Robert Glutz from Blotzheim

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Robert Glutz

Urs Robert Joseph Felix Glutz von Blotzheim (also Robert Glutz-Blotzheim , Glutz von Solothurn or Glutz for short ; born January 30, 1786 in Solothurn , † April 14, 1818 in Munich ) was a Swiss historian , writer , librarian and journalist . He is considered a pioneer of source-based historical research.

Life

Origin and years of study

Robert Glutz von Blotzheim was the son of the politician Urs Glutz von Blotzheim and his wife Maria Magdalena von Sury . His brother was the clergyman Konrad Josef Glutz von Blotzheim . From 1797 to 1804 Robert Glutz attended the Catholic college in Solothurn, today's Solothurn Cantonal School , where he was one of the best students. During this time he was stimulated to fruitful self-study primarily by the Premonstratensian priest Pacific Migy from Pruntrut , who had spent a few years in Germany after the abolition of the Bellelay monastery and was professor of rhetoric and poetry in Solothurn from 1801 to 1802.

In 1804 Glutz began to study law in Landshut in Bavaria . In the autumn of 1805 he had just gone on a vacation trip to Vienna when French troops were advancing on Austria in the Third Coalition War . He left Vienna before the French invaded and fled to Leipzig via Bohemia . From there he visited Weimar , where he is said to have had a stimulating conversation with Goethe , and traveled on to Würzburg . There he continued his history studies. In April 1806 he returned to Landshut. Glutz did not complete his studies; he devoted the summer semester of 1806 to work on his political essay The Current Interest of the Swiss , after which he returned to Solothurn.

Cultural engagement in Solothurn

In 1807 Robert Glutz took over the management of the Solothurn City Library . It was thanks to his initiative that the forgotten and hardly used city library was revived. He offered to renew it, brought it back into a usable state and was appointed librarian by the city council when it opened. Robert Glutz created a system of presentation and an alphabetical catalog , collected outstanding works and rekindled interest in donations to the library among the citizens of the city of Solothurn. In addition, he received sufficient funds for necessary new acquisitions. On December 18, 1814, Glutz announced his resignation as librarian, which he justified in a letter with an absence of several months. Glutz concentrated on historical research and worked in Zurich on his continuation of the stories of the Swiss Confederation by Johannes von Müller . Leo Altermatt (1896–1962, director of the Central Library in Solothurn from 1936 ) attributes Glutz's resignation to increasing surveillance of his acquisition policy: "The reactionary spirit that spoke from the orders of the cantonal censorship commission soon paralyzed the librarian's zeal."

Also in 1807 Glutz founded the "Literary Society" of Solothurn together with the councilors Joseph Lüthy and Ludwig von Roll and the state clerk Friedrich von Roll . He became first secretary, Ludwig von Roll first president of the society. When Glutz resigned from his office in 1814/1815 (there were no meetings in 1814), Peter Ignaz Scherer succeeded him as secretary, who had also succeeded him as city librarian.

In 1809 Glutz revived the Solothurn theater tradition by establishing a "Theatrical Society". He called for a renewal of the theater industry, externally through the modernization of the outdated city theater and mentally through the performance of contemporary plays. However, this point soon broke out in the theater society and Glutz withdrew in 1811 with a harsh letter in which he described the selected dramas as "detrimental to the honor of society" and as a "shame". He wrote to a friend that in the Theatrical Society "that party with which I fought so much and which only wanted Kotzebue - bastardic and even worse stuff" won. Glutz wanted, among other things, to have the Singspiel Jery ​​und Bätely performed with Goethe's text, which he would have viewed as "dishonored" in the company of the repertoire he criticized.

Journalistic and political activity

From the end of 1809 Glutz also took over the editing of the “ Solothurn Weekly Journal ”. It has been published by the printer Hieronymus Vogelsang since 1803 and gained a certain importance for historical studies as it printed many historical documents. Glutz also gave up his work as editor-in-chief after difficulties with the censorship authorities in mid-1810. The description of a trip to Appenzell published on January 20, 1810 under the pseudonym " Sanchuniathon " was already written by Robert Glutz in his capacity as editor-in-chief because Appenzell had complained about the presentation. For example, “Sanchuniathon” writes about the arrival in Appenzell: “Where's the police, I shouted as I lifted my half-crushed bones out of the carriage and a swarm of beggars surrounded me. But nobody knew what kind of animal it was. ” Whether Glutz himself or the councilor Joseph Lüthy was hiding behind“ Sanchuniathon ”can no longer be clarified with certainty. After stays in Zurich and Schaffhausen , Glutz took over the editorial office of the weekly newspaper again from 1813 to the beginning of 1814.

Robert Glutz also held political offices. In 1812 he was delegated to the large city council as a member of the tailors' guild. In Solothurn, gentlemen who did not practice any craft had to join a craft guild in order to be eligible for advice. He participated in the successful patrician coup d'état of January 8, 1814, with which Napoleonic mediation ended in the canton of Solothurn and the restoration period began. In 1871 Alfred Hartmann wrote about this participation that Glutz was not concerned with the "restoration of the old abuses", but sees the motivation in Glutz '" French hatred " and the "pressure that Napoleonic despotism had exerted on him". Hartmann went on to write: “It was not the restoration of the old aristocratic braid that he wanted to promote, but the rule of an educated aristocracy, which was to be recruited from all circles where the light of humanity and enlightenment shone; be it from the patrician, bourgeois or rural social classes. "

Glutz memorial stone in the Verena Gorge

Glutz was elected to the Grand Council , from which he left at the end of 1816. Hartmann writes that Robert and his cousin Karl had recognized "that those who had come back to the helm with their help pursued completely different tendencies than those to which they were allowed to confess". After the failed democratic uprising of June 2, 1814, Glutz was briefly imprisoned on suspicion of being involved. However, a commission of inquiry found that he had "taken no part in the events of June 2", whereupon he was dismissed on July 9 and retained his seat on the Grand Council. Glutz's biographer Otto Heinrich Allemann assumes that the government had Glutz arrested for earlier statements. In any case, a letter from Glutz to Heinrich Zschokke shows that he sympathized with the rebels.

As a historian in Zurich

After resigning as a librarian in Solothurn, Glutz devoted himself to work on the sequel to the Stories of the Swiss Confederation by Johannes von Müller . After he appeared and Glutz had also left the Grand Council, he settled in Zurich at the end of 1816, where he had previously been for a long time. His stay in Solothurn was ruined because his book was initially not taken seriously there, even mocked. In Germany , the work was extremely contrast favorably received: "Glutz was, strangely enough, from entering Germany to greater fame when in Switzerland, where he was only gradually and reluctantly forgiven the arrogance, to follow in the footsteps of John of miller." The University Breslau promised him a chair. On the way there, at the beginning of 1818, he stayed in Munich with Karl Friedrich von Breyer , his friend and former professor in Landshut, who had been appointed to the Munich Academy of Sciences in 1809. Breyer, however, soon fell ill with typhus ("mucus fever"), which was rampant in Munich, and Glutz devoted himself to his care until he was exhausted, and he was also infected. On April 14, 1818, Robert Glutz von Blotzheim died unexpectedly of a stroke at the age of 32 ; Breyer died eight days later. In the necrologists on Glutz, his early death was mourned as a significant loss for “patriotic history”.

plant

Signature of Robert Glutz

The main work by Robert Glutz is the 1816 at Orell, Füssli and Comp. “History of the Confederates from the death of Mayor Waldmann to the eternal peace with France” published in Zurich . Johann von Müller's Stories Switzerland. Fifth part of the Confederation, second division. ” It covers the years 1489–1516 and describes the Swiss political and war history of this period. In it, Glutz turns away from “Müller's addiction to make things arrive happily and uplifting” and strives for a factual representation of the processes that is strictly based on the sources, even where the Swiss do not appear in a favorable light. Feller / Bonjour write in their work on the historiography of Switzerland: “Here, too, he was without a precursor. So he freed himself from Müller and tore the veil; if one had previously admired great deeds, he uncovered the abysses from which they had risen. ” Glutz condemned Swiss mercenaryism and noted a moral collapse in the Confederation during the period he described. Glutz found his sources in the state archives of Solothurn and Zurich. In Solothurn, he was able to use a large collection of documents from the town clerk Franz Haffner , which dates from the end of the 15th century to 1519. In Zurich, the collections of Aegidius Tschudi were particularly important for Glutz.

The description of the battle near Dornach contained in Glutz's "History of the Confederates ..." achieved particular fame through its dramatic and pictorial design. On the anniversary of the battle, it was read to the Solothurn canton school "by one of the youngsters of the crowd."

More works by Robert Glutz:

  • 1806 “The current interest of the Swiss” , published anonymously and without a place of publication (“Helvetien, 1806”). In this pamphlet, which stands in the context of a growing Swiss national consciousness during the mediation period , the young Glutz advocates a Switzerland that is as self-sufficient as possible and an effective armed defense of its freedom: “Curse and shame come upon the cowardly boy and his offspring who does not dare life and limb to preserve the freedom bought with a lot of blood, and who prefers foreign prince favor to beautiful independence! May he indulge in pleasure or crawl in front of the prince, the shadows of the heroes of St. Jacob pursue him and greet him with a bloody and terrible countenance, for he is a traitor to the fatherland, a wretched boy, worthless that the fatherland mountains are beyond collapse him to cover his shame. "
  • 1813 “Topographical-statistical description of the Canton of Solothurn.” In: Helvetischer Almanach , published by Orell and Füssli in Zurich.
  • 1816 "Presentation of the attempt to introduce the Reformation in Solothurn" , first published in the Swiss Museum , year 11 (1816), reprinted in Solothurn in 1838 by Joseph Tschan.
  • 1818 “Handbook for Travelers in Switzerland” , 4th, improved edition, published by Orell and Füssli in Zurich without any indication of the author. The author of the first three editions was Heinrich Heidegger ; Glutz's name was only mentioned in the 5th and 6th editions of the travel guide. It shows the typical peculiarities of Glutz's writing style: scientific method, sharp criticism ("The Jesuits carefully cultivated ignorance and superficial education") and patriotism.
  • 1818 “News from the public teaching institutions in Solothurn and suggestions for improving them.” In it, Glutz criticized the Solothurn schools in general and in particular the college in Solothurn. The publication, which only appeared after Glutz's death, led to some discussions, leaflets and articles, including a reply from the Solothurn professors.

personality

Robert Glutz von Blotzheim tended to be brusque and preferred to criticize rather than praise. Johann Jakob Hottinger , who valued Glutz very much, addressed this trait in his funeral speech:

But if any person whom I approached with great expectation, through his way of expressing himself, immediately pushed me back and, as it soon turned out, also unpleasantly pushed back many others, it was Glutz. Apart from a half-lisping, half-rasping pronunciation, which made his conversation incomprehensible and arduous until one was used to it, he seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of censure. The adjectives: poor, ignorant, mean, floated on his lips at every opportunity, were assigned equally to famous and unsigned works and people without sparing, and if you asked for a more detailed explanation or justification of the surprising judgment, he often broke with you A shrug of the shoulders, a movement of the head or muscles which contrasted disgustingly with the otherwise so animated, gentle look of his eyes and his peculiar, good-natured smile.

As Hottinger got to know Glutz better, his judgment changed, however, and he attributed Glutz's harshness more to “a lack of world culture” and “republican frankness” than to youthful complacency.

In general, Glutz won the better you got to know him; Then one had to respectfully acknowledge his pure mind, his impeccable moral life, his regular hard work, always executed at a certain point, his republican candor, his unshakable love of freedom, and his faint sense of justice.

literature

  • Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach Battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Publishing house Pantheon, Friborg 1949.
  • Richard Feller, Edgar Bonjour: Robert Glutz-Blotzheim. In: Historiography of Switzerland from the late Middle Ages to the modern age. 2., through and exp. Ed. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1979. ISBN 3-7190-0722-7 . Vol. 2, pp. 578-582.
  • Wilhelm Gisi:  Glutz-Blotzheim, Urs Robert Joseph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 262 f.
  • Alfred Hartmann: Robert Glutz. In: Gallery of famous Swiss of modern times. Vol. 2. Baden in Aargau, 1871. (Article No. 64)

Web links

Commons : Robert Glutz von Blotzheim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deviating date of birth: January 31, 1786 according to German biography
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Alfred Hartmann: Robert Glutz. In: Gallery of famous Swiss of modern times. Vol. 2. Baden in Aargau, 1871.
  3. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Publisher Pantheon, Friborg 1949. p. 22.
  4. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. pp. 34-37.
  5. ^ Leo Altermatt: Libraries. In: The Canton of Solothurn. A home book. Gassmann, Solothurn 1949. p. 130
  6. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. pp. 47-52.
  7. ↑ Rudolf Baumann: A contribution to the history of the Solothurn book printing and the Solothurn newspapers up to the year 1848 . R. Baumann, Balsthal 1909, p. 29 .
  8. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. p. 177.
  9. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. pp. 72-73.
  10. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. pp. 34-37.
  11. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Publisher Pantheon, Friborg 1949. p. 81.
  12. ^ Gisi:  Glutz-Blotzheim, Urs Robert Joseph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 262 f.
  13. ↑ Richard Feller, Edgar Bonjour: Historiography of Switzerland from the late Middle Ages to the modern age. 2., through and exp. Ed. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1979. ISBN 3-7190-0722-7 . Vol. 2, p. 578.
  14. ↑ Richard Feller, Edgar Bonjour: Historiography of Switzerland from the late Middle Ages to the modern age. 2., through and exp. Ed. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1979. ISBN 3-7190-0722-7 . Vol. 2, p. 579.
  15. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Publisher Pantheon, Friborg 1949. p. 157.
  16. ↑ Richard Feller, Edgar Bonjour: Historiography of Switzerland from the late Middle Ages to the modern age. 2., through and exp. Ed. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1979. ISBN 3-7190-0722-7 . Vol. 2, p. 580.
  17. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. pp. 141–142.
  18. ^ The current interest of the Swiss , Helvetien 1806. p. 17, quoted from Allemann, pp. 98–99.
  19. ↑ Otto Heinrich Allemann: The singer of the Dornach battle. Robert Glutz-Blotzheim, historian, 1786-1818. Verlag Pantheon, Friborg 1949. pp. 111-112.
  20. ^ A b c Johann Jakob Hottinger, Totenrede auf Robert Glutz, quoted from Allemann, pp. 86–89.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 11, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Glutz von Blotzheim, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Glutz von Blotzheim, Urs Robert Joseph Felix; Glutz-Blotzheim, Robert; Glutz, Robert; Glutz von Solothurn, Robert; Glutz-Blozheim, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss historian, writer, librarian and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH Solothurn
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1818
Place of death Munich