Johann Rudolf Wettstein

Johann Rudolf Wettstein (* October 27, 1594 in Basel, † April 12, 1666 ) was a Swiss diplomat and mayor of Basel.

Life

Wettstein was the son of an immigrant from Rumlikon in the Zurich Oberland wine growers, who worked as a winemaker in the hospital and later rose to the hospital champion. From 1600 to 1608 he attended the school on Castle, today's high school on Cathedral Square. Then he made in Yverdon and Geneva a firm doctrine and married in 1611, the older by five years, Anna Maria Falkner. In 1616 he joined temporarily in Venetian service. After returning to Basel, he made ​​a career in the city and was in 1620 elected to the Small Council. In the following years he became more public offices. In 1635 he was elected colonel guild master and 1645 as mayor of the city of Basel.

At the negotiations for the Peace of Westphalia in Münster and Osnabrück Wettstein took 1646/47 in part as an envoy of the Swiss Confederation, without having been previously invited, and initially even without legitimation by the Confederation. After a long, tough and skillful negotiation, he reached the parting of the Confederation of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1648. During the Peasants' War of 1653 he played a determining role that the seven leaders were publicly executed in the Basel area.

Wettstein died in his hometown in 1666. Considered as one of the ablest politicians of his time, but also as an important exponent of the absolutist tendencies within the Confederation.

Honorific naming

1879 a new bridge over the Rhine was built in Basel, in 1881 was named Wettsteinbrücke. On the Kleinbasler side of this bridge is now home to the Wettsteinplatz that Wettsteinstrasse and Wettsteinallee. In historical Wettsteinhaus in Riehen, his former home, the toy museum, village and winegrowing since 1972 set up. Located on the facade a bronze memorial plaque with a relief portrait Wettstein.

Writings

  • Acta and actions concerning common Eydgnosschafft Exemption, and what their half by the Cammer to Speyr, darwider the capitalization Turbationen so want to bey the Westphalian Fridens - tractates, ALSs on Kayserl. Hoof and anderstwo negocirt and been done, Basel 1651st

Research literature

  • Franz Fäh: Johann Rudolf Wettstein. A time - and life image, 2 vols, Basel 1894-1895.
  • Julia Gauss / Alfred Stoecklin: Mayor Wettstein. The man, the work, the time, Basel 1953.
  • Historical Museum Basel (Ed.): Wettstein - Switzerland and Europe in 1648, accompanying publication accompanying the exhibition, Basel 1998.
  • Stefan Hess: The Vineyard of the Lord Mayor. Johann Rudolf Wettstein as a wine producer, in: Basel Journal of History and Archaeology 98 (1998 ), pp. 35-47.

Fiction

  • Mary Lavater- Sloman: The Swiss King: Historical novel from the time of the Peace of Westphalia. . Rascher, Zurich 1935 edition as The Swiss King: Johann Rudolf Wettstein. Römerhof Verlag, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-905894-08-0.
Chancery (medieval office) Swiss peasant war of 1653 Absolute monarchy Integrated Authority File
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