Andreas Pouchenius the Elder

Andreas Pouchenius

Andreas Pouchenius the Elder ( Latinized from Puchgen , born November 30, 1526 in Gardelegen , † October 13, 1600 in Lübeck ) was a German Lutheran theologian and superintendent in Lübeck.

Live and act

After studying theology at the University of Wittenberg from 1546 to 1548, especially with Philipp Melanchthon , he was first vice-rector and then rector of the Latin school in Helmstedt . This was followed by stops in his hometown Gardelegen as council secretary and in Braunschweig as rector of the Martino-Katharineum (1553) and pastor at St. Martini (1564). In 1571 he became the deputy of the Braunschweig superintendent Martin Chemnitz .

In March 1575 the council of the imperial city of Lübeck appointed him as the successor to Valentin Curtius as superintendent, which was connected with a sermon position at the Marienkirche .

In Lübeck, Pouchenius continued the course of consistent Lutheran confessionalization that Curtius had started . He promoted the cooperation of the spiritual ministries (the clergy) of the cities of Lübeck, Hamburg and Lüneburg in the so-called Ministry Tripolitanum and ensured an agreement in favor of the Gnesiolutherans at the Mölln Convention in 1575 . This paved the way for the so-called Swabian-Saxon Agreement, which Martin Chemnitz edited while Pouchenius wrote the preface. In 1577 he had all preachers and teachers in Lübeck obligated to the final version of the concord formula and, after submission by the councilor Heinrich von Stiten († 1588) , was able to celebrate the introduction of the concord book with a festive service in 1580 .

From 1581 to 1588 there was a lengthy dispute with the rector of the Katharineum , Pankratius Crüger , over school supervision and church discipline . He emphasized the responsibility of the church to the council that was brought in by Crüger, the owner of the lordly church regiment in the Free Imperial City, but was only able to partially assert itself.

Pouchenius' most important achievement was the visitation of the Duchy of Lauenburg on behalf of Duke Franz II (Sachsen-Lauenburg) in 1581/82. She exposed great abuses in teaching, preaching and the way of life of the pastors in the country. As a consequence, Franz II deposed the previous head of the church, Franz Baring , and appointed Gerhard Sagittarius, recommended by Pouchenius, as superintendent of Lower Saxony . Pouchenius also wrote the Lower Saxony church order resulting from this visitation . This was introduced on March 25, 1585, became the model for similar regulations in northern Germany and even in Lübeck de facto replaced the church order introduced by Johannes Bugenhagen in 1531 . In 1590 Pouchenius made a visitation to the land of Hadeln .

The last years of his life were marked by his involvement in the internal Lutheran disputes of the 1590s, such as the dispute over the theory of ubiquity with the University of Helmstedt and the predestination debate with Samuel Huber .

In 1552 Pouchenius married Judith Krage (n) (1531–1601) in Gardelegen, a daughter of the Braunschweig mayor Lüder Krage (n). The couple had three daughters and three sons, including Andreas (1553–1613), who taught as a theology professor in Königsberg . His son Levin Pouchenius (1594-1648) was also known as a theologian.

Works (selection)

For a complete overview, see the list of prints from the 16th century published in the German-speaking area (VD 16)

• A sermon CAECILII CYPRIANI Weilandt Bishop of Carthage in Aphrica to comfort his churches in the difficult time of the Pestilentzien for 1320. Jaren done, At our time fromen Hertzen in the congregation of Christ in Lübeck in Germany. Lübeck 1577 ( Cyprian of Carthage De mortalitate )
• Ad Johannis Palmeri sacramentarii protestationes oppositas Formulae Concordiae Christiana responsio . Lübeck 1579

German: Answer to Johannis Palmerij des Sacramentschwermers Protestationes. Which he wrote against the Christian Formulam Concordiae. Lübeck 1579

• Church order our by God's grace Frantzen moved to Saxony, Engern and Westphalia . Lübeck 1585 (reprinted by E. Sehling: Evangelical Church Orders of the XVIth Century , Volume 5, 1913, pp. 397-460)
• Etlike christlike Gebede. Lübeck 1598

family

From his marriage on October 11, 1552, to Judith (* October 28, 1531 in Braunschweig; † December 1, 1601 in Lübeck), the daughter of Lüder Krage (n), from 1508 to 1529 mayor of the Braunschweig Neu-Stadt six children known:

• Andreas Pouchenius (born September 11, 1553 in Braunschweig, † October 14, 1613 in Königsberg), professor of theology
• Anna Pouchenius (born June 24, 1555)
• Johann (born May 16, 1557)
• Magdalena (born December 22, 1558)
• Jodoeus (born January 21, 1561)
• Apollonia

literature

• Kurt Feilcke: The Lauenburg church visitation of 1581/82 , in: The Reformation in Lauenburg. Second part , Ratzeburg 1933, pp. 28–52.
• Wolf Dieter Hauschild: Church history of Lübeck . Lübeck 1981, p. 270 u. ö.
• Wolf-Dieter Hauschild: Pouchenius, Andreas. In: Alken Bruns (Ed.): Lübeck resumes. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1993, ISBN 3-529-02729-4 , pp. 305-308.

Web links

• Works by and about Andreas Pouchenius the Elder  in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Friedrich Burmester, Contributions to the Church History of the Duchy of Lauenburg , Ratzeburg: Selbstverlag, 1832, p. 25. No ISBN.
2. ^ Johann Friedrich Burmester, Contributions to the Church History of the Duchy of Lauenburg , Ratzeburg: Selbstverlag, 1832, p. 27. No ISBN.
3. ^ Cordula Bornefeld: The dukes of Saxony-Lauenburg , in: The princes of the country: Dukes and counts of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History , Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here p. 379. ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5 .
4. ↑ GEDBAS: Andreas POUCHENIUS. Retrieved March 9, 2018 . 
5. ^ Georg Wilhelm Dittmer: Genealogical and biographical news about Lübeck families from older times . Ed .: Dittmer'sche Buchhandlung. Lübeck 1859.

predecessor	Office	successor
Valentin Curtius	Superintendent of the Lübeck Church 1575 - 1600	Georg Stampelius