Bernardus Ancumanus

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Bernardus Nicaes Ancumanus , also Berend Sieger , (* around 1590 in Rorichum , † 1666 in Tergast ) was a German Reformed theologian.

Life

Ancumanus name was translated into Greek as Nicæus = winner and "Ancumanus" = "man from Ankum". His ancestors came from Ankum and moved to Rorichum in 1590, probably for religious reasons.

Ancumanus' multilingual father, Jodocus Ankumanus, was a pastor and from 1565 worked for several years as the tutor of Count Shrewsbury in England. The count rewarded him for his services with a scholarship for his son. He was able to study theology at the University of Cambridge from 1605 to 1610 and studied the writings of William Perkins and Johannes Calvin . Details of acquaintances with fellow students and his studies are not known. He made friends with the thirty years older humanist Johannes Holt, also Boisius or John Bois (French), whom he especially admired for his erudition and restrained lifestyle. That he admired him is shown by the fact that he translated Holt's writings.

Ancumanus' father died in 1613. In the following year he took over a pastor's position at the Tergaster church in Tergast and tried to work like Boisius on a small scale and to preach the doctrine of Calvinist theology. Due to health problems, his pastor ended in 1661. His position was taken over by his son-in-law Enno Colstein.

Ancumanus died due to the plague.

Works

In 1638 Ancumanus translated Latin epigrams by John Owen and published them as "Rosarium". He created the first translation of Owen's works in the German-speaking area. With his Low German version he opposed the tendencies of his time to reject dialects. Later he also wrote a High German version of the text. He did not work like typical contemporary epigrammatists who wanted to express themselves concisely. He knew how to describe the contents comprehensively and comprehensibly and mostly used gnomish epigrams. In doing so, he ensured that the thoughts emerged in a clearly understandable manner and promoted the goal of teaching and instructing the reader.

Ancumanus covered all areas of life in his epigrams. He described the subject areas “religion” and “morality” much more comprehensively than, for example, “gender” or “marriage”. It can be assumed that Ancumanus did this on the basis of content-related, more precisely moral considerations. In the preface he addressed lawyers, doctors and theologians directly and criticized them harshly at the same time. In the foreword of the High German version, he described his own theoretical thoughts on the "Rosarium". In contrast to Baroque writers, he did not see himself as a higher poet. Instead, he presented himself more as a translator who wanted to convey the meaning of Owen's texts as correctly and clearly as possible.

Ancumanus' Low German version of the “Rosarium” is of better quality than the High German version. In the Low German text, he used more original linguistic images of East Frisian life that are missing in the High German translation. He designed the Low German epigrams mostly shorter than the High German, which makes them better from a formal point of view.

Ancumanus also wrote Lower and High German sacred works, translated Latin satires by Joseph Hall and texts by Petrus Molinaeus .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ancumanus, Bernardus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ancumanus, Bernardus Nicaes (full name); Winner, Berend (original name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1590
PLACE OF BIRTH Rorichum
DATE OF DEATH 1666
Place of death Tergast