied in Helmstedt from 1661. He was particularly concerned with legal studies with Hermann Conring and attended lectures by Georg Calixt . He traveled to several university cities and in 1664, presumably mediated by Paul Moth , got a position at the German Chancellery . In February 1667 he was appointed secretary and ten months later archivist. One of his assignments was to sort the chancellery archive and to expand the inventory.

In 1671 Moth spent half a year in Gottorf . Together with the local archivist Burchard Niederstett, he was supposed to revise the joint archives of both sovereigns . They should also copy important documents. In 1686 he worked here again in this sense, now with Marquard Gude . Christoph Gensch von Breitenau , among others, used Moth's knowledge of the archive material in his Oldenburg inheritance dispute. Here the writings helped him to enforce the king's claims against the Duke of Gottorf.

From 1689 Moth worked as an archivist for the German Chancellery and all government archives in the duchies and in the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. He was also appointed to the law office. In 1701 he became a councilor. Two years later he took over the chairmanship of a commission that was supposed to finally organize the archives of the German chancellery. Apparently the only person who was really familiar with the archive, he died before work began.

Moth worked at a time when the central administration of Denmark needed to be streamlined and organized. Since the archive is being accessed too heavily, it could not have a lasting effect. There was also a move in 1704, during which the stocks were kept in sacks. In 1714 a fire broke out in which the documents were thrown out of the window to save them. This almost completely destroyed Moth's work. Moth himself collected books and manuscripts, of which only the printed auction catalog exists today. For example, he owned the entire handwritten estate of Zacharias Lund .

Moth had been married to Sibylle Amalie von Sudermann since December 9, 1689, who died after 1705. The marriage remained childless. However, Moth had an illegitimate son whom he later legitimized.

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Moth, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 6 - 1982. ISBN 3-529-02646-8 , pages 195-196.