Herzog-Wolfgang-Gymnasium

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The state-run Herzog-Wolfgang-Gymnasium (HWG) in Zweibrücken was founded in 1559 and dissolved in 1987 after more than 425 years of existence. It gained regional importance in the 16th and again in the 18th century as an educational center for the Principality of Pfalz-Zweibrücken .

history

State school in Hornbach

The educational establishment owes its origins to the humanistic, educationally friendly ideas of the Reformation period and the need of the early modern state for trained pastors and officials, who should also be children of the country. In Pfalz-Zweibrücken, the evangelical confession had been introduced in 1533 under Count Palatine Ruprecht . The city's Latin schools , for example in Annweiler , Bergzabern , Hornbach , Kusel , Meisenheim or Zweibrücken, only incompletely prepared the students for the requirements of a university education. From 1557 onwards, under Palatine Count Wolfgang (1526–1569), based on the Electoral Saxon and Strasbourg models, the establishment of two central state schools was planned. In 1559 the first was opened in Hornbach for the Palatinate-Zweibrücken region, and a second in Lauingen an der Donau in 1562 for the Palatinate-Neuburg region . Both took over the premises and income of former monasteries, but without continuing the monastic or urban educational tradition in these places.

The four classes princely state school in Hornbach was extension of the curriculum in 1575 by Count Palatine Johann I to a scholastic illustris expanded. From 1575 to 1588 there was a library at the school, which was added to the "Bibliotheca Bipontina", which was kidnapped in 1676. When Hornbach Abbey was restituted to the Speyer diocese in 1631 during the Thirty Years' War , school operations were relocated to Zweibrücken and discontinued in 1636 after Zweibrücken was taken by the imperial family.

Grammar school in Zweibrücken

Schools were provisionally resumed in Meisenheim (1640–1652) and Zweibrücken (1652–1676) and relocated to Meisenheim (1676–1706) in 1676 due to new war threats. It was not until 1706 that the school returned to Zweibrücken under Swedish rule. A second heyday began in 1721 with the appointment of Rector Johann Philipp Crollius . Since 1721 he has been promoting school attendance by publishing the annual final speeches, the orationes , as printed matter. The tradition was continued in the 19th and 20th centuries with "programs" and commemorative publications until 1984. In addition, he started a book collection at the school in 1725, from which a new " Bibliotheca Bipontina " was later expanded to include the princely book collection . From 1779 to 1794 the school published the editiones Bipontinae , inexpensive editions of Latin and Greek classics for school use, which were widely used. Benjamin Franklin , the American ambassador to Paris , also appears on the subscriber list .

The available literature does not reveal when the language of instruction at the grammar school changed. Latin could have been the language of instruction until 1793, French from 1794 to 1815 , then German . After 1794, the school was continued as a state educational institution under changing names. The traditional old-language grammar school was named after its founder in 1953. In 1987, the then Rhineland-Palatinate state government resolved to close the school and the Herzog-Wolfgang-Gymnasium was merged with the Helmholtz-Gymnasium . The "Bibliotheca Bipontina" became an institution of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Personalities

Principals and teachers

Former students

Literature (selection)

  • Rudolf Buttmann: The matriculation of the Hornbacher Gymnasium 1559-1630 Part I: Text. Zweibrücken 1904 ( digitized version of the University and State Library Düsseldorf)
  • Georg Burkard: Bibliography of the editiones Bipontinae. Zweibrücken 1990.
  • Kurt Schöndorf: The history of the Princely State School in Hornbach 450 years ago. In: Westricher Heimatblätter. Vol. 40, Kusel 2009, pp. 100-111.
  • Lars G. Svensson: The History of the Bibliotheca Bipontina. Kaiserslautern 2002.
  • Fritz Vogelgesang: The Zweibrücker matriculation of the Herzog-Wolfgang-Gymnasium 1631-1811. Speyer 1967.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schlaaff, Henning N .: Oratio De Celeberrimo Quondam Nobilissimoque Imperii Castro Trifels Habita Et Recitata AD XII Kal. Octobr. On. MDCCXXV, Cum Sollemnis Gymnasii Bipontini Perageretur Lustratio Biponti 1726. "Speech about the once famous and extremely noble Trifels Castle, given and recited on September 20, 1725 on the occasion of the annual school celebration of the Zweibruecken Gymnasium." Available online in the digital library of the Bavarian State Library. Both links accessed on September 26, 2018.