Levin Claus Moltke

Levin Claus Moltke , Latinized: Levinus Nicolaus , (* around 1615 ; † in January 1662 , buried in Schleswig ) was a German court official.

Childhood and youth

Levin Claus Moltke was a son of Claus von Moltke (born April 17, 1566 in Samow in Mecklenburg; † before 1624) and his second wife Margarethe, born von Linstow († after October 16, 1657), who was a daughter of Christoph von Linstow was. He was probably taking lessons from a tutor. In the summer semester of 1635 he enrolled at the University of Rostock and probably studied law. He also dealt with classical philology, philosophy and theology. He did this to an extent that was unusually large for lawyers and other students of his class.

Since Moltke knew the theologian Georg Calixt who taught there very well, it can be assumed that he attended the University of Helmstedt . However, it cannot be found in the university registers. In 1652 Moltke wrote to Calixtus from Strasbourg that he would advocate his theological standpoints, which were criticized by the Lutheran Orthodox. At the end of his studies, Moltke went on a trip abroad and enrolled in Oxford in May 1641.

Entry into godfishing services

From an incomprehensible point in time, Moltke worked as a chamberlain for Friedrich III. In 1647/48 he was given leave of absence. During this time he accompanied Franz Erdmann as court master to Venice and Rome . Probably in 1650 he came back to northern Germany from the court of the emperor in Vienna . After that he devoted some time to scholarly studies. He wrote an edition of the "Religio medici" by Thomas Browne . In their preface he noted that he had been traveling constantly for many years and had worked for the prince. This kept him from his studies.

In 1651 Moltke entered the service of the eldest Prince Friedrich (1635–1654) in Gottorf as a councilor and court master. In October 1651 he traveled with Friedrich via Dresden to the universities of Strasbourg and 1652 Geneva, where they stayed for longer periods. In addition, they visited Venice, Rome and Naples. They then stayed in Saumur for a year and finally reached Paris, where Friedrich died in August 1654. Then Moltke returned to the Gottorfer Hof. In 1655 he became a private councilor, councilor and court master of the second eldest prince Johann Georg (1636–1656). Both traveled to Italy a little later and stayed in Rome for a long time. In February 1656 the prince died in Naples.

German-Danish War

Moltke returned to the Gottorfer Hof, where he became Vice Chancellor in August 1656. In the following month he settled a conflict in the Reinbek office with the Gottfried Schneider council . He then wrote a report on the reasons for Husum's economic problems . In 1675, when the Danish-Swedish war began, Moltke traveled frequently. In March he stayed in Flensburg, in April in Rendsburg, in early June in Breitenburg and in late June / early July in Copenhagen. He negotiated with officials of the Danish court about the share that the Gottorf family should raise for the war. His conversations brought few results.

At the end of July 1675, Moltke paid a visit to Pinneberg to King Karl X. Gustav of Sweden. The Duke tried to take a neutral stance, but saw himself forced by his son-in-law to make a decision in favor of Denmark or Sweden, said Moltke. At the beginning of September he traveled with Johann Adolph Kielmann from Kielmannsegg to Kiel. Here they signed an alliance between Gottorf and the Swedes. In September / October and again in November / December 1657, Moltke and Gottfried Schneider represented the Gottorfer at the convent of the Lower Saxon Empire in Lüneburg. Here he wrote his will in October.

In February 1658 Moltke took part in the signing of the Peace of Roskilde . He then negotiated together with Kielman von Kielmanseck. Due to the peace treaty and pressure from the Swedes, the Danish king relinquished the sovereignty of his share in the Duchy of Schleswig to the Duke of Gottorf in May 1658. In addition, he had to part with half of the former possessions at the Schleswig Cathedral Chapter and the Schwabstedt office . Moltke wrote a final report entitled “Diarium”, which is one of the most important documents for the negotiations.

In the autumn of 1658 the war broke out again. Moltke conducted negotiations with the Great Elector. This had allied himself with the Danes and marched into the duchies. Moltke asked him to spare the Gottorf offices. In June 1659 he stayed again in Copenhagen, where Danes and Swedes negotiated. In August of the same year he traveled after the death of Duke Friedrich III. from. The aristocratic district administrators then tried to weaken the influence of the learned councilors. Their goal was probably especially Kielman and his dominant position; Moltke was probably less concerned with this. He came from the nobility and had also married a woman who belonged to the native nobility.

Late years

Moltke campaigned for close cooperation with the Swedes at the Gottorfer Hof and in Stockholm. This made people who wanted to reconcile with the Danish king his opponents. In September 1659 he negotiated near Stralsund with the elector Raimund Montecuccoli with the aim that he should recognize the neutrality of the Gottorf community for longer. He returned in November 1659. Duke Christian Albrecht then appointed him secret and chamber councilor and vice chancellor.

In 1660 Moltke negotiated with the Lübeck cathedral chapter. The Duke was thus able to keep the office of Prince-Bishop, which he would have had to resign when he ascended the throne, until his brother August Friedrich came of age in 1666. On the basis of a contract concluded in Copenhagen in 1658, Christian Albrecht thus had four benefices from the Schleswig canons. He enfeoffed one of them to Moltke for his unborn son. He also gave him the former bishop's house at Schleswig Cathedral . In 1661 Moltke got his own hereditary burial in the cathedral. In the same year he acquired the Warleberg estate including Rathmannsdorf. Since the neighboring Knoop estate belonged to his wife, Moltke now carried the title “he was inherited from Knoop, Warleberg and Rathmannsdorf”. Due to his untimely death, he held no other politically significant positions.

Works

Moltke wrote several books in Latin. He used the initials “LNM”. It was probably a convention that stipulated that nobles should not act as scholars. However, he used his full name in the dedications of the books and in his poems of honor. An English edition of the "Religio Medici" by Thomas Browne from 1642 was particularly successful. Browne rejected any polemics in it and advocated an interplay of faith and reason and religious tolerance, which caused a sensation. Most contemporaries saw Browne as an atheist. Moltke provided the provocative sentences with extensive comments and quotations from relevant biblical passages. In doing so, he tried to placate critical church fathers and undisputed authorities. He created a print-ready version of this during his trip to Strasbourg with Prince Friedrich.

After Prince Johann Georg's death in 1659, Moltke wrote the “Consolation Socratis”. There is no doubt that he orientated himself on the " Consolatio Philosophiae ". His work is a dialogue between Socrates and the author. The philosopher names comforting philosophical reasons for the prince's demise. With his book Moltke wanted to show that Socrates' ethics matched those of Christians. The author argued with numerous authors from antiquity as well as René Descartes and Thomas Hobbes .

When Moltke visited Rome for the second time in 1655, he wrote a book about the conclave there that made Fabio Chigi pope. In it he spoke out against the contemporary Orthodox theologians, who opposed all deviations with bitter polemics. He himself tended more towards Irenik , which Calixtus probably brought him close.

family

Moltke married Adelheid von Buchwald around 1655 (born January 22, 1634, † October 31, 1681 in Itzehoe ). His wife was a daughter of the officer Friedrich von Buchwaldt and his first wife Hedwig, née Buchwaldt (1614–1641). The Moltke couple had two daughters and two sons, including Maria Elisabeth (* October 26, 1659 - May 1, 1722), who married the Gottorf District Administrator Bendix von Ahlefeldt.

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 362–365.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal
2. ^ ^{A b} Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 362.
3. ^ Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 362–363.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 363.
5. ^ ^{A b} Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 363–364.
6. ^ ^{A b} Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 364.
7. ^ Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 364–365.
8. ^ ^{A b} Dieter Lohmeier: Moltke, Levin Claus . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 365.