Matthias von Wicht

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matthias von Wicht (born March 24, 1694 in Aurich ; † April 17, 1778 ibid) was a German lawyer.

Live and act

Lineage of Wicht

Matthias von Wicht came from the aristocratic Wicht family and, like his ancestors, received a legal education, which he obtained in Groningen in 1724 with a doctorate in law. jur. utr. completed. From 1726 he worked as a state counsel for the "obedient" estates. During the roll-call war they broke away from the so-called “unruly” estates and joined the prince. Von Wicht wrote two justifications for them, which went to press in Oldenburg. From 1729 he tried to get a position as a princely councilor, which he received in 1735.

The East Frisian estates had previously commissioned the printing of the East Frisian land law , which was conceived during the reign of Edzard I. This combination of Old Frisian and Roman law, which was undisputedly recognized in East Frisia, only existed in the form of numerous manuscripts, which were often not identical and sometimes no longer legible. Von Wicht took on this commission, not using the best handwriting as a basis.

Von Wicht's work appeared in printed form between 1733 and 1746 on an extraordinary scale. He created a Low German version and translated it into High German and added numerous scholarly explanations to the texts. In both versions, he added nine structured chapters containing the ordinances to be applied to dykes and sluices. He wrote a lengthy preface that included numerous notes and created a four-volume work with more than 1300 pages, which is an important source of East Frisian antiquity.

After Prussia annexed the county of East Friesland in 1744 , von Wicht and his colleague Sigismund Bacmeister sided with Princess Friederike Wilhelmine of East Friesland and did not accept Friedrich II as the new regent. The king condemned both of them to mild imprisonment in Greetsiel , but re-engaged von Wicht as government and consistorial councilor in 1747. He worked as such at the court and retired in 1768.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Wicht, Matthias von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1694
PLACE OF BIRTH Aurich
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 1778
Place of death Aurich