Jacob Ramminger

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Jacob Ramminger (called Scriba or Schreiber ; * July 15, 1535 in Heidenheim an der Brenz ; † 1606 there ) was a versatile writer from Württemberg . He built u. a. Sundials and mathematical instruments and made cartographic representations. He was an older brother of the painter Sebastian Ramminger .

Life

Jacob Ramminger came from a Heidenheim scribe family. He received a mathematical-geometric and apparently also a legal education. In his earlier years he was a city court attorney in Stuttgart, and later a city clerk in his hometown. He didn't have a good reputation because of his laziness. But he had a technical interest and thanks to his mathematical knowledge he built sundials and mathematical measuring instruments. This activity - among others on behalf of the duke - is documented several times in 1574/75. In 1592/93 he made a viatorium (probably a route map with distance information) and an astronomical instrument made of ivory and bronze, signed "Jacobus Ramminger alias Scriba Inventor faciebat anna MDXCIII".

Bonlanden ; Map 1 in the sea ​​book
Kleinglattbach : Map 8 in the Seebuch

Because of these qualifications, Ramminger received the order from Duke Friedrich for the so-called sea ​​book . This work entitled “Seehbuch, darinnen all Seeh and Weyer in the löplichen Hertzogthumb Würtemberg” consists of 24 parchment sheets (one of which is the artistic title sheet) with precise colored maps of all fishable waters in the country. The work was created between 1596 and around 1603/04 and was not completed, although Ramminger did not die until 1606. The work dragged on because Ramminger carried out all measurements on site himself.

Sea book

The maps show bodies of water with their immediate surroundings: the towns, buildings or agricultural areas. The purely cartographically depicted waters were combined with reliable vedutas of the landscape, the villages and the castles, which were taken from a steep, mostly inconsistent bird's eye view. For the cartographic parts, the correctness of the measurements was the top priority and therefore they seem a bit brittle - in contrast to the often very pleasing and skilfully inserted views. The work has Ramminger's foreword from 1600, in which he explains that after the measurements and records on site, he “made and colored the delineatio and pictura at home”. Only the coats of arms of the duchy, the cities and the offices were inserted by his brother Sebastian Ramminger . Since Jacob Ramminger is not aware of any other artistic work, not even documented, it can be assumed that his brother also helped him with the coloring. Most of the panels are marked with the year 1600 or 1601, one bears the year 1596. Ramminger was also criticized for the execution of the Seebuch . He should have "nothing to do ... more hyn and against wandering, the carpenters are then responsible for the work". Perhaps this is the reason why Ramminger did not complete his work (or was not allowed to complete it). The last two maps (“ Liebenzell ” and “ Altensteig ”) differ greatly in their painterly execution from the others and are certainly from a different hand. Unlike most of the others, they were also not signed by Ramminger and the year 1613 is entered on the sheet “Altensteig”.

The Seebuch by Jakob Ramminger is the third unique cartographic work from Württemberg at the end of the 16th century , along with the Office Atlas (1575) by Heinrich Schweickher and the forest maps (1596) by Georg Gadner . It is also one of the oldest cartographic documents on inland waters in Germany.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d Werner Fleischhauer: Renaissance ... , p. 377; Birthday according to the state bibliography of Baden-Württemberg
  2. ↑ In the foreword to the sea ​​book he calls himself "mathematices et geometriae studiis deditus" several times.
  3. ↑ The instrument appeared in the art trade in Munich in 1892.
  4. ↑ Württembergische Landesbibliothek , Cod. Hist. Fol. 261
  5. ^ A judgment from 1600/01 in the holdings A286 of the Stuttgart Main State Archives (based on Fleischhauer).

literature

  • Georges Grosjean : History of Cartography , ed. by Hans-Rudolf Egli and the Geographical Institute of the University of Bern, 3rd revised edition, Bern: Geographica Bernensia 1996, ISBN 3-906151-15-8
  • Werner Fleischhauer : Renaissance in the Duchy of Württemberg , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1971
  • Ruthardt Oehme: The history of cartography of the German southwest: With 16 color plates and 42 black-and-white maps , Constance and Stuttgart: Jan Thorbecke Verlag 1961

Web links

Commons : Jacob Ramminger  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Ramminger, Jacob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scriba; Clerk; Ramminger, Jakob; Ramminger, Iacobus; Raminger, Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wuerttemberg scribe, cartographer, builder of sundials and mathematical measuring instruments
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1535
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidenheim an der Brenz
DATE OF DEATH 1606
Place of death Heidenheim an der Brenz