Stephan Dominicus Dauven

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Stephan Dominicus Dauven (* 18th century in Aachen ; † November 15, 1797 ibid) was a German lawyer and mayor of the imperial city of Aachen .

Live and act

Stephan Dauven's ancestors, who initially spelled “Douffen”, came from Burtscheid and moved to Aachen at the end of the 17th century. He himself was the son of Leonard Dauven (* 1705) and Johanna Katharina Eversberg († 1778) and initially completed a five-year degree in theology. He then studied law and a doctorate in Trier for Dr. jur. with the dissertation: "Instructio de solido ficto". He then settled in Aachen as a lawyer and became a member of the foremen's guild, in which the cloth and wool weavers had come together. He belonged to the so-called "Old Party", which was conservative and traditionally oriented, and sat on the Aachen city council for it.

In the years 1774 to 1776, Dauven represented the city on behalf of the Aachen magistrate in negotiations at the imperial court in Vienna , in which there was a dispute that had been going on for years regarding the design and exercise of the bailiwick rights of the Duchy of Jülich against the city April 1777 with a contract that was satisfactory for all concerned. In the course of these negotiations, Dauven gained a high reputation with his party, which led to the fact that he and the mayor of the lay judges Johann in the years 1776/77, 1778/79, 1780/81, 1782/83, 1784/85 and 1786 respectively Jakob von Wylre was elected mayor (guild mayor) of the city of Aachen. In addition, he was appointed Meier von Burtscheid from 1778 .

Since Dauven and von Wylre, in the years between their terms of office, in which they were so-called "stale" (former) mayors, with Joseph Xaver von Richterich and Heinrich Josef Freiherr von Thimus-Zieverich , two other mayors from the ranks of the "Old Party" , replaced in office, the members of the up-and-coming “New Party”, which consisted primarily of business people and leading cloth and needle manufacturers, saw themselves massively disadvantaged. They accused Dauven of corruption and mismanagement and, under the leadership of Martin de Lonneux and Philipp de Witte, submitted a letter of complaint to the city council in early 1786, in which, for example, the desolate situation of the city's finances, the lack of earmarked justifications and bookings of sales proceeds from city property, an unsound one and tax policy not oriented towards the needs of the city, the influences and impairments of the annual elections, position fixing and nepotism for favorites and much more were denounced.

With the intrigues and hostility between the old and new parties, which were now escalating, the grievances in Aachen reached their absolute climax. This split continued into all the guilds, whose internal elections in May 1786 were already accompanied by tumults, threats and acts of violence and in the course of which the supporters of the New Party achieved a majority of the votes. Dauven, the stale mayor and candidate for the mayoral elections coming up in a few weeks, did not want to admit the loss of the old party and did not recognize the result of the guild elections, but was initially forced to recognize it by a plebiscite . In the weeks leading up to the election of the mayor and other important offices, the dispute escalated and each party tried to make their supporters compliant through massive money manipulation, promises, threats of violence, imprisonment for days, but also through civic festivals and the like. In the course of such festive events and the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, there were often serious fights between the individual groups. When Dauven allegedly received a majority of 22 votes in the mayoral election on June 24th, the rebels of the New Party stormed the Aachen City Hall and accused him of electoral fraud. Dauven and the previous councilors were thrown out of the town hall by the old party and banished from the city and forced to abdicate two days after his election. He fled with the Mayor of Wylre to Burtscheid, from where they opposed the resolutions of the city council now formed by the New Party. A few months later, an imperial decree intervened in favor of the Old Party and Dauven and his co-elected lay mayor of Wylre were asked to resume the office of mayor. However, in view of his poor health, Dauven renounced his appointment and the office remained vacant until the regular election in 1787. He only continued to hold the office of Meiers von Burtscheid and was also elected Greven in 1787 by the Sacramentary Brotherhood of St. Foillan , whose members consisted of the nobility and higher bourgeoisie .

Stephan Dominicus Dauven was married to Anna Katharina Welter, with whom he had six children, including the son and later district judge and chamber president Franz Josef Dauven (1765-1852) and the daughter Aloysia Johanna Dauven (1761-1820), who later became mayor Matthias Goswin Pelzer married. A large oil painting by Stephan Dominicus Dauven is in the Aachen town hall.

Literature and Sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait of Stephan Dominicus Dauven , oil painting in the Aachen town hall
personal data
SURNAME Dauven, Stephan Dominicus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and mayor of the Free Imperial City of Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH November 15, 1797
Place of death Aachen