Zacharias Fridenreich

Zacharias Fridenreich , also Friedenreich or Friedensreich (* around 1573, probably in Königsberg in the Neumark ; † between 1642 and 1648 in Vienna ), was a German lawyer, constitutional lawyer and diplomat in the preliminary phase and during the period of the Thirty Years' War .

biography

Zacharias Fridenreich lived in the Holy Roman Empire

The place and year of birth Fridenreich are not known for certain. Königsberg in the Neumark is assumed to be the place of birth , as Fridenreich expressed himself in various works of his own. In his Politicorum liber , published in 1609, he called himself Regiomontanus Marchicus and in his Epigrammatum libri tres he used the designation of origin Regimontani Novimarchici . Later biographers also started out from this place of birth. His year of birth is estimated to be around 1573, as Fridenreich enrolled at the University of Frankfurt / Oder around 1588 (for this year there is the entry Zaccharias Friederich Cunigsbergensis ) - an average enrollment age of 15 years was assumed. From the Viadrina he moved to the Strasbourg University (formally an academy and only from 1621 a full university). There, the lawyer Georg Obrecht was one of his main academic teachers. After completing his studies in Strasbourg, Fridenreich sat for some time at the Imperial Court of Justice in Speyer and returned to Strasbourg in 1606 to work there from 1606 to 1609 as a preceptor for noble students from his home territory of Brandenburg. During this time, his first major work, Politicorum liber ("Book of Politicians") was created. The book was dedicated to the elector Johann Sigismund von Brandenburg , who had just come to reign - probably in the hope of a position in the Brandenburg civil service. In terms of content and structure, the work was based on the Politica methodice digesta by Herborn lawyer Johannes Althusius , published 6 years earlier, and largely adopted his monarchomachean argumentation. In the Politicorum liber , Fridenreich speaks out in favor of a consolidated state authority, but against an absolutist centralization of power in one person. Using the example of the Holy Roman Empire : Liquidum est, summum in Imperio magistratum & monarcham Imperatorem esse: utut potestas ipsius non sit usquequa libera et absoluta (“It is obvious that the emperor is the authority and the crowned head of the empire - but be his Doesn't make completely absolute and unlimited ”). In the second part of the work, Fridenreich represents the traditional Lutheran doctrine of the authorities with reference to the classic Bible passage from Romans (13 LUT ), with which he relativized some of the positions represented in the first part. Possibly Fridenreich was already under the impression of his imminent entry into princely services when writing this second part.

A few years after its publication, the work was indexed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in two decrees of 1610 and 1616 .

In the Palatinate-Neuburgian service

De ignoratia - title page of doctoral thesis 1609

De Tutela et Administratione Electorali Palatina (1613)

On July 2, 1609 doctorate Fridenreich with the work De ignorantia ( "About the ignorance") at the University of Basel for Doctor of Laws . He dedicated the apparently hastily written doctoral thesis to "his most gracious master" ( domino suo clementissimo ) Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg , so that it can be assumed that he was already in the service of the Count Palatine at this time, although the first mention in the Palatinate-Neuburg files are only documented for December 1609.

The entry into the Palatinate-Neuburgian service brought Fridenreich in opposition to his original sovereign, the Brandenburg Elector Johann Sigismund, since the Jülich-Klevische succession dispute had broken out since 1609 , in which the Elector and the Duke and Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig over the inheritance of the deceased last Duke of Jülich-Kleve-Berg argued. During his almost four years of activity for the Count Palatinate until the spring of 1614, Fridenreich represented the interests of the Palatinate-Neuburg region as a resident in Düsseldorf for at least one year. In addition to the Jülich-Klevian succession dispute, the dispute over the guardianship of Frederick V of the Palatinate , in which (Reformed) Electoral Palatinate, (Lutheran) New Burgess and (Catholic) Bavarian interests were in conflict, formed another area of ​​work for the lawyer Fridenreich . In the case of the disputes, well-known Reich lawyers took a stand and published treatises with which they sought to justify the legality of the interests represented in each case. Fridenreich's legal opponents were the two Heidelberg professors Dionysius Gothofredus and Marquard Freher , the Palatinate councilor Michael Loefen and the Bavarian lawyer Christoph Gewold . Fridenreich's journalistic contribution to this dispute was Controversiae, quae hodie in S. Rome, printed in Cologne in 1613 . Imperio de tutela et administratione Electorali Palatina agitatur, Synopsis ("Summary of the dispute that is currently being fought over the guardianship and administration of the Electoral Palatinate in the Holy Roman Empire"). Fridenreich dedicated the text to Emperor Matthias , who came into office the previous year , congruent with the Palatinate-Neuburg politics, which were increasingly based on the Habsburgs.

Regensburg time

In the spring of 1614, Fridenreich resigned from the Palatinate-Neuburgian service and accepted the position of council syndic in the Free Imperial City of Regensburg . The motive for the change was probably essentially the public conversion of Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm to Catholicism, which the staunch Lutheran Fridenreich was opposed to.

In Regensburg Fridenreich was again confronted with the denominational disputes of his time. In addition to the pronounced Lutheran council of the city, a Catholic bishop also resided here and the city, as a frequent meeting place for the Reichstag, had to adapt to various denominations and their needs. In 1618 Fridenreich married Catharina Fädelmeyer here, the daughter of a court judge. There are hardly any written records about the exact legal activities of Fridenreich during his 10 years in Regensburg.

Agent of various gentlemen at the imperial court in Vienna

In 1624 Fridenreich moved to Vienna to work as a Reichshofrat agent - probably through the mediation of an old acquaintance from the Neuburg era, Jeremias Pistorius , who had been active in Vienna since 1612 . From the beginning of November he worked as an agent for Count Anton Günter von Oldenburg . For a fee of 100 Reichstalers annually, Fridenreich was supposed to represent the interests of the Oldenburg County at the imperial court and to report to Oldenburg about this at two-week intervals. For example Fridenreich was in one on 1625 Reichshofrat the revenue from the pending dispute between Oldenburg and Bremen Weser inch involved. From 1627 Oldenburg was in dispute with the neighboring county of East Friesland under Count Edzard II over diked lands and the rule of Jever . Fridenreich also experienced the rampant Counter-Reformation in the Austrian lands of the Habsburgs, including the associated Upper Austrian Peasants' War in 1626. While some Lutherans in his environment ultimately converted to Catholicism out of political opportunism, Fridenreich remained lifelong loyal to Lutheranism. Since the annual salary received from Oldenburg was not enough, Fridenreich took over the representation of the concerns of the Counts of Waldeck after the death of the previous Count's Waldeck agent at the Viennese court in 1626. The county of Waldeck had been involved in a lawsuit with neighboring Hessen-Kassel since 1622 , in which it was literally about the continued existence of Waldeck as an independent territorial unit, so that a competent lawyer experienced in imperial law was required. In 1621, Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel even attempted to occupy Waldeck by military force, but this failed.

In a recommendation from Fridenreich to the court in Arolsen it was said that he was “zealously devoted to the Lutheran religion” and at the same time “an experienced, learned and popular with all Reichshoffräthen [...] drafted, honest and godly man”. From November 11, 1626, Fridenreich was also in the service of the Waldeck Counts. Through diligent activity, Fridenreich achieved favorable results in the Waldeck affair and the counts received a title upgrade in 1627 and were allowed to call themselves "high and well-born", which in return was associated with a very high payment of 300 gold guilders , which was a burden for the county . A constant obstacle in Fridenreich's activity was the notoriously slow processing of cases by the Reichshofrat and the sloppy management of files, which is expressed in numerous reports by Fridenreich and other Reich agents. In a letter Fridenreichs states: ... the Acta bey the registry abermahl nit find can want ungeacht I erindert umbstendtlich what extent these Acta hiebevor also been relocated and scattered, but have been ordered together in my Beysein ... .

The increasing oppression of the Protestants in the Habsburg countries meant that the agents at the imperial court were also restricted in their freedom to practice their religion, which Fridenreich reported in several letters to Arolsen and Oldenburg. These circumstances, and in particular the edict of restitution issued in the spring of 1629 , brought the Protestant agents at the imperial court closer together. Lutherans and Calvinists also settled their disputes.

After Fridenreich's wife died, he married Justina Schmelzer, the daughter of a witness of the Lower Austrian estates, in early January 1630. Around 1632, Fridenreich's work for the Counts of Waldeck and Oldenburg came to an end. Fridenreich himself seems to have lost interest in the processes due to the laborious, sluggish progress and he was accused of inaction by his employers, which he vigorously denied. In view of the circumstances of the war, the general increasing uncertainty associated with it and the failure of the law, he left Vienna in the spring of 1633 for Silesia at the latest . In a letter from Breslau from June 1633 to Waldeck, he justified his departure with the fact that since the absence of the royal] M [ajestä] t in Sweden [etcetera] the most Christian thought [ie the death of King Gustav II Adolf in the battle of Lützen in 1632] the persecution in Vienna increased to such an extent that one's children and property were in danger . In the letter he described the dangers to which he and his family had been exposed by robbers on the trip to Breslau. In the following time Fridenreich seems to have found no more permanent employment and probably obtained income through occasional legal assistance from the city of Breslau. In 1636 a collection of epigrams from his pen appeared in Leipzig. The volume of poetry has autobiographical references. For example, the son August, who died in Vienna in 1630 at the age of 18, is mourned and there is praise for Swabians ( Laus Sueviae ) - probably a sentimental reminiscence of the neo-castle era. In addition, the prevailing lack of rights and the loss of Constantia is lamented in several verses ( Nil constans in mundo , Constantia prudens etc.). Fridenreich finds consolation in the work in the Christian faith.

From 1641 Fridenreich found himself in Vienna again. In the final phase of the war, the situation had calmed down and Fridenreich received a position as procurator , probably through the mediation of his old friend Jeremias Pistorius, who in the meantime held a prominent position among his colleagues as an agent for numerous Protestant territories at the imperial court . On January 9, 1642, he took the oath for this. This oath is the last documented act from the life of Fridenreich. He probably died in Vienna before 1648. Often the year of death is given as 1645, without it being clear from which source this information comes.

Works

• Fridenreich, Zacharias: Politicorum liber, ex sacris profanisque scriptoribus veros artis Politicæ fontes investigans . Paul Ledertz, Strasbourg (Latin, online ).
• Fridenreich, Zacharias: De Ignorantia Theses juridicae . Genathius, Basel 1609 (Latin, online ).
• Fridenreich, Zacharias: Controversiae, quae hodie in S. Rome. Imperio De Tvtela Et Administratione Electorali Palatina, agitatur, Synopsis: Marquardi Freheri, Et Dionysii Gothofredi, sparsis ea de re Scriptis potißimum opposita, una cum Praefatione Ad Divum Imperatorem, Et Proceres Germaniae, Pro Legibus Imperii fundamentalibus tuendis . Schmidt, Cologne 1613 (Latin, online ).
• Fridenreich, Zacharias: Syncharises Gamicae, Lectissimo Nuptorum Pari . Johannis Beithmann, Jena 1618 (Latin, online ).
• Fridenreich, Zacharias: Epigrammatum Libri tres . Müller, Breslau 1636 (Latin, online ).

Web links

• Works by and about Zacharias Fridenreich  in the German Digital Library
• The files of the Imperial Court Council (RHR) , Erich Schmidt Verlag Berlin (digital files archive subject to subscription)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jöcher, Christian Gottlieb; Adelung, Johann Christoph; Rotermund, Heinrich Wilhelm; Jöcher, Christian Gottlieb; Adelung, Johann Christoph; Rotermund, Heinrich Wilhelm: General scholars lexicon: In it the scholars of all classes, both male and female, who lived from the beginning of the world to the present time, and made themselves known to the learned world, After their birth, life, remarkable stories, Withdrawals and writings from the most credible scribes are described in alphabetical order . Gleditsch, Leipzig 1787, p. 1253 ( online ).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Gerhard Menk : Zacharias Fridenreich (approx. 1573 to approx. 1645). A Lutheran lawyer as a publicist and practitioner in the early 17th century . In: Hans-Peter v. Haferkamp, ​​Peter Oestmann, Joachim Rückert (ed.): Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History: German Department . tape 109 , no. 1 , August 1, 1992, p. 246–334 , doi : 10.7767 / zrgga.1992.109.1.246 .
3. ↑ Fridenreich: Politicorum liber , p 170
4. ↑ Fridenreich, Zacharias. In: Jesús Martínez de Bujanda , Marcella Richter: Index des livres interdits: Index librorum prohibitorum 1600–1966. Médiaspaul, Montréal 2002, ISBN 2-89420-522-8 , p. 360 (French, digitized version ) (the place of birth is incorrectly given here as "Königsberg (Kaliningrad)").