Gerhard Wolter Molanus

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Gerhard Wolter Molanus,
design for a commemorative coin ...
... and the medal of the electoral medalist Ehrenreich Hannibal on the death of the founder of the Guelph coin collection ; Replica by Harry Maximilian Buchberger for Nord / LB , exhibited in the Lower Saxony Coin Cabinet in the Lower Saxony State Museum

Gerhard Wolter Molanus , actually Gerhard Wolter von der Mülen (born November 1, 1633 in Hameln , † September 7, 1722 in Hanover ), was a theologian and Protestant abbot of the Loccum monastery .

Life

Tomb in the abbey church of Loccum monastery

Gerhard Molanus studied at the University of Helmstedt with Georg Calixt , became professor of mathematics at the University of Rinteln in 1659 , then of theology in 1664 and finally in 1671 conventual of the Loccum monastery , 1672 coadjutor of the abbot there , 1674 consistorial director, finally in 1677 himself abbot. From 1674 to In 1680 he was also general superintendent of the general diocese of Calenberg .

Molanus was ahead of his time in the reunification negotiations he conducted with the Catholic Church. However, he refused when the converted Duke Johann Friedrich tried to persuade him to convert and succeed Valerio Maccioni as Apostolic Vicar of the North in 1676 . Since 1679 he negotiated with Christoph de Rojas y Spinola , Jacques Bénigne Bossuet , Niels Stensen , Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and others, “whether the doctrinal differences between the Christian churches really have to be church-dividing. Molanus suggested that a new university council should finally clarify the disputed issues. Ultimately, the talks failed because Molanus underestimated the weight of the doctrinal differences for the identity of the individual denominations and because the princes involved withdrew the political support they had initially given him. " (Otte 2002, p. 259)

Molanus died in Hanover, in the abbot house of the Loccum court , which he lived in , the town court of the Loccum monks, and was buried in the Loccum monastery . The tomb he designed himself has been preserved. The estate and the important private library were acquired by the Royal Library of Hanover, today's Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library , in 1728/29 and, with their rarities and unica, are among the library's greatest book treasures (there is the 789-page printed sales catalog). The coin collection, which was already famous during his lifetime, was sold by the heirs in 1745 and is now one of the most important holdings in the coin cabinets in Gotha and in the State Museum in Hanover .

In Hannover-Kirchrode and in Hameln a Molanusweg ever named after him.

Works

  • Lipsanographia Sive Thesaurus Reliquiarum Electoralis Brunsvico Luneburgicus. Hanover 1697 (description of the Welf Treasure )
Digitized version of the Latin edition from 1724, Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library

literature

  • Heinz Weidemann: Gerard Wolter Molanus, Abbot of Loccum. A biography . 2 volumes. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1925-29. (Studies on the church history of Lower Saxony.3.5)
  • Dieter Brosius: The Loccumer Abbot Gerhard Wolter Molanus . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches . Vol. 103 (1992) pp. 43-59.
  • The Reunion Talks in Lower Saxony in the 17th century. Rojas y Spinola - Molan - Leibniz . Hans Otte (among others) (Ed.) Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1999. (Studies on the Church History of Lower Saxony. 37) ISBN 3-525-55242-4
  • Karin Masser: Christóbal de Gentil de Rojas y Spinola OFM and the Lutheran abbot Gerardus Wolterius Molanus. A contribution to the history of the Union efforts of the Catholic and Protestant Church in the 17th century . Münster: Aschendorff 2002. (Studies and texts on the history of the Reformation. 145) ISBN 3-402-03809-9

Short biographies

Molanus' library and coin collection

  • Bibliotheca Gerardina, sive Catalogus librorum selectissimorum in omni fere doctrinæ genere, qvos magno studio, nec minori sumtu collegit B. Gerardus Wolterus Molanus, Liber. & imperial. monasterii Luccensis Abbas ,… Natus the 22nd Octobris 1633. Mortuus the 7th Septembris 1722. Bibliotheca hæc, certa pecuniæ summa, divendita, & bibliotecæ Regiæ atq [ue] Electorali Hannoveranæ est inserta, Anno 1729. Hannoveranæ 1729. (Available in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, call number: Bu 3062)
  • Reiner Cunz : Numismatics between house historiography and princely desire to collect . Shown using the example of the former Royal Coin Cabinet in Hanover and its supervisors, 1745–1945 (=  Museum for Hamburg History , Dept. Coin Cabinet [Ed.]: Numismatic Studies . Book 11). Gietl, Regenstauf 1996, ISBN 3-924861-16-1 .

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Wolter Molanus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Walter Krumwiede : Church history of Lower Saxony . Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 1996, p. 220 ( digitized version ).


personal data
SURNAME Molanus, Gerhard Wolter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerhard Wolter from Mülen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German private scholar, book collector and Protestant abbot of the Loccum monastery
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1633
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamelin
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1722
Place of death Hanover