Paschen from Cossel

Paschen Ritter and Edler von Cossel (* December 21, 1714 in Anklam , † January 17, 1805 in Jersbek ), Dr. both rights (JUD, Doctor iuris utriusque ), was a lawyer in Hamburg from 1738, syndic and canon of the Hamburg cathedral chapter , imperial palatinate and court count and lord of the Holstein estates of Jersbek and Stegen (1774 to 1805). He achieved a high reputation in public life and was a royal Danish conference councilor from 1769. He and his second wife were buried in the high forest adjoining the Jersbek manor park.

Coat of arms of the von Cossel family

Life

Birth, Family, and Education

Paschen (= Paschasius) von Cossel was the penultimate of eight children of Henning Detloff Kossel (born March 2, 1670 in Hohenwieschendorf in Mecklenburg near Gramkow west of Wismar , † July 6, 1741 in Stralsund ; buried in the St. Nikolaikirche ) and the Catharina Dorothea von Pritzbuer (born February 26, 1683 in Malchin , † November 17, 1741 in Hamburg ). The father was since 1700 a merchant, wine merchant, innkeeper, cellar master and / or Ratsweinkeller in Anklam , Wismar ("Weinberg"), Neubrandenburg and Stralsund ("Ratsweinkeller").

Paschen von Cossel received a comprehensive and life-defining education (including Latin, Greek and Hebrew) at the Stralsund grammar school in the Katharinenkloster in Mönchstraße, which he left with the school-leaving certificate in 1731. He then studied law (with a degree in Licentiatum Juris) in Rostock (1731), Greifswald (1734) and Halle (1736), where he wrote his dissertation on patrimonial jurisdiction in 1738, which was entirely in Latin with German, Greek and French inserts various areas of the old German Empire for Dr. PhD in both rights .

Two marriages without children

Paschen von Cossel's first marriage (∞ May 15, 1748 in Pyrmont ) was Christine Eleonore Elisabeth Seip (January 14, 1728 in Pyrmont, † July 23, 1748 Hamburg St. Katharinen), daughter of the princely personal physician Dr. Johann Philipp Seip in Pyrmont, and in his second marriage (∞ on August 12, 1755 in the St. Nikolaikirche in Hamburg) with Maria Elisabeth Matthießen (* January 28, 1718, † April 5, 1789 Jersbek), daughter of the Hamburg merchant Peter Matthießen and widow of the merchant Johann Ludwig Dorrien (born November 14, 1708 Hildesheim. St. Andr., † 1754 Hamburg, son of the Hildesheim mayor) married. Both marriages remained childless.

End of life

The old "Conference Council", as he was commonly known, died on January 17, 1805 at around 1 p.m. at the age of over 90 in Jersbek, "from a complete exhaustion". The burial took place on January 23, 1805 in the early morning hours by torchlight in a small circle of relatives and friends at the side of his second wife, who had already died on April 5, 1789, in the Hochwald am Oberteicher Weg, which adjoins the estate park.

We do not know what prompted Paschen von Cossel to have a burial in the forest, as he abided by all the conventions of the time (burial without ringing bells, not in consecrated ground in the churchyard, in the early morning by torchlight and without a pastor being present and thus without the church blessing). Decisive for this - following the zeitgeist of the second half of the 18th century - were three reasons, namely the return to the "ancient tradition of burial in the open air (extra muros, along the grave road)", the " Enlightenment- initiated legislation on the burial of the dead ... for hygienic reasons no longer in and near churches ”and“ the new enthusiasm for nature ”. Another conceivable reason could have been the long-standing dispute with the Sülfeld pastor Hans Christian Andresen, which is why Paschen von Cossel chose his grave not in the Sülfeld hereditary burial , but in the Jersbeker Gartenholz . Pastor Andresen's twofold inquiries about the living conditions of the woman conference councilor von Cossel, who died in 1789, and the request for the royal confirmation that the deceased could be buried in the wood of the garden deliberately remained unanswered.

Pastor von Saldern has added the entry in the death register of the Sülfeld church book with the “Gravestone on Wohlseel. HCR (Herr Conferenz-Rat) von Cossel: Warm in the heart, bright in the head, He has been researching rightly for ninety years. And in a better world it will now be experienced ”.

The poet Detlev von Liliencron said on a later visit to the tomb to the local poet Ludwig Frahm: "The Paschen von Cossel was a high spirit, the greatest of his time and his country".

Offices, titles and honors

Paschen von Cossel followed his two older brothers to Hamburg as early as 1738, who had established their commercial business there, settled there as a lawyer, became a Hamburg citizen on December 4, 1739 and achieved it with his excellent legal knowledge, his legal acumen and his practical skills and his oratorical talent quickly led to an extensive and sought-after law firm. Elector Friedrich August II of Saxony, in his capacity as imperial vicar for the Lands of Saxon law, granted Paschen Cossel the privilege of an imperial palace and court count (Comites Palatini) on July 3, 1741 at his request, "through a formal diploma", a kind of imperial notary .

Paschen von Cossel was elected on April 16, 1750 as the successor of "Mr. Decani Mr. Nicolai Albert von Holtze JUD" as syndic of the Hamburg cathedral chapter (rev. Capituli syndic). He held this office until 1760. From December 15, 1755 to April 9, 1791, he was also a member of the Hamburg cathedral chapter, which advised and co-administered the diocese, as a Canonicus minor ( Canon of minor right).

In the course of his life, Paschen von Cossel was appointed to the (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) Real Justice Council (November 4, 1752) as well as to the Grand Prince Russian and Duchy of Holstein Budget Council (Council of State; July 23, 1760) and received the title of a Royal Danish Conference Council (8 November 1752). November 1769) awarded.

On December 21, 1742, Paschen von Cossel received a (civil) coat of arms from his "long-time friend" Christian Stilck and was raised to the non-titled imperial nobility. After he had gone to the imperial court in Vienna and asked there on May 20, 1755 to an aristocratic increase, he was imperial kingdom knighthood diploma of 2 June 1755 in the hereditary kingdom knighthood as "Knight and Noble charged by Cossel".

Landowner

Paschen von Cossel was through his second marriage to the widow Dorrien, who had brought the Silk farm (located on the Bille near Reinbek ) into their marriage, from 1755 to November 30, 1757 "landlord" of the Silk Chancellery. He was then from October 1768 landlord of the Holstein half of the Hoisbüttel estate until he sold it to Baron Johann Hinrich von Holte in 1773.

Jersbek estate around 1747

Paschen von Cossel acquired the noble estates of Jersbek and Stegen from the previous owner Benedikt Wilhelm Georg Baron von Oberg by contract dated March 10, 1774. His attempt to join the venerable Schleswig-Holstein family as nobiles adventitii right at the beginning of his lordship together with other landowners To be accepted into knighthood ("recipients") failed, so that he remained unrecognized throughout his life.

Paschen von Cossel began in 1785, 20 years before the official suspension on January 1, 1805, with the abolition of serfdom and court service . The residents of Nienwohld resisted it until 1795. In the years 1785–1795 he converted all of the existing farms into leaseholds , after some time leases with estate subjects had existed since 1780. However, a large number of new jobs were created, partly by reducing the size of previous hooves , partly also by many new jobs in Viertbruch, Bargfelder and Nienwohlder Rögen, etc. Above all, Paschen von Cossel created a whole series of new farm positions from the zu Jersbek and Farm fields ("parcelists") belonging to the piers.

Paschen von Cossel was a capable and strict, but above all a just and kind "landlord towards his subjects, which was easily explained and taken for granted from his attitude as an advocate of the intellectual freedom of the individual." His supreme maxim was "that everything is peaceful and walk peacefully in the village ”.

Grave of the couple from Cossel

Cossel grave complex near Gut Jersbek

The grave, which fell into disrepair after the Second World War , was renovated in 1990/1991 by the Jersbek community. The oval boulder wall was straightened and the gate pillars rebuilt. “With the triangle placed in the arch and the arrowheads as rays of light, the new gate ties in with the symbolism of the Freemasons ”. The granite votive tablet (in the middle of the burial site, which has been a listed building since 1986), which indicates “Cossel's membership in a Masonic lodge”, was cleaned and the two sandstone tombstones on the left and right were renewed. One of the three titans by the sculptor Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke from the large basin of the baroque garden, which Paschen had removed from Cossel in 1790 and reused in the background of the grave complex, was broken into three parts, its head was lost, restored in 1991 and on for safety reasons Jersbeker mansion erected.

Votive tablet

Although there are possible signs of Paschen von Cossel's membership as a Freemason, despite intensive research in the Hamburg State Archives and the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin, his membership in a Masonic lodge has not yet been established. Paschen von Cossel wrote down in a 41-page booklet what should be on the gravestones and what the meanings of the eight inscriptions (A, sun, moon, THE UNKNOWN-KNOWN / THE MOST INVISIBLE / VISIBLE / THE WORDS / ETERNAL ADORATION, Aries, Taurus, Z and hexagram) on the red granite stone that still exists today. The granite stone also contains the year 1791 . Paschen von Cossel wanted to use the letters A and Z to represent the human cycle of life from birth to death and rebirth. He was concerned with fertility, procreation and growth as well as human transience (death) up to the point of physical decay to dust and ashes. Paschen von Cossel studied Egyptian mythology and the eight great Egyptian heavenly gods (Cnuph [without beginning and end], Neitha [the divine wisdom; symbol: Aries], Phtha [god of fire], Osiris [symbols: Sun and Taurus], Isis [symbols: moon and Aries], Horus [the light of the world], Amun [god of wind and fertility, symbol: Aries], Apis [the sacred bull of Memphis]). Osiris, Isis and Horus were the great trinity of gods in Egypt. The inscription on the votive plaque "To the unknown-best-known, invisible-visible, the word eternal adoration" as well as the sun and the crescent moon indicate dualism (opposition). Behind the “word” is the basic Greek meaning “λόγος” ( logos ), which denotes “the Christ who entered into human incarnation and history from divine pre-existence”, so that “the word eternal adoration” means the adoration of God (Am In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God, John 1, 1 f. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory as the only one born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, John 1, 14). For the text "To the stranger-known, most invisible-visible, to the word eternal adoration", the only biblical reference, if at all, is Paul's speech on the Areopagus in Athens (Acta, Acts , 17, 23). The triangle is the mystical number three (heaven, earth, human being; father, mother, child; human being as body, soul and spirit; birth, life, death). The double triangle (hexagram / Star of David) is the union of the opposites or the perfect balance of the complementary forces. The hexagram, badge of the Pythagoreans , indicates the belief that God ordered the cosmos according to numbers (Lohr (2007), footnote 503).

Heir to the Jersbek and Stegen estates

Since Paschen von Cossel did not have a physical heir, he already had the youngest son of his brother Johann Detloff, the chamberlain and later royal Danish treasurer Eberhard Christopher von Cossel (born March 25, 1753 in Hamburg ( St. Petri ), † June 15, 1832 in Reinbek near Hamburg) accepted as a child and at the same time with a "warm hand" "in my still healthy condition and mental powers through a Leibgedings Contract or so-called Contractum vitalitium" the goods Jersbek and Stegen transfer.

He sold the goods in 1819 for 257,600  Reichstaler to the Hamburg merchant Carl Ludwig Thierry .

literature

• Otto Beneke :  Cossel, Paschen von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 513 f.
• Davids, Curt, Chronicle of the old manor district Jersbek-Stegen, Hamburg 1954.
• Davids, Curt, Paschen von Cossel as a Holstein landlord, in: Yearbook of the Alster Association
• German biography, reprint of the 1st edition from 1876, fourth volume, Berlin 1968, 381 f. (Keyword: Cossel).
• German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE), Munich 1995, Volume 2, 381 f. (Keyword: Cossel).
• German Gender Book - Genealogical Handbook of Bourgeois Families, ed. by Bernhard Koerner, Volume 57, Görlitz 1928, 293 ff. (Gender: von Cossel).
• Ettrich, Hannelies, Chronik Jersbek, Husum 1989.
• Grete Grewolls: Who was who in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania. The dictionary of persons . Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-3-356-01301-6 , p. 1877 .
• Günther, Barbara (ed.), Stormarn Lexikon, Neumünster 2003 (keyword: von Cossel) ..
• Heitmann, Hermann, The Jersbek and Stegen estates, Jersbek 1954 (reproduced Ms.).
• Kopitzsch, Franklin / Brietzke, Dirk (eds.), Hamburgische Biografie , Personenlexikon, Volume 4, Göttingen 2006 (keyword: von Cossel).
• Lohmeier, Dieter, Cossel, in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck, Volume 11, Neumünster 2000, 85-88.
• Lohr, Axel, Paschen von Cossel and his work in Jersbek, in: Yearbook for the Stormarn district 2004, Ahrensburg 2003, 98–127, with continuation in the 2005 yearbook, Ahrensburg 2004, 23–56.
• Lohr, Axel, material collection on Paschen von Cossel and his work in Jersbek. Self-printed in 2003, in the Stormarn district archive.
• Lohr, Axel, The History of the Jersbek Estate from 1588 to the Present, Diss. Phil. Hamburg 2007, Stormarner booklets No. 24, Neumünster 2007.
• Lohr, Axel, dispute between Paschen von Cossel and the Sülfeld pastor Hans Christian Andresen about wrongly levied deprecation fees, in: Yearbook for the Stormarn District 2009, Ahrensburg 2008.
• Lohr, Axel, The involuntary departure of the Tremsbüttel bailiff Count Christian zu Stolberg-Stolberg in 1800, in: Yearbook for the Stormarn District 2015, Großhansdorf 2014.
• Lohr, Axel, The history of the Mönkenbrook estate since 1771, in: Yearbook for the Stormarn district 2017, Großhansdorf 2016, with continuation in the yearbook for the Stormarn district 2018, Großhansdorf 2017.
• Lohr, Axel, interpretation of the grave complex by Paschen von Cossel in Jersbek, in: Yearbook for the Stormarn district 2018, Großhansdorf 2017. ISBN 978-3-9816279-4-7 .
• New Nekrolog der Deutschen, tenth year 1832, Ilmenau 1834, 471–472 (keyword: Eberhard Christopher von Cossel).
• Paatsch, Walter, A trial of Pasch Cossel at the Reich Chamber of Commerce, in: Yearbook of the Alstervereins eV, Norderstedt 1992, 40–50.
• Schröder, Hans, Lexicon of Hamburg writers up to the present, 8 volumes, 1st volume, Hamburg 1851, 586 (keyword: Cossel).
• Schröder, Klaus, Mysterious Stones in the Jersbek Forest - The restoration of the Cossel grave complex, in: Stormarner Hefte 20/1997, Neumünster 1997, 121–129.
• Wulf, Martin, Paschen Edler von Cossel, landlord on Jersbek and Stegen, in: Yearbook of the Alstervereins eV 1965, Hamburg undated, 27–35.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The state bibliography MV deviates from Neubrandenburg as his place of birth.
2. ↑ See also the registration of Paschen Kossel in the Rostock matriculation portal

Web links

• Literature about Paschen von Cossel in the state bibliography MV