Johann Philipp Datt

Johann Philipp Datt (born October 29, 1654 in Esslingen am Neckar , † February 28, 1722 in Stuttgart ) was a German legal historian.

family

Johann Philipp Datt came from a patrician family based in Esslingen, who had had an impact on events in the city since the mid-15th century. His father Johann (1626–1689) was a Juris Utr. Consultus, chivalrous consultant, syndicus and mayor of Esslingen. His mother Anna Elisabeth was a daughter of Philipp Knipschild .

Datt married Anna Regina Planer von Plan in Esslingen on October 26, 1685, widowed Prophalus, who came from Esslingen. In his second marriage, he married Maria Martha Georgi from Strasbourg on July 1, 1704 in Esslingen . Datt had a child who died early.

Live and act

Datt was shaped by his family background and a law degree, which he completed from 1674 under Georg Obrecht at the University of Strasbourg. In 1684 he received a call to writer for the city of Esslingen and thus also administered the city archive, in which he studied extensively sources and from there undertook major research. In 1689 he was appointed consul in Esslingen. He experienced the Holy Roman Empire as an at least externally still existing unit and was brought to Strasbourg as a hostage of the city of Esslingen in 1693 during the War of the Palatinate Succession . In 1695 he was appointed to the Württemberg government and consistorial councilor.

His early work represented the "Relatio because of the heavy French quarter 1688", which was largely printed by Hermann Kurz. In the summarizing section of this file publication, Datt proved to be a talented historian. The “Volume Rerum Germanicarum Novum, sive de pace imperii publica libri V”, published in Ulm in 1698, was much more far-reaching . This work influenced Goethe at Götz von Berlichingen and provided new sources that are still indispensable today, particularly on medieval legal and class history. This writing in particular showed Datt as one of the most convincing representatives of the Swabian bourgeoisie, who, based on the idea of ​​the "Reich", mentally fought against territorial state plans. In the period after 1695, however, he proved to be an important servant of a territorial state.

In his second extensive work on legal history, published in Ulm in 1700 with the title “De venditione liberorum”, Datt developed, based on his knowledge of Latin, previously forgotten legal assets of late antiquity.

literature

• Otto Borst:  Datt, Johann Philipp. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 521 f. ( Digitized version ).