Gerhard Westerburg

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Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder Ä. 1524: Portrait of the 38-year-old Gerhard von Westerburg

Gerhard Westerburg (* around 1490 in Cologne ; † 1558 in Dykhausen near Neustadtgödens ) was a German lawyer and theologian of the Anabaptists and the Reformed .

Life

Gerhard Westerburg was born at the end of the 15th century into a respected family in the city of Cologne. He completed his basic studies in Trier and Cologne at the Bursa Montana . From 1517 he studied with Johannes Cochläus in Bologna and completed his studies in 1521 with a doctorate in both rights . During this time he also made a trip to Rome , where he experienced the church's grievances.

reformer

When Westerburg returned to Cologne in 1521, he met a representative of the Zwickau prophets . As a result he went to Wittenberg to see Nikolaus Storch , one of the leaders of the Zwickau prophets. There he befriended Karlstadt and Martin Borrhaus . With Karlstadt he moved to Orlamünde in 1523 and married his sister. Here Westerburg began his writing activity. His eight-page pamphlet Vom Pegefeuer earned him the nickname “Doctor Purgatory”. On behalf of Karlstadt he traveled to Zurich in 1524 , where he met the later Anabaptists Konrad Grebel and Felix Manz . On his return he was expelled from Saxony together with Karlstadt .

Frankfurt guild uprising

Westerburg went to Frankfurt am Main and there joined the community of evangelical brothers , a group of reformatory-minded craftsmen who were in opposition to the patrician authorities and the old-believing clergy of the city. The city council, which is dominated by patricians, had been in conflict with the Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht von Brandenburg , since June 1524 because of the appearance of Lutheran preachers at the Katharinenkirche . This was held against the council as a violation of the Worms Edict and thus as a rebellion against the emperor. The council therefore tried to suppress the further spread of the Reformation among the citizens in order to avoid the loss of imperial privileges.

Westerburg took part in the Frankfurt guild uprising on April 17, 1525. On April 22, 1525, the rebels forced the council to accept 46 articles , some of which were probably written by Westerburg , a summary of Reformation positions as well as civil and socio-political demands. They are assigned a meaning similar to the Twelve Articles of Upper Swabia .

The incumbent mayor Hamman von Holzhausen managed to mediate between the council and the insurgent guilds and at the same time to support the position of the city towards the emperor and the archbishop of Mainz. Westerburg had to leave the city in May 1525, but on June 13, 1525 the council appointed the two reformatory preachers Johann Bernhard and Dionysius Melander to calm the citizens down. After the suppression of the Peasants' War , the Frankfurt Articles were abolished on July 2, 1525 and the previous balance of power between the council and the citizens was essentially restored. The introduction of the Reformation in Frankfurt, however, had become irreversible.

baptist

After his expulsion from Frankfurt, Westerburg turned back to Cologne to begin his inheritance . But even in Cologne he came into conflict with the church authorities. He avoided a disputation on purgatory . He was charged with heresy and convicted as a heretic . Thanks to his legal knowledge, he managed to avert the sentence. Westerburg published his experiences in this process in 1533 in How the Highly Scholars of Cologne condemned Doctor Gerhart Westerburg as an unbeliever . After that he lived almost undisturbed in the city of Cologne for another seven years.

As a baptismal person , Westerburg enthusiastically took up the development of the Anabaptist Empire in Münster . Together with his brother Arnold he traveled to the so-called New Jerusalem and was baptized by Heinrich Roll . After returning to Cologne, he began to donate the baptism himself. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Cologne Anabaptist Congregation, which is said to have had up to 700 members. In the summer of 1534, Westerburg was able to escape the wave of arrests by fleeing.

Reformed clergyman

From 1534 to 1542 further information about his life is missing. Westerburg seems to have renounced Anabaptism. In 1542 he worked for some time as a reformed clergyman in the service of Duke Albrecht of Prussia . Then he retired to East Frisia . In Emden he made the acquaintance of Johannes a Lasco , on whose behalf he traveled to Zurich in 1545 and met Heinrich Bullinger . On the return trip he published some Reformation writings in Strasbourg to the address of the Cologne theologians. In 1550 he tried in vain to return to Cologne; his Anabaptist past prevented a renewed acceptance of his inheritance. He took over a reformed pastor's position in Dykhausen , which he held until his death in 1558.

Works

  • From fegefewer and standt der verscheyden selen eyn Chrystliche meynung , Cologne 1523. Digitized
  • De purgatorio et animarum statu sententia ex sacris literis collecta , Strasbourg 1524.
  • Anthology, Marburg 1533
  • Gerhard Westerburg: How the highly educated von Cölln Doctores in the deity and heretic master condemned and damned Doctor Gerhart Westerburg des Fegfewrs as a believer .
  • Johannes Cochlaeus: How Doctor Johann Cocleus von Wendelstein wrote against D. Westerburg's book from Fegfewr .
  • From the great church service in the praiseworthy place of Cöllen , Strasbourg, 1545. Digitized
  • A brief report of the adoring of H. Sacrament: to the highly praiseworthy nobility of the most prominent Cöllschen Thumcapittels , Strasbourg 1545.
  • To the secular stend, namely horror, knighthood, Stette and common landscape of the laudable Cöllschen Ertzbischtumbs , Strasbourg 1545. Digitized
  • From the great affliction, cunning and condemnation, several learned and clericals of the Stat Cöllen , Strasbourg 1546.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ If you count back from the portrait, which was made in 1524 and depicts Westerburg as a 34-year-old man, he should have been born around 1486. However, if you count back from the beginning of your studies, 1494 seems to be the more realistic year of birth.
  2. ↑ Richard van Dülmen : Reformation as Revolution , Munich 1977. P. 47.
personal data
SURNAME Westerburg, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westerburg, Gerhard von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, theologian, reformer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1490
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH 1558
Place of death Dykhausen