Martin Klöker Baltischer Adel und städtische Eliten: ständische Grenzen im Wandel. Caspar Meyer († 1654) und Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803)

Klöker, Martin (2025). Baltischer Adel und städtische Eliten: ständische Grenzen im Wandel. Caspar Meyer († 1654) und Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803). Bömelburg, Hans-Jürgen; Westphal, Siegrid; e.a.. Adelskulturen im Baltikum. Identitäten – Konzepte – Praktiken. (73−87). Marburg: Herder-Institut. (Tagungen zur Ostmitteleuropaforschung; 44).

Abstract of the article

In discussions about the relationship between the Baltic nobility and the so-called “literate class,” the term “nobility” was often equated with the knighthood. This approach reduces aristocratic culture to the manorial system. However, there was a significant transitional phase between the bourgeoisie and the knightly nobility, in which ennobled citizens, and especially scholars, played a crucial role. This transitional space is highlighted by two very different examples:

In the first half of the 17th century, Caspar Meyer, as secretary of the Estonian Knighthood and the High Court, maintained direct contact with the knightly nobility. He was, in a sense, part of their culture and represented them through his office, even though he himself was a scholar of bourgeois origin and socially rooted in Tallinn’s lower town. He was later ennobled. This antagonistic situation between nobility and bourgeoisie, between rural and urban areas, gave rise to various problems.

Johann Gottfried Herder held a completely different position as a teacher and preacher in Riga from 1764 to 1769. However, scholarly research has consistently emphasized that he became at home and socialized in both aristocratic and bourgeois circles, despite his clearly bourgeois affiliation as a city employee. The fact that he maintained close ties with many nobles, particularly within the bourgeois circles of the council, while simultaneously receiving the highest acclaim from the knighthood, is likely attributable to the Enlightenment thinker’s extensive scholarly, literary, and teaching activities. Within the Baltic Enlightenment circles, class distinctions receded into the background.