Otto Arnold Paykull

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Otto Arnold von Paykull (* 1662 in Livonia , † February 1707 in Stockholm ) was Livonian lieutenant general of the Polish - Saxon troops under Augustus the Strong . Together with Johann Reinhold Patkul, he is one of the most prominent political victims of the Swedish king Karl XII.

Life

Otto Arnold von Paykull was born in Swedish Livonia. At the age of 15 he entered the Electoral Saxon service and began his career as a noble boy at court. At the beginning of 1700 he took part as the commanding general in the siege of Riga by Saxon troops. Allegedly at the instigation of Johann Reinhold von Patkul, he wrote a letter to the Governor General Count Erik Dahlberg, who resided in Riga, in which he described his observations of the activities in Riga. Paykull demands the surrender of deserters and gave Dahlberg to know that the Saxons will occupy the Courland border with soldiers. He provoked a Swedish backlash in which Paykull was denounced as a defector and traitor in a pamphlet . Paykull could have turned this away and obtained forgiveness if he had submitted to Dalberg's and King Karl's open letters, which were offered in open letters and circulated in April 1700:

"Shape we then assure everyone / that he should be accepted and used in our own service when he comes home / according to his merit and skill. On the other hand, if someone were so forgotten of his submissive duty towards us / that he despised our commandment and did not want to abandon our violent and unjust enemy service, then such should be punished / to whom those who submit / who oppose set / quarrel and use their rightful authority and their own fatherland hostile / decay / and such form of body / honor / property and property are forfeited. "

Nevertheless, his name was not mentioned in the Stockholm judgment of December 17, 1702 on the "traitors". Paykull probably left the Saxon service in a timely manner and went to his estates in the Mark Brandenburg . He had already sold his estates in Livonia earlier.

Battle of Warsaw

In the course of 1704 he was persuaded by the Russian envoy Patkul to take command of the Saxon troops in Poland as lieutenant general and to unite with the Russian troops. He also had letters from Patkul and others with him, which he was to hand over to the Tsar. But when Paykull was in the Warsaw area , the battle of Rakowitz between him and the Swedish Lieutenant General Carl Nieroth broke out on July 20, 1705. Although the Swedes were outnumbered, the army consisting of Poland and Saxony suffered a severe defeat. and Paykull himself was captured along with a multitude of letters and writings. In a letter to his king, Paykull apologized for his defeat and misfortune. Paykull was on the instructions of King Charles XII. taken to Stockholm as a state prisoner and not treated as a prisoner of war. There, on November 14, 1706, the Royal Swedish Court Court denied him the right to “body, honor and property”.

Paykull as an alchemist

In an attempt to save his life after the death sentence, Paykull claimed to know the secret of making gold and an attempt was made, under the supervision of the Swedish tax authorities. The result of this experiment was delivered to the Stockholm Mint, which recognized the sample for true gold. A coin was minted from the sample after the king's death. One side of the coin contains a natural image of King Karl XII and the inscription: “Carol. XII. D (ei). G (ratia). Rex Sue (cia). ". On the other side it says: "hoc aurum arte chemica conflavit Holmiae 1706. OAV Paykul". This coin can still be seen today in the Royal Mint Cabinet in Stockholm. The whole of Sweden was upset and even the famous scholar Urban Hjärne tried to use his friend Olof Hermelin for him and called Paykull a "Verus adeptus".

death

Execution of Otto Arnold von Paykull in Stockholm ( newly opened Historical Picture Hall , 1719)

The queen widow Hedwig Eleonore , Charles XII. Grandmother, then ordered Paykull's execution to be postponed to report to the king. The king did not allow himself to be dissuaded from his resolution and only said: "Om Paykul också förvandlade hela Brunkeberg till guld, måste han likväl dö". (German: If Paykul were to turn Brunkenberg into nothing but gold, he would have to die anyway.). On 4th / 14th In February 1707, the Saxon Lieutenant General Otto Arnold von Paykull was beheaded with an ax at the Nordermalms place of execution at the Norderzoll and buried in a coffin at the same place.

literature

  • Otto Arnold Paykull . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 256 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  • Göran Nordberg: Life of Carl the Twelfth King in Sweden (German translation by Heubel). Volume II, 1745.
  • Life of Carl the Twelfth, King of Sweden. Described on the same order by Mr. Gustav von Adlerfeld, Königlichen Cammerherrn . Second part. Frankfurt and Leipzig 1741
  • By Otto Arnold Paykul, Elector of Saxony General = Lieutenant . In: (Bernoulli, Joh.): Joh. Reinhold von Patkul's, former Tsar General Lieutenants and real Secret Council, reports to the Zaarian Cabinet in Moscow, from his legation post to August II. Kings of Poland; together with an explanation of the encrypted letters, explanatory notes, news of his life and other related considerations . 1792–1797, Berlin, Karl Matzdorff. Third part, which contains the resolution of the contributions to Patkul's life story, together with an appendix from the Elector-General OA of Paykul's fate; 1797; Pages 321-343;
  • Kurtzer but Warhaffter report / From the happy ACTION, According to Lieutenant General Nieroth Against a few thousand Saxons and Pohlen near Warsaw on July 31st / 1705th attacked . Published: o. O .; n.d. [1705]; Extent: 2 leaves, kl-4 °; Owning library: Greifswald University Library, call number 520 / Nc 1289 adn 6
  • Mineralogical, chemical and alchemical letters from traveling and other scholars to the former Chursächsische Bergrath JF Henkel , 3 parts, 8 °, Dresden, Walther bookshop. 1794-1795.
  • Problema chymicum, or, Des weyland (tit.) Herren General Lieutenants OA v. P. chymnischer process, whereby Sulphuris Antimonii prepared according to the proportion of a Quentlein, one and a half Loth Bley has been transformed into the most beautiful and finest gold: all of the true lovers of chymy ... / [Otto Arnold von Paykull]; Berlin: Pape, 1719, [8], 20 pages; 4 °;
  • Under-Ståthållerns Georg Stiernhoffs Bref til Kongl. Rådet mm Gr. Knut Posse, nec. Gene. Lieut. Otto Arnold Paykuls execution, on February 6, 1707 . (Bibliographic reference: CG Warmholtz, Bibliotheca historica Sveo-Gothica, no. 5484). Compare: CC Gjörwell's Swenska Library, Part 2, pp. 249-251 and JC Dähnert's Pomeranian Library Volume 3, Chap. 3, p. 85;
  • Archiatern Urban Hiaernes Intygande, at Sachsika Gen. Lieut. Otto Arnold Paykull värkeligen warit en Adeptus, eller kunnat göra Guld, upsat a. 1707. mens. Febr . (CG Warmholtz, Bibliotheca historica Sveo-Gothica, No. 5485);
  • Afskrift af den fångne Gen. Lieut. Paykuls Bref til sin Konung, Kon. Augustum af Pohlen (dated August 2, 1705), 4 °; (see also Gjörwell's Sw. Library, Part 2, p. 252); (Bibliographic evidence: Winkelmann, Bibliotheca Livoniae Historica , Hildesheim, ND 1969, No. 5440)
  • Your royal Majest. Order / that all of the subjects / who are presently in the service of the King of Poland and his followers / or with his troops should stay / leave immediately. Datiret Stockholm April 3rd Anno 1700. Printed in: Livonica .. Or some to more explanation of the unrest of useful pieces and ACTORUM PUBLICORUM which arose in Lieffland at the beginning of the 1700th year . Fasciculus primus. Page 55–58. Compare: Adlerfeld, 1740, vol. 1, p. 55;
  • The Polish. Gene. Majors Paykuls letter to the Royal. Swedish. Governor General of Riga, Count von Dahlberg, de 3/13. Feb 1700 ; printed in: Livonica. Or some to more explanation of the unrest of useful pieces and ACTORUM PUBLICORUM that arose in Lieffland at the beginning of the 1700th year . Fasciculus primus. Page 3–5.
  • Martin Ottow: Otto Arnold von Paykul. Warrior, alchemist and fellow destiny of Patkul . In: Yearbook of the Baltic Germans . Volume XXII 1975. Lüneburg 1974. pp. 51-64.
  • Andreas Hojer : King Friederich the fourth most glorious life . Tønder 1829. Volume 1.

Individual evidence

  1. Patkul's Reports, Part 2 and Livonica, Part 1
  2. Theatrum Europaeum, Volume 15, 1707, pp. 778-779
  3. your royal Majest. Command .... 3. April 1700
  4. Today the Königl. Hoff = court spoken about lawsuits conducted by the Advocati fiscalis ratione officii, again the Swedish vassals, so served the King of Poland and given the royal avocatoria improper parition / and are therefore the following five / as the secret councilor Lewolde, the general Leut. Patkul, the major general and commendant in Wittenberg Otto Rosen, the colonel = Lieut. and General = adjutant Herman von Löwen / and Clauß Luzau / who married in Saxony / in terms of perduellionis / condemned to life / honor and property; With the rest, however, as General Major Alfendeel, Mauritz Leyonhaupt, and Obrist-Lieut. Wrangel and Bannier & c. Was it milder / then granted them a deadline / to bring their causales and defensionales bey =. Stockholm December 17th 1702. In: Livonica or some to explain the restlessness of useful pieces and actorum publicorum that arose in Lieffland at the beginning of the 1700th year. Published: OO without publisher, n.d., approx. 1700–1703. Part 11, p. 48
  5. Afskrift af the fångne Gen. Lieut. Paykuls Bref til sin Konung, Kon. Augustum af Pohlen
  6. A description of the battle based on a pamphlet that appeared shortly afterwards: Kurtzer but Warhaffter report / Von der Glücklichen ACTION, According to Lieutenant General Nieroth Against a few thousand Saxons and Pohlen near Warsaw on July 31/1705 . Published: o. O .; n.d. [1705]; Extent: 2 leaves, kl-4 °; Owning library: Greifswald University Library, call number 520 / Nc 1289 adn 6
  7. Adlerfeld (Volume 2, p. 213ff .; here also a plan of the battle setup)
  8. Heubel, Leben und Thaten Carls the Twelfth, 1744, Vol. 1, p. 606 (with a plan of the battle line-up)
  9. Copia af den Chur-Sachs. General Lieut. Paykuls Bref til HKM af Swerige, sedan han i Tråsningen d. 21 Jul. Sv wid Warsaw fången blifvit. 4 °. (Carl Gustav Warmholtz: Bibliotheca Historica Sveo-Gothica, Stockholm 1790, No. 5439)
  10. Heubel 1744, Vol. 2, p. 8
  11. Problema chymicum, or, Des weyland (tit.) Herren General Lieutenants OA v. P. chymnischer Proces
  12. Henkel, 1794–1795, p. 178
  13. Also cited in extracts in: Patkuls reports, Part 3, pp. 337f.
  14. a b Ottow, p. 62
  15. ^ Urban Hjärne, 1641–1724, first personal physician of Charles XI. and President of the Mountain Royal College
  16. Adepts among the alchemists were those “masters” who had found the “philosopher's stone”
  17. Hojer 1829, Volume 1, p. 106: Karl had Paykull beheaded, "regardless of whether the widowed Queen of Sweden and the whole royal house interceded for him, and Paykull himself offered himself, also proved through repeated trials that he could make gold, and to keep the life that King wanted to make a few million every year. All of which, with King Carl's stiff and vindictive senses, never came into consideration. "
  18. ^ Otto Arnold Paykull . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 256 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  19. Under-Ståthållerns Georg Stiernhoffs Bref til Kongl. Rådet mm Gr. Knut Posse, nec. Gene. Lieut. Otto Arnold Paykuls execution
  20. Heubel Vol. 2, p. 8
  21. Patkul's Reports Vol. 3, pp. 339-340 and footnote p. 339