Christian Wurstisen

Christian Wurstisen (lat. Christianus Urstisius ; * December 23, 1544 in Liestal ; † March 29, 1588 in Basel ) was a Swiss mathematician , theologian and historian .

Life

Christian Wurstisen was the son of the Liestal wine merchant and councilor Pantaleon Walch called Wurstisen. From 1558 he studied at the University of Basel , first at the artist faculty and from 1562 theology. In 1563 he was a preacher in Hüningen. 1564–1566 he worked as a parish assistant in the Theodors parish in Kleinbasel. Parallel to his work as a preacher, Wurstisen pursued an academic career: 1564–1584 he was professor of mathematics at the University of Basel and 1585–1586 professor of theology . 1577–1578 and 1583–1585 he held the post of rector.

In 1586 Wurstisen left the university and became town clerk , an office he held for life.

As the university's librarian, Wurstisen compiled the second full catalog. As a town clerk, he was concerned that the first systematic minutes of the council were being kept in Basel. At the same time, Wurstisen carried out historical studies. In 1580 he published the Basler Chronik, the first complete account of the history of Basel, which also includes documents and inscriptions, some of which have now been lost. In 1585 Wurstisen edited a collection of sources on the medieval history of the Holy Roman Empire (“Germaniae historicorum illustrium”). As a scientist he was one of the early followers of the heliocentric teaching of Copernicus , whose De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was printed in Basel in 1566. Wurstisen is believed to have first introduced Galileo Galilei to this work, although Galileo's assumption of heliocentrism has often been attributed to Michael Maestlin .

Wurstisen's mathematical textbook Elementa arithmeticae was appreciated by John Milton and the Hungarian philosopher Andreas Dudith .

His son Emanuel Wurstisen became a doctor.

Works

Christian Wurstisen: Epitome Historiae Basiliensis, Praeter Totius Rauricae descriptionem, urbis primordia, antiquitates, res memorandas… unà cum Episcoporum Basiliensium catalogo. Accessit his, Aeneae Sylvii [Piccolomini], qui postea Pius II. (Basileae: per Seb. Henric-Petri, 1577). ( online ).
Baſzler Chronick / Dariñ everything / what ſich in Öberen Teutſchẽ Landen / not only in the place and Biſtumbe Baſel / from its origins / […] bit into the current MD LXXX Jar / Gedenckwirdiges zůwirdiges […]: Special also the Eydtgnoſch thanks, Burgundy , Elſaß and Breißgow / […] / described as follows: ſampt of many rulers and families of arms and trees. […] By Chriſtian Wurſtiſen […]. Sebastian Henricpetri , Basel 1580 ( online ). (Reprint of the original edition: Geneva 1978)
Elementa arithmeticae, logicis legibus deducta in usum Academiae Basiliensis. Opera et studio Christiani Urstisii. Sebastian Henricpetri, Basel 1579. ( 2nd edition, 1586, online ).
Germaniae historicorum illustrium, quorum plerique from Henrico IIII Imperatore usque ad annum Christi, MDCCCC… res gestas memoriae consecrarunt, tomus unus [-pars altera], Volume 1. Apud heredes Andreae Wecheli, 1585 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
Matthias von Neuenburg , Albert von Straßburg , Johannes Cuspinian , Christian Wurstisen: Matthiae Neoburgensis Chronica, cum continatione et Vita Berchtholdi de Buchegg: The chronicle of Matthias von Neuenburg based on the Bern and Strasbourg manuscripts with the versions of the editions of Cuspinian and Urstisius , Stämpflische Buchdruckerei (G. Hünerwadel), 1866 ( limited preview in Google book search).

literature

Achilles Burckhardt: Christian Wurstisen. In: Contributions to patriotic history . Vol. 12 (1888), pp. 357-398 ( online ).
Rudolf Luginbühl : Diary of Christian Wurstisen 1557–1581. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Vol. 1, 1902. pp. 54–145 ( doi : 10.5169 / seals-111273 ).
August Bernoulli: Christian Wurstisen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 346 f.
René Teuteberg : Famous Basel residents and their time. Seven biographies . Basel 1976. p. 29 ff. Google digitized

Web links

Stefan Hess : Wurstisen, Christian. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Roman Seifert: Christian Wurstisen , in: Personal Lexicon of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft
Literature by and about Christian Wurstisen in the catalog of the German National Library
Wurstisen describes how tombstones from the Jewish cemetery were used for the city wall in 1349
Entry Wurstisen on https://unigeschichte.unibas.ch; accessed on August 24, 2014
Entry 6 Book of Arms of Christian Wurstisen (original), 1580–1587 in the online archive catalog of the Basel-Stadt State Archives [1]

Individual evidence

↑ Josef Smolka: Michael Mästlin and Galileo Galilei. In: Between Copernicus and Kepler: M. Michael Maestlinus, Mathematicus Goeppingensis, 1550–1631. Lectures at the symposium. Harri Deutsch publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 2002, pp. 122–140 ( bibcode : 2002AcHA ... 17..122S ).
↑ Emanuel Wurstisen (1586–1601), doctor. Evidence: GND 131747258 , accessed on August 22, 2020.

personal data
SURNAME	Wurstisen, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Urstisius, Christianus (Latinized)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss mathematician, theologian and historian
DATE OF BIRTH	December 23, 1544
PLACE OF BIRTH	Liestal
DATE OF DEATH	March 29, 1588
Place of death	Basel

[1] Josef Smolka: Michael Mästlin and Galileo Galilei. In: Between Copernicus and Kepler: M. Michael Maestlinus, Mathematicus Goeppingensis, 1550–1631. Lectures at the symposium. Harri Deutsch publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 2002, pp. 122–140 ( bibcode : 2002AcHA ... 17..122S ).

[2] Emanuel Wurstisen (1586–1601), doctor. Evidence: GND 131747258 , accessed on August 22, 2020.