Lucas Rem

Coat of arms of the Rem –Augsburger Chronik, 1457–1487

Lucas Rem (born December 14, 1481 in Augsburg , † September 22, 1541 ibid) was an Augsburg merchant who gained posthumously notoriety primarily through his diary .

To person

Lucas Rem was born on December 14, 1481 as the son of Lucas Rem († 1496) and Magdalena Welser and was thus a member of an Augsburg patrician family that converted to the guilds in 1368. In 1479 they were offered admission to the sexes by the council and were initially rejected by them and only accepted in 1538. The Rems had long been one of the most respected and wealthy families in town. Berchthold Rem († 1325) is considered the progenitor. Rems self-named ancestor Hans was already the mayor of Augsburg and also the castle and village owner. Rem's father Lucas acquired an imperial estate and from then on the family belonged to the Swabian Federation and the Knight Society . The Augsburg chronicler Wilhelm Rem was a cousin of Lucas Rem. This family died out in the 17th century.

life and work

Remem's diary, which was kept for over 47 years until his death, provides information about the self-image of the merchants by providing a brief account of the stages in his life, his family and business. Like his ancestors, Rem began training as a trader at the age of 13 with the related Welsers, the second most important trading house in Augsburg next to the Fuggers and related to them. After years of apprenticeship in Venice, he worked as a factor in the Welser-Vöhlin Society in accounting from 1499–1517, first in Lyon, then 1503–1508 in Lisbon, where he a. a. represented the company's interests in the India trips, then again in Lyon and from 1511 in Antwerp. Numerous trips (debt collection, accounting and cash auditing) took him to Savoy, southern France, Paris, the Netherlands and Switzerland, among others. After disputes due to irregularities and poor management in Lyon and Augsburg (especially by Anton Welser the Younger), Lucas left the Welser factory with his brothers Andreas (Endres) and Hans. In 1518 he founded his own medium-sized company with factories in Cologne and Antwerp with his brother Andreas and Ulrich Hanolt. In May of the same year he married Anna Ehein, whose bridal money was an important part of the new company's capital. Lucas Rem died on September 22, 1541 in Augsburg.

Rem's book was kept by him until 1540 and was not printed until 1861. It consists of 50 parchment sheets, many of which are missing, for example in the lists of wedding gifts or in the case of the children. The entries were made one by one in chronological order, but the term diary does not apply. Rem describes almost his entire life: starting in his childhood, through his apprenticeship and traveling years, then his domestic and business life and above all the trips abroad that took him to Venice, Milan, Lyon, Lisbon and Antwerp. Both authors tell in detail about their children and, in Stromer's case, also about his grandchildren. Rem even gives information about their characters, dryly but definitely proof of human powers of observation in the otherwise rather business-like "life story". "References" are mentioned in passing. This is how Rem meets the King of Portugal: the whole royal family bids farewell in person when he is delegated from Lisbon. On the way through, the Spanish king's son receives him with a kiss on the hand, and Rem continues with the train of the Spanish king Ferdinand . Rem was not in his hometown for over a third of his life, he was inevitably oriented towards Europe and accordingly wrote a lot about his travels abroad. His memoria list of servants is hardly of any value for the Augsburg genealogy history, rather his tax report for economic history.

Record style and intention

Rem's notes are admittedly not a literary achievement: they show his dry business style and clumsy language, and their reliability is positive. In addition, Rem does not seem to have much interest in the turbulent times, the Diet of 1530 is only useful as a date and his conversion to Protestantism, like that of some relatives, is only visible through the baptisms of the children. Zahnd recognizes the tendency towards stylization as a businessman not least on the basis of the stereotypical structure of Rem's entries according to date, event, place or travel destination.

Rem's notes are clearly those of a businessman, structured, almost complete, that is, calculated to the end. The “commercial, rational, arithmetical world and self-understanding” in harmony with “individual pursuit of profit” is decisive. These event reports and memorabilia were a class-specific phenomenon of the political and economic elites, of course loosely linked to the authorities, but by no means for one public audience.

Source value and edition

Greiff finds three advantages in Rem's notes. Firstly, “this diary and its appendix form a brilliant page in the history of the city of Augsburg”, for which its edition is the key. Second, it would "give us a perfectly clear picture of the life and education of a merchant at the beginning of the 16th century". And thirdly, it provides "occasionally the most noteworthy and desirable, sometimes even quite detailed information about the cultural and moral history of his time".

An examination of the respective forewords of the first editions offers a very informative source of the classification of the records. The secretary of the Historic District Association of Swabia and Neuburg Greiff is at the source, so to speak, thanks to his simultaneous activity as a librarian. He owes so much to his "second hometown" that it "urges him [...] to increase and spread their praise." His pride in his new home is expressed in every sentence in which he describes the relationship with Lucas Rem Augsburg treated. He is critical and at the same time respectful towards the person Rems himself.

Rem's book, on the other hand, is shaped by economics and bookkeeping and thus further removed from aristocratic values ​​than other works of this time. The aristocratic ancestry does not appear in his genealogy, he lists Hans Rem (1340–1396) as the “ top ancestor ”, who, with trade and accumulation of wealth, represents the family self-image as a traditional builder. From this person Rem derives the virtues that are important to him: willingness to learn, knowledge of human nature, sociability, business knowledge, diligence and perseverance as well as a willingness to take risks. For Rem, time is now the directing factor that determines business fate. The time must be used sensibly and his tendency to use it effectively and to restlessness can already be seen in his meticulously noted birth times.

Summary assessment

If you look at the seminal articles by Rohmann and Johanek on the history of the 16th century in Augsburg, then Lucas Rem's diary is not one of them. Just as it does not appear in any of the eight volumes on Augsburg in the series of “Chronicles of German Cities”. In contrast to Stromer's Püchel, the beginning of the series and without its mention hardly an essay on the Nuremberg city chronicle can do. If Johanek elaborates "experience and precedents (...) that determine the life of the community" as principles of late medieval historiography, then Rem's diary does not really fit. The fact that he was born in Augsburg and that his merchant work gives his city a reputation is not enough. Or rather it goes down alongside the other great chronicles of Küchlin, Meisterlin, the Mülich brothers or his relative Wilhelm Rem. Stein doubts that the historiographical works alone will be sufficient for identity research. He notes that there was “an impressive local self-image”. However, the differentiation of historiography must be taken into account, which when put together will result in a whole range of emotions and then in turn an urban identity.

output

• Lucas Rem: Diary from the years 1494–1541. A contribution to the commercial history of the city of Augsburg , ed. von Greiff, B .; in: 26th annual report of the Historical District Association of Schwaben and Neuburg 1861, pp. 1–110 ( digital copy )

Secondary literature

• Reinhard Jakob:  Rem, Lucas. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 409 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Peter Johanek : Historiography in Augsburg at the end of the Middle Ages . In: Johannes Janota, Werner Williams-Krapp (ed.): Literary life in Augsburg during the 15th century (= Studia Augustana. Volume 7). Niemeyer, Tübingen 1995, ISBN 3-484-16507-3 , pp. 160-182.
• Rolf Kießling: Rem, Lucas . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Volume 7, 1995, Col. 705.
• Gregor Rohmann : "A commendable advice obedient amptman". Clemens Jäger and the historiography of the 16th century (= studies on the history of Bavarian Swabia. Volume 28). Wißner, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-89639-285-9 (also dissertation, University of Göttingen 2000).
• Robert Stein: Self-Image or Identity? Urban historiography as a source for identity research . In: Hanno Brand et al. (Ed.): Memoria, Communitas, Civitas. Mémoire et conscience urbaines en occident à la fin du Moyen Age . (= Supplement to Francia . Volume 55). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 3-7995-7449-2 , pp. 181-202. ( Online )
• Wilhelm Vogt:  Rem, Lucas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, pp. 187-190.
• Horst Wenzel: The autobiography of the late Middle Ages and early modern times . Munich 1980.
  • Vol. 1 The Self-Interpretation of the Nobility (= late medieval texts. Volume 3). 1980, ISBN 3-7705-1941-8 .
  • Vol. 2 The self-interpretation of the urban bourgeoisie (= late medieval texts. Volume 4). 1980, ISBN 3-7705-1939-6 .
• Urs M. Zahnd: The autobiographical records of Ludwig von Diesbach. Studies of late medieval self-portrayal in Upper German and Swiss regions . Stämpfli, Bern 1986, ISBN 3-7272-0494-X (plus habilitation thesis, University of Bern 1986).
• Thomas Zotz : The city nobility in late medieval Germany and its culture of remembrance . In: Werner Rösener (ed.): Noble and bourgeois cultures of remembrance of the late Middle Ages and the early modern times (= forms of remembrance. Volume 8). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-35427-4 , pp. 145-161.