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The Extraordinary Life of a Retired Sexton on the Brink of Poverty: Friedrich Wilhelm Hirsemann (1741–1802)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Peter Albrecht
Peter Albrecht
Affiliation:
Technical University of Braunschweig
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Extract

When European society was still divided into estates, rules of behavior covering all essential aspects of life were in effect for (and were expected to be observed by), even the smallest social group. Knowledge of the often quite subtle differences in the behavior expected and their strict observation within ones personal sphere determined the position of every individual. The adage, “Schuster bleib bei deinem Leisten” (shoemaker, stick to your last), had meaning not only for one's occupation, but extended to all areas of life. In the eighteenth century the room for movement slowly broadened for the individual. It was primarily in the educated circles that the pioneers of this process of gradual change could be found, and where the estates system itself began to be questioned. The room for mobility of those in the lower social groups expanded—to be sure only slightly—as far as one can judge on the basis of the restricted amount of sources at our disposal. But in individual cases, even people from the lower classes were able to make use of the loosening of barriers and to profit from them.

Type
Articles
Information
Central European History , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 185 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1994

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References

Translated by Ursula Marcum.

1. Vierhaus, Rudolf, Staaten und Stände. Vom Westfälischen bis zum Hubertusberger Frieden 1648 bis 1763 (Berlin, 1984), esp. 35–43.Google Scholar Additionally, as an overview still important, Kopitzsch, Franklin, ed., Aufklärung, Absolutismus und Bürgertum in Deutschland (Munich, 1976).Google Scholar

2. Cf., Darnton, Robert, The Literary Underground of the Old Regime, (Cambridge, Mass., 1982).Google Scholar

3. Davis, Natalie Zemon, The Return of Martin Guerre (Cambridge, Mass., 1983).Google Scholar

4. See for example the applications by M. A. V. Greve and A. L. H. Türcke for the position of sacristan at Sankt Katharinen 1775. Stadtarchiv Braunschweig (StA BS): G III 3:77.

5. StA BS: 26 April 1766 G II 9:4; 11 June–14 July 1766 G I 2:89.

6. Church records of the communities St. Ägidien and St. Katharinen in Braunschweig. The individual data were handed over to the municipal archive by the author.

7. Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Wolfenbüttel, hereafter NStA WF: April 1768, 9 May, 1759 2 Alt 15242; 30 April–21 December 1771 18 Alt C Nc 1 S. 14, 41, 101, 138, 204, 271. 371; 11 July 1772 18 Alt C Nr. 2 S. 591; 26 June–20 July 1774 18 Alt C Nr 4 S. 174, 194; 23 May 1774–10 January 1781 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 32 S. 1093, 1211, 1267, 1325, Bd. 35 S. 2485, Bd. 41 S. 6397; 28 April 1768, 9 May 1758 StA BS: C VI 42; 9 September 1769 C VI 45; 9 November 1772 C VI 253 III; July 1772 H VIII A 1820.

8. Braunschweigische Anzeigen 26. Stück 1775 (Br Anz 26/1775). StA BS: 1 December (1774–22 January 1775 C III 3:77; 14–15 March 1775 C VII 53; 29 August 1776 C VI 46; 26 January–4 April 1778 C VII 48; 12 June 1782 C VI 41; 24 September 1782–10 March 1783 C VI 154; NStA WF: 22 January–20 March 1775 18 Alt Nr 5 S. 24, 91, 106; 2–9 April 1777, 11 December 1781–31 January 1782 2 Alt 15268; 6 February–17 November 1782 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 43 S. 7426, Bd. 44 S. 8013, 8041, 8072; 16–23 February 1784 2 Alt 15318).

9. StA BS: 12 September–24 November 1784 C III 3:77; 15–23 November 1784 C VI 53.

10. StA BS: 1767–1769, 1774 D VI 45.

11. Entry in parish register St. Katharinen StA BS: G III 2 E 78 II S. 280.

12. “Die Armenschulen der Stadt Braunschweig in den Jahren 1802–1853” in Das niedere Schulwesen im Übergang vom 18. Zum, 19. Jahrhundert, ed. Albrecht, Peter and Hinrichs, Ernst (expected daté of publication Tübingen, 1994).Google ScholarAlbrecht, Peter, “Armenwesen,” in Handbuch der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte, vol. 2, ed. Hermann, Ulrich und Vierhaus, Rudolf (expected date of publication Munich, 1994).Google Scholar

13. Fuchs, Werner, Biographische Forschung. Eine Einführung in Praxis und Methoden (Opladen, 1984), 31–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. Copies are to be found in: StA BS: G IV 2:448 fol. 51, 130; H VIII A B 1 133. NStA WF: 56 Alt 42 (as receipt for the respective bills). About Hirsemann's business activities that began already while he was still sexton, see: Br Anz 11/1784; NStA WF: 16–23 February 1784 2 Alt 15318.

15. In addition to the sources listed in n. 10 see: StA BS: 31 March 1793 G II 4:14; G IV 2: 448 fol. 116, 130; G IV 2:422 fol. 131, 134, 160, 174, 178, 181, 192, 359, 360, 361, 363, 365.

16. Br Anz 44/1789, 78/1789, 49/1790, 2/1795, 7/1799, 9/1799, 36/1802, 46/1802.

17. Br Anz 36/1802, reply by the carrier Arnemann 38/1802.

18. Br Anz 80/1786, 26/1787, 75/1787, 101/1787, 44/1789, 78/1789, 100/1789, 49/1790, 87/1791, 16/1792, 2/1795, 71/1796, 31/1799, 61/1800. Cf., also corrections Br Anz 73/1787, 30/1800, 5/1802. Announcement of the non-appearance of an issue Br Anz 59/1801.

19. NStA WF: 5 January 1790 100 N 1012.

20. Br Anz 15/1787, 85/1787, 87/1787, 94/1787, 96/1787, 97/1787, 100/1787, 11/1789, 12/1789, 13/1789, 21/1790, 46/1790, 49/1790, 84/1790, 85/1790, 86/1790, 88/1790, 102/1790, 25/1792, 92/1794, 31/1798, 61/1800, 89/1800, 51/1801, 9/1802. Remaining copies were sold by his son-in-law Lüdecke 37/1802. He advertised his wares also through handouts, which were titled “Advertisement,” a title under which decrees of the ducal authorities were published, for example those of the police authorities. NatAWF: 1786 in 56 Alt 42; StA BS: 1786 in H VIII A 1820. Hochschularchiv Braunschweig:1787 bound behind Braunschweigisches Magazin 97/1787. Br Anz year 1783, bound at the end.

21. Br Anz 49/1790.

22. Br Anz 89/1800, cf., Br Anz 51/1802, 80/1789.

23. Br. Anz 97/1787.

24. Herzog August library Wolfenbüttel, hereafter HAB: Ġn Kapsel 33(2).

25. Br Anz 84/1790, 85/1790, 86/1790, 88/1790.

26. Campe, Joachim Heinrich, Denkmal der Liebe eines guten Volkes zu seinen guten Fürsten oder Beschreibung des allgemeinen Volksfestes, welches die Ankunft des Herrn Erbprinzen und der Frau Erbprinzessin Hochfürstl. Durchl. zu Braunschweig veranlasste (Schulbuchhandlung Braunschweig, 1790), 135.Google Scholar See also Braunschweigische Zeitung für Städte, Flecken und Dörfer. insonderheit für die lieben Landleute Alt und Jung (popularly known as the Rothe Zeitung (hereafter RZ): 95/1790, 96/1790.

27. Albrecht, Peter, Die Förderung des Landesausbaues im Herzogtum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel im Spiegel der Verwaltungsakten des 18. Jahrhunderts (1671–1806) (Braunschweig, 1980), 605.Google ScholarKnigge, Adolph, Die Reise nach Braunschweig, ein comischer Roman (Hanover, 1792, reissued Cassel, 1972).Google Scholar

28. RZ: 85/1788.

29. NStA WF: 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 50 S. 12004. See also StA BS: 11 April 1755 CV II B 15 1 Br Anz 38/1755, 23 January 1775 Br Anz 17/1775, 18 May 1784 CV II B 15 III.

30. Br Anz 86/1788, 91/1788, 92/1788, 96/1788, 11/1789, 19/1789. Braunschweigische Zeitung für alle Stände 177/1788, 178/1788, 185/1788, 194/1788, 196/1788. In addition to Hirsemann, prepayment was also accepted by the school book store and bookseller Meyer in Braunschweig, as well as the innkeeper Druffel in Hildesheim. StA BS: 14 January–16 March 1789 C VII B 18 II. NStA WF: 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 50 S. 12215. Avertissement mit dem Verbot BZ Anz 19/1789.

31. StA BS: 6 February 1789 C VII B 18 II.

32. StA BS: 18 February 1789 C VII B 18 II.

33. StA BS: 2 March 1789 C VII B 18 II.

34. Br Anz 84/1789.

35. Br Anz 16/1789, 23/1789, 24/1789, 36/1789, 65/1789, 23/1790, 24/1790; Hildesheimische Anzeigen 27/1789. Reviews: Br Mag 45/1789. Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen 61/1790. But see also 96/1790. Intelligenzblatt der Neuen allgemeinen deutschen Bibliothek 46/1795.

36. See for example his occasion-poem: “Bileams Adorned Donkey,” of the year 1789. HAB; Db 2257 (26).

37. NStA WF: 11 November 1789 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 51 S. 12695.

38. Segebrecht, Wulf, Das Gelegenheitsgedicht. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Poetik der deutschen Lyrik (Stuttgart, 1977).Google Scholar

39. Meyen, Fritz, Bremer Beiträge am Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig (Braunschweig, 1962);Google Scholaridem, Johann Joachim Eschenburg 1743–1820 (Braunschweig, 1957)Google Scholar, which contains extensive biographies of the persons mentioned.

40. Here is an example: “The schoolbook store is selling for 1 Gutegroschen: ‘Bürgerlied.’ Sung in Braunschweig on 6 February 1794. By Professor Heusinger. Any profit from this as well as the Ebert poem has been donated by the author to the poor, as goes without saying. Br Anz 15/1794. (Konrad Heusinger (1752–1820) and Johann Arnold Ebert (1723–1795) were professors at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig. Cf. also Br Anz 12/1794).

41. Cf. note 22, here 3–6, 12–15. Text 1799 and for the years 1797, 1798, 1800 StA BS: H VII A 1820. For 1793 StA BS: G II 4:14. For 1790 NStA WF: 100 N 1012 (Filed with 30 June 1790).

42. NStA WF: Bibl. M 1871 (1788, 1795), M 2269 a (1788), M 3139 b (1787, 2 c 1790, 1794, 1796); P 480 (1795) P 2600 (1780 Grob, 1787 Warnecke, 1788 Feddersen, 1795 Mund, 1795 Moller, 1795 Löbecke, 1799 Hirsemann, 1800 Witting); Q 4150 (1788);56 Alt 42 (1787). 56 Alt 45 (1788) 100 N 1012 (2 × 1790); StA BS: H VIII A Nr. 1820 (1787, 1788, 1789, 1793, 2 × 1794, 1795, 1797, 1798, 3 × 1799, 1800); H VIII A Nr.631 (1780), H VIII A Nr. 3276 (1792); H VIII B 133 (1797, 1802); H V 178 (1788,1789). G II 4:14 (C 2 × 1793). G IV 2:422 (22 December 1795, 7 April 1800, 31 December 1800); G IV 2: 488 fol. 116. HAB: Lo. 3040; Db 2257 (26); Gn Kapsel 23(28), 29 (7 + 8), 33 (2) 50 (17). Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek Hanover: C 15764:20 and 27. See also Br Anz 2/1789, 101/1793, 2/1794, 25/1799. Gelehrte Beyträge zu den Br Anz 37/1787.

43. NStA WF: 1795–1801 16 Alt Reihe V Bd. 64 S. 1233, Bd. 69 S. 3434, 3662, Bd.75 S. 9395, 10166.

44. See also n.14 and 15.

45. Br Anz 25/1799.

46. StA BS: H VIII Nr. 3276.

47. NStA WF: 1787–1795 100 N 1012. In connection with his patient, the Pastor Friedrich Ludwig Siegesbeck (1730–1801) who suffered from melancholia, see NStA WF:1779 18 Alt Nr. 9 S. 316; 1791 18 Alt Nr. 21 S. 200. 219, 281; 1783–1801 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 23 S. 237, Bd. 39 S. 5412, Bd. 54 S. 14152, Bd. 63 S. 20636, Bd. 65 S. 21308, Bd. 75 S 9100, 9278, Bd. 76 S. 9926, 10011.

48. Br Anz 46/1798, 47/1798, 51/1798, 71/1789, 72/1798. StA BS; Rechnung 1798 G IV 2; 422 fol. 317.

49. StA BS: H VIII A 1820.

50. Ibid.

51. Br Anz 17/1799.

52. StA BS: 2 June–7 October 1799 C VII F 4 vol. II. Just shortly before this, the authorities had strongly warned of the respective misdemeanor. Br Anz 46/1798, 55/1799.

53. StA BS: C VII F 4 vol II.

54. Kirchenbuch St. Katharinen G III 2 E 78 I S. 87.

55. Br Anz 92/1794, 71/1796, 7/1800, 8/1800.

56. Br Anz 59/1789, 61/1789; see also 20/1787, 38/1788, 102/1790.

57. Br Anz 44/1789, 59/1789, 61/1789, 78/1789, 80/1789. Occasion-poem “Drey Gebet-Formeln” StA BS: H V 178, H VII Nr. 164. In 1787 Hirsemann called himself a “former sacristan” in the occasion-poem “Zum Neuen Jahre 1787” StA BS: H VI A 1820. Sometimes he called himself even after 1789 “sacristan” without any additions, for example Br Anz 84/1790, 85/1790, 86/1790, 87/1790, 88/1790. Ocassion-poem “Herzog Ludwigs Andenken” 1788 NStA WF: Bücherei M 2269 a.

58. Hübner, Johann, Neu-vermehrtes and verbessertes Reales Staats-Zeitungs-und Conversations Lexicon (…) (Emerich Felix Baders, Buchhändler Regenspurg und Wien, 1759), 817.Google Scholar

59. To this problem, compare Mary Lindemann, “The Allgemeine Armenanstalt and the Non-Registered Poor;” Albrecht, Peter, “Die Reform der Braunschweigischen Armenanstalt nach Hamburger Vorbild 1796–1805,” both in Zwangsläufig oder abwendbar? 200 Jahre Hamburgischer Allgemeine Armenanstalt, ed. Braun, Erich and Kopitzsch, Franklin (Hamburg, 1990), 36–45, 166–87.Google Scholar There also further bibliographical sources.

60. 7 July 1799 NStA WF: 16 Alt Reihe IV Bd. 63 S 20654, 20655. Br Anz 55/1799, 93/1799. But see also Br Anz 69/1796, 71/1796.

61. Br Anz 23/1789, NStA WF: 50 Sig 24 Nr. 4.

62. NSta WF: 12 December 1767–13 June 1768, 9 July 1771–10 November 1772 Alt Aegid. Fb 1 Nr. 50; 5 July–3 August 1771 18 Alt C Nr. 1 S. 80, 99, 102, 121, 232; 13 June 1768 2 Alt 15281. StA BS: 9 July 1771, 21 March 1772 G II 9: 4; 26 January– 4 April 1778 C VI Nr. 48.