Nikolaus DuMont

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Nikolaus DuMont was the last mayor elected by the Freen Imperial City Council in 1795

Nikolaus DuMont (born May 21, 1743 in Cologne , † August 28, 1816 in Aachen ) was a German politician. In 1795 he was the last elected mayor of the city ​​of Cologne occupied by French troops.

origin

The DuMont family is believed to have originated in Italy . Before moving to Cologne in the 17th century, she lived in the diocese of Liège . The name of the DuMont family was first mentioned in 1672 in the civic registers of the city of Cologne, in which they also appointed councilors from 1701.

Nikolaus DuMont was the son of Heinrich Joseph DuMont (1716–1794). DuMont junior, also known as Johann Maria Nikolaus, had studied law and then became a merchant and slate manufacturer . The prerequisites for social advancement into the political upper class of the city, such as belonging to the Catholic faith and a certain wealth of the family, were apparently given. The DuMont family fulfilled a further condition for the highest municipal office, elected mayor, with the generation of Nikolaus DuMont. As the statutes of the traditional Cologne mayoral election prescribed, he was a descendant of at least the second generation of the family, a Cologne son .

Councilor

In the years of his activity as councilor, Nikolaus DuMont repeatedly showed a liberal attitude that diverged from the generally conservative attitude of the council majority. In the Cologne tolerance dispute (1787/1789) with the incumbent mayor F. J. von Hilgers and his councilors von Beywegh, R. von Klespé, J. H. Wolff, Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein , Wuns, Huybens and Ulrich on the side of the proponents of a relaxation of the restrictions against the Protestants .

DuMont was also active as a promoter of the cultural offerings in the city, which changed from the mid-1770s. "Reading societies" and a group of "moderate enlighteners" were founded, which included the initiator Baron Hüpsch, several professors from Cologne University , an archbishop's official assessor, the Cologne syndic Gerhard Ernst Hamm and also Nikolaus DuMont.

mayor

DuMont, who in 1794 had been elected mayor by the old council shortly before the following occupation of Cologne, had tried, as ambassador of his city in Paris , to reach special regulations for occupied Cologne, but had been refused.

In Cologne the old council was initially left in office. After the Cologne “gentlemen” of the council repeatedly opposed the orders of the French authorities, the city council was dissolved on May 28, 1796 and replaced by a magistrate appointed by the new lords . However, the majority of this consisted of people from the old, elitist upper class of the city.

Nikolaus DuMont was appointed Prefectural Council of the Département de la Roer in Aachen under Napoleon in 1804 . There he received permission to publish a newspaper in 1807, which then appeared under the title Gazette française de Cologne . In 1815, DuMont, who was also a member of the “Le Secret trois des Rois” lodge , was appointed as a country director.

literature

  • Carl Dietmar: The Chronicle of Cologne. Chronik Verlag, Dortmund 1991, ISBN 3-611-00193-7 .
  • Wolfgang Herborn: On the reconstruction and edition of the Cologne mayor list until the end of the ancien regime. In: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter , 36, 1972, ISSN  0035-4473 , pp. 89-183.
  • Gisela Mettele: Bourgeoisie in Cologne 1775-1870. Together and free association. Oldenbourg, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-486-56386-6 ( Stadt und Bürgerertum 10; also: Frankfurt (Main) Univ., Diss., 1994).
  • Ulrich S. Soénius (Hrsg.), Jürgen Wilhelm (Hrsg.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon. Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Carl Dietmar: Die Chronik Kölns , p. 218
  2. ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon.
  3. ↑ Gisela Mettele: Bürgerertum in Köln 1775-1870 , p. 43, with reference to: Wolfgang Herborn: Zur Reconstruction . P. 147
  4. ↑ Gisela Mettele: Citizenship in Cologne 1775-1870 , p. 51
  5. ^ Gisela Mettele: Bourgeoisie in Cologne 1775-1870 , p. 55
  6. ^ Carl Dietmar: Die Chronik Kölns , p. 227
  7. ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon.
personal data
SURNAME DuMont, Nicholas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES DuMont, Johann Maria Nikolaus; DuMont, Nikolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cologne politician, last elected mayor of the Free Imperial City of Cologne
DATE OF BIRTH May 21, 1743
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 1816
Place of death Cologne