Thomas von Blankenfelde

Thomas von Blankenfelde, detail from a votive picture in the Nikolaikirche in Berlin

Thomas von Blankenfelde (* around 1435 in Berlin ; † February 22, 1504 there ) was a merchant and mayor of Berlin . He comes from the Berlin patrician and councilor family Blankenfelde , from which a total of seven Berlin mayors emerged. In 1453 he attended the University of Leipzig.

mayor

His father Wilhelm von Blankenfelde was also mayor of Berlin. He himself held the highest state office in the years 1481/1482, 1483/1484, 1485/1486, 1487/1488, 1489/1490, 1491/1492 and 1493/1494 in the obligatory annual change.

Merchant

Shield of the Berlin patrician family Blankenfelde

Among the old patrician families, Blankenfelde was the first “large-scale” merchant in the Mark Brandenburg . He mainly traded in grain, linen and luxury goods, but also operated commission, freight forwarding and banking business. His trade extended to Flanders , southern Germany and the Hanseatic region around Danzig .

He also had lively business relationships with the electors Friedrich II. Eisenzahn , Albrecht Achilles , Johann Cicero and Joachim I. Nestor and the dukes of Mecklenburg and Anhalt. He was their purveyor to the court and main believer. So he became the greatest merchant and one of the wealthiest citizens of the city of Berlin and the Mark.

He also took part in the campaigns of the electors. When in 1465 Friedrich II. Eisenzahn lay with his troops in front of Angermünde during the War of the Szczecin Succession , Thomas Blankenfelde commanded the riders of the city of Cölln "right hand from the electoral banner in the first row next to the margrave".

possession

Just six months after his father's death, in February 1475, Blankenfelde got a third of his father's family property (the two houses in Berlin, the fiefs in Pankow, Kaulsdorf and Groß-Ziethen). He was also a feudal lord and landlord in Seefeld . In 1476 he acquired further rents and property in other villages around Berlin, such as Reetz, Marzahn , Hohenfinow , Groß-Ziethen and Löhme . In 1477 he bought half the village of Wittstock from Bernd von Torgau. In 1486 he was enfeoffed with the Freihof in Weißensee . In 1490 he acquired part of Ahrensfelde from Hans Strohband .

family

Blankenfelde was married twice and had 10 sons (6 of whom he had studied) and 11 daughters. This is concluded from a votive picture that is said to be in Berlin's Marienkirche .

• His first wife was probably a daughter of Heinrich Strohband, a son of the Berlin Mayor Henning Strohband . This is justified with the constellation of the four coats of arms in the capital of the Blankenfeld house at Spandauer Straße 49 (today in the Nikolaikirche ), one of which is that of the Strohband family.

The two sons Paul Heinrich (1460–1532) and Wilhelm (1465–1536), both of whom became merchants, and four daughters come from this marriage .

• His second wife was probably Margarete von Buchholz (1454–1531). The first name is historically documented. Since the coat of arms of the patrician family Buchholz, which was then based in Frankfurt (Oder) , with three red-bound books in a blue field is assigned to her on the votive picture , it is assumed that she was born Buchholz.

From this marriage came seven daughters and eight sons, u. A. Johann II. Von Blankenfelde , who later became Archbishop of Riga. Margarete carried on the business of her husband carefully and energetically. She invested a total of 1870 guilders in her talented son Johann . She outlived her husband by more than 27 years.

A bust of Blankenfelde used to be in the Blankenfeld headquarters, then until 1945 in Siegesallee with Elector Friedrich II and today in the Märkisches Museum .

Web links

• Thomas Blankenfelde . In: At the top of Berlin at the Luisenstadt Educational Association
• Groß-Ziethener Chaussee. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )