Stephan Brölmann

Stephan Brölmann (* 1551 in Cologne ; † November 10, 1622 there ), was a lawyer and professor at the old University of Cologne . Brölmann's extra-professional research and publications on ancient city ​​history showed scientific approaches that replaced the early, more narrative style, such as in Hagens' rhyme chronicle or that of the later Koelhoff chronicle .

Brölmann's drawing "De ponte Constantiniano observationes ex Broelmanno" from 1608

Life

The Brölmann patrician family

Stephan Brölmann was born into one of Cologne's wealthy and respected patrician families , from whose ranks a number of people rose to high church and political offices over generations. Johannes von Esch, known as Broelmann, one of his ancestors, was a member of the Cologne council as a representative of the Wollenamt between 1460 and 1493 and was twice mayor of the city.

Stephan Brölmann took Clara Bachoven von Echt to his wife, who belonged to the Westphalian nobility and was able to increase the reputation and prosperity of his family. Brölmanns brother John was dean of the Cologne pin St. Apostles , and one of the children had Brölmans the auxiliary bishop Nogelius for sponsors . His daughter Sybilla was married to Martin Strellen (1542-1601), a professor who was Vice Chancellor of the University of Cologne from 1586 (until his death) , where Brölmann taught himself.

Professional career

Brölmann's youth, his training and his career have not yet been adequately researched. The high point of his professional career can be seen in his work as in-house counsel for the Free Imperial City of Cologne and in his appointment as Professor of Law at the city's university .

Author and archaeologist

In addition to his legal work in the service of the city, Brölmann devoted himself to historical and archaeological studies of the past of his hometown. Basis of his detailed work on the history of the city of Cologne , the “Civilium rerum memoria dignarum civitatis Ubiorum et Coloniae Claud. Aug. Agrippinensis commentarii ”, with which he was occupied for several years, was the manuscript of a monk from the Eberbach monastery and a parchment codex of the“ Annales Colonienses maximi ”, the so-called chronicle of Gottfried von St. Pantaleon , which came into his possession and could be evaluated by him.

In contrast to many gentlemen of the Cologne upper class of this time, whose interest in the city's history was to create exhausted collections of antiquities from the Roman city, Brölmann, as a historiographer, was the one who researched the sources and compared what was left of the Roman building fabric with them. The shrine entries , which began as early as the 12th century and recorded many details about the topography of the city, were not followed until the 16th century by the first drawings, such as those of Arnold Mercator . They showed the existence of the Roman city ​​wall around 1570, for which Brölmann wrote detailed descriptions, which he illustrated with a number of drawings. Later historians benefited from his research in the form of handwritten records, some of which were published (up to AD 475). After Brölman's death, Aegidius Gelenius and the Jesuit Crombach, who made extensive use of Brölmann's work, researched all the way to the authors of the modern era up to the 20th century, whose explanations regarding the then still existing ancient buildings in Cologne gladly referred to Brölman's findings. However, some of the conclusions he made at the time were recognized as inaccurate and revised by the aids available to today's archeology.

Whether these works cited in Paul Clemen and the handwritten "Collectaneen" (fragments) on the history of Cologne University as well as treatises on church history also contained in his estate remain, in view of the effects of the Second World War and the loss of archive material due to the collapse of the Cologne City Archives in 2009 questionable. The title page or the cover of his treatise, in red with gold letters, was depicted in the Cologne dictionary of persons, which was published before the archive collapse in 2008.

Epitaph of the Broelmann family

Estate and work

Stephan Brölmann was buried in the family crypt in front of the Our Lady Altar of the Machabäerkirche in the Cologne suburb of Niederich . There, in 1606, probably after the death of his wife, he commissioned an epitaph he had designed himself and had it installed. This shows (top right and left) four coats of arms of his ancestors and below the coat of arms Brölmann / Bachoven von Echt. The successor to his full legal professorship came on November 28th, licentiate Peter ter Lahn von Lennep, who belongs to a Cologne mayor family .

plant

Brölman's complete works remained unpublished, a partial treatise appeared in 1608 under the title “Epideigma sive specimen historiae vet. omnis et purae ect. civitatis Ubiorum et eorum ad Rhenum Agripinensis oppidi etc. "

literature

• Leonard Ennen :  Brölmann, Stephan . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 350 f.
• Johannes Krudewig (sources), in: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province. Volume VI, Section I. Sources, and Section II., Josef Klinkenberg, Das Römische Köln . In connection with Otto von Falke, Eduard Firmenich-Richartz, Josef Klinkenberg, Johannes Krudewig, Hugo Rahtgens and Edmund Renard. Edited by Paul Clemen. Druck und Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf, 1906. Reprint Pedagogical Verlag Schwann, 1980. ISBN 3-590-32108-3
• Werner Schäfke , Kölnischer Bildersaal: The paintings in the holdings of the Cologne City Museum including the Porz collection and the Cologne high school and foundation fund . Publisher: Cologne: Kölnisches Stadtmuseum (January 1, 2006), ISBN 3-927396-94-X .
• Ulrich S. Soénius (Hrsg.), Jürgen Wilhelm (Hrsg.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon. Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 .
• Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu and Hans Vogts : Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): The art monuments of the city of Cologne , Volume II, extension volume the former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne. Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937. Reprint 1980. ISBN 3-590-32107-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ulrich S. Soénius, Jürgen Wilhelm: Kölner Personen-Lexikon. P. 82.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Werner Schäfke, Kölnischer Bildersaal: The paintings in the inventory of the Cologne City Museum including the Porz Collection and the Cologne High School and Foundation Fund, in the inventory catalog of the Cologne City Museum, p. 314 on Broelmann, p. 62 on Strellen.
3. ^ Leonard Ennen :  Brölmann, Stephan . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 350 f.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Johannes Krudewig (sources), in: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln. On behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province. Volume VI, Section I. Sources, and Section II., Josef Klinkenberg, Das Römische Köln. In connection with Otto von Falke, Eduard Firmenich-Richartz, Josef Klinkenberg, Johannes Krudewig, Hugo Rahtgens and Edmund Renard. Edited by Paul Clemen, section “The Fortification”, p. 164 ff.
5. ↑ Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu and Hans Vogts in: Paul Clemen (Ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln. Volume II, extension volume The former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne. Machabä monastery, former tombs, p. 261.