Johann von Lontzen

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Johann von Lontzen (* around 1497 in Aachen ; † around 1591 there) was aldermen and mayor of the imperial city of Aachen .

Live and act

Lontzen's career emerges from a testimony to which he was asked in 1550. In it he stated that he was 53 years old and was born in Aachen. After a few stays abroad, he started a career with the city of Aachen and held the post of city secretary. As such, as a delegate of the city of Aachen, he signed the imperial farewells at the Diets of Speyer in 1542 and Augsburg in 1551 .

As a result, von Lontzen gained a high reputation and, although he did not come from a family of lay judges, which was actually the prerequisite, he was accepted into the jury's chair in 1564. Finally he became in the years 1568/69 (with Nicolas Wilremann as mayor from the ranks of the guilds), 1575/76 (with Johann Rulandt), possibly also 1576/77 (with Johann Fiebus), furthermore 1579/80 and 1581 / 82 (each with Simon II. Engelbrecht, or Johann Fiebus after the new election in 1581) as well as 1583/84 and 1585/86 (with Peter von Zevel) elected mayor of the city of Aachen.

In his first year in office, von Lontzen signed the Wittem Treaty of September 30, 1568 between Aachen and Prince Wilhelm of Orange , which had been negotiated through the preparatory work of lay judge Matthias Peltzer . In the early months of the Eighty Years' War, the prince needed cash donations for his campaign against the Spanish troops of Duke Alba , who was already at Maastricht . Under threat of military force, he demanded a compensation payment for the Spanish necessities of Count Johann I of East Friesland deposited in the city , as he would otherwise confiscate them. The city assured William of Orange 20,000 Reichstaler and thus prevented it from becoming a theater of war for the enemy troops.

In his second term of office von Lontzen was head of the Aachen delegation to the Reichstag in Regensburg , where he signed the imperial farewell of 1576. He had already joined the Sacramentary Brotherhood of St. Foillan in Aachen , but converted to the Protestant faith a few months later and became one of the influential spokesmen for the Aachen Protestants in the course of the ongoing Aachen religious unrest . He was instrumental in ensuring that Protestants should be represented in the city council as well as in public offices according to the election results.

The regular mayoral election in May 1581 came to a head after the Protestants had elected Johann von Lontzen and Simon II Engelbrecht from their ranks, while the Catholics had cast their majority in favor of Albrecht Schrick and Johann Fiebus. A new election scheduled for June 5, 1581 finally confirmed von Lontzen and Fiebus as a mixed denominational couple in their offices. In his next elections to the mayor's office, von Lontzen received a Protestant mayor as a partner, who was also an uncle of his wife, due to the now Protestant majority in the council, Peter von Zevel.

In his last year in office, von Lontzen lost his position in a legal dispute against Wilhelm Mott, the husband of Barbara Rave, a sister of his wife. He had previously been expelled from the city by von Lontzen because of the kidnapping of Barbara Rave for the purpose of marriage and then arrested for publicly insulting the mayor. Mott in turn accused the mayor of bribery in office and was able to find witnesses for his allegations in the subsequent trial. Von Lontzen was thereupon relieved of all public offices by a judgment of April 28, 1586 and dismissed from the jury, a third of his fortune was given to the council and the water supply to his house was cut off.

In the same year von Lontzen in Jülich was even arrested by Duke Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg for disregarding authorities and taking bribes . This time the Protestant council stood up for von Lontzen and proved that he had already been convicted in Aachen. Nevertheless, it was not until September 1590 that he was released again. He tried to appeal against the judgment of 1586 at the Reich Chamber Court and to regain his financial situation, but he did not live to see the judgment.

Johann von Lontzen was married to Maria von Rave, daughter of Reinhard Rave, the feudal lord of Schloss Crapoel, and Johanna von Zevel. The marriage remained childless. Since 1569 he was feudal lord of the Schleidener fief, which was withdrawn from him as part of the corruption judgment of 1586. The family owned and lived in the house "Zur Golden Chain" on the corner of Markt and Kockerellstrasse in Aachen, which later housed a well-known Aachen restaurant and was demolished in the late 1980s.

Literature and Sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The defection of the Netherlands from or the 80 Years War against Spain began near Aachen in October 1568 , mentioned on the website of the Aachen History Association on the occasion of a lecture by Dieter Kottmann on October 15, 2018
  2. ↑ Golden Chain Aachen , portrait on WDR digit
personal data
SURNAME Lontzen, Johann von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aldermen and mayor of the Free Imperial City of Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH around 1497
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH around 1591
Place of death Aachen