Burkhard Zingg

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Burkhard Zingg , also Burkard Zink , (* 1396 in Memmingen , † around 1475 in Augsburg ) was a long-distance trader and Augsburg chronicler. Zingg is the author of the first modern German autobiography. His biography contains a description of his childhood, the years of apprenticeship and the creation of his family.

Life

Zingg's mother died when he was five years old. His father ran a business. Zingg had four siblings. From the age of 12, zinc lived in the diet in the village of Rieg near Laibach (Ljubljana / Slovenia), where his uncle also lived. This uncle, who was a pastor, sent him to a school in Reifnitz . Then the uncle planned for him to study at the University of Vienna , which Zingg refused. Instead, he returned to his hometown in Upper Swabia .

Since his father had already passed away, he returned to his uncle. He had also died in the meantime. He then moved to various Swabian cities and studied in schools there. Sometimes he had to beg for a living. In 1415 he came to Augsburg, where he entered a business of a merchant. Thanks to his school education, he was able to finance himself with paperwork even when he was not employed. Because of his knowledge he got the attention of the city council of Augsburg and received some smaller orders.

During his time in Augsburg, Zingg also traded on his own account. So he got around in the then known world. From 1440 he was citizens of Augsburg. From the second half of the 15th century he traveled less, held more and more municipal offices and devoted himself to his extensive memoirs and his Augsburg Chronicle.

Zingg first married in 1420 at the age of 24. Three more marriages followed later. He had a total of 18 children. He probably died in Augsburg in 1475.

Memorial in Memmingen

Text basis

Zingg's biography is part of a chronicle and was published by Carl Hegel. This chronicle is divided into four books; Book III contains the autobiography. Books I, II and IV contain chronical presentations, mainly related to the city of Augsburg. The autobiographical part of the chronicle is divided into two sections: Part 1 (pp. 122–135) and Part 2 (pp. 135–143). The autobiography was written in 1466. The manuscript is not available as an autograph.

Monuments, street names

In 1862 Hans Leeb, a Memmingen merchant, donated a memorial for Burkhard Zingg; it was set up at the Hallhof in Memmingen. It stands today at the Königsgraben (at the Westertor). Zinggstrasse was also named after him in Memmingen. Burkhard-Zink-Strasse was named after him in Augsburg.

literature

  • Ralph Frenken: Childhood and autobiography from the 14th to 17th centuries: Psychohistorical reconstructions. 2 volumes. Oetker-Voges, Kiel 1999.
  • Ferdinand Frensdorff :  Zink, Burkard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, pp. 325-329.
  • Adolf Rein: About the development of the autobiography in the late German Middle Ages. In: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 14, 1919, pp. 193–213; ND in: Günter Niggl (Hrsg.): The autobiography: on the form and history of a literary genre. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1989, pp. 321–342.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Rein (1919), p. 337.
  2. ↑ See Frenken (1999), p. 262
  3. ↑ F. Frensdorff: Introduction of the Chronicle of Burkard Zink 1368-1468 In: C. Hegel (editor): "The Chronicles of the German Cities", Vol. 5, Leipzig 1866. S. XI-XLV, here S. XXI-XXIII .
    Ottokar Lorenz: Germany's historical sources in the Middle Ages . Augsburg 1999, pp. 103-104. (Unchanged reprint of Volumes I (1886) and II (1887))
    Quoted from The Dimension of Identity - Aspects of Finding Identity in the Work of Burkard Zink . Advanced seminar paper by Florian Rolf and Daniel Scholz, presented to the educational science faculty of the University of Cologne, 2005. E-book: Grin-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-638-38891-7
  4. ↑ See Hegel in: Zink (1866), S. XLI.
  5. ↑ Street directory of the city of Memmingen. Retrieved May 1, 2008 .
  6. ↑ City map Augsburg. Retrieved August 29, 2012 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zingg, Burkhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zink, Burkhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German long-distance trader, Augsburg chronicler and the first author of an autobiography
DATE OF BIRTH 1396
PLACE OF BIRTH Memmingen
DATE OF DEATH around 1475
Place of death augsburg