Christian Northoff

Christian Northoff , also in Low German Karsten , Kersten , Nordhoff , Noorthoven , Noorthovius (* around 1475, † 1532 or 1535 in Lübeck ) was a German merchant, humanist and patron.

Life

Christian Northoff came from a Lübeck merchant family. It was first recorded in 1496 in the circle of Erasmus of Rotterdam in Paris . Together with his older brother Heinrich , who embarked on a career as a church lawyer, he was tutored by Erasmus and Augustinus Vincentius Caminadus . Christian Northoff was the addressee of a series of educational and entertaining letters from Erasmus (Ep. 54-56), which Erasmus wrote as a model for a good literary style and for which he expected a fee (Ep. 55). Often quoted from Ep. 56 is the advice of Erasmus on the daily organization of the student. The letter is also the oldest source for aurora musis amica, aptis studiis , the Latin version of the saying Morgenstund has gold in its mouth . After Christian's departure from Paris, Erasmus wrote a long letter to him in Heinrich's name (ep. 61). Christian Northoff is apparently identical to Christianus in the Familiarum colloquiorum formula . These conversations in the familiar circle of families , a handbook of educated conversation, served in their original form specifically to educate the Northoff brothers.

In 1497 he returned to Lübeck, probably in connection with the death of his father Johann Northoff. In August this year he founded together with his siblings in the Marienkirche his soul a Memorial - Vikarie in the most westward located side chapel in the north aisle, the later Rodde Chapel. In 1498 he bought a house in the street Schüsselbuden, west of the church . He belonged to the Greveradenkompanie , a guild of merchants, which is characterized by research as a reservoir for promising and high-potential large merchants .

In 1500 he traveled to Rome with his brother Heinrich, who had been appointed as a notary at the Rota Romana , where they lived in the Collegio Teutonico di Santa Maria dell'Anima .

Anthony's retable

Christian Northoff, who combined a high level of interest in education with profound piety , was one of Lübeck's most active ecclesiastical merchants on the eve of the Reformation and a central figure in Lübeck's brotherhood system. He was a member of the Antonius Brotherhood at the Maria Magdalenenkirche (castle church) and from 1512 one of their elders . In this function, he commissioned Benedikt Dreyer in 1520 for one of his main works, the sculptures for the Antonius retable (today in the St. Anne's Museum ). With the panel paintings and the gilding of the cabinet frame made by the brotherhood on their own account, however, as is customary with the Lübeck altars, another painter, Johann von Köln, was commissioned, who is proven to have two journeymen working at the altar. In total, the brotherhood spent about 310 marks on the work of art.

In 1511 Northoff was one of the founders of the Rochus Brotherhood. He also belonged to the Leonhard Brotherhood , the Corpse Brotherhood and the Mariae Annunciation Brotherhood, founded in 1497 and responsible for the maintenance of the Marientids in St. Marien. In 1515 he was one of the founding heads of the St. Anne's monastery . His death fell during the civil unrest under Jürgen Wullenweber . A tomb or epitaph has not survived.

The Lübeck councilor Konrad Wibbeking was his brother-in-law.

literature

Peter G. Bietenholz: Erasmus students and friends in Lübeck and Montpellier in: Archive for Reformation History, Volume 75, Issue jg, Pages 78-92, ISSN (Online) 2198-0489, ISSN (Print) 0003-9381, DOI: 10.14315 / arg-1984-jg04, December 1984
Peter G. Bietenholz: Christian Northoff. In: Contemporaries of Erasmus. A biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation. Volume 2. University of Toronto press, Toronto, Buffalo, London 1986, ISBN 0-8020-2575-7 , pp. 19f.
Friedrich Bruns : The origin of the St. Antonius altar shrine in the former castle church in Lübeck , in: Nordelbingien , Volume 5.1 (1926), pp. 476–482
Heinrich Dormeier : Religious brotherhoods of the "upper class" in Lübeck in the 15./16. Century: Forms of Piety, Social Relationships, and Economic Interests. In: Antjekathrin Graßmann (ed.): The merchant and the love of God. On commerce and the church in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Hansische Studien 18. Porta Alba, Trier 2009, ISBN 978-3-933701-34-3 , pp. 21-44.
Elsbeth Gutmann: The Colloquia familiaria of the Erasmus of Rotterdam. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1968 (Basel Contributions to History 111).
F. Hirsch, G. Schaumann, Friedrich Bruns: The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck. Issued by the building authorities. Volume II: Petrikirche. Marienkirche. Heili.-Geist-Hospital. Nöhring, Lübeck 1906 ( Google books ), pp. 164-212.
Tamara Thiesen: Benedikt Dreyer - The work of the late Gothic carver. Kiel 2007, ISBN 978-3-937719-57-3 , p. 47f.

Web links

Letter from Erasmus to Christian Northoff (1497) , Latin text in the Bibliotheca Augustana
Familiarum colloquiorum formulae , Latin text in the Bibliotheca Augustana

Individual evidence

↑ Bietenholz (lit.), p. 20
↑ Wolfgang Prange : Vicariates and Vicars in Lübeck up to the Reformation. (= Publications on the history of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. Series B, vol. 40). Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2003 ISBN 3-7950-0478-0 , p. 172 No. 60
^ Antjekathrin Graßmann: The Greveradenkompanie. One of the leading merchant companies in Lübeck at the turn of the 16th century. In: Stuart Jenks and Michael North (eds.): Der Hansische Sonderweg? Contributions to the social and economic history of the Hanseatic League (sources and representations of the Hanseatic history NF 39) Cologne etc: Böhlau 1993, pp. 109-134
↑ Thiesen (Lit.) p. 309
↑ Dormeier (lit.), p. 25
↑ See Thiesen, p. 47f; Anthony Altar
↑ Description of the altar with the history of its origins by Uwe Albrecht (Ed.): Corpus of medieval wood sculpture and panel painting in Schleswig-Holstein. Volume I: Hanseatic City of Lübeck, St. Annen Museum. Ludwig, Kiel 2005, ISBN 3933598753 , No. 164, p. 457 ff. (P. 462, p. 465)

personal data
SURNAME	Northoff, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Nordhoff, Karsten; Nordhoff, Kersten; Noorthoven, Karsten
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Merchant, humanist and founder
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1475
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: 1532
Place of death	Lübeck

[1] Bietenholz (lit.), p. 20

[2] Wolfgang Prange : Vicariates and Vicars in Lübeck up to the Reformation. (= Publications on the history of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. Series B, vol. 40). Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2003 ISBN 3-7950-0478-0 , p. 172 No. 60

[3] Antjekathrin Graßmann: The Greveradenkompanie. One of the leading merchant companies in Lübeck at the turn of the 16th century. In: Stuart Jenks and Michael North (eds.): Der Hansische Sonderweg? Contributions to the social and economic history of the Hanseatic League (sources and representations of the Hanseatic history NF 39) Cologne etc: Böhlau 1993, pp. 109-134

[4] Thiesen (Lit.) p. 309

[5] Dormeier (lit.), p. 25

[6] See Thiesen, p. 47f; Anthony Altar

[7] Description of the altar with the history of its origins by Uwe Albrecht (Ed.): Corpus of medieval wood sculpture and panel painting in Schleswig-Holstein. Volume I: Hanseatic City of Lübeck, St. Annen Museum. Ludwig, Kiel 2005, ISBN 3933598753 , No. 164, p. 457 ff. (P. 462, p. 465)