Franz Anton Knittel

Silhouette Franz Anton Knittel

Franz Anton Knittel (born April 3, 1721 in Salzdahlum , † December 10, 1792 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a German Protestant clergyman and palaeographer .

Life

Franz Anton Knittel was born as the son of Jacob Knittel (* July 23, 1662 in Danzig ; † May 15, 1736 in Salzdahlum), court gardener at the Princely Salzdahlum Palace and his wife Anna Katharina, née. Helmke (born April 23, 1699 in Salzdahlum; † February 2, 1744).

He received his first instruction from the provost Samuel Rudolf Prätorius (1667–1749) from Salzdahlum and went to the Katharinenschule in Braunschweig and in 1735 to the Schöningen grammar school ; his teachers there were Sigismund Andreas Cuno and Johann Friedrich Nolte (1694-1754), who taught him Greek and Latin writers, so that he acquired knowledge of ancient history, geography, antiquity and mythology.

In May 1740 he began to study theology at the University of Helmstedt with the intention of becoming a teacher and preferred to listen to the lectures of the theologian Johann Lorenz von Mosheim . In 1742 he went to the University of Halle and attended lectures in theology with Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten , in philosophy with Georg Friedrich Meier , on oriental languages ​​with Christian Benedikt Michaelis , in natural science with Johann Gottlob Krüger and in mathematics with Christian Albrecht Körber; He later continued his mathematical studies.

1743 he went to Braunschweig back and was in May 1746 in front of the local consistory theological examination and was on the Abbot Philipp Ludwig Dreyßigmark (1676-1750) in the in Riddagshausen Abbey located Predigerseminar added. During this time he devoted himself to his favorite disciplines of philology, mathematics, diplomatics, church history and the science of preaching; he made the acquaintance of the Provost Johann Christoph Harenberg (1696-1774), with whom he maintained a Latin and Greek correspondence and which he owes his love for Revelation, still he was with the later Councilor Heinrich Bernhard Schrader of Schliestedt known who campaigned for Franz Anton Knittel to be given the parish of Schliestedt and Warle .

In 1755 he became archdeacon at the main church Beatae Mariae Virginis in Wolfenbüttel; Immediately after his arrival, he went to see Duke Charles I , with the request to be able to use the manuscripts in the library, who immediately granted him this permission. He got to know the Vice Chancellor Georg Septimus Andreas von Praun , who guided him in his literary work, as well as other scholars from Wolfenbüttel, such as Rector Jakob Friedrich Heusinger (1719–1778), Chamber Director and Monastery Councilor Christian Johann Brandan Hugo (1725–1804), Hofrat Heinrich Andreas Koch , the consistorial presidents Johann Georg Oldekop , Christian Friedrich Weichmann , Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , Christian Leiste and Johann Heinrich Reß .

The rector of the Great School in Wolfenbüttel, Jakob Friedrich Heusinger, examined the manuscript Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weißenbürgensis in the Wolfenbüttel library and described it in 1752, although Franz Anton Knittel only discovered in 1756, after a hint from Vice Chancellor von Praun, that it was the Handwriting was a palimpsest in which the palimpsest part of text belonged to two different manuscripts of the New Testament; he also recognized lists of the κεφαλαια ( chapters ) as another, the third Greek manuscript. He also deciphered and reconstructed the Gothic-Latin text of the Palimpsest and published it with the support of Duke Karl, after which the manuscript was named codex Carolinus , in 1762 with a detailed commentary.

At the beginning of 1765 he was appointed ecclesiastical consistorial assessor and the following year consistorial councilor as well as general superintendent and pastor primus of the main church; at the same time he was Ephorus of the Wolfenbüttel grammar school, where he also held the post of censor . As a general superintendent, he oversaw eight superintendents, 72 preachers and 115 churches, which he had to visit every two years.

In 1776 he also took over the post of general superintendent in Braunschweig, until this post was regularly filled again in 1784 with Friedrich-Wilhelm Richter (1727-1791).

In Wolfenbüttel he had the opportunity to use the library for academic work and therefore repeatedly turned down appointments in other places, including as a theological professor at the University of Helmstedt . In the consistory he made a special contribution to the development of the school system in the Duchy of Braunschweig .

Franz Anton Knittel also frequented court and was a welcome guest at the Duchess Philippine Charlotte , the sister of Frederick the Great . At first he was on friendly terms with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , with whom he maintained disputations until late at night, but this relationship reversed over the years.

He was married to Henriette Elisabeth Katharina (born October 2, 1722 in Hiddestorf ; † November 28, 1793 in Wolfenbüttel), eldest daughter of Pastor Johann Julius Bütemeister (1691–1738) from Braunschweig, since July 25, 1752 ; together they had ten children, only three of whom survived him.

Fonts (selection)

• Thoughts on a doctrine of a common spiritual doctrine and its penance in divine wisdom . 1746.
• Praecopium Ulphilanum primum . Brunovici 1758.
• Ulphilae versiones Gothicam nonnullorum capitum epistolae Pauli ad Romanos e litura MS. Bibliothecae Guelferbytanae, cum variis monumentalis ineditis eruit, commentatus est, dtitque foras . Brunovici 1762.
• Contributions to the meibomian chronicle of the Riddagshausen monastery: The second collection . Brunswick 1748.
• Epistola, in qua de eo, quod in Georgicis Hesiodes, quae εργα και ημεραι inscribuntur, supposititium est, disseruit de salis vallibus and a viro celebrimo in arte critica M. horum, quae accusantus, vindice atquae assertore, dissentit. Brunsvick 1754.
• New thoughts from the general Christians in the manuscripts of the New Test Office, etc., supplemented by a hermeneutic courage - morals - teaching of the first church . Brunswick 1755.
• Franz Anton Knittels, the main church in Wolfenbüttel archdeacon, sermon for peace. It is held on the Feast of Thanksgiving, which was celebrated on April 17th, 1763 because of the restored general peace in all of the Ducal Braunschweigische Lands . Wolfenbüttel Bindseil 1763.
• Jakob Friedrich Heusinger; Franz Anton Knittel: Emendationvm Callimachiarvm Pericvlvm Theologo Svmme Venerabili Francisco Antonio Knittel Qvvm A Serenissimo Patriae Patre Consistorii Consiliarivs Svperintendens Generalis Sacrorvm Ad Mariae Virginis Antistes Svpremvs Gymolatosiiqve Ephorvsi Collegiate Dudificat Venerable Schvelatnasiiqve Ephorvsi Honsphorvs Iphorvs Constitolac. Rector (Scrib. In gymnasio Guelpherbytano ad III. Non. Mart. MDCCLXVI.) . Guelpherbyti Bindseil Wolfenbüttel 1766.
• Prisca ruris ecclesia . Brunovici 1767.
• Additional dreams to the criticism of John's disclosure . Braunschweig and Hildensheim 1773.
• On Heusinger's grave: Mourning poem for Jakob Friedrich Heusinger, rector of the high school in Wolfenbüttel, † Sept. 26, 1778. A free translation from the Greek by Franz Anton Knitte l. Wolfenbüttel 1778.
• New reviews of the world famous testimony of the ancient Jew Flav. Josephus of Jesus Christ. Brunswick 1779.
• Franz Anton Knittel; Friedrich Gebhard Radeloff: In ducis Guelphici Maximiliani Julii Leopoldi obitum: Mourning poem for Duke Maximilian Julius Leopold . Wolfenbüttel 1785.
• New reviews of the famous Sprych: Drey are those in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one . Brunswick 1785.
• Franz Anton Knittel's art of catechizing . Brunswick Schröder 1786.
• About the enlightenment of the laughing man. Frankfurt and Leipzig 1787.
• Heinrich Just Stegmann; Franz Anton Knittel: Epitaphium Francisci Antonii Knittelii viri summe venerabilis qui obiit Idibus Decembris MDCCLXXXXII . Wolfenbuttelae Bindseil 1792.
• Heinrich David Wilckens; Friedrich Gebhard Radeloff; Franz Anton Knittel: In funebrem odam, quam manibus Knittelii gymnastici collegii Wolfenbuttelensis nomine sacram esse iussit Fridericus Gebhardus Radeloff, subconrector, hos versiculos ad XI. Cal. Ian. MDCCLXXXXIII. scripsit . Wolfenbuttelae Bindseil 1793.
• EA Lowe; Franz Anton Knittel; Ulfilas , Bishop of the Goths; Johann Christian Zahn ; Friedrich Karl Fulda ; Wilhelm Friedrich Hermann Reinwald ; Johan Yours : Ulfilas Gothic Bible translation: the oldest Germanic document based on your text, with a grammatical-literal Latin translation between the lines, including a linguistic theory and a glossary . Weissenfels: Printed by Johann Friedrich Leyckam in 1805.
• Michael Merkel; Christian Gottlieb Hertel; Carl Gottlob von Planitz; Carl Rudolph von Planitz; Johann David Michaelis ; Oluf Gerhard Tychsen ; Franz Anton Knittel: M. Michael Merkel's freye treatises and examinations of some recent treatises by Hofrath Michaelis, Herr D. Schmids, Herr Prof. Tychsen, Herr Generalsuperint. Knittels, and others from Critique and Theology . Wolfenbüttel Herzog August Library 2017.
• Franz Anton Knittel; Christoph Burchard Hoeck; Johann Georg Oldekop; Johann Wilhelm Bindseil: funeral sermon and mourning poems on the Wolseligen Mr. Johann Georg Oldekop of the holy scripture Doctor, Sr. Herzogl. Durchl., Of the ruling Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, Consistorialraht . Wolfenbüttel Herzog August Library 2017.

literature

• Paul Zimmermann :  Knittel, Franz Anton . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 299 f.
• Franz Anton Knittel in Friedrich Schlichtegroll : Nekrolog on the year 1792 , 3rd year, 2nd volume, pp. 13–34. Gotha by Justus Perthes 1794.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ File: Stoye Volume 42.djvu - GenWiki. Retrieved September 26, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Stoye Foundation / Volume 42 (Genealogical Legacies) / 119 - GenWiki. Retrieved September 26, 2018 .