Henricus Paulinus

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Henricus Paulinus

Henricus (Henrich) Paulinus (* 1537 in Emden ; † November 17, 1602 ibid) was a German city secretary and bailiff.

Live and act

Henricus Paulinus was a son of Paul Cremer and Berentje van Dueten, who lived in Emden in 1573. According to Johannes C. Stracke, the father could have worked as Emden burgrave. His parents owned a house on Deichstrasse, which he later inherited. The family's ancestors lived in Weener , but Henricus' birthplace was probably Emden. According to Erich von Reeken, his German surname was "Paulsen". He had a brother who lived in Emden in 1585.

Paulinus attended the Latin school in Emden under the direction of Bernhard Meypis and read Latin and Greek classics. He lost his father at the age of twelve. In 1550 the mother married Eilardt Cremer, who was probably a brother of Paul Cremer. Paulinus obviously received a generous grant from the Great Church from 1549 to 1556 . He himself noted in 1560 that the city council had encouraged him to study; his parents had also expressed this wish. Where he stayed before studying is not documented.

After enrolling at the University of Wittenberg on August 12, 1559 , Paulinus heard from Philipp Melanchthon, among others . Whether he also attended other universities, as was customary at the time, cannot be traced, nor is it possible to determine when he went back to Emden. From 1568 he worked for almost thirty years as a secretary, town clerk or court chairman for his native town under Mayor Petrus Medmann and presumably attended all secret negotiations. He traveled frequently for the city, including to West Friesland , where he had to spend some time in prison.

From 1590 the well-trained secretary Paulinus also worked as a clerk for Emden. For a long time he was a confidante of Edzard II , who appointed him bailiff in 1595. In the service he also dealt with church affairs. In 1576 he went for the city together with members of the church council to Aurich , where the appointment of two preachers for Emden and Larrelt should be confirmed. In 1578 he took over the religious exchange between Calvinists and Mennonites, together with Drosten, members of the council and the secretary Gerdes, which took several months. When famous personalities visited, Paulinus showed them the famous armory and the newly built town hall.

Edzard II sent Paulinus, who certainly also knew Ubbo Emmius personally, to negotiations with the Wassergeusen , among other things, and appointed him his deputy in negotiations to secure Emden's maritime trade. The fact that his activities for Emden ended in 1595 were probably clearly related to the Emden Revolution . He either resigned from office due to dissatisfaction himself or was forced to resign by the new rulers.

Works

Part-time, Paulinus wrote funeral speeches in Latin, probably especially at a young age. His treatises on Cornelius Cooltuyn and Count Christoph, which were later translated into Greek , also appeared in print. The text about Cooltuyn comprises 40 pages and is the only more detailed source on the person. For this he used letters, archival documents and memories from his colleagues. It was important to him to work in the style of classic models "antiquo et ciceroniano more". Due to the resulting style of language, his writings are difficult to use as sources today.

In retirement Paulinus wrote about the "History of the Netherlands at the time of Philip II." However, he did not complete the work and therefore opposed publication. In 1663, a printer from Emden nonetheless distributed the work.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Paulinus, Henricus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paulinus, Henrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German city secretary and bailiff
DATE OF BIRTH 1537
PLACE OF BIRTH Emden
DATE OF DEATH November 17, 1602
Place of death Emden