Georg Witzel

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Georg Witzel copper engraving, 16th century

Georg Witzel ( Wicelius ) (* 1501 in Vacha ; † February 16, 1573 in Mainz ) was a theologian of the Reformation period . In the 1520s he was a follower of Luther, but later turned back to the old church.

Life

After school in his native Vacha, from 1513 he attended other schools in Schmalkalden , Eisenach and Halle (Saale) . From the winter semester of 1516 he studied in Erfurt , where he was shaped by humanism , and in 1518 obtained his Baccalaureus. In 1520 Witzel went to Wittenberg for 28 weeks , where he heard Martin Luther , Andreas Bodenstein , called Karlstadt and Philipp Melanchthon and had completed a master's degree there for a while , but ultimately did not acquire the degree. At the father's request, he had to break off his studies and become a priest in 1521. In the same year he took up a position as vicar in Vacha.

From 1522/23, Vacha preached in his hometown together with Balthasar Raid in the spirit of Luther, married Elisabeth Kraus from Eisenach in 1524 and lost his spiritual position. Witzel went to Eisenach, where he joined Jacob Strauss and took up a pastor's position in neighboring Wenigenlupnitz.

His position in the Peasants' War was long disputed. As a colleague of Strauss, he took part in the first known Protestant visitation in the Eisenach area in April 1525, including his home, the Vacha office , and introducing new clergy. The desire of the residents of the neighboring rule of Völkershausen for a Lutheran preacher remained unfulfilled, whereupon they revolted against their landlord. This started the uprising of the farmers in the Werra Valley, a beacon for the whole of Thuringia. The suspicions against Witzel as a rebel were unfounded, he even wrote a warning letter to Thomas Müntzer , but he had to give up his pastor in Wenigenlupnitz. On the recommendation of Martin Luther, he became a pastor in Niemegk .

Witzel's concern was the moral improvement of people, the "good works". In it he followed Erasmus from Rotterdam . He turned away from Luther's teaching because he had contact with Johann Campanus , and therefore the electoral court took action against him.

In 1531 Witzel left his pastoral office without initially finding a new one. That year he was active as a writer.

Georg Witzel, dedication to Daniel Mauch , volume 5 of his work Typus ecclesiae prioris , 1558

In Eisleben he was now again as a Catholic pastor in constant battle with the Lutheran theologians until he was called to Dresden .

His typus ecclesiae prioris (1540) had a strong influence. From 1539 he led a wandering life. He was accepted into the Schlüchtern monastery and was permanently in Fulda in 1540 , where he received a permanent position at the latest in 1541 as theological advisor to Prince Abbot Johann von Henneberg and in 1542 of his successor Philipp Schenk zu Schweinsberg . During the Schmalkaldic War , Witzel had to flee Fulda to Würzburg for the first time at the end of 1546. After 1548 he defended the interim . In 1552 Witzel was accepted into the Worms cathedral scholaster Daniel Mauch , to whom he, out of gratitude, dedicated the 5th volume of the new edition of his work Typus ecclesiae prioris in 1558 . In 1553 he went to Mainz with his family, where he lived for another twenty years.

At the suggestion of Emperor Maximilian II , he wrote the Via regia in 1564 , in which he advocated the comparison of denominations. As a member of the city of Mainz, he also took part in the Worms Religious Discussion of 1557.

Works

  • Pro defensione bonorum operum adversus novos evangelistas auctore Agricola. 1532.
  • Confutatio calumnosissimae responsionis Justi Jonae, it est Jodoci Koch, una cum assertione bonorum operum. per Georgium Vuicelium, Leipzig 1533.
  • Epistolarum, Quae Inter Aliquot Centurias videbantur partim profuturae Theologicarum literarum studiosis, partim innocentis famam aduersus Sycophantiam defensurae, Libri Quatuor. - Leipzig, 1537.
  • Type ecclesiae prioris. 1540.
  • Holy Mass as it was in ancient Kyrchen a thousand years ago. From S. Joan. Chrysostomo Germanized Mainz in 1540.
  • Hagiology. Mainz, 1541.
  • Liturgia S. Basilii Mag. Nuper e tenebris eruta, et in lucem nunc primum edita. Mainz 1546.
  • Via regia. 1564. ( Digitized version of the new edition by Hermann Conring , Helmstedt 1650)
  • Annotationes In Sacras Literas. Printed by: Franz Behem, in the cost of the honorary Johan Quentels zu Coeln Erben, 1557; Mainz City Library : Signature VI g: 2 ° / 923

Trivia

The cities of Fulda (am Aschenberg) and Vacha (am Gehlberg) each named a street after the reform theologian Witzel.

literature

  • Urs von Arx (ed.): Georg Witzel (1501–1573) and the criterion of the old church. In: International Church Journal. 99 (2009), pp. 209-280.
  • Remigius Bäumer : Georg Witzel . In: Catholic theologians of the Reformation period. Vol. 1 (Catholic life and church reform in the age of religious schism, 44). Münster 1991, ISBN 3-402-03343-7 .
  • Johannes Beumer: Erasmus from Rotterdam and Georg Witzel. Their mutual relationship and their position on the Reformation. (Catholica, 22). 1968.
  • Johannes Beumer: Two mediating theologians of the Reformation period. Philipp Melanchthon and Georg Witzel . In: Theology and Philosophy. 43: 502-522 (1968).
  • Wolfgang Breul-Kunkel : Dominance Crisis and Reformation. (Sources and research on the history of the Reformation, Volume 71). Heidelberg 2000, ISBN 3-579-01739-X .
  • Adalbert Böning: Georg Witzel as a Hebraist and his eulogy for the Hebrew language. (Texts and Theses, 35). Schwerte 2004, ISBN 3-927382-49-3 .
  • Otto Clemen : Georg Witzel and Justus Jonas . In: Archive for the history of the Reformation. 17, pp. 132-152 (1920).
  • John Patrick Dolan: The influence of Erasmus, Witzel and Cassander in the church ordinances and reform proposals of the United Duches of Cleve during the middle decades of the 16th century. (Studies and texts on the history of the Reformation, 83). Munster 1957.
  • Barbara Henze: For love of church reform. The efforts of Georg Witzel (1501–1573) for church unity. (Studies and texts on the history of the Reformation, Volume 133). Münster 1995, ISBN 3-402-03795-5 .
  • Werner Kathrein, Karlheinz Diez, Barbara Henze, Cornelius Roth: In the service of the unity and the reform of the church. On the life and work of Georg Witzel. (Fuldaer Hochschulschriften, Volume 43). Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-7820-0876-6 .
  • Rudolf Padberg: Georg Witzel the Elder, a pastoral theologian of the 16th century . In: Theological quarterly. 135: 385-409 (1955).
  • Christian Pleuger: Humanist Reform Catholicism using the example of the dispute between Martin Luther and Georg Witzel. (Georg Witzel Archive, Secondary Literature Series, Vol. 1). Hagen 1980.
  • Gregor Richter: The writings of Georg Witzel edited bibliographically. (Publications of the Fulda History Association, 10). Fulda 1913.
  • Paul Ludwig Sauer: The dialogue with Georg Witzel. (Secondary literature 2 of the Georg Witzel Archive). Hagen 1981.
  • Winfried Trusen: About the reform and unity of the church. On the life and work of Georg Witzel. (Catholic Life and Fighting in the Age of Divisions, 14). Munster 1957.
  • Paul Tschackert:  Witzel, Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 657-662.
  • Thomas Witzel: Studies on the work of Georg Witzels in Würzburg and Fulda (1540–1554). Master's thesis in Modern History (mach.), Würzburg 1986.
  • Michael Mott : Streiter in a lost position / A street on the Aschenberg is named after the reform theologian Georg Witzel (1501–1573). In: Fulda newspaper . October 10, 2007, p. 12 (Series: Fulda Heads).
  • Olaf Ditzel: Georg Witzel's ancestors in Vacha , in: Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter , volume 74/1998, pp. 77-104

Web links

Commons : Georg Witzel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Georg Witzel's book with a dedication to Daniel Mauch (page 1)
  2. ^ The basis of the edition was a now lost Latin manuscript from the Johannisberg monastery (Geisenheim) . Its Greek model reflected the liturgical customs of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople at the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century.