Pistoris
Pistoris (from the middle of the 16th century: Pistoris von Seusslitz ) is the surname of an old Saxon family of scholars from the 14th century who were ennobled in single lines and who produced many outstanding personalities, especially in the field of law .
Origin and development
The origins of the family are 30 km outside of Leipzig in the district town of Borna . Here the family was still called Bäcker / Begker / Becker and at first they were possibly actually active in the bakery trade. The first to be determined progenitor Rudolf Becker († 1316) called himself Pistoris for the first time, which is the Latin and declined form of "pistor, pistoris" = the baker. Since then, all of his descendants have called themselves Pistoris , some of them Pistorius , maybe later just Pistor . The Pistoris family had committed to the Protestant religion at an early stage since Martin Luther's time and actively campaigned for its spread and development.
From Nicolaus Pistoris , the professor of medicine and Mayor of Leipzig and grandson of the first-mentioned ancestor Rudolf, the family achieved its scientific fame, especially in the field of law. Petrus Albinus , Saxon historian, even spoke of the “ most learned family in Meissen, from which most of the doctors, electoral chief judges and court judges , court and secret councilors and a Saxon chancellor came ”.
For his service was Simon Pistoris the Younger on 20 April 1521 by Emperor Charles V in Worms in the hereditary imperial nobility and on August 4, 1555 from the Roman-German king and later Emperor Ferdinand I in Prague in the hereditary kingdom knighthood raised.
During this period, the Pistoris family acquired numerous estates and lands, especially the Seusslitz estate and castle and associated villages (1546), which remained in the family until 1720, as well as shares in Merschwitz (1550) and later the Hirschstein estate and castle (approx. 1586) . But in Leipzig they were also the owners of the old princely house on Grimmaische Strasse and Auerbach's court. A street in the Leipzig district of Schleußig still reminds of the family today .
In the church in Seusslitz there is the family crypt next to the altar, covered with a gravestone slab inscribed by Georg Fabricius , in which most of the family members were buried. Another tombstone on which the family coat of arms is engraved has been preserved on the cemetery wall. The family itself is now, as far as is known, extinct in Germany in the aristocratic tribe.
Hartmann Pistoris (* 1673), last lord of Seusslitz and grandson of the chief envoy Johann Ernst Pistoris von Seusslitz and Hirschstein, moved to Styria , where he founded important hammer works in the Mürzzuschlag area that remained in the family for several generations. Because of his successful entrepreneurship, his grandson Franz Xaver Pistoris (1734–1792) was given the Austrian nobility and the family subsequently called themselves Pistoris, Noble von Adelfeld . It is also considered extinguished.
However, there is no conclusive connection between the Saxon family Pistoris described here and the Hessian family from Nidda or the Württemberg family of the same name, who also called themselves mostly "Pistorius" and were also partially ennobled.
Coats of arms and copper portraits
It is known from the coat of arms of the Pistoris family from Saxony that since the family's nobility ruling, it was no longer decorated with a pretzel, but with a silver rose in the lower round. Numerous copper portraits and portrait medals were also produced for the individual outstanding personalities of the family with coats of arms embossed on the reverse. Some of these portrait medals can now be viewed in the various coin catalogs or in the Münzkabinett in Dresden .
Personalities
- Nicolaus Pistoris (1411–1471), professor of medicine and personal physician and mayor of Leipzig
- Simon Pistoris the Elder (1453–1523), son of Nicolaus Pistoris; Professor of medicine and personal physician in Leipzig
- Simon Pistoris the Younger of Seusslitz (1489–1562), son of Simon Pistoris the Elder; Legal scholar , university professor, privy councilor and ducal Saxon chancellor
- Modestinus Pistoris von Seusslitz (1516–1565), son of Simon Pistoris the Younger, legal scholar, city judge, university professor, mayor of Leipzig
- Hartmann Pistoris von Seusslitz and Hirschstein (1543–1603), son of Simon Pistoris the Younger; Legal scholar and privy councilor of the Saxon electors
- Simon Ulrich Pistoris von Seußlitz and Hirschstein (1570–1615), son of Hartmann Pistoris; Legal scholar and Latin poet
- Johann Ernst Pistoris von Seusslitz (1605–1680), nephew of Simon Ulrich Pistoris, Electoral Saxon secret and appellate councilor, chief judge in Leipzig, governor of Pegau and Bornau; Principal envoy to the Peace of Westphalia
Literature and Sources
- Justus Perthes : Genealogical paperback of the noble houses , part B, year 1916, page 186
- Carl Schmutz: Historical-topographical Lexicon of Steyermark , third part; Kienreich, 1822
- Ferdinand von Feilitsch: On the family history of the Germans, especially the Meissen nobility 1570-1820. Leipzig 1896
- Karl Friedrich von Gerber : The Ordinaries of the Faculty of Law in Leipzig. Congratulatory letter 1869, Leipzig, Chapter XV.
- Johann August Ritter von Eisenhart: Pistoris von Seuselitz, Simon . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 26, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 186-194.
- Conrad Sturmhoevel: Illustrated history of the Saxon countries and their rulers. Leipzig 1898–1908; Volume 2, pages 141, 193
- Conrad Alfred Rüger: Life and fate of the Saxon legal scholar and Chancellor Simon von Pistoris on Seuselitz , Stuttgart 1977
- Roderich von Stintzing : History of the German jurisprudence. Vol. I, Leipzig 1880
- Archive documents Hans-Thorald Michaelis
