Johann Pfeffer (theologian)

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Johann Pfeffer

Johann Pfeffer , also Johannes Pfeffer de Wydenberg (* around 1415 in Weidenberg , Upper Franconia , † 1493 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a Catholic priest, theologian and rector of the University of Freiburg .

Live and act

Pfeffer was of bourgeois origin and matriculated in 1434 at the artist faculty of the University of Heidelberg . The characteristic “pauper” (poor) is added to the entry . In 1436 he became a Baccalaureus, in 1439 licentiate and master's degree . Then he was ordained a priest in the diocese of Bamberg , from which he also came. With the title of Baccalaureus in theology, Pfeffer officiated as dean of the Heidelberg artist faculty in 1447 and taught there until 1460.

That year he moved to the newly founded University of Freiburg im Breisgau. Here he was the first and for a long time the only professor of theology. At the time of the ceremonial opening on April 6, 1460, Pfeffer started lecturing on April 28, 1460, but was still doing his doctorate in theology in Heidelberg on October 6. Up to 1470 he held the rectorate of the University of Freiburg four times (1461, 1463, 1466 and 1470), apparently resigned from office in 1471 due to his age, was called back to temporary work in 1479 and in 1481 was appointed a permanent member of the university senate for his services . In 1486 he finally resigned from all university positions and died in 1493.

It has appeared from him in print: "Directorium sacerdotale" (1482), made from his lectures on the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus , and "Tractatus de mate riis diversis Indulgentiarum" , inspired by the drain , which Pope Sixtus IV. The Freiburg Minster had granted because of the choir building. There are also 85 handwritten penitential sermons that Johann Pfeffer is said to have given in Heidelberg in 1456 .

His contemporary, Abbot Johannes Trithemius , held him in high regard. In 1775, the scientist Josef Anton von Riegger dealt in detail with Pfeffer's writings in the first volume of his work “Amoenitates literariae Friburgenses” . The Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie wrote about the clergyman in 1887: “He was an adornment of the university, a knowledgeable, immoral and disinterested man.” In 1857, the historian Heinrich Schreiber called him a “gentle philanthropic scholar who was little interested in money and who was one for a long time Adornment of the flourishing university ” .

literature

  • Anton Weis:  Pfeffer, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 618 f.
  • Jürgen Schiewe : Change of language - change of function - exchange of thinking styles: The University of Freiburg between Latin and German , Volume 167 of the German Linguistic Series , Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1996, pp. 147–149, ISBN 3110941023 ; (Digital scan)
  • Heinrich Schreiber : History of the City and University of Freiburg im Breisgau , Freiburg, 1857, Volume 1, pp. 109–112 (digital scan)
  • Albert Füssinger: Johannes Pfeffer von Weidenberg and his theology: a contribution to Freiburg university history , Volume 12 of: Contributions to Freiburg science and university history , Freiburg, 1957
  • Karl-Heinz Braun: On the history of the Freiburg theological faculty from 1460 to 1620 ; (Article as PDF document)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Digital view of the work
  2. ↑ Digital view of the work
  3. ^ Wikisource Josef Anton von Riegger
  4. ↑ Jürgen Schiewe: Change of language - change of function - exchange of thinking styles: The University of Freiburg between Latin and German , Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1996, p. 149, ISBN 3110941023 ; (Digital scan)
personal data
SURNAME Pfeffer, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfeffer de Wydenberg, Johannes; Pfefferus, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic theologian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1415
PLACE OF BIRTH Willow Hill
DATE OF DEATH 1493
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau