Moritz Hartmann (officer)

Moritz Hartmann (* 1657 in Heiligenhafen , † 1695 on a ship in the Aegean Sea ) was a German ship officer in changing services.

family

Moritz Hartmann was a son of Rembertus Hartmann (baptized on March 2 or 3 in Braunschweig ; † June 11, 1678 in Heiligenhafen) and his second wife Christine Agnes, née Schmidt (* 1625/26; † April 11, 1679 in Heiligenhafen ). The father worked as a cantor (2nd teacher) at the Heiligenhafen Latin School from 1652. His brother Christoph Hartmann (* around 1655; † September 12, 1720 in Hilleröd ) had been in the Danish service since 1675, worked for the military administration in Copenhagen from 1690 and was a deputy in the General War Commissariat of the Army from 1712. He was appointed budget councilor in 1719.

Hartmann himself remained unmarried.

Live and act

Hartmann's childhood and youth are not documented. According to the inscription on his epitaph, he went to "many distant Reysen", including the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. He probably did many of them at a young age. The fact that his older brother was already serving the Danes was probably one of the reasons why he moved there himself. King Christian V ordered his admission as a lieutenant in the Danish Navy in 1682 and approved stays abroad. Hartmann served the Dutch in 1683, but lived in Copenhagen until the end of the year.

In 1684 Hartmann joined the French army. With this he participated on a warship in the bombing and the intended, unsuccessful capture of Genoa . In 1685 he traveled to Venice , probably with Hildebrand von Horn . Both joined Francesco Morosini's campaign against the Ottoman Empire here. Hartmann joined the Saxon army voluntarily. He received a certificate from Morosini in September 1685 for his achievements in the battle for Kalamata . In addition, Morosini applied for the Order of St. Mark and a gold chain worth 100 ducats for him , which Hartmann received on his return to Venice.

In 1686 Hartmann fought with some other Danish nobles in a campaign in which Nauplia could be captured. In September of the same year he traveled to Copenhagen again. The following month he received a passport for Venice. With this he should bring the body of his son Christian von Ahlefeldt to Denmark for Grand Chancellor Friedrich von Ahlefeldt. Christian von Ahlefeldt had fought together with Hartmann and died in Nauplia due to a fever epidemic.

In January 1687, Hachmann again applied for leave, which he wanted to use to take part in Venice's naval war against the Turks. He also asked to be appointed "Capitaine"; a term that he had already used in Venice in 1685. The king granted his request the following month. Hartmann then took part in several campaigns, including those in which Patras was captured in July , Athens besieged in September and the Parthenon destroyed. The Senate awarded him a gold chain worth 200 ducats.

In 1688 Hartmann got another year of leave in Copenhagen, which he used to take part in the battle for the island of Evia . In December 1688 he reached the Danish capital again. He had two marble heads in his luggage, which found their way into the royal art chamber. The archaeologist PO Brönstedt established in 1830 that these were metopes of the Parthenon. The heads can be seen today in the Collection of Antiquities at the National Museum of Copenhagen. Hartmann had probably acquired or stolen both works in Athens in 1687.

In January 1689, Hartmann took command of a small fleet for the Danish East India Company, which was a gift from King Christian V. Hartmann was governor at that time. The trip led to the Danish colony Tranquebar in southern India. Because of his impossible behavior, complaints arose in Copenhagen about enrichment to the detriment of the company. Presumably for this reason Hartmann returned in September 1690. Due to damage to his ship, it landed in Batavia for repairs .

During the onward voyage, there were serious conflicts on board the ship. At the height of the disputes, the chief helmsman expressed himself in a way that Hartmann took as a threat of mutiny. The ship's council unanimously pronounced a death sentence. Hartmann objected to letting the management of the company decide on the incident. Instead he gave the order to shoot the head mate immediately. Then he insisted on continuing to Copenhagen without a mainmast and skipper.

In October 1691 Hartmann's ship ran aground in the English Channel. He himself was obviously the first to disembark and save his possessions. In January 1692 he reached Denmark, whereupon the government set up a commission to control the journey home. Hartmann left Denmark before the investigation was completed. After that he was presumably in French, English and Dutch services. In March 1695 he made a formal and paid move to the Venetians. In the same year he died of a "hot fever" on board a warship off the coast of Asia Minor.

The Copenhagen Commission convicted Hartmann in 1694 for the incidents of 1690/91 and referred the case to the Supreme Court . Because of the main charges - execution of the head helmsman, Hartmann's actions after the average - it passed the matter on to the Admiralty Court. In 1697 the Supreme Court acquitted Hartmann. It imposed a posthumous fine for the hasty execution.

estate

Hartmann left a will in which he gave the city of Heiligenhafen 500 Reichstalers. The pastor should pass on the interest gained from this to the poor every year, paying particular attention to needy teacher widows. This foundation existed in the form until German inflation .

According to the will, another 500 Reichstaler should be used for an epitaph that should be in the Heiligenhafen town church . Hartmann's brother placed this order with the Copenhagen-based sculptor Thomas Quellinus , who, according to the inscription, completed it in 1689. Quellinus designed Hartmann as a sea hero, whose bust is surrounded by flags, weapons and a ship's anchor and who wears the Order of St. Mark over her armor. Theodor Storm mentions it in his novella Hans and Heinz Kirch , published in 1882 :

“Even Captain Kirch himself could not fail to look down from his boatman's chair at church services on Sundays, into the church, where his cute boy was sitting with his mother. Occasionally his eyes also wandered over to the epitaph, where the marble bust of a stately man in a huge allonge wig was shown between various trophies of victory "

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Hartmann, Moritz . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 188–191

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Dieter Lohmeier: Hartmann, Moritz . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 188.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dieter Lohmeier: Hartmann, Moritz . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 188–189.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Dieter Lohmeier: Hartmann, Moritz . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 189.
4. ^ ^{A b} Dieter Lohmeier: Hartmann, Moritz . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 190.