Heintz von Basel BS

[theskaw]

Hello,

I'm researching what I can into the background of Hans Martin Heintz. He was christened in Basel Stadt, St Theodor, Apr 27, 1656, to Hans Heintz and Catharina Löchlin. The latter two were married in 1655. H. M. Heintz trained as a stonemason and moved to Norway, where he eventually became responsible the construction and design of several important buildings.

Dr. Arnold Lotz has some notes on the Löchlin family, but Hans Martin's father, Hans Heintz, is so far a dead end. I suspect he may not be originally from Basel, so any suggestions where/how to look further are welcome!

As a small detail, I found the following document in the Staatsarchiv:
http://query.staatsarchiv.bs.ch/query/d ... ?ID=837979

"Vor Johannes Brenner, Schultheiss zu Minder-Basel: Hans Rudolf Heintz, auch namens s. Bruders Hans Martin Heintz in Norwegen, fröhnt ein Tawen Matten am Egelsee, die Balthasar Hügelin, Steinmetz, für 363 Pfd. kauft. Zeugenreihe"

Could someone translate this for me? I suspect it means that Hans Rudolf Heintz has sold something (a "Tawen Matten"?) to Balthasar Hügelin on behalf of his brother, Hans Martin, but I'm not sure

Thank you!
Knut

[Wolf]

Could someone translate this for me?

Let me try it - though I'm sure someone else will come up with something better .

"Fröhnen" will be the verb related to Fronarbeit (forced labour for some sort of ruler/superior).
"Tawen" will likely be an area measure - like Tagwerk - and "Matte" most likely means Wiese (meadow).
"Egelsee" will be a lake - there are several of this name in Switzerland, the nearest one to Basel in canton Aargau.
So my summary would be that Balthasar Hügelin had bought a meadow near an Egelsee and Hans Rudolf Heintz, also in the name of his brother Hans Martin Heintz, had worked there. Why "Frondienst"? Balthasar Hügelin was a stonemason (as was H.M.Heintz) - did the Heintz brothers owe him something (e.g. for education - or he had helped them in some way) and paid back by working for him, instead of money?

Alternative explanation: the Heintz brothers were tenants of that meadow (and had to do forced labour for that to some landlord) and sold that right to Balthasar Hügelin.

I hope someone else comes up with a more definitive answer.

For the origin of the Heintz family - just an idea: HLS mentions a Joseph Heintz, born 1564 in Basel to a Daniel Heintz, a stonemason(!) from Alagna (Sesiatal, Piemont), who gained citizenship of Basel in 1559.

[Walter]

"Egelsee" will be a lake - there are several of this name in Switzerland, the nearest one to Basel in canton Aargau.

Egelsee = Eglisee

[theskaw]

Thank you for your suggested translations - it is interesting to know they had some kind of relation to Balthasar Hüglin.

I have found in the christening records that Hans Martin and his youngest brothers all had a Johannes Heintz as one of the godparents, so he is probably an uncle or a grandfather. But without finding a christening date for their father, Hans Heintz, it will be difficult to get any further! Unfortunately, the digitalized marriage records for St. Theodor don't include 1655, when Hans and Catharina married.

[Peter.D]

Hi Knut,

On March 31, 1655 the master stonemason Hans Heintz was granted citizenship of Basel (Weiss p.684). He could well be the husband of Katharina Löchlin.
The marriage at St. Theodor in 1655 is a reconstructed event, because the marriage records of this parish for those years were already missing when the index of marriages was established in 1863!

Unfortunately, the origin of Hans Heintz is not indicated. In addition to the Heintz coming from Valsesia as indicated by Wolf, there was another Heintz from Diessenhofen, who was granted the citizenship in 1572 (Weiss p.394).

Peter

[theskaw]

Thank you, that's very helpful! A shame his origin isn't mentioned.

Does this necessarily mean he came from another city? In Norway one had to earn citizenship ("borgerskap") by social standing. So if it were here he could well have been born and raised a place but first given borgerskap when it was deserved - for instance after becoming a master craftsman. Could the same apply to Hr. Heintz, or does the entry in Weiss indicate he moved to Basel from somewhere else?

[Peter.D]

Most probably, he and his family were living in Basel for quite a while before receiving the burghership. Stonemasons usually followed the construction works of civil and clerical authorities. I therefore guess that the three Heintz, who became burghers of Basel, were not of the same family and possibly had different origins.

As a burgher, Hans Heintz was certainly a member of the appropriate guild: the Spinnwettern Zunft, of which many documents and membership roles have been preserved, although nothing is online.

Peter

[Wolf]

Does this necessarily mean he came from another city? In Norway one had to earn citizenship ("borgerskap") by social standing. So if it were here he could well have been born and raised a place but first given borgerskap when it was deserved - for instance after becoming a master craftsman.

Let me just add to Peter's response: rules of citizenship in Norway and Switzerland were obviously quite different (about Norway I only know what you just wrote). A child automatically became citizen of his father's community by birth - nothing to do with education or standing. If a man got married to a "foreign" women, he had to "buy" citizenship for his wife-to-be, as citizenship was the social security system of the time: once a person could not support him/herself, the citizenship community had to provide the means for living. So - is a man gained a new citizenship (also connected to a fee), he would have held (if Swiss) another citizenship prior to that. On the other hand, as Peter mentioned, a person could have lived in some other place for quite a while, or even a family for generations, before gaining a new citizenship. Some professions were prone to moving around (like stonemasons) and wouldn't change citizenship each time they moved to a new (e.g.) building site.