Town clerk, bailiff, wine merchant and Württemberg church council director at the time of the Reformation
![[Translate to Englisch:] Hornmoldhaus, 2014, Foto: Stadtmuseum Hornmoldhaus, Susanne van Loon](https://stadtmuseum.bietigheim-bissingen.de/fileadmin/user_upload_hornmoldhaus/das-hornmoldhaus/Hornmoldhaus_2014_aussen_van_Loon__15_.jpg "[Translate to Englisch:] Hornmoldhaus, 2014, Foto: Stadtmuseum Hornmoldhaus, Susanne van Loon")
Sebastian Hornmold (1500-1581) was an influential official at the Württemberg court and played a key role in the administrative implementation of the Reformation in Württemberg. At the same time, he contributed to the economic development of Bietigheim in the 16th century. As a bourgeois administrator, he embodied a new type of civil servant who now took the place of the old court service based on aristocratic birth. For his services, Duke Ulrich von Württemberg gave him the property at 57 Hauptstrasse in Bietigheim and had the “Hornmoldhaus” built with its magnificent Renaissance paintings.
Youth and education
Sebastian Hornmold was born in Bietigheim in 1500 as the son of the mayor Adam Hornmold. Adam Hornmold's ancestors were winegrowers and he himself was a wine merchant and cooper. He belonged to the town's nobility, i.e. one of the few families who ruled the town. There were personal relations between the family and the Duke of Württemberg.
The prince took Sebastian into his court choir in Stuttgart at the age of ten. Here he received a solid education, which also included courtly protocol. This was followed by studies at the University of Tübingen, made possible by a ducal scholarship. There he met Philipp Melanchthon (born 1497), who later became a humanist and reformer.
After Duke Ulrich's expulsion by the Swabian League (1519), Hornmold studied in Tübingen for another year, but was denounced to the Austrian government by the Duke's enemies. In particular, he was accused of his “Rainen Christenlichen Studien” (Rainen Christian Studies)), on the basis of which he was considered Lutheran. Although nothing criminal could be proven against him, he was imprisoned and expelled from the university.
The town clerk
![[Translate to Englisch:] Bietigheimer Weinregister, Foto: Stadtmuseum Hornmoldhaus, Susanne van Loon](https://stadtmuseum.bietigheim-bissingen.de/fileadmin/user_upload_hornmoldhaus/ausstellungen/staendige-ausstellungen/hornmoldhaus_weinregister.jpg "[Translate to Englisch:] Bietigheimer Weinregister, Foto: Stadtmuseum Hornmoldhaus, Susanne van Loon")
It was not until 1521 that Sebastian Hornmold was released and began an apprenticeship as a scribe “in a foreign country”. He returned to his home town as an imperial notary in 1525. Over the next ten years, he worked in Bietigheim as the town clerk. He was also used by the Austrian government in the service of the Rentkammer to take inventory of some offices and for other state business - proof of his outstanding ability. He presented himself as a typical representative of Old Believer respectability, who was loyal to the Austrian government for the good of the town. His continuing connection with Duke Ulrich and his closeness to the Reformation were not apparent to the outside world.
In 1526, on behalf of the government, he began writing down the city's regulations, the “Annals”. This work, which continued over the following centuries, is still of great importance for the history of the city today.
In 1550, he began recording the Bietigheim Wine Registery, which is still presented today. See also: Exhibition rooms in Exhibitions & Collection.
The town bailiff
![[Translate to Englisch:] Allianzwappen der Eheleute Hornmold, Foto: Stadtmuseum Hornmoldhaus, Susanne van Loon](https://stadtmuseum.bietigheim-bissingen.de/fileadmin/user_upload_hornmoldhaus/das-hornmoldhaus/Hornmoldhaus_2014_Wappen_van_Loon__37_.jpg "[Translate to Englisch:] Allianzwappen der Eheleute Hornmold, Foto: Stadtmuseum Hornmoldhaus, Susanne van Loon")
After the Duke of Württemberg returned in 1534, a new phase of Hornmold's life began. It coincided with a turbulent time of fundamental upheaval. Hornmold's part-time work at the Rentkammer became very important: the new government needed an overview of the financial situation and the extent of the church's assets as quickly as possible.
In July 1534, Hornmold was commissioned to compile an inventory of the benefices, i.e. the income from church property. At that time, during the inventory of Bietigheim, he may have had the plan to ask Duke Ulrich for the abandoned benefice of St. John's Chaplaincy as compensation “for monetary losses suffered and danger endured” in the service of the Duke. The request was granted. However, the transfer of ownership from the former church property caused much displeasure in the country and is probably why it remained unique. Hornmold acquired a farmstead next to the Pfründhaus, united the two and had today's Hornmoldhaus built on it (1535/36). It served as his home and official residence and was also an expression of his position. On April 23, 1535, Duke Ulrich appointed him bailiff in Bietigheim for the rest of his life on the condition that he “allow himself to be used for further business”.
The capable administrator was intensively entrusted with state tasks. Hornmold was responsible for the economic and administrative implementation of the Reformation in Württemberg, in particular the economic “liquidation” of the monasteries in the immediate vicinity - a task which he carried out meticulously and tenaciously, but which earned him few friends there.
The church council director
Hornmold initially lived through the turbulent period of the Schmalkaldic War and the “Peace of Augsburg” (1546-52) in Stuttgart, where he was wanted by the emperor. However, the pursuers did not harm his house and household goods. The approximately 70,000 liters of wine stolen from his cellar show that Hornmold still ran a lucrative wine trade. In 1549, the emperor finally rehabilitated him and compensated him with an imperial letter of arms.
Duke Christoph, who had reigned since 1550, also trusted Sebastian Hornmold. He made him director of the ducal church council, the central authority for church affairs, which was established in 1553. Hornmold thus played a decisive role in the legal standardization of the country that now began, in particular the “Great Church Order” issued in 1559. In addition to church matters, this regulated the school and health system - and was valid as one of Württemberg's “basic laws” until 1806.
In 1560, Hornmold resigned from the directorship of the church council and returned to Bietigheim in 1565, where he continued to serve the Duke as a "councillor from home". On May 12, 1581, Sebastian Hornmold died in his house in Bietigheim, a few months after he had once again requested additional financial compensation for his services from the Duke in a comprehensive "supplication"
Sebastian Hornmold and his wife Anna, née Brauner, had six children, four sons and two daughters. While his eldest son Josias (1528-1587) represented his father in the bailiff's office from 1552 to 1575, his son Moses (1542-1620) succeeded him as town clerk in Bietigheim, where he helped shape the fortunes of the town from 1566 to 1614. Samuel (1537-1601) was a doctor of law, professor in Tübingen and finally Syndicus of the city of Heilbronn; Sebastian, the youngest, was first a pharmacist in Calw, then a merchant in Strasbourg and later Privy Councillor to the Margrave of Baden.
You can find out more about the Hornmold family and the history of the Hornmold House in the 2022 publication about the paintings.
Click on the image and browse through the pages.
