Albert Hardenberg

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Albert Rizäus Hardenberg

Albert Hardenberg, also Albert Rizaeus (* around 1510 in Rheeze near Hardenberg (Overijssel) , † May 18, 1574 in Emden ) was a Reformed theologian and reformer a . a. in Cologne , Bremen and Emden.

Life

Youth and education

Hardenberg's impoverished parents gave the 7-year-old to the brothers from living together in Groningen . In 1527 he became a monk of the Aduard Bernardine monastery . The young monk was sent to Leuven to study in 1530 in order to later succeed his abbot. While studying theology, he turned to the evangelical faith. After a short stay in Frankfurt he fell ill on the onward journey to Italy and therefore stayed in Mainz , where he obtained his doctorate in 1539.

In Leuven, Cologne, Wittenberg, Worms, Strasbourg, Basel and Zurich

Hardenberg met Johannes a Lasco in Frankfurt . He grew closer and closer to him. Together with him he went to Leuven, where he gained a large audience thanks to his ability to speak. However, he was charged with his pro-Reformation attitude. Thousands of citizens and students succeeded in ensuring that the trial was not held in Brussels but in Leuven. Contrary to expectations, the process was therefore favorable. The verdict demanded the burning of Hardenberg's books. He had to pay the court costs and was expelled.

After a short stay in the Aduard Monastery, he was invited to come to Cologne . In the meantime the Reformation spirit had grown stronger in him and, on Philipp Melanchthon's advice , he traveled to Wittenberg , where he arrived in June 1543. He remained friends with Melanchthon. From Wittenberg he went to Archbishop Hermann von Wied in 1544 , who entrusted him with the implementation of the Reformation initiated by Martin Bucer and Melanchthon . He found this work so important that he turned down several appointments during this time.

Following the Diet of Worms in 1545, he stayed for a long time in Strasbourg , Basel and Zurich . His service in Cologne only stopped when Hermann von Wied was forced to give up his office.

Field preacher in the north

As a field preacher to the troops of Count Christoph von Oldenburg , who was supposed to liberate Bremen , which was besieged by imperial, Catholic troops , Hardenberg experienced the battle of Drakenburg , north of Nienburg / Weser , in which the Protestant army of the Schmalkaldic League defeated the imperial troops of Duke Erich II. Defeated by Calenberg .

Preacher in Bremen

In 1547 Hardenberg became cathedral preacher at Bremen Cathedral on the recommendation of the Count of Oldenburg . In addition to two sermons a week, he also had to give a theological lecture.

At first he had a good relationship with the pastors and provosts. But his imperative doctrine of the Lord's Supper was soon established. This led to conflicts with the other, more orthodox Lutheran pastors in Bremen. The social lower and middle class in Bremen were increasingly on the side of the modest and popular Reformed.

The quarrel continued as Melanchthon stood up for his friend. Despite Lasco's encouragement, he refused a call to Emden. He appeared several times in the name of the city of Bremen with ecclesiastical reports. The differences in the view of the Lord's Supper between the mostly Lutheran town clergy and himself as the cathedral preacher finally became more pronounced and sparked the Bremen Lord's Supper dispute. Hardenberg tried not to make his point of view clearer.

In 1555 the dispute broke out again when Johann Timann advocated the theory of ubiquity . A discussion between Hardenberg and him brought no clarification. The whole city took part in the dispute. Mediation efforts by Archbishop Georg von Braunschweig-Lüneburg in 1558 could not end the dispute. Mayor Daniel von Büren the Younger supported this most important Reformed preacher in Bremen against a clear conservative majority in the council. Von Büren denied the Bremen council the authority to decide on theological questions.

When King Christian III. of Denmark intervened and just like the cities of Hamburg , Braunschweig and Lübeck demanded his removal and Tilemann Heßhusen also stood up against him, the Lower Saxony district council of Braunschweig was asked to clarify this question in February 1561, which decided on February 8, 1561 that Hardenberg to be dismissed from the cathedral chapter in Bremen within the next 14 days . Hardenberg protested against this on February 15, 1561 and left Bremen on February 18, 1561.

The cathedral remained closed until 1638.

In Rastede and Emden

Hardenberg found - again through the efforts of the Count of Oldenburg - shelter in the Rastede monastery .

In 1562 there was a change in favor of the Philippian direction, which led to the Reformed Confession. Hardenberg, however, stayed in Rastede Monastery and then became a preacher in Sengwarden in 1565 .

In 1567 he became first preacher in Emden , where he worked until his death. He wrote several theological writings, but his work was more determined by his sermons. He is buried in the Great Church in Emden.

Honors

  • The Hardenbergstraße in Bremen- Neustadt , district Buntentor, was named after him.

family

Hardenberg married Drusilla Sissinghe († 1580) in 1547 . The marriage remained childless.

His library

In the course of his life, Hardenberg acquired an extensive library, including works from the Arduard monastery library and from the property of Francisco de Enzinas . This library, comprising around 526 printed matter and 16 manuscripts, is the only private scholarly library from the mid-16th century in northwest Germany to be almost completely preserved and today forms a special collection of the Johannes a Lasco Library in Emden. Among them are significant individual items: two books (of three existing in Emden) from the library of Erasmus of Rotterdam , which came to Hardenberg through the interim ownership of Johannes á Lasco, who bought his collection.

From 1998 the volumes were digitized in a DFG project of the library in cooperation with the University of Emden / Leer . The aim of the project was to make the materials available online for research in addition to protecting the originals and creating backup copies.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daria Barow-Vassilevitch, Marie-Luise Heckmann : Occidental manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the early modern times in the holdings of the Russian State Library (Moscow) . Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-447-10144-8 , p. 351. RSB Moscow, Fond 722, No. 610 (formerly Hamburg City Library: Cod. Theol. 1968 Quart) = Albert Hardenberg: Theological and polemical writings on Protestantism . ZV 15831 in VD 16 ..
  2. ^ Bernhard Spiegel: D. Albert Rizäus Hardenberg. A theologian life from the time of the Reformation . Müller, Bremen 1869, pp. 295–304 ( digitized version of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek).
personal data
SURNAME Hardenberg, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rizaeus, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Reformed theologian and reformer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1510
PLACE OF BIRTH Hardenberg (Overijssel)
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1574
Place of death Emden