Paschen Ritter und Edler von Cossel (21 December 1714 in
Anklam
Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the western ...
,
Vorpommern
Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Weste ...
– 17 January 1805 in
Jersbek), was a German lawyer (since 1738), doctor of laws, syndic, canon of the
Hamburg Cathedral
Saint Mary's Cathedral in Hamburg (german: link=no, Sankt Mariendom, also ''Mariendom'', or simply ''Dom'' or ''Domkirche'', or ''Hamburger Dom'') was the cathedral of the ancient Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg (not to be confused with ...
chapter, and owner of two
Holsteinian estates, Gut Jersbek and Gut Stegen (from 1774–1805). He led a successful public life, and, in 1769, became ''Konferenzrat'' to the Danish royal household. Cossel and his second wife are buried in the forest adjacent to the park on the Jersbek estate.
Biography
Birth, family, and education
Paschen von Cossel was born to Henning Detloff Kossel (2 March 1670 – 6 July 1741) and Catharina Dorothea Pritzbuer (26 February 1683 – 17 November 1741), the last of eight children. His father had been a merchant, vintner, cellarer, and innkeeper in
Anklam
Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the western ...
,
Wismar
Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...
,
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg (lit. ''New Brandenburg'', ) is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban centre of the Mecklenburg Lakeland.
The city is famous for its ...
, and Stralsund, since 1700.
Cossel spent his school days in the Gymnasium Stralsund (part of the
Katharinenkloster), where he received a thorough education (learning, for instance, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew), gaining his school certificate in 1731. He received his ''Licentium Juris'' at the
University of Rostock
The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...
(1731) the
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public university, public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Meck ...
(1734), and the
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...
(1736), where he wrote a doctoral dissertation.
Two childless marriages
On the 15 May 1748 in
Pyrmont, Paschen von Cossel married Christine Eleonore Seip (14 January 1728 – 23 July 1748), daughter of Dr Johann Philipp Seip, the royal physician. Following her untimely death shortly after the marriage, Cossel married Maria Elisabeth Matthießen (28 January 1718 – 5 April 1789) on the 12 August 1755. Neither marriage yielded any progeny.
Death
Over ninety years old, Paschen von Cossel died in his Jersbek residence around 1pm on the 17 January 1805. The burial took place on the 23 January in the early hours of the morning, in the presence of friends and family; he is buried next to his second wife in the park of the Jersbek estate. This burial was altogether unconventional: there were no tolling bells, the burial place was not a consecrated graveyard, and there was neither pastor, nor blessing. It is not known why Cossel made these burial wishes. There are three factors which may have contributed to this decision, all based in the zeitgeist of the latter half of the eighteenth century: a desire to look back to the customs of
antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
, whereby one would be buried ''extra muros'', i.e. in open space; the
Enlightenment
Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:
Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
idea that it was unhygienic to bury the dead in and around churches; and simply a love of nature. Another possible reason for this unusual burial is that Cossel had feuded with Pastor Hans Christian Andresen, of Sülfeld.
Charges, titles, and honours
Both of Cossel's brothers went to Hamburg to establish trade businesses. Paschen followed them there in 1738, but became a lawyer. Through his excellent legal knowledge, juristic acumen, practical skill, and oratorical talent, he quickly developed a large and notable chancellery. On the 3 July 1741, Elector
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
, image = Friedrich August II of Saxony.jpg
, caption = Portrait by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein
, image_size = 220px
, reign = 6 June 1836 – 9 August 1854
, coronation =
, predecessor = Anthony
, ...
, in his role as
imperial vicar
An imperial vicar (german: Reichsvikar) was a prince charged with administering all or part of the Holy Roman Empire on behalf of the emperor. Later, an imperial vicar was invariably one of two princes charged by the Golden Bull with administering ...
for Saxony, granted Cossel the
privilege of a count palatinate.
[This may be a mistranslation from the German article. Cf. "''Kurfürst Friedrich August II. von Sachsen in seiner Eigenschaft als Reichsvikar für die Lande Sächsischen Rechts erteilte Paschen Cossel auf dessen Antrag bereits am 3. Juli 1741 „durch ein förmliches Diploma“ das Privileg eines kaiserlichen Pfaltz- und Hof-Grafen (Comites Palatini), einer Art kaiserlichen ]Notar
NOTAR ("no tail rotor") is a helicopter system which avoids the use of a tail rotor. It was developed by McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (through their acquisition of Hughes Helicopters). The system uses a fan inside the tail boom to build ...
s.''"
On the 16 April 1750, Cossel was elected successor to the Very Reverend Nicolai Albert von Holtze, of the syndic of the Hamburg Cathedral chapter. He held this office until 1760. Also, from the 15 December 1755 to the 9 April 1791, he was co-manager of the diocese (''Canonicus minor'').
He became the
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...
er ''Wirklicher Justizrat'' (4 November 1752), the ''Etatsrat'' to the royal Russian and Holsteinian households (23 July 1760), and the ''Konferenzrat'' to the royal Danish household (8 November 1769).
Paschen von Cossel's long-time friend, Christian Stilck, presented him with
letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
and a
grant of arms
A grant of arms or a governmental issuance of arms are actions, by a lawful authority such as an officer of arms or State Herald, conferring on a person and his or her descendants the right to bear a particular coat of arms or armorial bearings. ...
, and was raised into the untitled ranks of nobility on 21 December 1742. After he visited the imperial court in Vienna and asked for a raise in noble rank, he was granted the hereditary style of "Ritter und Edler von Cossel" (The Knight and The Noble of Cossel) on the 2 June 1755.
See also
*
Hans-Detloff von Cossel
References
Literature
* Davids, Curt, Chronik des alten Gutsbezirks Jersbek-Stegen, Hamburg 1954.
* Davids, Curt, Paschen von Cossel als holsteinischer Gutsherr, in: Jahrbuch des Alstervereins
* Deutsche Biographie, Neudruck der 1. Auflage von 1876, Vierter Band, Berlin 1968, 381 f. (Stichwort: Cossel).
* ''
Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie
The ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie'' (''DBE'') is a biographical dictionary published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (from the third to fourth volume), the first edition of which was published from 1995 to 2003 in 13 volumes by K. G ...
'' (DBE), München 1995, Band 2, 381 f. (Stichwort: Cossel).
* Deutsches Geschlechterbuch – Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien, hrsg. von Bernhard Koerner, Band 57, Görlitz 1928, 293 ff. (Geschlecht: von Cossel).
* Ettrich, Hannelies, Chronik Jersbek, Husum 1989.
* Günther, Barbara (Hrsg.), Stormarn Lexikon, Neumünster 2003 (Stichwort: von Cossel)..
* Heitmann, Hermann, Die Güter Jersbek und Stegen, Jersbek 1954 (vervielf. Ms.).
* Kopitzsch, Franklin/Brietzke, Dirk (Hrsg.),
Hamburgische Biografie, Personenlexikon, Band 4, Göttingen 2006 (Stichwort: von Cossel).
* Lohmeier, Dieter, Cossel, in: Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein und Lübeck, Band 11, Neumünster 2000, 85-88.
* Lohr, Axel, Paschen von Cossel und sein Wirken in Jersbek, in: Jahrbuch für den Kreis Stormarn 2004, Ahrensburg 2003, 98-127, mit Fortsetzung im Jahrbuch 2005, Ahrensburg 2004, 23-56.
* Lohr, Axel, Materialsammlung zu Paschen von Cossel und sein Wirken in Jersbek. Eigendruck 2003, im Archiv des Kreises Stormarn.
* Lohr, Axel, Die Geschichte des Gutes Jersbek von 1588 bis zur Gegenwart, Diss. phil. Hamburg 2007, Stormarner Hefte Nr. 24, Neumünster 2007.
* Lohr, Axel, Streit zwischen Paschen von Cossel und dem Sülfelder Pastor Hans Christian Andresen über zu Unrecht erhobene Deprecationsgebühren, in: Jahrbuch für den Kreis Stormarn 2009, Ahrensburg 2008.
* Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen, Zehnter Jahrgang 1832, Ilmenau 1834, 471–472 (Stichwort: Eberhard Christopher von Cossel).
* Paatsch, Walter, Ein Prozeß Pasch Cossels beim Reichskammergericht, in: Jahrbuch des Alstervereins e.V., Norderstedt 1992, 40-50.
* Schröder, Hans, Lexikon der hamburgischen Schriftsteller bis zur Gegenwart, 8 Bände, 1. Band, Hamburg 1851, 586 (Stichwort: Cossel).
* Schröder, Klaus, Geheimnisvolle Steine im Jersbeker Wald – Die Sanierung der Grabanlage von Cossel, in: Stormarner Hefte 20/1997, Neumünster 1997, 121-129.
* Wulf, Martin, Paschen Edler von Cossel, Gutsherr auf Jersbek und Stegen, in: Jahrbuch des Alstervereins e.V. 1965, Hamburg o. J., 27-35.
{{DEFAULTSORT:von Cossel, Paschen
Jurists from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Edlers of Germany
1714 births
1805 deaths