Georg Mancelius

Georg Mancelius, also: Manzel ; (* June 24 ^{. Jul} / 4. July  1593 ^greg. In Grenzhof / Kurland ; † 17th March 1654 in Mitau ) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian . He wrote the first dictionary of the Latvian language .

Life

Born as the son of the preacher of Kaspar Mancelius, he attended the Mitau schools from 1603 and 1608 in Riga . In 1611 he enrolled at the University of Frankfurt (Oder) . At that time, a denominational reorientation towards the Reformed faith was carried out in Brandenburg . Therefore Mancelius went to the University of Rostock in 1612 and returned to his homeland in 1615. There he was appointed pastor to Wallhof by Duke Friedrich in 1616 , went to Selburg in 1620 with the same task and in 1625 became senior pastor at the Johanniskirche in Dorpat .

In Dorpat, the administrative center of the Swedish provinces in the Baltic States, he took over the post of rector of the city school in 1626, became a grammar school professor at the local grammar school in 1630, and when Gustav II Adolf of Sweden founded the Dorpater University in 1632 , he was appointed professor of theology. As a result, he also became an assessor at the local senior consistory , was promoted to licentiate in theology in 1633 and was rector of the academic institution in 1636. On October 23, 1637 he returned to Courland, became court preacher and confessor of Duke Friedrich , which office he carried out until the end of his life. His writings describe an earthquake that occurred in 1616, as well as academic works, court sermons, poems and treatises on the Latvian language. The Latvian orthography he introduced was still in use in the 20th century.

Selection of works

• Lettus, Riga 1638
• Phraseologia lettica, Riga 1638
• Meditatio Theologistoricophysica de terrae motu, Riga 1619
• Vademenecum or Improved Latvian Hymn and Gospel Book, Riga 1636
• The little catechism
• The Proverbs of Solomon, Riga 1637
• The home, breeding and blank book of Syrachs, Riga 1643
• Long-requested Latvian postil, Riga 1654

literature

• Kristi Viiding: The portrait of a Liv and Kurland orthodox theologian (Georg Mancelius), based on the accompanying poems and poems of greeting dedicated to him. In: Udo Sträter (ed.): Orthodoxy and poetry. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-374-01997-8
• Carl Girgensohn:  Mancelius, Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 162 f.
• Johann Friedrich von Recke , Karl Eduard Napiersky : Marcelius (Georg) . In: General encyclopedia of writers and scholars of the provinces of Livonia, Esthland and Courland . Vol. 3, 1831, pp. 152-156 online resource
• Carola L. Gottzmann / Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007. Vol. 2, pp. 883-885, ISBN 978-3-11019338-1

Web links

• Publications by and about Georg Mancelius in VD 17 .
• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Georg Mancelius. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See the entry of Georg Mancelius' matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal