Karl Theophil Guichard

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Karl Theophil Guichard

Karl Theophil Guichard , named by Friedrich II. Quintus Icilius , (* 1724 in Magdeburg , † 1775 in water soup near Rathenow ) was a Prussian officer and military writer of the Frederician era.

Life

Karl Theophil Guichard came from a Huguenot family based in Magdeburg . The father ran a porcelain factory . Guichard studied theology and ancient languages ​​( Latin , Greek , Syriac and Chaldean ). He became educator for the children of the governor of Holland and hoped to be called to Leiden as a professor . When this hope failed, he became a soldier in 1747 and fought as a Dutch officer in the War of the Austrian Succession in the Netherlands . Guichard then moved to England , where he continued his studies of the warfare of the Greeks and Romans and dealt tactically with the battles of the Romans against the Carthaginians .

In 1757 Guichard was recommended to King Friedrich II by Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig , to whom he came to Breslau in the winter of 1758 . King Friedrich liked him, appointed him captain and wing adjutant and often had learned discussions with him. As a result of the king's name being confused with a Roman centurion named Gaius Crastinus, who contributed significantly to Caesar's victory over Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus, Friedrich Guichard rose to the nobility in 1759 on a whim under the name of Quintus Icilius , which the ennobled would bear for life would have. During the Seven Years' War in 1759 Guichard became the leader of the Free Battalion du Vergiers and carried out the king's order to plunder Hubertusburg Castle after Johann Friedrich Adolf von der Marwitz refused to give the order. As a thank you, Guichard got the castle from the king and sold it again. Enriched in this way, he was able to purchase the water soup estate near Rathenow after the war. He remained a partner in the king and was promoted to colonel in 1769 . As a librarian, he was responsible for the administration of the king's library. At the same time he continued his studies on the wars of antiquity . Guichard was the first military historian who combined an excellent knowledge of the ancient languages ​​with an understanding of military topics and was included in Johann Christoph Adelung's lexicon of scholars during his lifetime . He died on his estate in 1775. Friedrich II acquired the entire library, comprising 5,600 volumes, for 12,000 thalers. The books formed a separate department of the royal library until 1795. The volumes carry the with putti decorated Poster stamp with the signature Quinti Icilii and still belong largely to the existence of the Berlin State Library .

family

On January 3, 1771, he married Henriette Helene Albertine von Schlabrendorf (1747–1783), the daughter of Major General Gustav Albrecht von Schlabrendorf . The couple had a daughter and a son. The son Friedrich Guichard called Quintus Icilius (* 1773; † 1799 in a duel) married the daughter of a manufacturer, Sophie Laurette Marie Elisabeth von Tiling (* January 3, 1772; † May 15, 1798). She was already the widow of Captain Karl Wilhelm Schlueter (1753–1793)

Works

  • Mémoires militaires sur les Grecs et les Romains . Hague 1758.
  • Mémoires critiques et historiques sur plusieurs points d'antiquités militaires . Berlin 1773.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gaius Iulius Caesar, De bello civili 3,91 and 3,99; German: civil war . Carl Schünemann Vlg., Bremen, 1994 (=  Dieterich Collection , Vol. 193), p. 182 ff.
  2. ^ Theodor Fontane, walks through the Mark Brandenburg digitized
  3. ↑ Joachim Lampe, aristocracy, court nobility and state patriciate in Kurhannover , Volume 2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Guichard, Karl Theophil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Icilius, Quintus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer and military writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1724
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH 1775
Place of death Water soup at Rathenow