Levin von Marschalck

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Levin von Marschalck auf Hutloh ( Hechthausen ) and Aschhorn (* around 1585 ; † October 1629 in Glückstadt ) was an archdiocese-Bremen Landdrost and Chancellor of the German Chancellery of King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway .

Life

Levin von Marschalck came from the Marschalck von Bachtenbrock family from the ancient aristocracy of Bremen . He was born as the second son of Franz von Marschalck on Geesthof (in the parish of Hechthausen ) and Katharina von der Kuhla.

In the summer semester of 1600 he was matriculated at the University of Jena . In 1602 he was accepted as a canon in the Bremen cathedral chapter - possibly on the recommendation of a progenitor, the cathedral dean Franz von Marschalck . At the age of twenty, he received full rights as a canon as Canonicus emancipatus in 1605 .

In 1607 Levin von Marschalck was appointed to the Holstein Council “by default” by Duke Adolf von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , a brother of Archbishop Johann Friedrich , who was then ruling in the Archbishopric of Bremen . However , he retained his office as canon of the Bremen Cathedral .

In April 1612, Levin von Marschalck was temporarily relieved of his office and declared his prebende forfeit, because he had dueled with Johann Otto von derdecke , despite a ban imposed by the cathedral chapter . At the intercession of the archbishop, however, he was reinstated a little later in his old rights.

At Easter 1615 Levin von Marschalck was appointed as the Landdrost of the Archbishopric of Bremen, succeeding his ancestral cousin Johann von Marschalck, and was thus appointed to what was probably the most important office of the archbishopric at the time. When Levin von Marschalck took over this service, he resigned his canon at the cathedral church in Bremen, but at the same time assumed a new spiritual office as provost of the Neuenwalde monastery . In 1624 he also became provost of the Zeven monastery, which was still predominantly Catholic at the time .

When the Danish King Christian IV attempted to increase his political influence in northern Germany by electing his son Friedrich (later King Friedrich III of Denmark) as coadjutor of the Archbishopric of Bremen and thus the designated successor to the ruling Archbishop Johann Friedrich wanted to let, Levin von Marschalck, as landdrost of the archbishopric, was initially opposed to the monarch's plan . Presumably thanks to financial donations, Christian IV succeeded in bringing about a change of attitude in Levin von Marschalck, as well as in the chapter of the Bremen Cathedral, so that Frederick was finally elected coadjutor - not least as a result of the massive influence of Levin von Marschalck.

Levin von Marschalck's support in this important matter was possibly one of the reasons why King Christian IV appointed him royal Danish privy councilor (by default) in 1623 - with the tolerance of Archbishop Johann Friedrich - and thus tied him more closely to his house.

The wavering attitude of Archbishop Johann Friedrich in the Danish-Lower Saxon War induced Levin von Marschalck to take Christian IV's side entirely. This changed attitude was first expressed through his assistance in the occupation of the archbishopric residence castle (Bremer-) Vörde by means of Danish mercenaries in June 1626 , when he opened the access to the residence for the Danish troops through a ruse without encountering any noteworthy resistance. The Archbishop, who was staying at Vörde Castle at the time and had to watch the occupation of his residence without doing anything, interpreted Levin as a breach of the oath of allegiance he had taken when he took over his office. Later Johann Friedrich Levin had the goods from Marschalck's Hutloh and Aschhorn confiscated and transferred to the Imperial Field Marshal Count Anholt . Although Christian IV suffered a heavy defeat against the troops of the German Emperor and the Catholic League in the battle of Lutter am Barenberge in August 1626 , Levin remained loyal to his new employer even in these difficult times. As a reward for this, but probably also because of his diplomatic skills, Christian IV appointed him Chancellor of his German Chancellery in April 1628, making him one of the most important offices in the Danish Kingdom.

In general, Levin von Marschalck's strength lay in the field of diplomacy and diplomatic journalism . It was precisely because of his diplomatic skills that Christian IV, who had got into a difficult position due to a series of unfortunate campaigns towards the end of the second decade of the 17th century and was looking for opportunities for peace with the German Kaiser, appointed him as one of six members to the Danish negotiating delegation, which started peace talks with the other side in Lübeck in January 1629 .

During the time of the Lübeck peace negotiations, the edition of a memorandum was made that was counted among the most sensational of the time and that was widely distributed. Levin von Marschalck is generally regarded as its author. It is entitled Do you want to see the Kayser? See the back of this letter . Although no author is given here, it is suggested at the end of the text that this is a memorandum that Field Marshal Johann Aldringer , who took part in the peace negotiations in Lübeck on the imperial side, handed over to his Emperor Ferdinand II had previously been secretly copied by a servant on the Danish side. Due to the content of this pamphlet, in which it is repeatedly emphasized between the lines that the imperial policy was based on lies and deceit, Aldringer is out of the question as the author. Rather, as early as August 1629, the imperial resident in Hamburg , Dr. Menzel most definitely, the author of this work is Levin von Marschalck, "a Dane ... (and) a very dangerous man".

There is now little doubt that Levin von Marschalck was the author of this work. In it Levin puts Aldringer in the mouth that Emperor Ferdinand II should bring “the Roman Empire under the unanimous obedience of the Roman churches that alone save ”. To do this, he had to get rid of the elector of the empire, who pursued their own interests and were in part allied with the enemies of the empire, in particular the elector of Bavaria . For this reason he should enter into peace negotiations with Denmark and also make friends with the other foreign powers, so as not to be disturbed by them in his project. Then he could proceed to disempower the imperial princes step by step and replace them with people he liked.

With this memorandum placed under Johann Aldringer, Levin von Marschalck primarily intended to incite the emperor and the princes devoted to him against each other and thereby to ease the pressure on the king of Denmark. Although this undertaking was by and large ineffective, it had the success "of completely setting the common mob into a rebellion ," as the imperial envoy in Hamburg stated.

With Levin von Marschalck's decisive participation, the Peace of Lübeck was finally concluded in May 1629 , according to whose provisions King Christian IV received back all of his enemy-occupied territories, but in return had to undertake to any further interference in affairs of the empire - as far as they were concerned did not affect the Duchy of Holstein - to renounce.

After this peace agreement, Levin was sent again to the Netherlands on a diplomatic mission in the summer of 1629. After his return he fell seriously ill in Glückstadt, so that the governor of the city informed King Christian on September 29th that Levin was on his last legs. Shortly afterwards, Levin von Marschalck died at the age of 44.

There are no known images of Levin von Marschalck. Ludvig Holberg gives an impression of his appearance and character , who describes him as follows: “He was completely in his body, had a fat face, a high forehead and a broad beard in the German style. He spoke French well, was pious, affable, well experienced in state affairs and discovered his opinion with sincerity ”.

family

About 1614 Levin von Marschalck married Jutta von Marschalck (1585–1655), a distant relative, whose father Jürgen von Marschalck, inherited from Hutloh, was a third cousin of his father Franz von Marschalck. Since Jürgen von Marschalck left no male heirs, the possession of Hutloh passed to his son-in-law Levin von Marschalck. Gut Hutloh is still in the hands of the descendants of Levin and Jutta von Marschalck.

The following children were born from the marriage:

literature

  • Karl Ernst Hermann Krause :  Marschalck, Levin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 430 f.
  • C (arl) F (rederik) Bricka (Ed.): Dansk Biografisk Lexikon . Kjøbenhavn 1887-1905, Vol. XI.
  • Sune Dalgård: Kanslere and kancellier: især "tyske" i Danmark and Holsten hen imod Enevælden . Copenhagen 2005.
  • Gustav Droysen: Gustav Adolf . Leipzig 1869, vol. 2.
  • Max Grünbaum: About the Publicism of the Thirty Years War from 1626 - 1629 . Hall 1880.
  • Ludvig Holberg: Mr. Ludvig Holberg's Danish Empire History translated into German . Altona u. Flensburg 1743, vol. 2.
  • Karl Kayser: To the Bremen cathedral chapter . In: Journal of the Society for Church History of Lower Saxony . No. 15, 1910.
  • Hubertus Freiherr Marschalck von Bachtenbrock and Manfred Baaske: The Marschalcken . In: Franz Josef Alstedt (Ed.): Chronicle of Hechthausen , Hechthausen 1983.
  • Luneberg Mushard : Monumenta nobilitatis antiquae familiarum illustrium, in ducatibus Bremensi & Verdensi, ie the feast of the ancient, noble families, especially the highly commendable knights in the Hertzogthum Bremen a. Verden . Bremen 1708.
  • Georg Mentz: The register of the University of Jena , Vol. 1 (1548–1652). Jena 1944.
  • Karl H. Schleif: Government and administration of the Bremen Archbishopric at the beginning of the modern era (1500 - 1645) . Hamburg 1972.
  • Niels Slangen (Ed. JH Schlegeln): History of Christian the Fourth, King in Denmark . Copenhagen u. Leipzig 1771, vol. 3.
  • Dirk Vollmers: Levin von Marschalck from Hechthausen, Landdrost of the Archbishopric of Bremen and German Chancellor of King Christian IV of Denmark . In: Hekethusen , Hechthäuser Heimatblätter, issue 18. Hechthausen 2011.

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personal data
SURNAME Marschalck, Levin von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Canon
DATE OF BIRTH around 1585
DATE OF DEATH October 1629
Place of death Glückstadt