Erasmus Stella

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Erasmus Stella (actually: Johannes Stüler ; * 1460 in Zwickau or Leipzig ; † April 2, 1521 ), was a German doctor, mayor and historian.

After his return from an Italian study trip in 1496, Stella settled in his hometown of Zwickau. He was a student of Ioannes Garzo Bononiensis ( Giovanni Garzoni ). As an influential councilor, he served here twice, in 1513 and 1515, as mayor. Then he ran a successful medical practice.

Stella derived the name of the city from a self-invented mythology based on a humanist model. According to this, Zwickau, an ancient city, was founded by a certain Cygnus (German: swan), the son of Hercules and Ylba, a daughter of Falco. Cygnavia "Schwanenfeld", the alleged Latin name of Zwickau, was named after Cygnus . In 1516, Stella had the Cygnus legend painted on the facade of the town hall in life-size pictures. According to the historian Clemen, some of his inventions came from real events mixed with his bubbling imagination. In doing so, he led his contemporaries and honorable fellow citizens on their nose in their lack of criticism and childlike gullibility. He was an authority in the city because of his education and travel experience from Italy. Three documents from 1030, 1042 and 1074, which he had forged, testify that Stella actually made fun of his fellow citizens.

Erasmus Stella made a gravestone that was allegedly found in a burial mound near Steindorf. This supposed tombstone of the Swanhildis, the daughter of Cygnus, contained a longer Latin inscription, including the prophecy:

Stella fulgente umbram meam videbitis Cygnei

That means literally translated:

"In the shining star of Cygneus (ie the constellation Swan ) you will see my shadow."

The alleged prophecy, however, was ambiguous, since the Latin word stella not only means "star", but was also Erasmus' self-chosen surname. The sentence can therefore also be interpreted as an allusion to himself:

"When Stella shines / stands out from others (ie when Stella becomes the governing mayor), you Zwickauers will discover my tomb."

Another forged inscription from Stella contained laws of a druid. The inscription of an epitaph on a wooden statue of Diezmann in the Paulinerkirche in Leipzig , long ascribed to Dante Alighieri , is a forgery by Stella.

Works

  • De rebus et populis oræ inter Albim et Salam
  • De antiquitatibus Borussiæ
  • De rebus Saxoniæ, Thuringiæ, Libanothiæ, Misniæ et Lusatiæ
  • Erasmi Stellae Libanothani Viri Clariss. De gem (m) is libellus unicus , Argentorati (Strasbourg) 1530 ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Clemen : From the history of Zwickau. In: Zwickau. (= Germany's urban development .) Deutscher Architektur- und Industrie-Verlag , Berlin-Halensee 1921, p. 5.
  2. ^ Franz Xaver von Wegele :  Stella, Erasmus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 36, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 30 f.
  3. ↑ Printed in: Johann Pistorius, Burkhard Gotthelf Struve: Rerum germanicarum scriptores aliquot insignes: qui historiam et res ... , Volume 1, Regensburg 1726, p. 1165
  4. ↑ Also reproduced in: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Sämmliche Schriften , ed. by Karl Lachmann. New edition, Volume 9. Berlin 1839, p. 346f.
  5. ↑ Brage bei der Wieden: Man and Swan: Cultural-historical perspectives on the perception of animals. Bielefeld 2014, p. 99
  6. ↑ Wilhelm Mannhardt: Letto-Prussian mythology , Riga 1936

literature

personal data
SURNAME Stella, Erasmus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stüler, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor, mayor and historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1460
PLACE OF BIRTH Zwickau or Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1521