Michael Detlef von Bradke

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Michael Detlef von Bradke (born October 28, 1686 in Lübeck ; † October 28, 1759 ibid) was a German officer and most recently city commander of Lübeck.

Live and act

Bradke's mother's name is unknown; the information about his father inconsistent. According to Friedrich Joachim Schnobel, it was the artillery lieutenant Caspar Bradtke († November 15, 1705 in Lübeck). Other sources name the Lübeck artillery captain Peter Bradke . How Bradke spent his childhood and youth and what education he received is unknown. Only one brother is known by the name of Hinrich Nicolaus († 1759), who was last Russian lieutenant general.

It is also unclear when and how Bradke's military career began. Perhaps he served in the Lübeck city military and then switched to Swedish services. In sources from Lübeck a lieutenant Bradke is recorded for the year 1703, who served as an officer on watch at the mill gate during the " Plönnieschen unrest " . However, it could have been his brother or other family member. According to Gustaf Elgenstierna , Bradke joined the Allied Army in Brabant in 1699 at the age of 13 , where he rose to the rank of ensign. In 1707 he began a career as an officer in the Swedish army. Maximilian Gritzner, however, claimed that Bradke did not go to Sweden until 1717, where his brother served. It is well documented that the brothers Bradke and Michael Detlef's stepson Peter Wegman (1712–1758) were appointed Swedish nobles on November 17, 1718. In 1720 they were entered in the register of the knight's house.

Bradke went through the typical career of a company and regiment chief of the 17th century. In Sweden he belonged to eight different regiments and rose to higher and higher positions. He served as a major in the Stralsund garrison regiment. It was here that he probably qualified for the later posts in Lübeck. In January 1728 Bradke returned to Lübeck as an officer. The position of the highest city officer there had been vacant for a year. Due to a major upheaval by journeymen, the so-called "Roeder riots", in August 1727 the Lübeck council under Mayor Adolf Mattheus Rodde and the citizens, among other things, decided to expand the Lübeck city military. This included giving Bradke the vacant position of senior officer.

When Bradke took over the position, the Lübeck garrison was in a state of upheaval. It should not concentrate on defending against external enemies, but should take on a variety of police functions, steer inner-city issues in an orderly manner and, in particular, ward off or defuse conflicts. Bradke saw himself as an ancient city bishop who led a war force, had problems implementing the changes and was reluctant to follow them. From his point of view, the rebellious Lübeck craftsmen and members of the lower class did not represent military opponents. In his view, the department senators ("war commissioners") were also not acceptable superiors. For these reasons, he argued with the Lübeck council throughout his entire service .

The Lübeck council warned Bradke several times to fulfill his duties. When craftsmen and boatmen dared to revolt in 1751, Bradke's arguments with the superiors escalated. The city military, which was supposed to contain the riot, did so slowly and unsuccessfully. The council ruled that the city military was unsuitable for its duties and sued several officers in court-martial, some of whom received very harsh sentences. The council accused Bradke of having acted negligently, poorly in leadership and improperly. The defendant clearly criticized the council and rejected a personal military obligation to obey the war commissioners. In the following changes of the council for dealing with future uprisings and the conversion of the city military to a police force, Bradke obviously no longer had any part.

Apart from his problems with the Lübeck council, Bradke was able to successfully reorganize the city military. He also improved the soldiers' social situation. He was able to draw on his experience from his time in the Swedish army. In peacetime, the council and citizens traditionally cut the military budget by firing soldiers. Bradke, however, always tried to save through structural reorganization. He wanted to keep the troop strength constant or even to expand it without increasing costs and showed that he was organizationally experienced. The citizens of Lübeck recognized these successes. When he made repeated petitions with which he wanted to improve his own, obviously precarious financial situation, she supported the request.

Bradke designed several service regulations for the city garrison in the sense of the Orange Army Form . He drew up drill regulations, which the council took up cautiously and only recommended as non-binding for the officers' drill service. In 1751/52 the city military was expanded to a police force. The war commissioners were supposed to simplify the drill rules created by Bradke significantly. Bradke, who was meanwhile constantly indisposed, no longer took part in discussions in this area.

Bradke made a special contribution to a new disability fund for soldiers who were unable to work due to their age or health problems. The social situation of soldiers in the 18th century was precarious: the cost of living rose while wages remained the same. In addition, they had to do a lot of their own, for example paying for an apartment, livelihood and uniforms themselves. Due to the strict rules of the guild, they could only accept secondary employment to a limited extent. Therefore the soldiers became increasingly impoverished and got into debt. Their compulsory service was valid until the end of their lives and they had to finance substitute men if they could not work themselves.

Since Bradke's troops were very old, he wanted to dismiss disabled soldiers and employ younger people. From 1730 he planned a new disability fund for this. Unfit non-commissioned officers, reels and ordinary soldiers who were to be retired should receive pension payments from a fund. The system provided for a principle of solidarity, supported by compulsory contributions from all soldiers. The Lübeck council accepted these plans for the most part by decree in 1750.

His successor as city commander in Lübeck was Egmont von Chasôt in 1759 . This enjoyed a higher reputation than its predecessor. The important conceptual, qualitative and social reforms within the Lübeck military of the 18th century were based on Bradke's plans, several of which were only implemented under Chasôt's leadership

family

The Baltic family coat of arms of the von Bradke

Bradke married Anna Margareta Praeil, widowed Weckmann, on November 21, 1715, who died in 1740. She was the daughter of the businessman Peter Prael from Kristianstad and Jannika von Deurs. The Bradke couple had known by name a daughter and three sons, at least two of whom were resident in the Baltic States, including Caspar Johann von Bradke, the father of the officer and provincial governor Friedrich Wilhelm von Bradke (1752-1819), who took on the family in 1778 reached into the Oesel knighthood .

Awards

literature

  • Gabriel Anrep : von Bradke , in: Svenska adelns ättar-taflor. Volume 1. Stockholm 1858, pp. 283f
  • Thomas Schwark : Bradke, Michael Detlef von . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 65–68, also in: Alken Bruns (Hrsg.): Lübeck resumes from nine centuries. On behalf of the Society for Lübeck History and Archeology. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1993. Reprint 2009, ISBN 978-3-529-02729-1 , pp. 53-55

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Schwark: Bradke, Michael Detlef von . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 65.
  2. ↑ Thomas Schwark: Bradke, Michael Detlef von . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 65-66.
  3. ↑ The Röder riots of August 2, 1727 were protests of the common people and were directed against the jurist Joachim Röder (* 1672), who had fled in time and who was to be arrested for alleged coin manipulation.
  4. ↑ Jan Lokers: When the "common mob" made air. ( Memento from July 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ a b c Thomas Schwark: Bradke, Michael Detlef von . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 66.
  6. ↑ Thomas Schwark: Bradke, Michael Detlef von . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 66-67.
  7. ↑ a b c d Thomas Schwark: Bradke, Michael Detlef von . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 67.
  8. ^ August Wilhelm Hupel : From the rights of the Estonian and Estonian estates. In addition to other shorter essays, etc.: The Nordic Miscellaneen 22nd and 23rd pieces , published by Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, Riga 1790, p. 392 ff.
  9. ^ Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Bradke, Friedrich Wilhelm. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
personal data
SURNAME Bradke, Michael Detlef from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and finally city commander
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1686
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1759
Place of death Lübeck