Johann Christoph von Wöllner
Johann Christoph von Woellner ( born May 19, 1732 in Doberitz, † September 10, 1800 in United Rietz Beeskow ) was a Prussian pastor and statesman of Frederick William II.
Life
Johann Christoph Woellner [1 1] was the son of a pastor. After passing the matriculation examination in 1749 he entered the University of Halle with the study of theology, which he successfully completed in 1754. In the same year he was appointed as a pastor in the town of Gross Behnitz in Berlin. In parallel, he got a job as a tutor at General August Friedrich von Itzenplitz.
When after some years died General of Itzenplitz, Woellner resigned in 1760 all his ecclesiastical offices and leased the Good of the General. In 1768 he married Charlotte Amalie Elisabeth of Itzenplitz ( 1742-1801 ), the only daughter of his former employer. This Mesalliance tolerated King Frederick II did not: he let expropriate " woman Woellner " and banished them to the Berlin Hausvogtei. During this time, some polemical writings Woellners emerged (eg the abolition of the nasties in the Mark Brandenburg). Inter alia because these pamphlets Woellner made the acquaintance of the Enlightenment Friedrich Nicolai. He was an employee of the library on agricultural issues.
Frederick II refused until his death on August 17, 1786 categorically to raise Woellner to the peerage. Several times he called Woellner " ... a deceitful and scheming priests ". In 1770 he was appointed by Prince Henry of Prussia to the Council in its domain chamber. It first became a member of the Masonic Lodge donated by the king to the three globes to Woellner withdrew later and turned to the Rosicrucians. He soon founded his own lodge, and on August 8, 1781 Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm member there.
By the time Woellner won some influence on the Crown Prince. On August 26, 1786, he was appointed by the new rulers to secretly finance, war and Domänenrat and to Oberhofbau - artistic directors. On 2 October the same year they raised him to the peerage, and reported back to him the confiscated goods. Over time, kindled a political power struggle between the individual ministries and reached the peak in 1788, the Minister Karl Abraham Freiherr von Zedlitz urged as Woellner from office. In its place now, he was appointed Heads of State and Minister of Justice and head of the spiritual department. Since Woellner wrong with the king in various lodges, he could obtain his favor precisely by.
His influence on the king made Wöllnersche religion edict of July 9, 1788 C, which should curb the influence of the Enlightenment on religion stop by committing the clergy strictly on the contents of the symbolic books of their respective denomination. Only after about five years ago, on December 27, 1793, it was repealed; now turned critical of the three main denominations is a crime and was eventually threatened with removal from office. Of these, censorship of the Royal Immediatexamenskommission Immanuel Kant was concerned.
After the death of Friedrich Wilhelm II on 16 November 1797, the political career Woellners was over. On March 11, 1798 he was released and now lived alternately on his estates in Brandenburg; inter alia, on large -Rietz, which he had bought in 1790. There he died at the age of 68 years on September 10 in 1800.