Petrus Conradi

Petrus Conradi, contemporary engraving

Petrus Conradi ( Latinized from Köne , also Peter Cords or Peter Conradi ), (* approx. 1478 in Groß Lüben near Wilsnack ; † March 14, 1561 in Havelberg ) was a German theologian and cathedral dean at the Havelberg Cathedral .

portrait

An anonymous copperplate engraving by Conradi has been preserved in Martin Friedrich Seidel's picture collection. It shows the bust of Conradi in an ermine coat with his headgear removed. At the top left there is a coat of arms with the sitter's initials, including a Star of David above an altar . The figure bears the inscription:

Petrus Conradi Lubensis, olim Coloni in agro Wilsnacensi filius, decanus capituli Havelbergensis vir concionandi facultate suo seculo facundissimus, et in pontificia religione immobilis. Obiit from 1561 .

“Petrus Conradi from Lüben, son of a farmer at the time in the Feldmark von Wilsnack, dean of the cathedral chapter of Havelberg, a man extremely adept at preaching in his century and unshakable in papal religion. He died in 1561. "

Havelberg around 1650

biography

It was born as the son of the farmer Jakob Köne, who later lived on the Langenberg in the Havelberg monastery area. In accordance with the custom of his time, he Latinized his name in "Conradi". He studied law and theology in Leipzig and graduated with a master's degree in philosophy. After being ordained a priest in 1510, he was pastor in the village of Chemnitz near Alt Krüssow in Prignitz. In 1516 he worked as a notary in the office of the Bishop of Brandenburg Hieronymus Schulz (1460–1522).

Schulz took Conradi with him to Havelberg when he opposed a made by the chapter other choice at the instigation of the Elector Joachim I in 1521 Bishop of Havelberg was. Since January 14, 1522 Conradi was a member of the cathedral chapter of Havelberg. He is referred to as canon and official of Havelberg in 1528.

After Schulz's death, Busso von Alvensleben (1488–1548) became the last Catholic bishop of Havelberg. The latter appointed him his general official and vicarius (deputy) and valued him for his business knowledge and his aversion to the Lutheran Reformation. As an energetic champion for the cause of the old faith in the time of the Reformation movement, he was considered the exponent of the Catholic reaction within the Havelberg diocese .

He rendered great services to the reorganization of the episcopal chancellery. Elector Joachim I valued his diplomatic skills and made use of his advice.

He was the owner of numerous well endowed benefices, such as the provost's office in Pritzwalk , the parishes of Kemnitz (village near Pritzwalk) and Krüssow , the altars of Johannis (the Evangelist) in the Laurentius Church in Havelberg, Thomae corpus 1 and 2 in the Nicolaikirche in Kyritz , Andreae and Jacobi in the Nicolaikirche in Pritzwalk, Nicolai in the parish church in Freyenstein , Exulium (poor altar) in the Marienkirche Neuruppin .

Havelberg Cathedral from the direction of the old town

Catholic reaction in Havelberg

The Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II introduced the Reformation in the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1539. With the election of Conradi as dean by the old-believing cathedral chapter in 1547, the Catholic reaction began in the areas that were under the rule of the cathedral chapter. The strictly Catholic faction of the canons, which was strengthened in 1547 by the papal appointment of a cousin of Conradi, Joachim Tidke, dominated the ecclesiastical direction determined by the dean Conradi.

After Busso von Alvensleben died in 1548, the elector intended to have his son Friedrich (1530–1552) elected bishop, who was destined for the clergy and had already received several orders . Through his Chancellor Johann Weinleb, he instructed Captain von Ruppin, Kurt von Rohr, to enforce his interests in choosing a successor. His son was also elected, but had to renounce Lutheranism on September 30, 1548 in Berlin in the presence of the dean Conradi and some canons and commit himself to obedience to the Holy See . Conradi wrote down the minutes.

Since the papal confirmation of the appointment of a bishop dragged on and Friedrich was also elected Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1551 , the management of the diocese of Havelberg was entirely in the hands of Conradi. In 1552 the chapter asked the bishop who had been appointed archbishop of Magdeburg to resign from the office in Havelberg. Friedrich died of unexplained reasons in the same year at the age of 22. The elector appointed the eldest son of the elector Johann Georg , Joachim Friedrich (1546–1608), born in 1546 , as his successor. His father took over the administration of the monastery as his son's guardian.

In 1561 the 84-year-old dean Peter Conradi “finally” died. From 1555 he was the only Catholic canon. Immediately after his death, the chapter declared itself against the continuation of the Catholic cult. The monastery continued to exist as a Protestant monastery until it was dissolved in 1818.

House of the former cathedral curia

Cohabitation

In contrast to his commitment to the strictly ecclesiastical Catholic faith, his behavior towards celibacy stood . It was common for clergymen who professed Lutheran doctrine to get married. This was also often expected because it represented a commitment to Lutheran teaching and a departure from the previous faith. Conradi and his servant Katharina Hakenbek (Hackenberg) from Stargard had two illegitimate (illegitimate) children. The hatred of the evangelical citizens of Havelberg against Conradi emerged in October 1541 during a trip by the canon to Berlin by breaking into his curia, whereby the Havelberg council imprisoned the servant and concubine Conradis and confiscated all household items. Conradi married Katharina to Johann Rogge, a citizen of Havelberg, to whom he promised a dowry, but which he did not pay out. Before the wedding, the couple signed a notarized marriage contract. There it says literally regarding the children:

"And where named Catharina would sooner die if Johann Rogge, who God had according to his will, inherited his body, than Anna and Catharina, Irish dean (I cannot say who was the father of them) or Irish, adorned clothes and take away silver work beforehand freely and carefree from possible ... "

- Samuel Lentz

He also collected the wedding gifts for himself. After a while he took Katharina back to himself - according to Samuel Lenz's report, because he was not used to sleeping alone. Conradi threatened Rogge, who complained in vain to the bishop, with imprisonment and with divorce, which he could decide as an official. The elector was very bitter about this, so that Conradi fell out of favor. The bishop Busso had nothing to complain about and even tried in 1542 to mediate between the elector and Conradi. Obviously the bishop, who himself was committed to celibacy as a clergyman, found nothing wrong with Conradi's behavior, especially since he himself had two natural sons, Levin and Joachim.

Wunderblutkirche, west and south side

Destruction of the blood host in Wilsnack

The miracle blood church of St. Nikolai in Bad Wilsnack in the Brandenburg town of Prignitz was an important pilgrimage destination until the middle of the 16th century . The reason for this was the “legend of the miraculous blood”, according to which the local pastor found three undamaged hosts in the ruins of the church after a fire, each with a drop of red blood. The miracle blood church of St. Nikolai was built on the ashes of the burned church and completed in 1396. In the 15th century, Wilsnack was a place of pilgrimage as important as Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The cathedral monastery in Havelberg generated considerable income from the pilgrims' offerings.

Joachim Ellefeld had been appointed preacher in Wilsnack against the will of the dean Petrus Conradi . He tried to put an end to " idolatry ". Conradi, on the other hand, wanted to keep the population of the Catholic religion. In 1552 he went to the sacristy of the church after Ellefeld had preached, stepped in front of the altar in a chasuble with the miraculous blood host and intoned an antiphon that Ellefeld regarded as superstitious .

In the description of Matthäus Ludecus it says literally:

“And in by means of the Thumdechend zu Hauelberg Her Petrus Conradi of the Bäpstischen Lere completely and utterly come against the Wilsnagk / and after the end of the sermon and performance of the Lord evening / the fictional miraculous blood with burning torches according to the old usage / from the chapels publicly carried out with special pomp / and thereby the simple people / in whom superstition and idolatry against God's order want to confirm and confirm newen. "

- Matthew Ludecus

On May 28, 1562, Ellefeld went to the Wunderblutkapelle, took the crystal vessel in which the "Bluthostien" ("the blood") were located from the container, smashed it and burned the "blood" on a charcoal fire.

The captain of Plattenburg Caspar Welle reported this deed to the cathedral chapter in Havelberg, which immediately imprisoned Ellefeld and Lindenberg at the Plattenburg castle for several months.

The matter was dealt with by the Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II , the Bishop of Magdeburg and Halberstadt Margrave Friedrich , the last Catholic cathedral provost of Havelberg Johann von Wallwitz († 1557), who was also canon of Magdeburg and Halberstadt. Von Wallwitz advocated execution by burning. However, reports were obtained from universities and Schöppenstühlen that advocate Ellefeld. He also received support from the other estates and the preachers. The governor in Prignitz Curt von Rohr was therefore ordered by the elector, who did not want to intervene personally, to indicate to the cathedral chapter that it should release the prisoners by grace. This also happened. After that, Ellefeld's track is lost.

Will and Foundation

In an extensive will, which is referred to in the following collection of literature, he left his fortune, which he had collected in numerous fiefs, not only to the needy and to Catholic church institutions, but also to his partner and illegitimate children. Their care may also have been the reason for the foundation of a hospital for seven Beguines . The half-timbered house of the donated hospital, in which around seven beguines lived until 1894, is located near the Krug Gate (today An der Freiheit 1) in Havelberg and is currently still there, but is used for other purposes. It belongs to the Havelberg Cathedral Hospital Foundation, which has been in existence since 1588. The purpose of the foundation is to promote accommodation and care offers for the elderly and people in need of care, who primarily come from the area of ​​the Evangelical Church Community Havelberg.

Literature (selection)

• Testament of the cathedral dean Peter Conradi, from the year 1558 in: Adolf Friedrich Riedel: History of the spiritual foundations, the noble family, as well as the cities and castles of the Mark Brandenburg . Volume 3, Berlin 1843, p. 157 ff. , Accessed on April 24, 2016.
• George Gottfried Küster: Martin Friedrich Seidels picture collection: in which a hundred, mostly drilled in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, but all around the same well-deserved men are presented, with an attached explanation in which the strangest life circumstances and writings are told . Verlag des Buchladen bey der Real-Schule, Berlin 1751, before p. 27, digitally p. 30 ff.
• Matthäus Luidke ( Matthäus Ludecus ): Historia of the invention, miracles and destruction of the supposed holy blood to Wilssnagk. Wittenberg 1581, digital The story of the destruction is on the scanned pages 133–134.
• Klaus Stolte: Ephemeral pilgrimage. The dispute over Wilsnack's miraculous blood as reflected in papal pronouncements, at the same time a contribution to the building history of the Nikolaikirche. In: Reports and research from the Brandenburg Cathedral Foundation . Nordhausen 2008, vol. 1, p. 5 ff., Digital .
• Samuel Buchholz: Attempting a history of the Churmarck Brandenburg…., Third part: New history Berlin 1767, p. 431 ff., E-book
• Julius Heidemann: The Reformation in the Mark Brandenburg , Berlin 1889, p. 328 ff.
• Annette Kugler-Simmerl: Bishop, cathedral chapter and monastery in the diocese of Havelberg 1522–1598 . 2003, ISBN 978-3-936872-07-1 , digital reading sample p. 222
• Gottfried Wentz: The diocese of Havelberg . In: Germania Sacra , First Department, Second Volume, Berlin 1933, digital p. 166 (178) ff.
• Paul-Joachim Heinig, Andreas Tacke (eds.): We want to give space to love: concubinates of spiritual and secular princes around 1500 . 2006, ISBN 978-3-8353-0052-1 , p. 18 ff., Digital reading
• Samuel Lenz: S. Lentzens Diplomatic Stifts-Historie von Havelberg: In which the bishops who stood at this high collegiate church, from the beginning bit to the end, described from letter customers and reliable scribes, and the cathedral priests, deans and cathedral lords, as much as it is done, made known, explained with various unknown clock customers . Halle 1750, p. 93 ff, digital p. 107 ff.
• Antonius Detert: Obitus egregii & venerabilis viri dni M. Petri Conradi,… (poem on the death of Conradi, made by the pronotary and mayor of Havelberg.) In: George Gottfried Küster: Martin Friedrich Seidels Bilder-Sammlung , Berlin 1751, before p . 27, digital p. 32.

References and comments

1. ↑ George Gottfried Küster: Martin Friedrich Seidels Bilder-Sammlung: in which a hundred, mostly drilled in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, but all around the same well-deserved men are presented, with an attached explanation in which the strangest life circumstances and writings are told . Verlag des Buchladen bey der Real-Schule, Berlin 1751, before p. 27, digitally p. 30 [1]
2. ↑ Portrait of Petrus Conradi (Catholic theologian; dean of the Havelberg cathedral chapter; defender of the pilgrimage to the Holy Blood in Wilsnack), Berlin, Berlin State Library - Prussian cultural property, manuscript department, inventory no. Portr. Slg / Slg Hansen / Catholic Theologians / Vol. 1 / No. 16 [2]
3. ↑ Samuel Lenz, S. Lentzens Diplomatische Stifts-Historie von Havelberg: In which the bishops who stood at this high collegiate church, from the beginning bit to the end, described from written customers and reliable scribes, and the cathedral provosts, deans and cathedral lords , as much as they are done, made known, Explained with various unknown clock customers, Halle 1750, p. 93 ff, digital p. 107 ff, [3]
4. ↑ Dr. Udo v. Alvensleben-Wittenmoor, written 1920–1960, edited by Prof. Dr. Reimar v. Alvensleben "The Alvensleben in Kalbe - 1324-1945", Busso 10. von Alvensleben = Bishop Busso II. Von Havelberg (1468-1548), excerpt from the chronicle of the von Alvensleben family, digitally on the homepage of Henning Krüger, 2015, Retrieved on June 2, 2016, Story (s) about Kalbe (Milde), [4]
5. ↑ Ulrike Klehmet: The legend of the miraculous blood in Bad Wilsnack. In: Paternoster. The magazine of the Emmaus-Ölberg-Gemeinde 1/2005, p. 16 ff, on the website of the Emmaus-Ölberg-Kirchengemeinde Berlin Kreuzberg, digital [5]
6. ↑ Matthäus Ludecus (1517–1606), who was born in Wilsnack and had worked as a clerk for Governor Curdt (Kurt) von Rohr for four years from 1550, was therefore able to tell about the events in his "Historia" from his own knowledge of Report hearsay . At Curdt von Rohr's intercession with the Elector, Ludecus received the vacant position of canon in 1654, which was associated with a [premium], at the Havelberg monastery and became a member of the cathedral chapter "without any resistance" from the dean Petrus Conradi recorded. Ludecus then became the first Protestant dean in Havel in 1573
7. ↑ Antje Reiche, HAVELBERG-small town with a great past, The medieval sacral buildings of Havelberg, secondary publication on the website of the Hanseatic City of Havelberg, accessed digitally on April 22, 2016 [6]
8. ↑ List of foundations Saxony-Anhalt
9. ↑ Uwe Czubatynski, reports and research from the Domstift Brandenburg 1 (2008), historical perspectives of the church foundation system, p. 147 digital [7]