Michael Matzer

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Michael Matzer (* ~ 1530 ; † December 22, 1597 in Wertheim ) was mayor of Wertheim am Main from 1591 until his death in 1597 .

Life

Michael Matzer in portrait at the Engelsbrunnen

Matzer was initially a master baker like his father of the same name. In the 1570s he became the city's builder responsible for bridges and wells and designed, among other things, the Engelsbrunnen built in 1574. Although he came from a rather humble background, he rose to positions that were previously only reserved for rich families: as the son of an immigrant baker, he became a member of the Outer Council in 1565 and was elected younger mayor in the two electoral periods of 1568/69 and 1569 / 70, member of the Inner Council and senior mayor 1578/79 and 1585/86, and from 1591 until his death in 1597 supreme mayor. The Wertheim Council Constitution consisted of twelve members each of the Outer Council and the Inner Council, where one was initially a member of the Outer Council and later of the Inner Council. The outer council elected the younger mayor, the inner council the senior mayor, and the mayor was a kind of mayor who represented the top of the township and was the manorial supervisor for the two mayors, a representative of the count who was appointed for life.

Michel Matzer held this position, although he grew up in the poorest of the four quarters of Wertheim, the fishing district on the left of the Tauber (later Tauberviertel), and only became a citizen of the city of Wertheim in 1551. His appointment could have been a political move by the new rule, the not yet firmly in the saddle, the new counts of Wertheim-Löwenstein , in order to attract the poorer strata of the population to their side. Ludwig III. From 1576 von Löwenstein unexpectedly fell into the county of Wertheim through marriage , initially together with his two brothers-in-law Dietrich von Manderscheid and the mentally ill Philipp II von Eberstein , against whom he was gradually able to assert himself. From 1576 to 1594 the county was administered partly jointly, partly alternately. From 1587 to 1590 Ludwig von Löwenstein ruled, from 1591 to March 1593 it was the Manderscheider's turn again until his death. It is possible that one of the two gentlemen, Count Ludwig von Löwenstein or Count Dietrich von Manderscheid, used the master baker in a political move during this time.

The Wertheim historian Otto Langguth calls him "one of the repeatedly mentioned personalities in the history of Wertheim, one of the three great mayors of the 16th century". These are Clemens Leusser , Hans Schaff , and Michael Matzer, at best Matzer's long-term predecessor Peter Heusslein 1574–1591 could still be counted among them.

Motto on the angel fountain

The motto on the sign next to Michael Matzer's angel fountain figure is a riddle that is similar to Luther's table speeches .

It's a word that has an L.

Whoever sees it, quickly desires it.

When the L is not in it

There is no highest treasure in the world.

Schneider notes: "To find the solution, the viewer can rack his brains - or decipher the lettering in the footplate under the councilor":

My greatest joy is that God is my Redeemer.

Schneider: “Gold or God? You think the Bible is open to you at the point where it says: What good does it do people if they win the whole world? "

Origin and descendants

The surname Matzer was first recorded in a Turkish tax list in Wertheim in 1542 , his family had not been resident in Wertheim for long and was naturalized in Wertheim in 1551 . The father may have come from Styria ( possibly near Feldbach ), where there are still many Matzers to this day, and may have been a refugee before the first Turkish siege of Vienna . Maybe Matzer = Maͤtzer job title Metzeinnehmer could come because the Steinerne Metzen was built in Feldbach in the 15th century and served as a local measure before a uniform measure was introduced. An origin could also be from Italy ( Mazza = butcher), Spain ( Matzenbrot ), or Germany (from Matze = Matthäus). In any case, Michael Matzer's grandson, Balthasar Matzer, was in Austria for training as a butcher, and his father applied for a man's license in Wertheim so that he could become a journeyman. Many of the living bearers of this name in Germany and Austria are descended from Michael Matzer, of whose three wives at least four children have survived. One daughter married a goldsmith in Wertheim, two sons moved to Reicholzheim (Tobias) and Waldenhausen (Balthasar).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann Ehmer: History of the Grafschaft Wertheim, Chapter VIII
  2. ↑ Manfred Schneider: Wertheim's most beautiful corners, p. 78.
  3. ↑ Reicholzheim local family register: Michael MATZER * around 1505. In: www.online-ofb.de. Retrieved December 5, 2016 .
  4. ^ DRW: Metzer (index word articles). In: drw-www.adw.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved December 19, 2016 .
  5. ↑ DRW: Metzeinnehmer (index word article). In: drw-www.adw.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved December 19, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Steinerner Metzen - Feldbach | Sight - excursion destination - sightseeing. In: www.bergfex.at. Retrieved December 9, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Reicholzheim local family book: Balthasar MATZER. In: www.online-ofb.de. Retrieved November 19, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Matzer Genealogy & Family History - FREE. In: www.wikitree.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Matzer, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mayor, builder and baker
DATE OF BIRTH around 1542
PLACE OF BIRTH Wertheim
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1597
Place of death Wertheim