Wilhelm von Blankenfelde

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Bust of Wilke Blankenfelde in Siegesallee by Alexander Calandrelli , 1898

Wilhelm von Blankenfelde (* around 1400; † August 7, 1474 ), known as Wilke , was Berlin's mayor .

Stand and title

Coat of arms of the Blankenfelde family

He comes from the Blankenfelde patrician family in Berlin , who provided a total of seven Berlin mayors. His father Paul von Blankenfelde , his younger brother Johannes II von Blankenfelde and his son Thomas von Blankenfelde were also mayors of Berlin. He himself held the highest state office in the years 1436/37, 1444/45, 1446/47 and 1457/58, 1459/60, 1461/62 and 1463/64 in the obligatory annual change. 1474 he was by Emperor Friedrich III. raised to the imperial nobility. His wife Katharina (* 1415 in Berlin) was a daughter of the Berlin mayor Thomas Wins .

possession

As early as 1436, Blankenfelde was the heir to Blankenburg , Pankow and Weißensee . In 1446 he got the villages of Seefeld , Groß Ziethen, Herzfelde, Werder , Altena, Hennickendorf , Reez, Rüdersdorf and Pankow as fiefdoms , after 1456 Zehlendorf, Wensikendorf, Schwanebek, Kotzeband (Oranienburg) and Niederschönhausen were added. In 1458 Blankenfelde and his brother Johannes were enfeoffed with the income from the village of Kaulsdorf .

history

The time of Berlin's indignation , i.e. the conflict that broke out between the guilds and the councilors of Berlin and Cölln in 1440/41 , the subsequent separation of Berlin and Cölln by Elector Friedrich II. Eisenzahn , the related disempowerment of the council on February 26, 1442 and finally the rebellion of the city against the elector in 1448 he experienced as mayor and participant.

Only after prolonged pressure from the patrician families in Berlin did Wilhelm and his brother Johannes decide to intervene in the conflict (they had only just been enfeoffed). For this, the brothers had to answer to the Spandau court on charges of felony . They had to pay a heavy fine and return their fiefs to the elector. However, the elector considers it appropriate to pardon the brothers a short time later. Blankenfelde got his property back as early as 1454 and is even referred to in an electoral deed as "our faithful Wilcke". He was also granted the mayor's office again from 1457.

Although Blankenfelde had lost his mayor's office during the conflict with the elector, he apparently remained a member of the Berlin council. In 1453, together with the then mayor Peter Garnkäufer, on the occasion of the Elector’s New Year’s reception, he was able to acquire the right to use red wax for the council .

1474 Blankenfelde and his brother Hans from Emperor Friedrich III. raised to the imperial nobility and received the letter of arms .

monument

For Berliner Siegesallee , the sculptor Alexander Calandrelli designed monument group 16 with a statue of Frederick II in the center, flanked by the side figures (busts) of the Chancellor and later Bishop of Lebus, Friedrich Stuhlmann and Wilke Blankenfelde. The group's unveiling took place on December 22, 1898. The arched frieze on the marble bench, which enclosed the group of monuments in a semicircle, was shaped by Calandrelli based on a frieze from the Blankenfeld house, which had been demolished during the construction of the new town hall.

Friedrich II is seen as the conqueror of the urban resistance. “His fist is holding a certificate that symbolizes the submission of the twin cities of Berlin-Cölln to Berlin's indignation. The bust of Blankenfeld is holding the re-awarded official seal in her right hand . “ The reverent, submissive facial expression as well as the posture of the left hand, which the mayor presses on his chest with a gesture of devotion, should offer a“ true picture of the relationship between the city and the sovereign ”. "

The representation of the power of the Brandenburg cities broken by the iron tooth was reinforced by arrows and torn documents on the bottom of the central statue. Uta Lehnert therefore interprets the tenor of the entire group as a " historically disguised warning " from Wilhelm II to the current city fathers around 1900. (Kaiser Wilhelm II was the client of the Siegesallee and ultimately the decisive authority in all questions about the Monumental Boulevard.)

literature

  • Uta Lehnert: The Kaiser and the Siegesallee. Réclame Royale , Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-496-01189-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Uta Lehnert: Der Kaiser und die Siegesallee , p. 151f (the quote taken over by Lehnert comes from Bär No. 17/1899, p. 269 ).
  2. Uta Lehnert: The Kaiser and the Siegesallee , p. 150.