Daniel Pfisterer

Little fox , parrot and stag beetle

Daniel Pfisterer (born December 12, 1651 in Stuttgart , † March 16, 1728 in Koengen ) was a German Protestant clergyman and nature observer, painter and writer. He created an illustrated book about kings and their surroundings, in which he documented the natural phenomena, people and tools of his time.

Life

Daniel Pfisterer was born as the son of the cupbearer Daniel Pfisterer senior and his wife Ursula Maria, geb. Beck, born. In later years his father became a farm basket maker , farm cooper and binder. He attended the monastery school in Maulbronn and studied theology at the University of Tübingen from 1671. In 1676 he received his master's degree in order to work as a vicar in various places and in 1682 to take his exams. He then took over the pastoral position in Hirschlanden near Ditzingen and was transferred to Botnang six years later . Pfisterer was dissatisfied with the position in Botnang; he applied for other pastoral posts and so ended up in Koengen in September 1699, where he apparently worked as a pastor until shortly before his death: a baptism performed by Pfisterer is documented for February 20, 1728; he died less than a month later.

plant

cover sheet

On April 14, 1716, Pfisterer began to design a book in which he described plants and animals, but also people, equipment and buildings from Köngen and the surrounding area in words and pictures. He continued this work until September 16, 1727. It contains 264 pages with watercolors and rhyming sayings. Pfisterer apparently created the book with the intention of extolling the Creator of all things. He ran into difficulties when confronted in botany and zoology with phenomena and living beings whose scientific names he did not know. In part, he made do with their own names such as "frembdes Nägele" for Spreading Marigold or nicknames that were current in his time for the plants and animals such. B. "Haberdieb" and "Schelm" for the house sparrow . Moreover, in his book many folk names can be found, including some "Jesuiter hütle" for cyclamen and "Cherry Kneller" for the grosbeak . Some Latin names added later are sometimes incorrect.

Pfisterer's book was in the family until 1979. Then it went over to that of the Württemberg State Museum . It was published in 1996 as a facsimile with commentary. The book is a testimony to the history of science and a document that provides information about the fauna and flora of Kings and the surrounding area in the early 18th century, although cultivated plants and captive animals also played an important role for the pastor. In his accompanying texts Pfisterer referred not only to the splendor of God's creation, but also, among other things, to the medical or culinary benefits of the creatures depicted. On p. 52 of his work, for example, he noted:

Convolvulus is said to be really good
for all redness in the eyes.

And on p. 3 his comment was:

How well a partridge tastes,
great gentlemen know that
if I were such a gentleman, I would
also like to eat them.

In total, Pfisterer depicted around 61 wild flowering plants and over 90 species of animals. Some of his drawings and texts are the earliest evidence of occurrence in the Stuttgart area. Many of the plants and animals still listed by Pfisterer can no longer be found in the region in which the pastor still met them.

Aftermath

The History and Culture Association in Köngen awards the Daniel Pfisterer Prize every year.

literature

• Hans W. Smettan: History of Science. The flora and fauna of Köngen, Esslingen district, in the early 18th century . In: Annual books of the Society for Natural History in Stuttgart 172, Stuttgart 2016, ISSN 0368-2307, pp. 243-276

Web links

Commons : Daniel Pfisterer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Presentation of the book on the website of the Köngen History Association

Individual evidence

1. ^ Daniel Pfisterer Prize , November 21, 2013 at www.ntz.de