Vierbrüdersäule #3 - Johann Christoph Huhn 1717
Dissertation aus der vaterländischen Geschichte über die berühmte Statue der vier Brüder, oder
von der berühmten Säule der vier Brüder in der Fischhäusischen Heide - 1717.
Latein --> Englisch/Deutsch.
About time I got around to this, I've had the translations for a couple of months but procrastination got the better of me, again.
This dissertation, presented to the Königsberg Academy in 1717, presents several theories about the origin of the Vierbrüdersäule monument:
The Robbers’ Theory
The Travelling Brothers Theory
The Gods Theory
The Sacred Oak Theory
The Princes’ Theory
The Electoral Theory
The Duke Albrecht Theory
Plus a few more possibilities, all quite scholarly and interesting, but curiously no mention at all of the later commonly accepted theory involving Martin Golin, Conrad Teuffel, Claus Stobemehl, Malachias Kobelenz and Balthasar Röder that I mentioned in my earlier post, and whose names appeared on the late victorian Gedenktafel.
He seems to have researched quite thoroughly, examining documents as well as talking to the locals, so I find it intriguing that he didn't at least hear a suggestion of the Golin/Connowedit version.
Yet by 1784, when I believe the memorial was reinstated, the story appears as the only option in Wahre Erzählung vom Ursprung der Vier Brüder-Säule in der Capornschen Heyde.
The original is in Latin, but I've created PDFs in German and English, reasonably well sanity-checked but no guarantees.
Seems like there's still more to discover about the whole Vierbrüdersäule/Connowedit business, which I like. I'll be back.