Ministry of Spiritual Library
The library of the Ministry of Spirituality in Greifswald is a collection of theological printed works and manuscripts from the 14th to 19th centuries. The library, founded in 1602 from the older holdings of the abolished Greifswald monasteries, is now located in St. Nikolai Cathedral . It comprises 2399 writings in 1844 books, 2083 of which have theological content.
history
Before the Reformation, the two Greifswald monasteries had their own libraries. Parts of these libraries consisted of the bequests of professors from the University of Greifswald . The lawyer Johannes Meilof bequeathed his book collection to the Dominican monastery (Black Monastery), while the theologian Otto Brüssow bequeathed his to the Franciscan monastery of Greifswald (Gray Monastery).
In the course of the introduction of the Reformation in the Duchy of Pomerania , both monasteries were closed. The extraordinary value of the pre-Reformation book inventory was recognized in 1535 in the Pomeranian Church Order by Johannes Bugenhagen . At the same time the intention was stated to establish a library in a central location. The book inventory of the Dominican monastery was probably brought to the Marienkirche before 1545 . There it was expanded to include the recently acquired writings of Martin Luther .
In the visitation process of 1558, Duke Philip I again urged the establishment of a central library. In the same year the books were moved from the Marienkirche to the Franciscan monastery, so that both collections were kept together for the first time. Since the city set up an institution for the poor in the Gray Monastery from 1566, some of the books were relocated to the Marienkirche. Decades of negotiations between the griffin dukes and the city council, which mainly concerned the use of the rooms and the costs, only brought progress after the establishment of a clergy ministry .
From 1599, the inventory of books from the Gray Monastery was inventoried and brought to St. Nikolai Cathedral until 1602. In the cathedral there was already a church library laid out by Magister Petrus Sager. Most of the books were taken from the Marienkirche. The list with the title Inventarium Bibliothecae Ecclesisticae from 1602 is the founding document of the library .
In the following years up to 1616, the book inventory was significantly increased through the purchase of various sacred literature. For this purpose, significant funds could be drawn from the donations of the community members. Later, the purchase of books was supported by the taxes of the pastors to be ordained and the fines to compensate for violations of canon law. In addition to works by the church fathers and the reformers Martin Luther and Johannes Calvin , exegetical and dogmatic writings were acquired. The books stood above the sacristy until 1755 , when they came to the then open gallery on the east side.
In the second half of the 17th century, the book inventory from the estates of the general superintendent Mövius Völschow (1588–1650) and Matthäus Tabbert (1625–1675) increased. Larger exegetical writings were acquired again from 1684. The theology professor Georg Brockmann (1723–1800), who was responsible for the library as a deacon to St. Nikolai, donated 359 books to his personal collection from the 16th and 17th centuries and wrote an alphabetical list of the holdings. Diedrich Hermann Biederstedt (1762–1824) left behind a collection of sermons and casual speeches in addition to his own writings. With the Journal for Preachers (1770–1820) and the Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung (1822–1854), the library was expanded to include only a few publications in the 19th century. The 1854 edition of the Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung with the inventory number 1844 is the library's youngest font.
Theodor Pyl published a list of the manuscripts he had entered in the library in 1865. At the beginning of the 20th century, the then deacon at Greifswald Cathedral, Robert Lühders, continued this work. In 1942 the library was moved to a steel chamber in the basement at Langen Strasse 36, where it survived World War II and the opening of the chamber by the Red Army without damage. In the 1980s the library came to Gristow for several years , while the cathedral was renovated with government support until 1989.
From 1991 the books were back on the now closed east gallery, but this was not publicly known. After the opening up of incunabula in the years 1995 to 1997, 2002 to 2006 at the Berlin State Library "medieval manuscript catalogs central editorial office" in cooperation with the recording of medieval manuscripts in the library of the Ministerium and the Greifswald University Library in the online database Manuscripta Mediaevalia performed . A new scientific description followed.
In 2010 and 2011 the structural repairs and restoration of the old library room above the sacristy took place. On January 19, 2012, the library was reopened at its historic location.
literature
- Jürgen Geiß: Medieval manuscripts in Greifswald libraries. Directory of the holdings of the library of the Ministry of Spirituality (Cathedral Library St. Nikolai), the university library and the university archive. Wiesbaden: Reichert 2009, ISBN 978-3-89500-596-1 ; all catalogs (with full and selected digital copies of the original manuscripts) also at Manuscripta Mediaevalia .
- Guntram Wilks: The library of the Ministry of Spirituality in St. Nikolai Cathedral in Greifswald - history and meaning. In: Felix Biermann, Manfred Schneider, Thomas Terberger (Ed.): Parish churches in the cities of the Hanseatic region. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westfalen 2006, ISBN 3-89646-461-2 , pp. 183-192. (= Archeology and History in the Baltic Sea Region . Vol. 1, ISSN 1863-0855 ).
- Thomas Wilhelmi : Incunabula in Greifswald libraries. Directory of the holdings of the University Library Greifswald, the library of the Ministry of Spirituality and the Greifswald State Archives. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-447-03933-7 (all catalogs also from INKA ).
- Michaela Scheibe: Manuscripts in Greifswald Libraries. Selection catalog with descriptions of the manuscripts Geistliches Ministry, 1.AI, 2.A.II., 3.A.III., 4.A.IV., 5.AV, 6.BI, 7.B.II., 9 .B.IV., And University Library, Ms 677. Berlin (mach.) 1999 Digitized version (PDF; 588 kB) from Manuscripta Mediaevalia
- Theodor Pyl : The manuscripts and documents in the library of the Nikolai Church in Greifswald. 2 volumes, Greifswald 1865, (digital copies : Volume 1 , Volume 2 ).
- Alexander Reifferscheid : Messages from manuscripts in the St. Nicholas Church Library in Greifswald. In: Scientific supplement to the course catalog of the University of Greifswald. Winter 1902/1903. ( Digitized in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Digital Library)
- Robert Lühder: The pamphlets in the library of the Ministry of Spirituality in Greifswald in an alphabetical index with a history of the Bamberg library in 1908 ( digitized in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania digital library)
Web links
- Literature on the library of the Ministry of Spirituality in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature on the library of the Ministry of Spirituality in the State Bibliography MV
- Entry on the library in the handbook of historical book holdings (online version)
- Wiki project Middle Low German in the library of the Ministry of Spirituality, Greifswald
Individual evidence
- ↑ New description of the medieval manuscripts of the University Library Greifswald and the library of the Ministry of Spirituality (St. Nikolai Cathedral parish). (No longer available online.) In: Kulturerbe digital. Archived from the original on March 24, 2014 ; Retrieved December 12, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Flyer on the reopening of the library ( Memento from May 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 147 kB)
- ^ Greifswald: Old Church Library returns ( memento from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), report by NDR , accessed on January 19, 2012
