Wilhelm Mantels

Wilhelm Mantels

Mantle hall of the Lübeck city library

Friedrich Wilhelm Mantels (born June 17, 1816 in Hamburg , † June 8, 1879 in Lübeck ) was a German educator , historian and librarian .

biography

Mantels was born in Hamburg. He came from a family of craftsmen who initially lived in Hanover. His father worked as a broker, then also continued his father-in-law's glazier business, but strived for a higher education despite his practical skills. In 1826 the family moved to Lübeck and their son Wilhelm (his nickname), the oldest of a total of eight siblings, should now take this path to higher qualifications. Because Wilhelm entered the Katharineum in Lübeck, where he spent most of his secondary school years until 1834. In this prestigious school he met Emanuel Geibel, Georg Curtius, Marcus Niebuhr and even Theodor Storm, among others. In 1834, however, the parents moved back to Hamburg. Therefore, Wilhelm graduated from the Academic Gymnasium there. After graduating from high school in 1836, he first studied theology, then philology at the University of Berlin , and later at the Universities of Leipzig and Munich . Classical studies, history and modern languages ​​were later added to the subjects mentioned. This all-too-wide range of subjects was then narrowed down to the subjects of Latin, German and history in the later practical school service. When his Munich dream of a stay in Greece was dashed, he went back to northern Germany, where, as was not uncommon back then, he began as a private tutor. After successfully passing his exams in 1843, he got a job in Lübeck at Ernst Deecke's educational institute, a boarding school for students at the Katharineum. A substitute activity at this school in 1846 paved the way for him to start there, initially as an assistant teacher ("collaborator".) There he was involved in the Jung-Lübeck group for a conservative-liberal renewal. He was appointed high school professor at the Katharineum in 1853 and worked there until his retirement in 1874. This permanent position enabled him to expand his range of activities beyond the school framework through various voluntary, mostly historically and scientifically oriented tasks and offices in associations and societies .

As an author, he began with one of his only philological publications in the form of a school program on the fables of Babrio . This work led him to the German animal poem, in particular the Reynke de vos , which was first printed in Middle Low German by Hans van Ghetelen in Lübeck in 1498 and thus to the Lübeck incunabula as a whole. Mantels emerged as a historian with numerous contributions to the history of Lübeck and the Hanseatic League . With his numerous articles, he particularly enriched the ZVLGA and the Hanseatic history sheets . Some publications (on the Lübeck dance of death or the medieval seals in the city of Lübeck) were made in close collaboration with Carl Julius Milde . He provided numerous biographies for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie . He was also commissioned to write the "Lübeck Chronicles" as a result of the chronicles of the Low German cities introduced by Professor Hegel from Erlangen . However, when Mantels died before it was completed, Karl Koppmann from Hamburg was entrusted with continuing his work.

In 1845 he joined the "Association for Lübeck History (and Archeology)", which he took over as chairman in 1870. In the same year he was involved in the founding of the "Hanseatic History Association" in Stralsund and became its chairman the following year. These were not non-binding honorary positions, but cooperation was required. Mantel published the Lübeck Document Book (volumes 2-5) since 1854. Since 1855 he edited the magazine of the Lübeck history association. He worked as a co-editor, author and reviewer for the "Hansische Geschichtsbl Blätter". Other editions should be mentioned: "Hansische Geschichtsquellen" (two volumes), "Hanserezesse" (also two volumes) and a volume of the "Hansische Urkundenbuch". In addition to his historical field of work, there were other obligations: his directorate at the "Society for the Promotion of Charitable Activities", his involvement in the St. Mary's Church in renovations or the preservation of church antiquities. He also campaigned for the preservation of the Holsten Gate and other Lübeck buildings. The fact that he was then also a member of the high school college, head of the school teachers' seminar, was involved with the Association for Low German Language Research, founded in Hamburg in 1875, raises the question of how he managed all of this. Critical companions indicated "a fragmentation of his forces".

On July 21, 1862, Mantels was entrusted by the Senate with the office of city librarian. He should have done the work of Dr. Ernst Deecke (1805–1862) continued. Mantels thus took on an additional task to his teaching. Ultimately, it was a voluntary activity that added to his enormous catalog of tasks. It was almost inevitable that the administration had to significantly reduce Mantels' compulsory number of hours. They were also willing to pay in addition to their annual salary (as a high school teacher). This additional amount was increased to up to 500 marks in the currency of the time (for annual salaries). That wasn't the end of it. A library assistant and the custodian of the school (part-time) were not enough, so that a second assistant had to be employed. Even then, those responsible were aware that a full-time and professional library manager would soon be needed. After all, Mantels had to supplement the accession lists, keep catalogs or improve them, and compile annual statistics. He was even involved in the loan business. Mantels showed that the library management had an eye for the essentials. Mention should be made here of the increase in funds for new purchases, which he managed to increase from 4,000 to 5,000 marks (per year), and on the other hand, the expansion of the space for books. Because the library business still took place in the medieval rooms ("Scharbausaal" and adjacent rooms). Mantels succeeded in getting the political leadership of the time through a new building, namely an extension to the medieval building fabric in the neo-Gothic style. This building was therefore closely linked to the structure of the former St. Catherine's Monastery . It was clever that the Katharineum in the basement and the city library in the upper floor should be used. That was easy to enforce. The school gave the library a few rooms to use for purely administrative purposes.

Therefore, the concept of the "Mantels-Saals" was free and in 1877 a hall library was created based on the old model, but its intended gallery could not be realized. The increasing number of book entries soon made it necessary to set up high shelves in the book hall, so that the character of the hall was soon converted into a book magazine with high wooden shelves and a central aisle. Only a processing table was pushed in between here and there. There were small storage racks in the aisle on each shelf axis. This situation was only illuminated by a few pictures. In the case of the central axis, the eye fell on Johannes Kirchmann (1575–1643), the library's founder and first librarian, who was also rector of the Katharineum. Based on the Wolfenbüttel model, this book room was redesigned by the Lübeck architect Klaus Mai 1995 with the book gallery and floor-to-ceiling wall shelves that had been sought earlier. It is used regularly as a foyer for the Scharbausaal, conference and lecture room and keeps the memory of Friedrich Wilhelm Mantels alive. A coat image as an oval relief (medallion), placed over a door, is reminiscent of the Hanseatic researcher and librarian. His successor as librarian was Carl Curtius .

Since 1848 Mantels was with Henriette, geb. Nölting, daughter of the consul Christian Adolf Nölting . The couple, who lived in an official apartment in the Katharineum with direct access to the city library until shortly before Mantels' death, had eight children.

Works

• About the fables of Babrio. (Program of the Catharineum) Lübeck: Schmidt, 1846.
• About the two oldest Lübeck citizen registers. (Invitation to the public exams and speech exercises ordered by the students of the Catharineum in Lübeck) Lübeck: Rathsbuchdruckerei, 1854.
• Lübeck and Marquard von Westensee. Lübeck: Rohden, 1856.
• Mr. Thidemann von Güstrow, mayor of the city of Lübeck, in the fourteenth century, according to the sources. Lübeck: (sn), 1858.
• The praise to the frame Husfruwen and Een Schipper-Nachtleed, up olden Bökern up dat nye upgelecht and to Mr. Schipscumdanten Friedr. Wilh. Adolph Nölting and his young Husfruwen Wilhelmine Marie Luise Nolte at the Dage Barnabae MDCCCLXIII. Lübeck: Schmidt (1863).
• From the memorial or secret book of the Lübeck shopkeeper Hinrich Dunkelgud. From 1479 to 1517. Lübeck: Rahtgens, 1866.
• The dance of death in the Marienkirche in Lübeck , drawn by CJ Milde and with text by Wilhelm Mantels, Lübeck: Verl. Graphische Werkstätten, 1866. New editions Lübeck 1989, 1993; Dräger Druck, 1997
• The second Hanseatic pound tariff decided in Cologne in 1376 . Katharineum school program . (Invitation to the exams and speech exercises of the students of the Catharineum in Lübeck) Lübeck: Rathsbuchdruckerei, 1862.
• Brun Warendorp. A mite for the Stralsund secular celebration on May 24th, 1870. S. l., 1870.
• Emperor Charles IV. Court camp in Lübeck. In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 1873, pp. 109–141.
• Carl Julius Milde in his effectiveness for Lübeck's art and antiquity. Lübeck: Grauthoff, 1876.
• Lübeck as the guardian of land and sea peace in the thirteenth century. In: Journal (of the association) for Lübeck history and antiquity. Lübeck 3 (1876), pp. 120-163. (Separately: sl, approx. 1865, 44 pages).
• Gymnasii Hamburgensis Rectori et Praeceptoribus diem festum AD IX. Cal. Jun. Quo ante hos trecentos et quinquaginta annos Johannes Bugenhagen ad aedem S. Johannis scholam latinam instauravit. Lübeck: Rahtgens, (1879).
• The Hanseatic ship captains Johann Wittenborg, Brun Warendorp and Tidemann Steen. In: Wilhelm Mantels, contributions to Luebisch-Hansen history. Jena: Fischer, 1881. pp. 179-229.
• About the oldest Lübeck citizen registers. In: Wilhelm Mantels, contributions to Luebisch-Hansen history. Jena: Fischer, 1881. pp. 55-100.
• Contributions to the Lübisch-Hansischen history: selected historical works. Jena: Fischer 1881 ( digitized in the Internet Archive )

Honors

The memory of Friedrich Wilhelm Mantels is kept alive today in a special way by the 1995 renovated and redesigned "Mantels-Saal" in the Lübeck city library. The inauguration of the revived hall was carried out by the then Minister of Education, Marianne Tidick. Paul Raabe gave the speech.

literature

• Andreas Ludwig Jakob Michelsen:  Mantels, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, pp. 253-256.
• Curt Curtius: Friedrich Wilhelm Mantels . In: Biographisches Jahrbuch für Altertumskunde (Nekrologe). Leipzig: rice country; Berlin: Calvary, Vol. 2 (1879), pp. 22-28.
• Reinhold Pauli: Wilhelm Mantels . In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter. Trier: Porta Alba Verl. (Lübeck: sn) Vol. 1879, pp. 3–10.
• Karl Koppmann: Wilhelm Mantels. Biographical sketch. In: Wilhelm Mantels, contributions to Luebisch-Hansen history. Jena: Fischer, 1881. S. IX-XXXI (works).
• Antjekathrin Graßmann : Mantels. In: Lübeck résumés. Neumünster: Wachholtz: 1993, pp. 248-252. ISBN 3529027294

Web links

Wikisource: Wilhelm Mantels  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Mantels in the catalog of the German National Library
• Mantels works in the SUB Göttingen

Individual evidence

1. ^ City archivist Dr. Karl Koppmann zu Rostock †. In: Father-city sheets . Year 1905, No. 14, edition of April 2, 1905, pp. 55–56
2. ↑ Antjekathrin Graßmann in: Lübeck CVs from nine centuries. Edited by Alken Bruns. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1993. pp. 248-252 (on Mantels). Quote: "Zersplitterung", p. 252. ISBN 3-529-02729-4 .- Jörg Fligge in: Stadt und Bibliothek. Literature supply as a communal task in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Edited by Jörg Fligge and Alois Klotzbücher. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1997. pp. 75-78; of which p. 77f. to "Mantels and the City Library." ISBN 3-447-03885-3 .
3. ^ Jörg Fligge in: City and Library. Literature supply as a communal task in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Edited by Jörg Fligge and Alois Klotzbücher. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1997. P. 74f.
4. ^ Biographical sketch , in: Contributions to the Lübisch-Hansischen Geschichte (lit.), p. XXXf.
5. ↑ Jörg Fligge: A new gem in Lübeck. The renovated mantle room in the city library is to be integrated into the library management's event concept in future. In: NORTH. Magazine of the music and congress hall Lübeck. Vol. 2, No. 7/8 July / August 1995, p. 12 - the same: reinstatement. Mantle hall of the Lübeck city library. In: Bibliotheksdienst, vol. 29. 1995, pp. 1175–1176.- The same: in: Speculum Aevi. Church singing in Lübeck as a mirror of the times. On behalf of the International Working Group for Hymnology and the Library of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, ed. by Ada Kadelbach and Arndt Schnoor. Lübeck 1995, pp. 7–9: The library of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck - also a reflection of the times. - The same: the mantle room. Restoration and redesign. In: The car. A yearbook from Lübeck. Lübeck 1995/96. Pp. 92-100. - The same: the mantle room of the Lübeck city library. Restoration and redesign. In: ABI-Technik 15. 1995. pp. 271-278. - The same thing: working from history into the present. Acceptance speech (on the occasion of the inauguration of the mantle hall of the Lübeck City Library on June 25, 1995). In: Lübeckische Blätter 160 (H. 16). 1995. pp. 253f. ISSN 03445216.