Eberhard Gutsleff the Younger

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Eberhard Gutsleff the Younger (* around 1691 in Tallinn ; † March 15, 1749 in Saint Petersburg ) was a Baltic German theologian .

Life

Eberhard Gutsleff the Elder J. was born as the son of the Baltic German pastor at the Tallinn Heiliggeistkirche , Eberhard Gutsleff (1654-1724), and his wife Catharina (around 1665-1710). His grandfather was the famous Bible translator Johann Gutslaff († 1657). Eberhard Gutsleff the Elder J. was the brother of the theologian Heinrich Gutsleff (around 1680-1747), who together with his father was the author and later editor of the translation of the New Testament into the North Estonian language (published 1715).

Eberhard Gutsleff the Elder J. enrolled at the University of Halle in 1711 . From 1720 he studied theology there. In Halle he joined the theologian Johann Jakob Rambach (1693–1735), with whom he was a close friend.

From 1723 to 1725 Gutsleff was his father's adjunct at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tallinn ( Reval ). He was the co-founder and head of the Estonian Publishing Treasury, which made Estonian-language edification books available at a reduced price or free of charge.

From 1726 to 1733 he was a deacon in the parish. From July 1733 to 1737/38 he was inspector for the Tallinn schools and at the same time worked as a deacon at the Tallinn Olaikirche . At this time (1736), Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf visited Tallinn, who preached in the Olaikirche and was enthusiastically received by the population.

In 1738 Gutsleff was appointed superintendent of the island of Saaremaa ( Ösel ) by the Oesel knighthood and was senior pastor of the parish of Kuressaare ( Arensburg ). There Gutsleff tried, with the help of Moravian messengers, to introduce Moravian institutions into the church, which led to major disputes with the authorities. On April 16, 1743, the Russian Tsarina Elisabeth banned the activity of the Moravians in Russia in an ukase (only legalized again in 1817). This ban was implemented in the Estonia Governorate with varying degrees of severity. A commission was set up on Ösel to investigate the Moravian system, including Pastor David Johann Rahr .

In 1747 the tsarist authorities arrested Eberhard Gutsleff and three like-minded people. They accused him of supporting the Pietist movement around the Moravian Brethren in the Baltic States . He was taken to Saint Petersburg and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress .

There he died in January 1749. Gutsleff was buried on February 2, 1749 in Saint Petersburg.

plant

In 1732 Eberhard Gutsleff published his most important work in Halle, the Kurtz Gefaszte Instructions for the Estonian Language . After a long introduction, which u. a. traces the “ Hebrew traces ” in Estonian, a grammar (penned by Anton thor Helle ) and an Estonian-German vocabulary index with approx. 7,000 entries. It is based on the work for a Lexicon Esthonica Germanicum by Solomon Heinrich Vestring (1663–1749), which he had compiled in the 1720s and 1730s. The vocabulary had not previously appeared in print, but was circulated in numerous copies. In addition, the work offers 525 Estonian proverbs, 135 puzzles and 50 pages with Estonian conversations (two columns Estonian-German).

The brief instruction is considered to be fundamental for the fixation of the Estonian written language. The full title reads Kurtzgefaszte instruction on the Estonian language, in which are communicated I. A GRAMMATICA. II. A VOCABULARIUM. III. PROVERBIA. IV. AENIGMATA. V. COLLOQUIA. First of all, those who are called to preach the Gospel of Christ to the Estonian Nation clearly and intelligibly by God; … For instructions Carried together with Fleisz; and in addition to an awakening letter from Mr. D. Joh. Jacob Rambach, ... to the EDITOREM, Auf Gutbefinden des Herr AUTORIS [Anton thor Helle], with a preface edited by Eberhard Gutsleff, deacon of the Ehstnische Stadt-Gemeine in Reval. HALLE, printed by Stephan Orban, 1732 (reprinted in Tallinn 2006).

Private life

Eberhard Gutsleff the Elder J. was married to Helen Elisabeth Oldenkop († 1743).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Encyclopedia of students from Estonia, Livonia and Courland at European universities 1561–1800. Edited by Arvo Tering with the assistance of Jürgen Beyer. (Sources and studies on Baltic history, vol. 28). Cologne - Weimar - Vienna: Böhlau 2018, p. 351.
  2. ↑ Eesti Elulood. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 74
  3. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. Berlin, New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018025-1 , p. 135
personal data
SURNAME Gutsleff, Eberhard the Younger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baltic German theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1700
PLACE OF BIRTH Tallinn
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 1749
Place of death St. Petersburg