Erhardus Sparrowhawk

Erhardus Sperberus (also Erhardus Sperberus, Erhardt Sperber, Erhardus Nisus ; * 1529 in Seebergen , † March 29, 1608 in Wehlau , Duchy of Prussia ) was a contentious Prussian theologian and writer.

Career

Erhard Sperber went to the Duchy of Prussia around 1553 at Melanchthon's instigation and immediately got a job as a deacon (cantor) in Bartenstein . In 1554 he became a preacher in Quednau . At the beginning of September 1554 he took part in a general synod, in the course of which the followers of Osiander were excluded, on September 4th also Sparhawk, who supported the Osiandrists. In 1555/56 he became an army preacher with the land militia in Königsberg on the Haberberg, where they were stationed because of an impending invasion of the Livonians.

Caspar von Nostitz wrote in 1573, “... that the old, lobbied prince ( Albrecht ) ordered and accepted a special heart for him in falling war battles for an army preacher, as he then also preached here five quarters of a year among the soldiers. But because after a tolerated war he visited the Hausscreutz who had died his Haussfraw and wanted to go out to his fatherland for this reason, I (h) n held their f (prince) D (noble) to several meals and i (h) Afterwards, not only on the Bergk ct prescribed to the predicant, but also encouraged to remain czue again ... "

In 1558 he became a deacon (Lutheran preacher, chaplain) in Koenigsberg - Löbenicht ("aufn Berg" = Haberberg, Barbarakirche), where he was soon embroiled again in theological feuds and fierce opponent of the Calvinist ("Philippist") Vitus Neuber , who in 1561 was removed from office. Sparhawk, however, "was horrified of his service" and went outside the country, allegedly driven out by the Osiandrists. He left the duchy and went to the Polish-Prussian Danzig , where he was afternoon preacher at the local Marienkirche in 1561/62. Soon afterwards he undertook a trip back to the Duchy of Prussia in order to collect testimonies against Neuber, who like him had gone to Gdansk and scolded him a "pabist". Sparhawk made a detailed report to the Danzig Council, which did not reply. In order to get the advice to answer, he then wrote a spiritual "admonition book", for which he apologized again on January 21, 1562, but at the same time threatened to print all of his collected documents.

Finally he wrote “Auff that the world would like to see and recognize / how wrong would have happened to him (...)” a book against the “enthusiast and rotten spirit” Vitus Neuber, which finally flared up the dispute in the citizenry and “quite a lot of disgrace” and "Zanck and Zwytracht", according to the Thorner historian Christoph Hartknoch , caused. In 1563 he left the city again and became a German Lutheran preacher in the previously Catholic Graudenz (St. Nikolai) in Polish Prussia. He was quoted there in 1565 before the Catholic bishop to justify his teaching.

He traveled around since 1569 and finally in 1574 became pastor at St. Jacobi in Wehlau and archpriest ( superintendent ) over twenty churches in the Wehlau inspection department in the Duchy of Prussia. Wehlau was hit by floods, fire and plague while he was in office. In 1579 he signed the Formula Concordiae . He continued to work here as a theological writer.

How rigid he could be is shown by an argument with the chaplain Krause, who had a sick wife. She could not go to church, which Sparhawk strongly reproached, although she attended the service as soon as she was better. But when she was completely bedridden and wanted to have communion, Sparhawk refused to come. Krause himself - in the presence of councilors and judges - handed the woman the elements. A dispute broke out, Sparhawk reported, and an envoy from the consistory came to Wehlau to investigate the matter.

family

Sparhawk was the eldest son of the superintendent Valentinus Sperber (Nisus) in Seebergen - a follower of Philipp Melanchthon - as well as the former nun Euphrosyne von Borsdorf from the Borna monastery . According to a letter from Erhard Sperber in Danzig in 1562, he was descended from the wealthy Reutlingen citizen Contz Sperber and his wife Bethe der Walgerin in the 14th century (Sperber apparently claimed income from the wealthy foundation established by them). Erhard Sperber had eleven brothers, the majority of whom were also theologians, albeit far less conspicuous than him. The most important of his brothers was the princely councilor Julius Sperber in Dessau , co-founder of the Rosicrucian order and mystical writer. Erhard Sperber's children in Wehlau were councilor Christoph Sperber, councilor Erhard Sperber and Helene, who married the Wehlau merchant and squire Hans Wahl from Königsberg (originally from the well-known Gdańsk council family Wahl ). Many descendants lived in Wehlau, in 1642 the following were named in the list of residents of Wehlau: Mayor Wendel Sperber, Councilor Erhard Sperber, Citizen Elisay Sperber, Hanß Sperber and Friedrich Sperber.

Works

• Christian and necessary responsibility of Erhardi Sperber / against the growing accusation and arduous infliction of the Sacramento and Rottengeister in Dantzig / Sampt a serious warning to the pious Christians there / to beware of you. Erffurd 1563, printed by Melchior Sachsen (available in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Wissenschaftliche Allgemeinebibliothek, Dresden, call number: Th. Ev. Pol. 1307, and in the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, sign. 976.1 Theol. (3)
• theological writing from Königsberg, go. State Archives Preuss. Cultural Heritage Berlin: GStAPK, XX. HA StA Königsberg, EM 137e 3 No. 14 and 17
• A Latin parchment manuscript from the possession of Sperber (124 pages) is in the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, manuscript collection, Bibliotheca Augusta, signature: “Cod. Guelf. 35 Aug. 4 ° “, title: Adhortatio ad curiosos, ne artibus Dardaneis, sed potius Magiae verae et Philosophiae navent, collectore Erhardo Sperbero , Posonii anno MDXC. (1590).
• handwritten treatise by Erhard Sperber, religious content, from October 20, 1561, on parchment 21 × 15 cm / sygn. 300, R / Pp, q 24, untitled, with a dedication for the Council of the City of Danzig, German with Latin quotations, 76 sheets, in: Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku, 0001057, ul.Wally Piastowskie 5, skrytka pocztowa 401, 80-958 Gdańsk 1
• Handwriting from Erhardus Sperber of January 23, 1562 to the merciful and wise Lord Mayor and councilor of the Kgl. City of Danzig , in which he refers to his quarrel with Vitus Neuber and points to his origin, unnumbered tome in the Danzig City Archives
• see also: Manuscript catalog of the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel, by Otto von Heinemann (mention of a theological manuscript of Sperber)

swell

• Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : General scholarly lexicon (article about sparrowhawks)
• Jenny Kopp: Chronicle of the Sperber family . Pavlovsky print, Tilsit 1922
• Jenny Kopp: Six Sperber brothers, Melanchthon's disciples in the Duchy of Prussia, and their descendants in the ministry . In: Altpr. Gender studies, 2nd year, Königsberg / Pr.
• Pastor J. Sperberani : Brevis Sperberani . Tolmingkehmen 1694 (manuscript)
• Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility Vol. XI, 1974, p. 399
• Jörg Rainer Fligge : Duke Albrecht of Prussia and Osiandrism 1522–1568 , Phil. Diss. Bonn 1972
• Old Prussian monthly , vol. 27, Königsberg 1890, p. 550
• History of the Protestant Church in Danzig, presented by acts by D. Eduard Schnaase, deacon to S.Johann in Danzig . Danzig 1863, p. 45f and p. 50 on Erhard Sperber: "The reliquary or Notel dispute"
• Secretarius Reinhold Curicke : The city of Dantzig historical description, Amsterdamm / Dantzig (reprinted by Paul Rosenberg, Danziger Verlagsgesellschaft, Klausdorf bei Kiel, 1987)
• Christophorus Hartknoch : Old and New Prussia, Prussian Church History . 1686 Franckfurt am Mayn and Leipzig (Lib.II. cap.3 §20 and Lib.III. Cap.683 and cap. 8 p. 561)
• handwritten presbyterology by Quandt, 18th century (Geh. Staatsarchiv Pr. Kulturbesitz, Sign. GStA PK, XX. HA StA Königsberg, Hs. 2 Vol. 1 p. 420; Vol. 2 Bl. 89 v, 143 r)
• Sparrowhawk (Erhard). In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 38, Leipzig 1743, column 1504.
• Friedwald Moeller: Old Prussian Evangelical Pastors' Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945