Peter Stromer

Peter Stromer

Peter Stromer (also Peter Stromeir the Elder , Peter Stromair the Elder ; * around 1315 - † December 3, 1388 ) was a Nuremberg councilor and merchant as well as a coal and steel entrepreneur . He developed the so-called Nuremberg coniferous forest seeds. Thanks to this planned reforestation technique , the Nuremberg Reichswald became the world's first artificial forest and Stromer became the "father of forest culture ".

origin

Peter Stromer the Elder belonged to a family that was one of the most important patrician families in the imperial city of Nuremberg in the Middle Ages . Some members of the Stromer family (previously also Stromeir, Stromair and Stromeyer) acted as the foremost slogan and mayor of Nuremberg. Since they immigrated to Nuremberg, the family had been represented in the “Inner Council” of Nuremberg for almost the entire Middle Ages, including Peter Stromer. His half-brother Ulman Stromer (1329–1407) wrote the earliest work in Nuremberg history and founded and operated the first paper mill in Germany.

Live and act

Peter Stromer was a Nuremberg councilor and trader as well as a coal and steel entrepreneur. He was a shareholder in the Stromeir trading company, one of the largest and most important commercial enterprises in the world at the time. He was therefore interested in the sustainable supply of wood to the mining , smelting and hammer mills connected to his trading house . Nuremberg, one of the most industrial cities in Europe in the late Middle Ages, suffered devastatingly from a lack of wood and charcoal , which were essential for the economy to function. In the Nuremberg Reichswald , large wastelands had emerged in the course of time through overuse and targeted slash and burn . King Henry VII therefore issued a mandate in 1309 calling for this situation to be remedied. For two generations the effort was in vain, but only Peter Stromer achieved the breakthrough with the planned sowing of mainly coniferous seeds. Stromer recognized the transition to softwood, especially Scots pine , as a possibility for further cultivation of the degraded soils - also as a substitute for oak as construction timber . However, Stromer was not a forest specialist and also not a direct member of the two famous Nuremberg Reichsforstmeister families Koler and Waldstromer (also Waldstromeir), but only related to them and related by marriage.

Beginning at Easter (April 9th) 1368, Peter Stromer undertook extensive attempts at a systematic forest culture on several hundred acres of the Lorenz Imperial Forest . The seeds of pines and firs and probably also of spruce and hardwood were sown in a targeted manner. The fir and pine seeds were particularly successful. The experiments and their chronological dating can be proven by documents. Peter Stromer's half-brother Ulman Stromer mentions this in his pamphlet Püchel von meim geslecht and von abentewr , which was written around 1390/1400, and is the oldest surviving historical literature in Nuremberg. In it he writes, among other things:

“Peter my brother is splendid that you can see the walt and holcz, of which there will be no big deal (...) Anno domini 1368 at easter, then you start with the first at the walt at the lake near the Lichtenhoff and then for a hundred tomorrow that one has set; And then everything was lifted and the first one, Peter Stromeir found my brother, to whom have mercy. "

That doesn't sound sensational, but it actually meant a huge leap forward in overcoming the medieval worldview. Because in this coniferous trees with their apparently worthless fruits, the "Kien apples", were considered to be "arbores malae et nonfructiferae", that is, as bad and fruitless trees and thus as part of an anti-god created by the devil to ridicule God and man. World. Economic planning in advance and earthly services of general interest for future generations - thus, by turning away from overexploitation in the forest, approaches to forest sustainability - were completely alien to medieval thinking, not to mention planned experiments. Therefore, the Nuremberg coniferous forest-seeds represent an extraordinary step forward not only in forestry , but in the technology of the primary production at all. They are also an early example of the connection of forest and mining, which later in the forest regulations and by Hans Carl von Carlowitz yet should stand out more clearly.

Stromer had fir and pine cones collected, the seeds removed from them and sowed in forest soils and fallow fields . In preparation for the seed, these areas were broken up deeply with a forest plow. Probably to protect the crops with their young conifers from frost and grass and for better rooting of the soil, he also had birch sown. Through precise observations and experiments, Stromer and his successors - Nuremberg foresters from his circle of relatives - developed the most suitable techniques for harvesting and clinking the seeds in the following time , determined the right sowing time (spring), the right sowing depth in the soil and suitable planting distances. In experiences that have been passed on over the generations, they also came to distinguish which soils were best suited for which tree species. When storing the seeds, they dealt with forest protection issues early on , for example when it came to protecting the valuable seeds from being eaten by the house mice that were everywhere .

The new process for founding forests immediately aroused great interest and was promoted by the City Council of Nuremberg. After the imperial city had acquired the Reichsforstmeisteramt of the Koler family with Peter Stromer's assistance in 1372, Stromer continued the forest sowing on behalf of the city on a large scale until his death on December 3, 1388. The Nuremberg Reichswald thus became the first known art forest in the world and Stromer itself became the “father of forest culture”. The Nuremberg forestry , which was not saved, took first place in the then known world and made a decisive contribution to the fact that the imperial city was able to assert itself as one of the leading economic centers in the early modern era (see also the history of the city Nuremberg ).

Soon other cities and landlords at home and abroad began to be interested in this type of silviculture . So-called Tannensäer , trained by the forest administrators of the Reichswald, set out to carry the knowledge gained and with it the fame of Nuremberg through Europe . Around 1420, the Hülpüchel brothers' seed business already existed in Nuremberg. As early as 1426, the Frankfurt city forest was sown with Nuremberg forest seeds, forest sows and in accordance with Nuremberg technology , and in 1457 in the Steinfeld near Wiener Neustadt . Soon afterwards, the Tannensäer were active throughout Central Europe, including before 1483 in the Baden Black Forest , 1485 in Hungary and 1496 in the central German mining area in Saxony .

Their technique of collecting, treating and sowing seeds has been handed down in records. The Frankfurt Council had the first drafted as early as 1426 - they had simply listened to the Tannensäer Kunz Hülpüchel, who was sent from Nuremberg. But the imperial city of Nuremberg later passed on its knowledge of the technology to other cities and princes. Through Noe Meurer's writing Jag vnd Forstrecht (1576) and Hans Carl von Carlowitz ' Sylvicultura oeconomica , or haußwirthliche Nachrichten and natural instruction for wild tree cultivation (1713) it finally entered the general forest practice and theory.

In the following centuries, the forest sowing was continuously improved, the Nuremberg specialists retained their primacy until the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). Peter Stromer's great nephews Ulrich Grunther and Bartholomeus Groland imported European larch seeds from Füssen as early as 1485 and successfully sown them in the Nuremberg Reichswald. This is how the cultivation of non-native tree species began in German forests.

The future and future world saw Peter Stromer's invention as a major achievement and recognized his pioneering work accordingly. The poet and humanist Conrad Celtis commemorated Stromer's achievements in his city portrait of Nuremberg De origine, situ, moribus et institutis Norimbergae libellus (1502). In 1996 the Peter-Stromeir-Haus, a themed house of the Tennenlohe Forest Adventure Center on the history of the Nuremberg Reichswald, was named in honor of the "father of forest culture" and his work for the Reichswald .

The portrait of Peter Stromer

A portrait of Peter Stromer was made to commemorate his role as captain of the imperial city of Nuremberg in the city ​​war of 1388/89 . Various versions of this portrait have survived that are extremely interesting for art history, as their much older, probably lost model can be traced back to the early or at least early days of medieval portrait art . Two preserved images are relevant for the reconstruction of the original. The first, attributed to Hans Schäufelin , can be found in Lazarus Holzschuher's gender book and can therefore be dated to 1506. The accompanying text refers to a portrait of Stromer "very old" in the possession of the famous Hartmann Schedel . There is also a panel painting in the possession of the Stromerstiftung, which is much closer to the original, but is stylistically dated to the late 16th century (see above). Based on these two copies, Buchner 1953 dated the lost original in Stromer's lifetime (around 1388) and thus really in the early days of medieval portrait art. Wolfgang Stromer 1968, however, suspects u. a. Due to the significant hat fashion, it did not emerge until the 1430s. He is of the opinion that the portrait should remind of Peter Stromer, but in reality it shows his distant descendants Sigmund Stromer to the golden rose († 1435). In any case, however, the portrait is an impressive testimony to the noble claims of the Nuremberg council families in the late Middle Ages.

literature

• Adalbert Scharr: The Nuremberg Reichsforstmeister family Waldstromer until 1400 and contributions to the older genealogy of the Forstmeister and Stromer von Reichenbach families . In: Communications from the Association for the History of the City of Nuremberg (MVGN), Volume 52, 1963/64, pp. 1-41
• Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach : 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber : The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, pp. 25–29
• Karl Hasel , Ekkehard Schwartz : Forest history. A floor plan for study and practice . 2nd updated edition. Kessel, Remagen 2002, ISBN 3-935638-26-4
• Peter Fleischmann: Councilor and patriciate in Nuremberg. The rule of the councilors from the 13th to the 18th centuries . Nürnberger Forschungen 31, Volume 2: Councilors and councilors . Nuremberg 2008

To Stromer's portrait:

• Ernst Buchner: The German portrait of the late Gothic and early Dürer period, Berlin 1953. especially pp. 25–26 and Fig. 2.
• Wolfgang Stromer: The portraits of Peter Stromair and Georg von Ehingen's journeys to knighthood. In: Waffen- und Costumekunde JG 1968, pp. 77–106.
• Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach : Our ancestors in the imperial city of Nuremberg 1250 to 1806. Fromman, Nuremberg 1951, pp. 11-14.

See also

• Grünsberg Castle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach : 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber : The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, p. 25
2. ↑ Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, p. 25
3. ↑ quoted from Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of needle forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, p. 26
4. ↑ Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, pp. 27–29
5. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, p. 28
6. ↑ Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, p. 26
7. ^ ^{A b c} Hans Hausrath : History of German silviculture. From its beginnings to 1850 . Series of publications by the Institute for Forest Policy and Regional Planning at the University of Freiburg. Hochschulverlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1982, ISBN 3-8107-6803-0 , p. 90
8. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, p. 27
9. ^ Karl Hasel, Ekkehard Schwartz: Forest history. A floor plan for study and practice . 2nd updated edition. Kessel, Remagen 2002, ISBN 3-935638-26-4 , p. 284
10. ↑ Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach: 600 years of coniferous forest sowing, the achievement of Peter Stromer von Nürnberg . In: Georg Sperber: The Reichswälder near Nuremberg - from the history of the oldest artificial forest . Munich and Neustadt an der Aisch 1968, pp. 28–29
11. ↑ cf. in addition u. a. Forest Adventure Center Tennenlohe - Annual Report 2006 ( Memento of the original dated February 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 7.5 MB) 
12. ↑ Fig. By Ernst Stromer: Our ancestors in the imperial city of Nuremberg, plate 1, p. 45.