Michael von Derenburg

Michael von Derenburg (* in the 15th century in Derenburg ; † May 17, 1549 in Berlin ) was a German-Jewish Brandenburg court factor under Joachim II.

Life

Michael came from Derenburg near Halberstadt , which was part of the Grafschaft v. Regenstein (Rheinstein) belonged. Around 1520 he was in the service of Duke Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , but at the same time fought in the Hildesheim collegiate feud as a mercenary on the opposite side. In 1523 he was temporarily imprisoned in Schöningen . He then served Duke Erich the Elder of Calenberg .

He then worked as a moneylender in central Germany, including for the Harz counts and the dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , and from 1530 also for Gebhard von Mansfeld . For a while he lived with his wife and children in Hanover , where he owned a house, but traveled a lot to Prague, Vienna, Liegnitz , Posen and Vilna . In 1535 King Ferdinand I took out a loan of 2,000 guilders against promissory notes. In 1538 he moved to Fürth when Georg von Brandenburg-Ansbach had given him a letter of safe conduct for his family for nine years. With Count Ulrich v. Regenstein there was a dispute that went as far as the Reich Chamber of Commerce without being decided there.

In 1542, the clammy Elector Joachim II allowed Jews again in Brandenburg, whereupon Michael moved to Berlin in 1543 and was the first official court Jew there to run business until his death. Joachim hoped with the help of the "servant and faithful" to excuse himself and gave him a house on the former Kornmarkt, in 1544 he allowed the move to Frankfurt (Oder) . There was no Jewish community in either place with which to associate. When the wife was accused of well poisoning , Joachim II ordered the city of Frankfurt to protect family and house from "riot and damage".

On April 23, 1549 Michael was on a trip from Lebus to Berlin with a large amount of money near Frankfurt / O. ambushed and kidnapped to Saxony. The kidnappers were soon arrested and executed on May 17th in Torgau . On the same day Michael fell to his death on the stairs of his Berlin house, which led to superstitious speculation among the Berlin population. The elector still owed him heavily, but in April 1551 he had the widow and children deported. She went to Prague with her belongings, but without any “deduction money”. But in the years 1558/59 the widow made money deals with the elector again. The successor in Berlin was Lippold Ben Chluchim , who also became a mint master .

The "rich Michel" drove up once in twelve horses and with many servants, which impressed even Martin Luther , "Von Michel Juden tode" (LW 47,270). "A rich Jew should now ride in the country with twelve horses and rampage princes, lords, country and people, that great gentlemen look at it." His extensive relationships as an advisor and broker of high loan amounts made him important for his many customers.

literature

• Peter Aufgebauer : Michel von Derenburg In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent and others (Hrsg.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 499 .
• Peter Aufgebauer: The court factor Michel von Derenburg (d. 1549) and the polemics against him . In: Blätter für Deutsche Landesgeschichte 120, 1984, pp. 371–399
• Werner Heise: The Jews in the Mark Brandenburg until 1571 , Berlin 1932
• Hans Jaeger: Michel von Derenburg . In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 17 (1994), p. 440 f. Online version
• Harald Riebe: Michael von Derenburg: a court Jew in Frankfurt on the Oder . In: Frankfurter Jahrbuch 2003/2004, pp. 50–68

Web links

• From the history of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area
• CERL
• Jewish actors in Brandenburg-Prussia