Johann Bernhard

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Johann (es) Bernhard (i) called Hochstein (after his place of birth) or Algesheimer (after one of his places of work) (* around 1500 in Hohenstein in Nassau ; † before October 12, 1551 in Herborn ) was a German theologian of the Reformation period .

life and work

Bernhard was initially a priest at Liebfrauen and St. Quintin in Mainz and became pastor in Algesheim around 1523 . Because of his sermons in the spirit of the Reformation, he came into conflict with the Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht von Brandenburg , who had the Reformed preachers persecuted in his diocese from autumn 1523 . He was arrested and arrested at the Mühlpforte , a gate of the Mainz city fortifications.

On April 25, 1525 he was freed in a riot against the electoral authorities of Mainz citizens . Bernhard fled to Frankfurt am Main . Shortly before, the citizens had forced the removal of the old-believing pastor Friedrich Nausea , also through a popular uprising with the support of the guilds .

This put the city of Frankfurt in a difficult political situation. The parish rights of the city lay with St. Bartholomew's monastery , which was subordinate to the Archbishop of Mainz. The emperor , on whose benevolence the city's privileges depended, was also hostile to the Reformation. So the council could not let it come into conflict with the emperor and the elector.

On the other hand, a majority of the citizens demanded the introduction of the Reformation in Frankfurt, and the Reformation also had strong supporters in the council from around 1520, including Hamman von Holzhausen . The council decided on June 13, 1525 to employ two Lutheran preachers to pacify the citizenry.

In addition to Johann Bernhard, Dionysius Melander was called as a preacher. The cathedral was initially divided : the canons of St. Bartholomew reserved the choir of St. Bartholomew, the Protestants the rest of the church.

In the years that followed, the two preachers became increasingly radicalized. Bernhard in particular turned more and more to Ulrich Zwingli's theology . In 1533, under the influence of Bernhard and Melander, there was an iconoclasm in the cathedral, in which altar panels and relics were destroyed. Martin Luther intervened sharply with an open letter to Franckfort am Meyn against this hustle and bustle.

As a result, the council suspended the Catholic mass in Frankfurt on April 23, 1533 until a future council (which de facto meant its abolition), but at the same time sought to join the Lutheran wing of the Reformation. In 1535 Melander was relieved of his office and on January 2, 1536 Frankfurt joined the Schmalkaldic League . Bernhard himself signed the Wittenberg Agreement on May 29, 1536 in Wittenberg in the presence of Luther , a compromise formula for the Lord's Supper dispute between Lutherans and the Reformed. After that, only Lutheran preachers were called in Frankfurt.

In 1537 Bernhard therefore accepted a call to Ulm , from where he was appointed to Herborn in 1544 by Count Wilhelm von Nassau-Dillenburg . There he earned services in building up the Latin school, but was deposed after the Augsburg interim and died in 1551.

Bernhard married Katharina Kraut on May 16, 1526 in Frankfurt , a daughter of the Frankfurt bark weaver Konrad Kraut. Their son Bernhard Bernhardi (1528 to 1590/1591) became an important Lutheran theologian .

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreä: Wetteravia. Magazine for German history a. Rechts-Antiquities, Volume 1, 1828, p. 128
personal data
SURNAME Bernhard, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bernhardi, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German reformed theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Hohenstein (Untertaunus)
DATE OF DEATH before October 12, 1551
Place of death Herborn