Konrad Bethmann or Conrad Bethmann was a German mint keeper and entrepreneur serving secular and ecclesiastical authorities.
Life
He was born in Goslar as the seventh child of the merchant Andreas Bethmann, four years after the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. Much of Germany then was a patchwork of small to medium-sized jurisdictions. While this factor impeded development towards a nation-state, it ensured plentiful opportunities for ambitious bureaucrats and entrepreneurs. After leaving his hometown, he first became Münzwardein in Dömitz, then was appointed in 1683 Münzmeister to the Princess of Nassau-Holzappel in Cramberg on the Lahn river, followed by his appointment in 1687 as Münzmeister to the Teutonic Knights in Friedberg, and in 1692 as Münzmeister for the Archbishopric/Electorate of Mainz in Aschaffenburg. Among the oldest items pertaining to the Bethmann family in the archives of the city of Frankfurt is the file of a criminal complaint brought by Konrad in 1685 while he was in the employ of the House of Nassau. Under the rubric "Jew v. Out-of-towner", the archive summarizes the case as follows:
Conrad Bethmann, master of the mint for the Princely House of Nassau-Schaumburg, versusMencke and Abraham zum Hecht, for theft of Schaumburghellers in Schwalbach near Königstein and resale of stolen property. Defendants claim to have acquired the stolen coins in good faith. Arrest of Abraham, release on posting of 304 Reichsthalers bond. Out-of-court settlement of Abraham with bursars of Nassau-Schaumburg.
He bequeathed a substantial fortune on his widowAnna Elisabeth. As a Protestant, Anna Elisabeth and her children left the Archbishopric behind for Lutheran Frankfurt am Main; there she found it easier to comply with her religious obligations and benefited from the presence of relatives. Three of Konrad and Anna Elisabeth's daughters married citizens of Frankfurt. Their son Simon Moritz Bethmann was appointed an Amtmann in Bergnassau on the river Lahn. Another son lies buried in the St. Lazarus cemetery of Regensburg. The inscription on his tombstone reads:
