Georgius Koppehele

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Epitaph for Georg Koppehele in Magdeburg Cathedral
"Coat of arms" (seal?) Of Georgius Koppehele according to the representation in his epitaph. The choice of motif is probably related to baroque vanitas symbolism .

Georg Koppehele , Latin Georgius Koppehele , also incorrectly called Georg von Koppehel (* 1538 in Graefendorf ; † December 16, 1604 in Magdeburg ), was a German theologian and founder of the George Koppehele'schen Family Foundation .

biography

Georg Koppehele was born as the second of five children of the Graefendorfer judge and farmer Johann Koppehele (approx. 1490–1550). Nothing more is known about his youth. For higher education he most likely attended the Latin school in Jüterbog .

He was first mentioned in a document on June 6, 1559, when he and four other Jüterbogers enrolled as a student at the University of Wittenberg . Another three-year course followed from 1566, presumably at another university. It is not clear whether this was a study of theology or possibly another subject ( law ?).

It is not known when Koppehele entered the church service of the Magdeburg cathedral chapter , which had converted to Protestantism in 1567 . The first documentary evidence in which Koppehele appears as a church dignitary dates from 1581; here he is called summus vicarius , d. H. designated the highest vicar of the cathedral. In 1585 he was named in the funeral sermon written by Siegfried Saccus for the late Magdeburg canon Franz von Königsmarck as "Jürgen Kopheil". In 1589 he appeared as executor of the will of another Magdeburg canon, Werner von Plotho. On his tombstone in Magdeburg Cathedral he is accordingly mentioned as executor and summus vicarius .

On July 14, 1589, Koppehele re-enrolled at the University of Wittenberg . It has not yet been possible to determine whether this is a further course of study or a continuation of one of the previous two. In February 1590 Koppehele appears again as a lector and under the name "Gürgen Koppeheil" in a funeral sermon by Saccus , given to the late canon Georg von Plotho. The will of the canon Hans von Lossow , drawn up in 1595, designated "Georgen Kophehl Semmelmeisters of the Archbishop's Churches in Magdeburgk" as the executor of the will. Von Lossow did not pass away until 1605, after Koppehele's death. Towards the end of his life Georgius Koppehele held the post of canonicus or canon of the archbishop's court chapel and collegiate monastery of St. Gangolf in addition to his cathedral offices. His epitaph located in Magdeburg Cathedral names the following offices: Canon [i] c [us] ad S [anctum] Gangolphu [m] sub aula arche [pisco] p [a] li sum [m] us vicari [us] et subcustos metropolitanae Magdeburge [n] sis ecclesiae ("Canon with St. Gangolf at the archbishop's court as well as supreme vicar and sub-custodian of Magdeburg Cathedral").

In his will, Koppehele decreed that his assets should not be attacked, but that grants and support should be paid out to the descendants of his siblings from the annual interest ; the original of the will was lost when Magdeburg was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War.

epitaph

Koppehele's early Baroque bronze epitaph was originally located in the north wing of the cathedral cloister of Magdeburg Cathedral above the transept portal (on the outside). It is currently installed inside on the south wall of the cathedral. It shows Georgius Koppehele in official robe in front of the Christ cross and his "coat of arms" (apparently the seal motif used by Koppehele at the time) kneeling with hands raised in prayer. The production of the casting molds for the epitaph is attributed to the important sculptor Sebastian Ertle .

family

Shepherd figures at Magdeburg Cathedral (free reproductions from the early 19th century based on originals around 1240)

The Koppehele family is said to have originally come from Flanders and belonged to the Flemings who settled after devastating storm surges in the 12th – 13th centuries. Century involved in the German settlement in the east . The Fläming region was later named after these Flemish settlers . The name de Coppenolle or Coppenelle has been widespread in West Flanders since the Middle Ages , especially in the area between Waregem and Poperinge . The German Koppeheles have been associated with these Flemish families several times, although a validation of these speculations by means of DNA analyzes has not yet been carried out.

A legendary ancestor of Georgius Koppehele was the shepherd Thomas Koppehele, who supposedly lived around 1240 (allegedly also from Graefendorf), who, according to a legend still circulating in the Magdeburg area (legend of the shepherd at Magdeburg Cathedral), is said to have found a treasure of gold while shepherding sheep . He donated this to the Archbishop of Magdeburg at the time , who - according to the legend - was able to push ahead with the construction of Magdeburg Cathedral. Out of gratitude, the Archbishop had the stone image of the shepherd and his servant with the dogs placed above the so-called Paradise Gate, the northern entrance of the cathedral, where it can still be seen today. However, this legend has no value for the family history of the Koppehele, as the name Koppehele and the George Koppehele'sche Family Foundation were only demonstrably connected with the much older Magdeburg shepherd legend in the 18th century. The shepherd's first name is also a fiction of the 18th or early 19th century. When the group of shepherds at Magdeburg Cathedral was renewed in the early 19th century, the weathered group of medieval figures was not reproduced exactly, but the gesture of the figures was redesigned with knowledge of the shepherd's saga, so that these representations have no source value in relation to the shepherd's saga.

The oldest recorded ancestor remains Johann Koppehele (approx. 1490–1550). Well-known descendants of the siblings of Georgius Koppehele (and thus belong to the circle of beneficiaries of the George Koppehele family foundation ) are, for example, the members of the Potsdam architect family Krüger, the most important of which are the painters and architects Andreas Krüger (1719-1759), his nephew Andreas Ludwig Krüger (1743–1822), as well as Friedrich Ludwig Carl Krüger (* 1770), son of the latter, count.

literature

  • CL Brandt: The Cathedral of Magdeburg, Magdeburg 1863, p. 42 f. e-book .
  • Karl Walter Emmermacher: Art. Koppehele. In: Lexicon of German Families. Supplement to the monthly “Archive for Family Research and All Related Areas” (welcomed in 1924 by PW Böhme). Edit v. Albert Eberhardt Stange, Bogen 12, Görlitz (Starke) undated (around 1935).
  • Karl Eduard Förstemann: New communications from the field of historical-antiquarian research, Vol. 6,1, Halle / Nordhausen 1841, pp. 56-59 [on the shepherd group at Magdeburg Cathedral, the shepherd saga, the Koppehele family and the foundation] e-book .
  • Gerlinde Kühn: Georgius Coppehele (1538–1604) from Gräfendorf: founder of the Koppehl'schen Family Foundation; the foundation administration in the course of the centuries, Staufenberg 2005, 44 pp. (self-published manuscripts).
  • Helene d'Alton-Rauch (ed. And acting by Thomas Sander): The Krüger family of architects in Potsdam, in: Mitteilungen des Verein für Kultur und Geschichte Potsdam, 23rd year, Potsdam 2018, pp. 33–51 (Edition des Typescripts from 1938).
  • Wilhelm Leinung: From Magdeburg's legend and history, Magdeburg 1894, p. 76.
  • Johannes Lorenz: Explanations of the previously known dates from the life of Georg Koppehele, Berlin 1938 [Berlin NW 21, Birkenstr. 28, family verb. d. Gender d. Koppehele, A. Demgensky] Extent / Format: 13 signed sheets.
  • Johannes Lorenz: The Magdeburg shepherd legend, in: Monday sheet. The Heimatblatt Mitteldeutschlands (scientific supplement to the Magdeburgische Zeitung), volume 80 (1938), No. 20 (p. 153 ff .; from May 16, 1938).
  • Johannes Lorenz: Georg Koppehele and his family foundation, in: Monday newspaper. The Heimatblatt Mitteldeutschlands (scientific supplement to the Magdeburgische Zeitung), 82nd year (1940), no. 2 (from January 22, 1940).
  • Herbert Wegener: Four or five generations of the Koppehele family in the Jüterbog area, descendants of Johann Koppehele in Graefendorf, Berlin 1994 (self-published manuscripts).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Album Academiae Vitebergensis Vol. I, p. 361b
  2. ↑ A document dated to the year 1566 (STAM Rep. U3, St. Nicolai, D 15, p. 1) certifies that Koppehele received the income from the fief Omnium sanctorum "uff drey Jar ... zu seine studio", ie limited as Scholarship.
  3. ↑ STAM Rep. U 4c Niederndodeleben, No. 28
  4. ↑ Album Academiae Vitebergensis Vol. II, p. 450b
  5. ↑ Johannes Lorenz: The Magdeburg shepherd saga, s. literature
  6. ↑ Lorenz ibid.
personal data
SURNAME Koppehele, Georgius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koppehele, Georg; Koppehel, Georg von (misspelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and founder of the George Koppehele Family Foundation
DATE OF BIRTH 1538
PLACE OF BIRTH Graefendorf
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1604
Place of death Magdeburg