Johann Rudolf Wettstein (politician)

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Samuel Hofmann: Portrait of Johann Rudolf Wettstein, 1639 (Kunstmuseum Basel)

Johann Rudolf Wettstein (born October 27, 1594 in Basel ; † April 12, 1666 ibid) was a Swiss diplomat and mayor of Basel.

Life

Wettstein was the son of a winemaker who immigrated from Russikon in the Zurich Oberland, who worked in the hospital as a cellar master and later rose to become a hospital master. From 1600 to 1608 he attended the school in Burg , today's high school on Münsterplatz . He then did an apprenticeship in Yverdon and Geneva and in 1611 married Anna Maria Falkner, who was five years older than him. In 1616 he temporarily entered the Venetian service. Returning to Basel, he made a career in the city and was elected to the Small Council in 1620 . In the following years he obtained other public offices. In 1635 he was elected chief guild master and in 1645 mayor of the city of Basel.

Wettstein took part in the negotiations for the Peace of Westphalia in Münster and Osnabrück in 1646 as envoy to the Reformed towns of Zurich, Bern, Glarus, Basel, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden as well as St. Gallen and Biel. The reason for this was interference by the Reich Chamber of Commerce in the jurisdiction and freedom of trade in Basel and other federal locations. At the beginning of 1647 he also received a letter of authenticity from the entire Confederation. After long negotiations, the representatives of the Emperor, France and Sweden gave their promise to include an article on the exemption of Basel and the Confederation from the Reich in the peace treaty. It was only after Wettstein's return home that the peace treaties were signed in Münster on October 24, 1648. The Swiss Confederation was thus detached from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and the individual estates (cantons) have been legally sovereign , independent states since then .

In the Peasants' War of 1653 , Wettstein was largely responsible for the seven leaders being publicly executed in the Basel countryside.

Wettstein died in his hometown in 1666. He is considered one of the most capable politicians of his time, but also an important exponent of the absolutist tendencies within the Confederation.

The theologian and librarian Johann Rudolf Wettstein was his son, the philologist and theologian Johann Rudolf Wettstein his grandson.

Honorable naming

The Wettsteinbrunnen emerged from the Basel-Stadt art credit. Heinz Fiorese, Willi Hege, Peter Moilliet, Jakob Probst, Louis Leon Weber, Adolf Weisskopf and Alexander Zschokke were invited to a closer competition. The fountain column, on which there is a red and blue painted drum with children, stands between the two-tier fountain trough. On the pillar stands the former Basel mayor and statesman Johann Rudolf Wettstein (1594 - 1666), who brought about the peace in Westphalia with his skill. He was a hunter and that's why his faithful dog sits next to him. On the fountain is the inscription: "In memory of Mayor Johann Rudolf Wettstein 1594 - 1666 and in memory of the unification of Kleinbasel and Grossbasel in 1392". The fountain should actually have been built in 1892, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the unification of Greater and Small Basel, but instead of the required CHF 90,000, a total of CHF 8,172 was raised. So it was not until 1954 that the necessary money with interest and compound interest was collected
Johann Rudolf Wettstein sculpture on the Wettstein Fountain by Alexander Zschokke

In 1879 a new bridge was built over the Rhine in Basel , which was named Wettsteinbrücke in 1881 . The Wettsteinplatz, Wettsteinstrasse, Wettsteinallee and Wettsteinbrunnen near the Theodorskirche are located on the Kleinbasel side of this bridge. Alexander Zschokke designed this fountain . The Wettstein school is located at the nearby Claragraben. In the historic Wettsteinhaus in Riehen , his former home, the toy museum, village and vine growing museum has been set up since 1972 . On the facade there is a memorial plaque made of bronze with a relief portrait of Wettstein. At the Basel Carnival , the Wettstein march is played, which Hermann Suter composed for the 400th anniversary of Riehen's membership in Basel.

Strassen in Riehen, Russikon and Zurich and a path in Rüti ZH are named after him.

Fonts

  • Acta and actions relating to common Eydgnos creates exemption, and what half of the turbations carried out against it by the Cammer at Speyr, then with the Westphälische Fridens-Tractaten, as with the Kayserl. Hoof and elsewhere negociated and executed , Basel 1651.
  • Johann Rudolf Wettstein's Diarium 1646/47 , ed. by Julia Gauss, Bern 1962.

literature

Memorial plaque (1948) in honor of JR Wettstein (1594–1666) at the Wettsteinhaus in Riehen
Memorial plaque, Wettsteinhaus, Riehen

Fiction

  • Mary Lavater-Sloman : The Swiss King: Historical novel from the time of the Westphalian peace. Rascher, Zurich 1935. New edition as The Swiss King: Johann Rudolf Wettstein. Römerhof Verlag, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-905894-08-0 .

Web links

Commons : Johann Rudolf Wettstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ school buildings , Primary school Theodor on the website of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, accessed on 24 August 2018th
  2. ↑ Stefan Hess: Wettstein and Riehen - Approaches, in: Yearbook z'Rieche 2016 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Wettstein, Johann Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss diplomat and mayor of Basel
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1594
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1666
Place of death Basel