Heinrich Hirtzwig

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Heinrich Hirtzwig (* around 1587 in Hayna in Hesse ; † August 18, 1635 in Butzbach ) was a German pedagogue and playwright .

Life

Heinrich Hirtzwig can be verified for the first time in 1613 as rector in Speyer . In 1615 the City Council of Frankfurt am Main appointed him rector of the Francofurtanum grammar school on the recommendation of the University of Giessen . There he succeeded Adelardus Cravelius , during whose tenure the high school's reputation had suffered badly. The chronicles tell of nocturnal debauchery of the students and teachers, the performance level was considered poor in the surrounding universities ( Francofurtani mali grammatici ). In a letter dated November 6, 1615, Hirtzwig reported to his teacher Balthasar Mentzer from Giessen about the conditions he had found in Frankfurt.

With the appointment of Hirtzwig, the council increased the rector's salary to 300 guilders and that of the other teachers to 200 guilders a year in order to make the teachers more independent of additional income and private tuition. In return, Hirtzwig implemented a series of reforms, although he largely rejected the proposals recommended by Ratichius to the council in 1612 . Nevertheless, under Hirtzwig, the Frankfurt high school experienced a clear upswing. In 1616 he introduced a sixth as a new entry class. He dismissed the previous Quintanus (teacher of the Quinta ) Laurentius Bulla "for indolence". In order to improve the discipline among the students, he expelled four students from the institution and established the office of a decurio responsible for the supervision and order among the students . At the same time, he advocated a moderation of the spanking sentences for rebellious students and introduced new certificates . Hirtzwig wrote new textbooks for teaching, including a Latin dictionary for the lower grades and a revision of the catechism .

Hirtzwig's autocratic behavior and his penchant for intransigence created opponents in the city for him, especially since he pursued his reforms without consulting the four scholarly commission set up by the council . In 1626 the council therefore set up new school regulations in which some of Hirtzwig's reforms were repealed and his textbooks were banned. Hirtzwig then pursued his appointment as court preacher in Butzbach and was dismissed from the city service in 1627 without any major formalities. Only decades later was his contribution to the Frankfurt grammar school remembered. So his letter of 1615 to Mentzner was reprinted in 1654 under rector Johannes Valentini in a new school regulation.

Hirtzwig died of the plague in Butzbach in 1635 .

Works

In addition to his work as headmaster, Hirtzwig was best known for his Latin dramas, which gained national importance. In 1609 he wrote the tragedy Balsasar , which was performed in the Strasbourg academic theater . In 1615 he published his work himself and provided it with his own commentary. The drama Jesulus is a 1613 comedy about the Christmas story . For the centenary of the Reformation he wrote the drama Lutherus .

literature

Footnotes

  1. ^ Wilhelm Ernst Weber: The Frankfurt grammar school under the rector Hirtzwig . Frankfurt am Main 1829, p. 15.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Ernst Weber: The Frankfurt grammar school under the rector Hirtzwig . Frankfurt am Main 1829, p. 7.
personal data
SURNAME Hirtzwig, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pedagogue and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH around 1587
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenhain-Ziegenberg
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1635
Place of death Butzbach