Peter Falck

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Peter Falck's bookplate

Peter Falck (* around 1468 in Freiburg im Üechtland ; † October 6, 1519 off Rhodes ) was a Swiss politician , diplomat and scholar . Its humanistic library is one of the most important in Switzerland.

Life

Peter Falck was born in Freiburg im Üechtland around 1468 into a family of notaries and town clerks. After the death of his father Bernhard (1480) he was sent to Alsace (probably to Kaysersberg ) to train as a notary .

After returning to Freiburg, he became politically active. As a citizen of the city, he was elected to the Council of Two Hundred (1493) and then that of the Sixty (1494). Parallel to his notarial work, he made a brilliant political and military career: court clerk (1493-1505), district judge (1502-1504), first bailiff of Villarepos (1503), mayor of Murten (1505-1510), where he met his wife Anna von Garmiswil and their daughter Ursula Niederliess , Venner des Burgquartiers (1510–1511), Mayor of Freiburg (1511–1514), governor of the mayor (1514) and finally mayor (1516–1519).

In the last years of the 15th century, Falck was also active outside of Freiburg. The federal places entered the stage of European politics alongside the Reich , France and the Pope. They formed alliances with one or the other and engaged in several conflicts in order to consolidate the boundaries of their growing territory. Freiburg, since 1454 a locality and a member of the Swiss Confederation since 1481 , participated in the conflicts on the part of the other localities. During the " Swabian War " ( Waldshuterkrieg ) it sent troops to the Hegau and Sundgau , and the Freiburgers were on the road with the federal troops in the " Ennetbirgischen campaigns ". In Northern Italy the towns took part in the " Italian Wars " between the King of France, the King of Spain (who contested the Kingdom of Naples), the Emperor Maximilian I and the Pope. In 1510, Freiburg appointed Falck to represent him at the Diet . He accompanied the Freiburg troops as field clerk and councilor. The experience he gained enabled him to command the Freiburg troops in Italy as a captain not only during the “Chiasserzug” (1510) and the “cold winter march” (1511), but also during the “Pavierzug” (1512).

Arsent affair

In 1510, the places no longer renewed the alliance with the King of France, but instead joined Pope Julius II (1503–1513), who tried to drive the French out of Italy. Matthäus Schiner , Bishop of Sitten (1499–1522) and Cardinal, a friend of Falck, played an important role in this political change. It did not please everyone, however; as a result, the supporters of the Pope and the King of France clashed in several cantons. In Valais, for example, there was a conflict between Schiner and Georg Supersaxo , a supporter of the French. On the way to Lucerne, Supersaxo was arrested in Freiburg, where Schiner took him to court, with Franz Arsent, former mayor and leader of the French party, being entrusted with his defense. After Arsent let Supersaxo escape, he found himself exposed to the anger of the population in Freiburg, fueled by the papal party led by Peter Falck. On March 18, 1511, after a political trial led by Falck, he was sentenced to death for treason.

Career as a diplomat

In 1511 Falck became mayor of the city of Freiburg. The following year, the Baden Diet, accompanied by Bern's representative, sent him to Rome to discuss with Julius II the emperor's entry into the Holy League and the possible consequences of such entry for relations with Venice , the enemy of the empire. Freiburg also commissioned its mayor to obtain from the Pope the elevation of the parish church of St. Nicholas to the rank of collegiate church (with a collegiate chapter ), which Julius II granted. When they arrived in Rome, the Swiss delegates found that the Pope had already reached an agreement with the Emperor. The Pope therefore suggested that they join his own delegation sent to Venice to appease the republic. Despite the failure of the mission (Venice allied with the King of France), the delegation allowed Falck to meet the Doge Leonardo Loredan . At the end of 1513, Falck left Freiburg again for Milan. The Diet had elected him one of their two permanent representatives to Duke Massimiliano Sforza . He appointed him captain of the Martesana, an office with legal, administrative and fiscal functions.

After his return from Milan he was appointed governor of the mayor, and the Freiburg authorities allowed him to set up a chapel in the new collegiate church for him and his heirs in gratitude for his support for their church. No sooner had Falck started this work than he announced his intention to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land . On April 20, 1515 he traveled to Venice, where, after the Doge Loredan had assured him of safe conduct for his journey, he embarked in a galeas for Jaffa . Back from the pilgrimage in January 1516, after the defeat of Marignano , he found that the political situation in his homeland had changed considerably. Despite his role as leader of the Papal Party of Friborg, the city reaffirmed its confidence in him by appointing him mayor and entrusting him with the peace negotiations with the King of France. These new responsibilities were not without controversy, and Falck had to justify himself to the council because of the "rumors of lies" that were circulating about him. After the peace negotiations that led to the " Eternal Peace " were concluded , in which Falck had played an important role, he traveled to Paris with Captain Hans Schwarzmurer to receive the seal for the treaty from Franz I. The confederates commissioned him to negotiate scholarships with the king for Swiss students who wanted to study in the French capital, and Falck received funding for one student per canton. The king also made him a "golden knight" (eques auratus) to ensure his loyalty.

death

Falck devoted the last years of his life to defending the interests of Freiburg and the federal places. At the beginning of 1519 he wanted to travel to the Holy Land again. Once again he was elected head of the project. From Baden he visits the city of Zurich on the way to Venice, where he gets a glimpse of two handwritten travel guides (Itinerarium terrae sanctae) into the holy land (by Guillelmus Textor and Bernhard von Breidenbach ) in the library of the Großmünsterstift . He notes his visit and the inspection in the margin of the codex. Then the group reached Venice, where Falck recorded his will. After a month-long crossing (June 21 to July 27), the pilgrims reached Jaffa and arrived in Jerusalem two and a half weeks later . During the return voyage, the ship escaped the pirates, but several passengers were attacked by the plague , including Falck. He died on October 6, 1519 off Rhodes. The Swiss pilgrims were able to prevent his body from being thrown into the sea and managed to go ashore on the island. After negotiations with the Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, they were allowed to bury him in the Franciscan Church, probably in the Church of Our Lady of Victory, at that time one of the most famous churches in Rhodes.

Library

Books from Peter Falck's library

During his career as a diplomat, Falck acquired a high humanistic ethos through contact with scholarly circles. Its library contains several editions of letters from humanists and ancient writers. It shows Falck's great interest in Italian humanism and his admiration for Erasmus . As an emblematic figure of Freiburg humanism, Falck has also surrounded himself with Swiss humanists with whom he worked or whom he promoted as patrons: the Lucerne Oswald Geisshüsler (Myconius), Joachim Vadian and Heinrich Glarean , the Glarus Fridolin Eglin (Hirudäus), Peter and Valentin Tschudi and Peter Cyro (Richardus) from Freiburg . In this network of friends and followers, the book was above all a symbolic object. Presented by the patron, it was a token of protection and friendship for the protégé; presented by him, it was a testimony of gratitude to the patron.

Today there are only 110 volumes in Peter Falck's library. This figure was achieved by adding the most recent finds to the volumes recorded by Father Adalbert Wagner, even if they only show a trace of Falck's intervention (owner's mark or marginal note). Of these, 96 were identified in collections and holdings in libraries or archives as well as in private collections: 73 have been kept in the Friborg Cantonal and University Library since 1982 , to which the Capuchin monastery left them in 2004; 23 more are in Swiss, French, Belgian, English and American libraries. Only traces of the last 14 are left - mentions in letters to or from Falck or in secondary literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Three of these 14 volumes were stolen from the Capuchins in 1975, along with a dozen other old prints. The stolen works were offered for sale immediately and are probably in private hands by now.

literature

  • Yann Dahhaoui: Peter Falck, l'humaniste et sa bibliothèque = Peter Falck, the humanist and his library , red. Yann Dahhaoui; Freiburg 2017, 84 pp., Ill .; ( Pro Friborg. Vol. 196); ISSN 0256-1476. (Catalog of the exhibition in the Gutenberg Museum 2017/2018; French-German parallel text).
  • Books, autographs. Auction 14, 19. – 20. November 1975, Vol. 74 and 212. Hartung & Karl, Munich 1975.
  • Books, autographs. Auction 16, 18. – 20. May 1976, Vol. No. 267 / I. Hartung & Karl, Munich 1976.
  • Joseph Leisibach: Peter Falck and the Bernese Dance of Death ; in: Freiburger Geschichtsblätter Vol. 89, 2012, pp. 55–72, ill .; ISSN 0259-3955.
  • Emma Maglio: Rhodes. Forme urbaine et architecture religieuse (XVe – XVe siècles). Presses universitaires de Provence, Aix-en-Provence 2016, ISBN 979-10-320-0076-2 .
  • Renato Morosoli: Schwarzmurer, Hans. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 23rd August 2018 .
  • Wolf-Dietrich Penning: Eques auratus and poeta laureatus. Knighthood and poet's laurel: Awards as a means of integration into the Habsburg ruling structure. Two case studies from around 1500. In: Martin Gosman, Arjo Vanderjagt, Jan Veenstra (eds.): The Growth of Authority in the Medieval West. Groningen 1999.
  • Roland Ruffieux: Encyclopédie du canton de Friborg. Vol. 1. Office du livre, Freiburg 1977, 551 pp.
  • Ernst Tremp : A “European” from Freiburg, buried in Rhodes: Peter Falck (around 1468–1519) and his circle of humanists. In: Claudio Fedrigo, Carmen Buchiller, Hubert Foerster (Hrsg.): Freiburg on the ways of Europe. Freiburg 2000, ISBN 978-2-940058-19-8 .
  • Ernst Tremp: The end of the Freiburg humanist and statesman Peter Falck ; in: Freiburger Geschichtsblätter Vol. 95, 2018, pp. 115–148, ill .; ISSN 0259-3955.
  • Adalbert Wagner: Peter Falck's library and humanistic education. In: Freiburg history sheets. Vol. 28 Freiburg 1925, ISSN 0259-3955.
  • Josef Zimmermann: Peter Falk: A Freiburg statesman and military leader. In: Freiburg history sheets. Vol. 12. Freiburg 1905, ISSN 0259-3955.
  • Emil Blösch :  Falk, Peter . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 551.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the biographical details of Josef Zimmermann follow: Peter Falk: A Freiburg statesman and army leader. In: Freiburg history sheets. Vol. 12, 1905, pp. 1-151.
  2. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 10.
  3. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 11.
  4. ^ André Gutmann: Swabian War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 20th August 2017 .
  5. ^ Ernst Tremp : Falck, Peter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 22nd August 2018 .
  6. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 8.
  7. ^ Roland Ruffieux: Encyclopédie du canton de Friborg. Vol. 1. Office du livre, Freiburg 1977, p. 21.
  8. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 9 f.
  9. ↑ a b Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 12.
  10. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 14 f.
  11. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 15.
  12. ^ Renato Morosoli: Schwarzmurer, Hans. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 23rd August 2018 .
  13. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 16.
  14. ↑ Martin Germann: The Reformed Abbey Library at Großmünster Zurich in the 16th century and the beginnings of the modern bibliography, reconstruction of the book inventory and its origin, the book layout and the library room, with edition of the library catalog from 1532/1551 by Conrad Pellikan; Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1994 ( contributions to books and libraries ; 34), ISBN 3-447-03482-3 , pp. 100-101.
  15. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 18.
  16. ^ Ernst Tremp: Peter Falck's end. In: Freiburg history sheets. Vol. 95, Freiburg 2918 (published December 2018).
  17. ↑ Emma Maglio: Rhodes. Forme urbaine et architecture religieuse (XIVe – XVIIIe siècles). Aix-en-Provence 2016, p. 58 f.
  18. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 70.
  19. ↑ Dahhaoui: Peter Falck. 2017, p. 72 f.
  20. ^ Adalbert Wagner: Peter Falck's library and humanistic education. In: Freiburg history sheets. Vol. 28 Freiburg 1925, p. 6.
  21. ^ Books, autographs. Auction 14, 19. – 20. November 1975, Hartung & Karl, Munich 1975, No. 74; and 212 and autographs. Auction 16, 18. – 20. May 1976, Hartung & Karl, Munich 1976, No. 267 / I.
personal data
SURNAME Falck, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician, diplomat and scholar
DATE OF BIRTH around 1468
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1519
Place of death on the way back from his second trip to Jerusalem