Nicholas tooth decay

Nikolaus Karies , also Nikkel Caries (born before 1558; died after 1587), was a master builder whose work is documented from 1558 to 1587.

Live and act

Both the origin of Nikolaus Karies and his life data are not documented. His name can be found for the first time in 1558 in invoices from customs in Gottorf . The last mentions refer to a legal dispute with Hans Wildfang in Flensburg in 1587 and March 1588, in which Karies filed a lawsuit in the same matter. According to the Danish art historian Vilhelm Lorenzen , tooth decay was an Italian.

Karies worked as a master builder for Duke Hans the Younger of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg . Its most important building was Glücksburg Castle , for the construction of which both parties signed a contract on December 21, 1582. Caries was to receive 6,000 marks in Luebisch for completion. In another contract dated March 16, 1585, they agreed that Karies should build a gate house, stables and ancillary buildings for 1600 Marks in Luebisch. After construction began in 1582, work lasted until 1587.

Other work on caries commissioned by the Duke probably included the reconstruction of the Laurentius Church in Munkbrarup, which was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1565 . An indication of this is the similar design of the vaults of the Glücksburg Castle and the Munkbraruper Church. The work could also have been taken over by master builder Peter de Castella. In 1575, Karies probably worked on the east gable of the Nortorf Church ; as a builder on a royal commission, however, “Nickel Muermeister” is listed quite ambiguously. Other trades in this area are not documented.

Karies probably also took on orders in Jutland . In 1581 he carried out several works in Dronningborg , including the church. Around this time he probably also created Jörgen Skram's newly built manor Tjele. Since the decorative design of the pilaster gable is very similar to that of the Glücksburg Castle, Vilhelm Lorenzen assumed that it came from caries. Similarly designed gables can also be found on Schloss Katholm and Visborggaard . Lorenzen therefore considered it possible, at least not ruled out, that tooth decay was involved.

literature

• Rudolf Jaeger: Caries, Nicholas . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 1. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1970, pp. 174-175