Hieronymus Pez

Hieronymus Pez (born February 24, 1685 as Franz Philipp Pez in Ybbs , † October 14, 1762 in Melk ) was an Austrian Benedictine monk , philologist and historian in the Baroque period . Together with his older brother Bernhard Pez , he introduced critical diplomacy, which originated from France, into historical studies , making him one of the pioneers of the Enlightenment in science.

Life

Memorial plaque in Ybbs on the Danube

Franz Philipp Pez was born the son of an innkeeper and was the younger brother of Bernhard Pez , whose research partner he would later become. First he attended the Jesuit grammar schools in Vienna and Krems and, like his brother, joined the Melk Benedictine Abbey in 1701 . A year later he made his profession and was then trained as a priest. After his ordination in 1711, he was sent to Vienna to continue studying theology there, which he completed as a baccalaureate. Together with his brother, he then mainly dealt with historical research and accompanied him on numerous trips, where they mainly visited the libraries of other Benedictine monasteries and searched for original medieval documents. In their historical research, the two followed the tradition of their French friars from the Saint-Maur Abbey . This group of historians around Luc d'Achery and Jean Mabillon , called Mauriner , was the first to critically review medieval documents on a scientific basis and are therefore considered the founders of diplomacy . In the course of this research, the two published the “ Bibliotheca ascetica antiquo-nova ” from 1713 , a catalog of all Benedictine authors. 23 volumes were published by 1733.

During this time Hieronymus Pez also wrote several critical source collections of his own. First he dealt with the historical sources of St. Koloman , an Irish-Scottish monk who came to Austria during the time of King Henry II and was wrongly executed as a Bohemian spy there. Later he dealt with the sources of the Archbishopric of Salzburg from the time of Christianization up to the year 1398. Afterwards he collected a collection of historical sources on the history of Austria in painstaking detail and with the help of intensive travel. This work was published in three volumes from 1721 to 1745 as " Scriptores rerum austriacorum ".

After the death of his brother in 1735, Hieronymus became head of the Melk monastery library for a short time. After completing his Austrian source collection, he devoted himself to the life of St. Leopold , the Babenberg margrave and patron saint . This work, written in Latin, appeared in 1747 and was edited by Martin Kropff in 1756 in a supplemented German translation.

Hieronymus Pez, like his brother before that, was in correspondence with important scholars of his time, from Austria and southern Germany as well as from France and Italy, but also with scholars from the Protestant countries in northern Germany. He was also a member of the Olomouc Societas incognitorum , the first scientific learned society in the sense of the Enlightenment in the Habsburg countries. Together with his brother, he is considered to be an important representative of Benedictine science in the Baroque period and the founder of critical source research in German-speaking countries. His “ Scriptores rerum austriacorum ” were later judged as not very critical by historical scholars, but it was the first scientific processing of these sources, which is still significant because of their size. In 1761 he was appointed a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

The extensive correspondence of the two Pez brothers is currently the subject of the FWF start project "Monastic Enlightenment and the Benedictine Scholarly Republic", which is anchored institutionally at the Institute for History and the Institute for Austrian Historical Research in Vienna and runs until 2014.

estate

The extensive estate of the Pez brothers is preserved in eleven boxes and 58 manuscripts in the Abbey Archives and in the Abbey Library in Melk. Her work materials are in the estate: excerpts, notes, submissions from correspondents, catalogs and manuscript directories, house histories of various monasteries, transcripts from manuscripts, printing templates. The entire estate was digitized, reworked, entered into the UNIDAM database, indexed and commented on using bibliographical references by employees of the FWF start project. The database is freely accessible in all parts and individual pages can be downloaded.

Works

• Acta S. Colomanni Scotiae regis . Krems 1713 (about St. Koloman )
• Chronicon Salisburgense. a primo anno aerae Christianae ad 1398 ... diversum from es quod H. Canisius tomo b. lect. ant. vulgaris, ab anonymo ..., ad videtur, canonico Salisburgensi scribi cveptum, tum ab aliis evactaneis, imprimisque Weichardo de Potheim ... continuatum ... nunc primum publici juris factum ex codice autographio inclytae abbatiae S. Petri Salisisburgnsis , Gleditsch: Leipzig , 1721 (part of the Scriptores Rerum Austriacarum)
• Scriptores rerum austriacorum veteres ac genuini quotquot ex Austriae vicarumque provinciarum biliothecis et tabulariis, decumano laboratories pelustratis, aut primum in lucem vindicau, aut ex mss codicibus auctiores et emendatiores edi potuerunt . 3 volumes; Volume 1 and 2 in Leipzig 1721–1725, Volume 3 in Regensburg 1745 and Vienna 1743–45
• Historia S. Leopoldi IV. Austriae Marchion etc . Vienna 1747
• Life and miracles of St. Leopold, Margrave in Austria . mostly from word to word. Based on the Latin edition of our learned father Hieronymus Pez in German ...; with a few additions and remarks increased by the father Martinus Kropff. Printed and found by Leopold Johann Kaliwoda. Vienna in Austria, 1756
• The learned correspondence of the Pez brothers . Text, regesta, comments. Volume 1: 1709-1715. Source editions of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research, Vol. 2/1. Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-205-78303-9 , (digitized: Volume 1 )

literature

• Patrick Fiska: The Austrian pencils as a pacemaker of Austrian historical research, in: Ordensnachrichten 48 (2009) 78–91.
• Christine Glassner: Let us renew the memory of deserving men so that the grandchildren may also be encouraged to do their work. Aspects of the legacy of the Pez brothers in Melk, in: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 121 (2010) 229–248.
• Christine Glassner: Directory of the letters received in the estate of the Melk historians Bernhard and Hieronymus Pez, in: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 110 (1999) 195–243.
• Eduard Katschthaler: About Bernhard Pez and his legacy, in: Annual report of the kk Obergymnasium zu Melk 39 (1889) 3–106.
• Irene Rabl: Letters to Hieronymus Pez OSB from his estate in the Melk Abbey Archives, cardboard 7/13: Directory and short biographies of the correspondent partners, in: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 122 (2011) 327–367.
• Walter Troxler:  PEZ, Hieronymus (Franz Philipp), OSB. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 402-403.
• Thomas Wallnig: Inn and Scholarship. Studies on the origin and educational path of Bernhard Pez OSB before 1709 (publications by the Institute for Austrian Historical Research 48, Vienna 2007), ISBN 978-3-7029-0547-7 .
• Thomas Wallnig – Thomas Stockinger – Ines Peper – Patrick Fiska (ed.): European cultures of history around 1700 between scholarship, politics and denomination (Berlin – Boston 2012), ISBN 978-3-11-025918-6 , (digitized version: European cultures of history ) .
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Pez, Hieronymus . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 22nd part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1870, p. 149 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• University of Graz: Hieronymus (Franz Philipp) Pez OSB
• Entry on Hieronymus Pez in the database of the state's memory for the history of the state of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )