Dietrich Reinkingk (in Latin sources Theodor Reinking (10 March 1590 – 15 December 1664) was a German
constitutional lawyer
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in feder ...
and politician, much of whose career was adversely impacted by the
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).
He was also an important early contributor to the
Reichspublizistik movement, which sought to document and thereby promote and legitimise the constitutional arrangements and processes that operated in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
.
Life
Dietrich Reinkingk was born in
Windau, a port city and commercial centre now in
Latvia, but in 1590 a German town in the
Duchy of Courland
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia ( la, Ducatus Curlandiæ et Semigalliæ; german: Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen; lv, Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste; lt, Kuršo ir Žiemgalos kunigaikštystė; pl, Księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii) was ...
. His father, Otto Reinkingk, came from a well established Lutheran family
of army officers and government officials. His mother, born as Hedewig von Lambsdorf, died in 1603 while Dietrich was still a child. It was also in 1603 that the boy was sent away from home, in order to escape from a plague epidemic. He ended up living with relatives in
Osnabrück
Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...
, where his grandfather had once been an alderman, and which is where he attended secondary school.
[ His subsequent schooling took him to nearby ]Lemgo
Lemgo (; nds, Lemge, Lemje) is a small university town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
It is situated between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser Uplands, 25 km east of Bielefeld and 70 km west of Hannover.
T ...
and Stadthagen
Stadthagen () is the capital of the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km east of Minden and 40 km west of Hanover. The city consists of the districts Brandenburg, Enzen-Hobbensen, Hörkamp-L ...
, where in 1610 he wrote a substantial dissertation on his subject, Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
.[
In 1611 Reinkingk moved on to study at ]Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, and then Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
, where his subjects were Philosophy and Legal sciences.[ He received his doctorate for a dissertation entitled ''De brachio seculari et ecclesiastico'' in 1616. Soon after this he was working at the Lutheran University of Giessen.][
In 1617 Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt had Reinkingk appointed to an associate professorship at the Law Faculty of his new university in Giessen. However, Reinkingk left the faculty in 1618 when he was appointed a "Court Councillor" (''"Hofrat"'') at Giessen.][ Further appointments in ]Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...
, now for the court/government administration rather than in the academic world, followed. In 1622 he was appointed an imperial vice-chancellor in Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
.[ He obtained a position with ]Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg
Adolf Frederick I (15 December 1588 – 27 February 1658) was the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from his father's death in 1592 until 1628 and again from 1631 to 1658. Between 1634 and 1648 Adolf Frederick also ruled the Prince-Bishopric ...
, became Chancellor of Mecklenburg, based in Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...
in 1632.[ Mecklenburg had come under the influence of Sweden, but the power relationships between the belligerent powers were in a state of some flux during the 1630s, and with a background of shifting alliances and allegiances, by 1635 his role Adolf Frederick's man in Schwerin made him a target for the Swedish army.][ Swedish troops arrested him in 1635. He was released in 1636, however, and took a post working for the ]Diocesan administrator :''See: Catholic Church hierarchy#Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law''
A diocesan administrator is a provisional ordinary of a Roman Catholic particular church.
Diocesan administrators in canon law
The college of consultors elects an admin ...
of Bremen, better known as Prince Frederick of Denmark, a son of the Danish king.[ He became a trusted advisor to Prince Frederick, who entrusted him with several important diplomatic missions.][ As chancellor in the administration of Bremen, Reinkingk took part in peace negotiations at Münster and Osnabrück which eventually led to the end of the ]war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
in 1648
1648 has been suggested as possibly the last year in which the overall human population declined, coming towards the end of a broader period of global instability which included the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, t ...
. More immediately, however, for Reinkinghk involvement in the negotiations led to a further period of imprisonment by the Swedes, between 1645 and 1647.[
In 1648 the ]Danish king
This is a list of Monarchy of Denmark, Danish monarchs, that is, the kings and queens regnant of Denmark. This includes:
* The Kingdom of Denmark (up to 1397)
** Personal union of Denmark and Norway (1380–1397)
* The Kalmar Union (1397–1536) ...
died and Reinkingk's prince succeeded his father, becoming King Frederick III of Denmark. This led to Reinkingk's appointment as a Danish Privy councillor. He was also made Chancellor of what was known to the Danes as the "German Chancellery”, based in Glückstadt
Glückstadt (; da, Lykstad) is a town in the Steinburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river, about northwest of Altona. Glückstadt is part of th ...
.[ This amounted to a senior position at the court in Copenhagen coupled with senior administrative responsibilities for the king's southern territories of ]Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
, where use in churches of Luther's High German translation of the bible was increasing daily use of German, albeit without entirely displacing Danish and other vernaculars. In 1649[ or 1650,][ the year of his sixtieth birthday, Dietrich Reinkingk was appointed to a position he had coveted, as President of the Appeal Court at ]Pinneberg
Pinneberg (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Pinnbarg'') is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18&nbs ...
.[
Unlike most of the Danish King's lands ]Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
, which was included in Reinkingk's own extensive administrative bailiwick, was part of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
(as its most northerly region). In 1655 or 1656[ the Emperor Ferdinand raised Reinkingk to the imperial nobility.
]
Personal
Dietrich Reinkingk married Catharina Pistorius on 3 October 1616. She predeceased him on 24 October 1661, by which time their 45-year marriage had produced 11 recorded children. His second marriage, on 25 February 1663, was to Dorothea, born Dorothea Schiele/Scheele and by now the widow of Johann Vieth (1581-1646).[
Dietrich Reinkingk died at ]Glückstadt
Glückstadt (; da, Lykstad) is a town in the Steinburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river, about northwest of Altona. Glückstadt is part of th ...
on 15 December 1664.[ His remains were buried at nearby ]Rellingen
Rellingen is a municipality in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 7 km east of Pinneberg, and 10 km northwest of Hamburg. Population as of December 31, 2007 is 13,746. The total land ...
in the family burial vault, which still (2015) exists.
Writings and teachings
The survival of Dietrich Reinkingk's notability is in large part the result of his written work. In the context of what later came to be known as the Reichspublizistik movement, Reinkingk was the most prominent advocate of imperial conservatism. He rejected rationalist contemporary theories that favoured a distancing from Imperial authority. Reinkingk imputed to the old Roman sources of the law a level of authority equal to that of Holy Scripture, eternal theological fundamentals and Lutheran dogma. His legal teaching was influenced by Lutheran ethics and by biblical theology, but tending towards a unified post-confessional constitutional order.
His objective was to preserve the threatened order spelled out in 1555
Year 1555 ( MDLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
* January 22 – The Kingdom of Ava in Upper Burma falls.
* February 2 – The Di ...
, and to anchor it constitutionally. He savagely dismissed countervailing modern trends:
* "Modern "Reasons of state" are Reasons of the Devil. God's Laws and observance of them, by contrast, provide the best rationale and preserve the state."["Die moderne Staatsräson ist eine Teufelsräson, das Gesetzbuch Gottes und dessen Observanz hingegen die beste ratio status und Versicherung des Staates." - Dietrich Reinkingk]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinkingk, Dietrich
German legal scholars
Baltic-German people
17th-century German politicians
1590 births
1664 deaths
Emigrants from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Holy Roman Empire