Christian Daum

Christian Daum; contemporary copper engraving

Christian Daum (born March 29, 1612 in Zwickau ; † December 15, 1687 ibid) was a Zwickau philologist, poet, polymath and educator.

From 1662 until his death in 1687 he was the rector of the Zwickau Latin School. His teaching activities were characterized by his methodically good teaching of the material. As a scientist, Daum worked, among other things, with the creation of lexicons for the Latin and German languages ​​and with the writing of poetic texts. He also published the writings of classical and ancient authors. Daum acquired his diverse and extensive knowledge to a large extent self-taught and through exchange with other scholars. He exchanged letters all over Europe (about 500 correspondence in total) and was well known among scholars.

Daum was also famous for its extensive private library. His well-preserved estate with a large number of personal documents and letters provides information about the time and life of the baroque scholar. Most of it is located in the Zwickau Council School Library . Daum's talent is also evident in his extensive language skills. He was proficient in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian and Czech.

Origin and family

On this view by Anton Arrigoni from the 19th century, Christian Daum's birthplace at the Zwickau Kornmarkt can be seen in the center of the picture.

Christian Daum was born on March 29, 1612 in Zwickau. His father David Daum and his ancestors were almost exclusively bathers, surgeons or barbers. The family, who had lived in Zwickau for centuries, was actually called "von Daum". (see family coat of arms in the portrait!). Daum's mother Katharina geb. Dispute came from Nuremberg. Christian Daum was in close correspondence with his eldest brother Johann (1612–1670) all his life. Little is known about his second oldest brother August, who was born in 1604. Daum was married twice: in 1642 with Martha Fickenwirth and after her death in 1673 with his great cousin Anna Margaretha Auerbach from 1674 (until her death in 1686). From this marriage the children Johann Christian (1674) and Anna Rosina (1676) emerged.

Childhood, studies and teaching

The Kleiner Fürstenkolleg can be seen on the Leipzig city map, where Christian Daum lived during his studies

After initial home tuition, Daum attended the Zwickau Latin School from 1620. The training he received there was very much focused on ancient languages. As a linguistically gifted student, he was particularly encouraged by the then rector Johannes Zechendorf (1580–1662). Daum could read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew even before he went to school. His talent was also shown in the fact that he learned the basics of Arabic in just eight days. After the end of his successful school days in 1631, he initially worked as a private teacher for the children of the Zwickau council Johann Richter.

In 1632 Daum began his studies in Leipzig . Due to the constant danger of the plague and the events of the Thirty Years' War , however, Daum often stayed with relatives in Gera and also in Jena. His hometown of Zwickau was also ravaged by the plague, so that Daum lost his father, stepmother and half-siblings. When his friend and financial supporter Caspar von Barth left Leipzig in 1634, Daum had to return without a degree. Since Daum's parents' house was empty and had been looted, he lived with his cousin Nicolaus Götze and worked as a tutor for his children. In 1642 Daum got a job at the Zwickau Latin School as Tertius, i.e. as the third teacher. In the same year he married Martha Fickenwirth. Since his salary was often not paid, Daum improved his finances through proofreading in Zwickau printing works, through private lessons and by accommodating foreign students.

Comenius, view of the Latin school

View of Zwickau from 1662. The destroyed tower of the Marienkirche can be seen, Christian Daum experienced the fire up close.

Rector's office of the Zwickau Latin School (1662–1687)

In 1662, the rector of the Zwickau Latin School, Johann Zechendorf , died as an early sponsor Daums. However, since the deputy principal Johann Decker did not have a good standing with the students and the candidate Johannes Vogelhaupt could not give up his Annaberg rector position, Daum was the only remaining candidate. Despite his poor physical constitution, the Zwickau council elected Christian Daum as the new rector (he was frequently plagued by diseases and had been blind in his right eye due to his eagerness to read since he was thirty-third). Because the discipline of the students deteriorated more and more, a new rector had to be found quickly. In addition, Daum had promised to sell his already famous private library to the city after his death. The erudition and great teaching skills of the new Rector Christian Daum made the Zwickau Latin School a magnet for students from the region and also from distant areas (even from Transylvania and Reval).

Despite his extensive duties as rector, Daum was able to continue his private research, such as the work on the collection of Latin words, and expand his correspondence. He conducted extensive correspondence with scholars across Europe. After Caspar von Barth's death in 1658, he published his writings. This enormous amount of daily tasks and activities can probably only be explained by his hard work and study. A professorship at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, founded in 1665, was even offered. However, at the zenith of his professional success in the 1970s, Daum's health problems became increasingly acute. In addition, the plague was rampant in Zwickau in the early 1680s, so that the number of pupils fell and the school had to be closed in 1682. After its reopening in 1683, it took a long time to recover. In 1686 Daum's second wife Anna Margaretha also died. Christian Daum followed her completely blind on December 15, 1687.

In the funeral sermon for him, archdeacon David Wagner called him a "well-known philologist, polyhistor and highly deserved rector of the city = schools in Zwickau".

estate

Timetable created by Christian Daum, handwriting from the Zwickau council school library

Despite the time marked by war and hunger, Daum was able to keep expanding his private library through gifts and inheritances in addition to purchased books. A large part of his correspondence as well as his notes and school documents, as well as most of his book collection, have been preserved in his extensive estate. Since Daum's concept books have been preserved for the letters sent and the replies to them, the correspondence can be understood on both sides, which is unique for this time. Christian Daum's estate is the second largest preserved by a baroque scholar and is unique in its unity. After Daum's death, it was bought by the Zwickau City Council in 1694 and is still almost entirely in the Zwickau Council School Library to this day . Daum's estate in the Ratsschule library still includes:

• 7680 books and manuscripts (including numerous incunabula, Reformation prints, music and occasional prints),
• 5300 received letters from 500 different writers,
• the concept books of written letters,
• the handwritten school fees register Daums from 1662–1687,
• Daum's writing calendar from 1663–1687, with partly detailed statements about the regional history of Zwickau and Saxony,
• six handwritten library catalogs Daums and
• numerous other manuscripts.

Some works and editorships

• Daum, Christian: STRENÆ, hoc est, vota metrica, vario Carminis-genere palindroma, JESU CHRISTO DEO-HOMINI, Soteri suo unico. Zwickau 1636.
• Daum, Christian: De causis amissarum quarundam latinæ linguæ radicum, Zwickau 1642.
• Daum, Christian: Vertumnus poeticus tres Millenarii ad Scitum illud Imperatorium, Fiat iusitia aut pereat mundus, Zwickau 1646.
• Daum, Christian: Votivorum xeniorum schedia vd Johann Zechendorffis dioersis annis oblata, Zwickau 1653.
• THOMAE REINESII Medici ac Polyhistoris excellentissimi, EPISTOLÆ; ad Cl. V. Christianum Daumium, Jena 1670.

Published by Christian Daum:

• Barth, Caspar: SOLILOQUIORUM RERUM DIVINARUM LIBRI XX. Zwickau 1655.
• PUBLII PAPININII STATII QUÆ EXSTANT: CASPAR BARTHIUS recensuit & Animadversionibus locupletissimus illustravit, Zwickau 1664.

literature

• Heinrich Julius Kämmel :  Daum, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 770 f.
• Richard Beck: Christian Daum. A life picture from the XVII. Century. In: Mitteilungen des Altertumsverein für Zwickau und Umgegend III (1891), Zwickau, pp. 1–31.
• Richard Beck: M. Christian Daum. Rector of Zwickau and his Leipzig learned friends. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Leipzig. Leipzig 1896, pp. 1–30.
• Adolph Clarmund: VITAE CLARISSIMORVM in re literaria Virorum. This is life = description of a number of chief scholars men. Wittenberg 1710.
• David Heydler: Praise and Danck speech Hn. Christian Daumii. Zwickau 1689.
• Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : General learned lexicon. Volume 3, Leipzig 1751, p. 39.
• Ludwig, Gottfried: HISTORIA RECTORVM ET GYMNASIORVM SCHOLARVUMQVE CELEBRIORVM; s. School = history. Pars III., Leipzig 1711.
• Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum - A Zwickau rector. Exhibition catalog, Zwickau, Städtisches Museum 1996.
• Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum Rector and Polyhistor, in: Zwickauer Heimatjournal, Zwickau, 5 (1997), Issue 1, pp. 20–24.
• Mahnke, Lutz: The estate of Christian Daums (1612-1687) - possibilities of its editing, in: Hans-Gert Roloff. Edition desiderata for the early modern period. Contributions to the meeting of the Commission for the Editing of Early Modern Texts. (= Chloe. Supplements to Daphnis Vol. 24). Amsterdam 1996.
• Mahnke, Lutz: Epistolae ad Daumium: Catalog of the letters to the Zwickau rector Christian Daum (1612-1687) / developed by Lutz Mahnke, Wiesbaden 2003.
• Nagel, Dietrich: The handwritten estate of Christian Daum in the Ratsschulbibliothek, in: Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten 23 (1996), Issue 1, pp. 28–32.
• Ross, Alan: Scholarship and education after the Thirty Years War - Christian Daum (1612-1687) and his pupils at the Latin school of Zwickau / Saxony, Oxford 2008.
• Ross, Alan: Daum's Boys: Schools and the Republic of Letters in Early Modern Germany. Manchester 2015.
• Zürner, Inis: Outstanding personalities in the history of the Zwickau Council School Library, in: Zwickau Council School Library / Zwickau Cultural Office (ed.): 500 years Zwickau Council School Library. 1498-1998, Zwickau 1998, pp. 38-66.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Heinrich Julius Kämmel:  Daum, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 770 f.
2. ^ Mahnke, Lutz: Epistolae ad Daumium: Catalog of the letters to the Zwickau rector Christian Daum (1612-1687) / developed by Lutz Mahnke, Wiesbaden 2003.
3. ↑ Jöcher, Christian Gottlieb: Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, Hildesheim 1961 (EA Leipzig 1750).
4. ^ Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum - A Zwickau rector. Exhibition catalog, Zwickau, Städtisches Museum 1996., p. 5
5. ^ Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum - A Zwickau rector. Exhibition catalog, Zwickau, Städtisches Museum 1996., pp. 5–9.
6. ^ Zürner, Inis: Outstanding personalities in the history of the Zwickau council school library, in: Zwickau council school library / Zwickau cultural office (ed.): 500 years Zwickau council school library. 1498-1998, Zwickau 1998, pp. 51-58.
7. ^ Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum - A Zwickau rector. Zwickau 1996.
8. ^ Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum Rector and Polyhistor, in: Zwickauer Heimatjournal, Zwickau, 5 (1997), Issue 1, pp. 20-24
9. ↑ http://openlibrary.org/b/OL17092395M/Epistolae_ad_Daumium
10. ↑ Beck, Richard: Christian Daum. A life picture from the XVII. Century, in: Mitteilungen des Altertumsverein für Zwickau und Umgegend III (1891), Zwickau, pp. 24–29 .; Zürner, Inis: Important personalities pp. 51–58.
11. ↑ Quoted from: Mahnke, Lutz: Christian Daum Rektor and Polyhistor p. 20