Matthias Kremer

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Matthias Aquensis

Matthias Kremer , also: Matthias Kremer, called Peltzer, Matthias Cremerius, Matthias von Aachen, Matthias Aquensis (* 1465 in Aachen ; † November 12, 1557 in Cologne ), was a German Catholic theologian , professor at the medieval University of Cologne and an important counter-reformer in the Archdiocese of Cologne .

Life

The son of the wool merchant Jakob Kremer (* 1435) and Margaretha (Greitgen) Peltzer initially called himself, like his brothers, " Kremer, called Peltzer ". Since his matriculation in 1482 to study philosophy and theology at the University of Cologne, he was best known as " Matthäus Aquensis " (Matthäus von Aachen). He was the uncle of the Aachen mayor Matthias Peltzer , who later switched to Protestantism .

After completing his studies, Kremer was taken on as a lecturer in philosophy at the Montanerburse in the Cologne district of Niederich . Along with the Laurentian and Cornelian courses , this was the oldest of the three Cologne bursas , which had been founded in 1420 by Heinrich von Gorinchem and had a Thomistic orientation. All of them were part of the old University of Cologne. Here Kremer was particularly encouraged by Valentin Engelhard von Geldersheim, who later designated him in a will to succeed him as Regens of the Montanerburse. First he was elected Dean of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Cologne in 1510 and again in 1516 . In 1516 he also received a doctorate in theology and the appointment of canon at St. Andreas in Cologne. Finally, after Engelhard's death on June 28, 1533, he was appointed to the Regens. Kremer himself also decreed in a will that the incumbent Regens of the Montanerburse, Gerhard Mathisius von Geldern, should succeed him.

Although even the Reformation facing praised him of the Swiss reformer and historian Heinrich Bullinger , who had studied from 1520 to 1522 in Cologne as the most capable teachers of Burse and estimated Kremer due to his philosophical knowledge.

The counter-reformer

Kremer's time in Cologne was shaped both by the influence of humanism on the University of Cologne and by the emerging Reformation movement. As a conservative and staunch scholastic , he did not join the humanistic reformist endeavors that were promoted by Peter Rinck , Petrus von Ravenna , Johannes Caesarius and others at the university. Instead, he participated with the scholars of the theological faculty in the implementation of a censorship of humanism , which resulted in a steady decline in the number of students. Nevertheless, he did not completely shut himself off from the necessary reforms at the university and from 1525 belonged to the second commission after 1523, which was supposed to plan and implement graduated and adapted reform measures.

Kremer's real passion, however, was the fight against the emerging Reformation movement. He especially fought with the theologian and advocate of the Reformation Martin Bucer , who lived in Bonn for a year in 1542/1543 , on behalf of the Archbishop of Cologne, Hermann V. von Wied , to carry out the Reformation in the Archdiocese of Cologne to prepare and in this context in 1543 wrote two haunting Reformation writings (“Einfaltigs Bedencken”). Kremer, who had joined the Jesuits in the same year and had a close relationship with the Jesuit Father Petrus Canisius , who in turn also promoted the Counter-Reformation, countered Bucer's theses with five traditional public writings. This commitment on the part of Kremer as rector of the University of Cologne led, in connection with the other counter-Reformation activities of the cathedral chapter and the Jesuits, to the suspension and excommunication of Archbishop Hermann by Pope Paul III. and finally, after the intervention of the imperial commissioners, his final resignation.

Fighting to the last for his convictions, Kremer died at the old age of 92 on November 12, 1557 and was buried in the nearby cemetery in Stolkgasse. In his will he bequeathed two foundations each for Cologne and for his old hometown Aachen. At the foundations in Cologne , the doctors and baccalaureatees were to be rewarded with three schillings each for participating in the annual mass of the theological faculty to be held on January 27, and the convention with two gold florins for holding this mass. On the other hand, he bequeathed 1000 gold guilders to the Jesuit College in Cologne for the establishment of the Jesuit order . With his two foundations for Aachen, Kremer gave the city of Aachen itself and, on the other hand, the Marienthal monastery at the time, with the condition of supporting needy members of his family or, if they should join the convent, paying them a pension from this fund. He appointed the former mayor Caspar von Schwartzenberg as executor and administrator of the foundation . This occurred, however, is so far known, not because the family Peltzer as officially stated here, the majority of the Reformation had joined and therefore the end of the 16th century during the time of Aachen religious unrest with imperial ban was prosecuted, prompting the majority of them emigrated to the nearby Spanish Netherlands or to Stolberg .

A portrait of Matthias Aquensis that was painted over in the 1850s is now in the meeting room of the administration of the Cologne Study Foundation.

The Swiss polymath Heinrich Loriti (Glarean) dedicated one of these two elegies to Matthias Aquensis from Basel under the title “Duo elegiarum libri ad Uldericum Zinlium Doggium, Basileae MDXVI” : “ad Matthiam Aquanum philosophum et theologum Agrippinensem” .

Fonts (selection)

  • Catholicae ac orthodoxae religionis adversus Lutheranam haeresim , Cologne 1542
  • Christian reports, waruff to solidify the stanthaftlich wants to stay in the outrageous Christian believe: with refutation of the principal. articules denominate teaching M. Buceri in the book to Bon outgoing , Cologne 1543
  • Christian report, on what those should solidify themselves who want to remain steadfast in the Christian faith, against the teaching of Martini Buceri ... , Cologne 1543
  • Christiana Ac Pia De Catholicae Fidei Regula Assertio: cum dilucida perniciosorum praecipuè huius calamitosissimi s [a] eculi dogmatum confutatione , Cologne 1556
  • Catholicae Doctrinae Assertio , Cologne 1560 (posthumous)

Literature and Sources

personal data
SURNAME Kremer, Matthias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cremerius, Matthias; Cremer, called Peltzer; Kremer, called Peltzer; Matthias of Aachen; Matthias Aquensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic theologian and Rector magnificus of the University of Cologne
DATE OF BIRTH 1465
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1557
Place of death Cologne