Konrad von Burgsdorff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Konrad von Burgsdorff - bust in the Siegesallee

Konrad von Burgsdorff (born December 1, 1595 - † February 11, 1652 in Berlin ) was senior chamberlain and privy councilor of Brandenburg . He was commander in chief of all fortresses in the Mark Brandenburg as well as provost of the collegiate churches in Halberstadt and Brandenburg. He was also a knight of the Order of St. John , commander in Lagow and heir to Goldbeck, Buckow, Oberstorf and Groß -machenow.

His father was Alexander Magnus von Burgsdorff (1567-1620). This was Kurbrandenburg captain in Zehden , as well as heir to Hohenziethen. His mother was Katharina von Roebel (1576–1615), she was a daughter of Field Marshal Joachim von Roebel . His brother Georg Ehrentreich von Burgsdorff was also a colonel in Brandenburg and governor of Küstrin . Under the company name The Simple One , he was accepted as a member of the Fruitful Society .

Life

Hohenzieten Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

In 1609 he became a playmate for the Elector Prince (and later Elector) Georg Wilhelm . In 1612 he went with him to high school in Frankfurt an der Oder and in 1613 to the Duchy of Kleve . Then he went to the military. In 1614 he became an ensign in the Kettler regiment . Then he went into French service in the regiment of Count Bernhard von Wittgenstein . He was seriously injured in a battle with the forces of the Marquis de Rinell . He was hit so badly in the arm, knee and thigh that he was left on the battlefield apparently dead. When the dead were due to be buried the next morning, it was found that he was still alive. He was given hope of a ransom, but it was another year before he was recovered.

He returned to Brandenburg, where the Elector Georg Wilhelm received him with open arms. He made him a chamberlain. In 1618 he joined the bodyguard on foot and was appointed captain in September 1620. At this time he was also knight of the Order of St. John, where he was also designated Commander-in-Chief of Lagow.

In 1623 he received orders to recruit five companies of riders, and he was made lieutenant colonel. On December 1, 1626, he also became a lieutenant colonel in the foot body regiment, for which he was paid 240 florints. In February 1630 he established a special unit of 400 men from the elector's bodyguard. In 1632 he became a colonel and was assigned one regiment on foot and one on horseback. Shortly afterwards he was given command of the city and citadel of Spandau . From 1640 to 1652 he was in command of the town and fortress Küstrin.

The Elector Georg Wilhelm died, but his successor, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm , also promoted him. This appointed him on January 23, 1641 to the government council and chamber council of the Neumark, on January 23, 1641 to the privy councilor and supreme commander of all fortresses in the Kurmark Brandenburg, in addition he got the cathedral provost of the monasteries Havelberg and Brandenburg. Already in 1641 the estates of the Kurmark elected him their deputy and decreed. In 1646 the elector sent him to Holland to woo the Prince of Orange for his daughter. Burgsdorff had a decisive influence on the conduct of state affairs until 1651, until he was dismissed from all offices on January 5, 1652 at the instigation of the Electress Luise Henriette .

In the Thirty Years' War he fought on various battlefields. First he fought in the war between Poland and Sweden in 1627. Then he came to the fortress Schweidnitz , where he can excel in the sieges. In 1634 he fought in the battle of Liegnitz and in the conquest of Groß-Glogau. His success generated envious people like Count Adam von Schwarzenberg , who repeatedly blackened Burgsdorff. He succeeded in getting an investigation into motion against him, but it was put down on the orders of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm.

Finally, there is still an encounter between Burgsdorff and the White Woman , the “house ghost of the Hohenzollern”. According to Karl Eduard Vehse , Burgsdorff is said to have suddenly seen the White Woman on the steps in front of him one evening in the Berlin City Palace , after he had put his master to bed and wanted to go down a small flight of stairs to the garden. When he had overcome the first shock, he called the figure: "You old sacramental whore, haven't you drank enough royal blood yet, do you want more?" Apparently annoyed by this disrespectful address, the white woman grabbed him by the collar and threw him down the stairs, cracking his bones. He survived it halfway unscathed and the “Great Elector” told the anecdote several times.

family

Since 1636 he was married to Elisabeth von Loeben (1604–1684), the daughter of the Kurbrandenburg privy councilor Johann von Loeben and Margarete von Winterfeld . The couple had a daughter Margarethe Catharina von Burgsdorff (* 1637, † 1692), who was married several times. Her first husband was the Kurbrandenburg court and chamber judge Ludwig von Kanitz (or Canitz) (* 1626; † 1654) from the Prussian line of this family. From this marriage the later Privy Council of State and really went Privy Council, Ambassador and Minister of State Friedrich von Canitz (* 1654, † 1699) indicate that in the 1698 Empire baron was raised, but posterity is known primarily as a poet. Her second husband was Field Marshal Joachim Rüdiger von der Goltz (1620–1688). This marriage ended in divorce in 1674. She then married the French Peter Brunboc de Larrey .

Portraits

Konrad von Burgsdorff was a member of the Fruit Bringing Society ("The Simple One") and the Order of St. John .

Portraits of Burgsdorff were in the Berliner Siegesallee ( group 24 , marble bust by Cuno von Uechtritz-Steinkirch ) and in the courtyard of Küstrin (bronze relief image). Both representations were considered lost since 1945. The bust from Siegesallee reappeared in 2011 and exhibited in 2012.

In 2008, the severely damaged tin sarcophagus with the remains of Konrad von Burgsdorff was discovered during archaeological excavations at Berlin's Schloßplatz in a buried vault of the first Berlin Cathedral (former monastery church of the Dominican monastery in Cölln ) together with the coffins of other members of the family.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ also: February 1, 1652 according to ADB u. a.
  2. ^ Gero von Wilpert : The German ghost story. Motif, form, development (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 406). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-40601-2 , p. 339.
  3. ↑ According to legend, the appearance of the white woman announces deaths in the Hohenzollern house.
  4. ↑ Quoted in: Martin Hürlimann: Berlin. Reports and pictures. Berlin 1934, p. 44
  5. ↑ Anna Pataczek: exhibition. Death and burial culture in the Neues Museum . In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 22, 2012.
  6. ^ Domradio: Death and Burial in the Mark Brandenburg. Spectacular finds. January 14, 2012. ( Memento from April 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 925 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Burgsdorff, Konrad von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burgsdorff, Konrad Alexander Magnus von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brandenburg statesman
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1595
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1652
Place of death Berlin