Johannes Rivius

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johannes Rivius, from Heinrich Pantaleon's “Lives of Famous Men in Germany”, Vol. III., Basel 1571

John Rivius (* 1. August 1500 in Attendorn ; † 1. January 1553 on his estate at Meissen ) was a as educator and theologian active humanist . He wrote a variety of writings, including a commentary on the works of Sallust .

Life

Youth and Studies

Johannes Rivius was born on August 1st, 1500 in Attendorn in the Sauerland . Pastor Tilman Mülle worked there at the time, who had studied with the humanist Alexander Hegius at the school in Deventer and had also been introduced to the ancient languages ​​of Greek and Latin there. Rivius was accepted into the pastor's household with a few other students, where he mainly learned Latin from ancient and medieval poets. For relaxation and refreshment, the students played with their teacher in the parish garden. The students' choir also sang at the service in the town church of Attendorn. Mülle made it important that the students also understand what they were singing.

In August 1516, Rivius left his hometown to study in Cologne . There Rivius joined humanist-oriented teachers, such as Johannes Caesarius , Arnold von Wesel and Matthias Phrissemius . In November 1517 he became a Baccalarius, in March 1519 Magister artium .

Teaching activities

Rivius initially worked as a teacher at St. Maria ad Gradus in Cologne. He stayed there until the middle of 1523. In the summer of that year, Rivius went on a trip to the Upper Rhine, where he visited monastery libraries and got to know old manuscripts. After this trip Rivius moved to Leipzig , where he made the acquaintance of the rector of the Thomas School Caspar Borner as well as Hegendorfs and Tulichius' . Borner gave Rivius a paid teaching position at the city high school in Zwickau at the beginning of 1524. The city was close to Reformation ideas, the pastor there was a friend of Luther and the ruling princes (until 1525 Friedrich the Wise , after his death Johann the Constant ) were benevolent and tolerant of the Reformation. Thomas Müntzer was a preacher there from 1520 to 1521. He and the Zwickau prophets as well as the Anabaptists still had followers in Zwickau who created a restless atmosphere in the city. Rivius married the daughter of a respected citizen of Zwickau in 1524 and tried to teach as best he could. In 1527 he published his first work, a school edition of a poem by Erasmus von Rotterdam , supplemented by three of his own stanzas. The reason for the publication was probably the lack of suitable Latin school texts.

First edition of a work by Rivius from 1549

In 1531 Rivius, who did not meet the conditions in Zwickau, moved to the Catholic Annaberg , where he became rector of the city high school. This was in need of reform, since it had had more than half a dozen rectors in the less than twenty years since it was founded. The teaching methods and content were backward and not up to date, and the assistant teachers were poorly qualified. Rivius, whose salary was rather meager at 5 ducats , reformed the school so thoroughly in a short time that it also attracted students from the wider area of ​​the city. His later biographer Fabricius attended the school run by Rivius in Annaberg and later listed about a dozen doctors, lawyers and educators who had also learned from Rivius in Annaberg. Rivius bought a house in Annaberg, which he sold again in 1535 to move to Marienberg . The reason for this move was that after two years Rivius had got into a dispute with the Catholic clergy in Annaberg. Rivius had spoken out against the traditional text of old Latin church chants in the liturgy, and the pastor then complained to the Duke in Dresden. Rivius resigned as principal of the city high school and from then on taught students in his private home.

In Marienberg, too, Rivius did not take over a school post, but continued to teach privately. In addition, he devoted himself to his studies, the writing Descriptio Marienbergi , printed in Leipzig in 1541 , a homage to Marienberg in the humanistic tradition of the city ​​labor , was created during this time. It was in Marienberg that Rivius first met Duke Heinrich , his future employer.

In 1536 Rivius returned to school and was initially rector of the local grammar school in Schneeberg until 1537 . From there, Duke Heinrich appointed him in 1537 as rector of the grammar school in his residential city of Freiberg , which enjoyed a good reputation at the beginning of the century but had lost its standard. Rivius restored the reputation in the four years of his service there.

School reformer and prince adviser

In 1539 Rivius was asked by Meißen Bishop Johann VIII von Maltitz to work out a school reform for the area of ​​the diocese. The background was that the Protestant Duke Heinrich had inherited Albertine Saxony from his Catholic brother Georg the Bearded ; the bishop hoped that the reform would forestall intervention by the new Protestant government. Rivius drew up the school organization program he had requested, but Catholicism was nevertheless pushed out of the schools.

In 1540, Duke Heinrich appointed Rivius to be August of Saxony's prince tutor . August had previously attended Rivius' Freiberg school, now Rivius was to accompany him to the University of Leipzig and lead the prince's education there. In addition to raising the prince, Rivius also found time for literary work.

Duke Heinrich died in 1541 and August's older brother Moritz became Duke. August returned with Rivius in the wake to Dresden, where Rivius became the duke's advisor in church affairs and in education. In 1544 Moritz founded the princely schools in Pforta , Meißen and Merseburg and appointed Rivius as school inspector for the princely schools. Rivius moved his residence to Meissen. He was instrumental in solving the problems that arose from the transfer of the property of the dissolved monasteries to the school foundations, and drew up the school regulations for the schools. As a teacher he called men of his trust, including many of his former students, such as Fabricius.

In the summer of 1552 the plague broke out in Meissen, Rivius stayed in the city and was infected with his family. Rivius' wife and youngest son died in 1552, he himself succumbed to the plague on January 1, 1553.

A son of the same name also went to school. He was rector of the collegiate school in Zeitz , then at the city high school in Halle . In 1594 he became inspector of the high school in Riga and then appears several times as a scholar in Lithuania and Latvia.

Fonts

content

Rivius writings can be divided into three groups:

  • grammatical-philological writings
  • educational writings
  • theological-philosophical writings

The grammatical-philological writings include a Latin grammar with German-Latin explanations. In addition, Rivius replaced the medieval school reading texts with the reading of classical authors, which he edited for this purpose. After Fabricius, he also introduced new types of verbal exercises.

Among the educational writings, the programmatic writings for the Saxon princely schools stand out, which became the model for the programs of other princes' institutions.

In his religious writings, Rivius joined Luther's criticism of the church . Two of his writings, including De stultitia mortalium in procrastinanda vitae correctione , were translated into English in the 16th century.

selection

  • De dialectica libri sex, Leipzig 1539 ( online )
  • De rhetorica libri tres, Leipzig 1539 ( online )
  • In C. Sallustii Crispi Catilinam et Iugurtham Castigationum libri duo, Leipzig 1539 ( online )
  • De iis disciplinis, quae de sermone agunt, ut sunt grammatica, dialectica, rhetorica libri XVIII, Leipzig 1543 ( online )
  • Quo se pacto iuventus in hisce religionis dissidiis gerere debeat, libri duo, Basel [1545] ( online )
  • De erroribus pontificiorum seu de abusibus ecclesiasticis, Basel 1546 ( online )
  • De seculi nostri felicitate et hominum erga Dei benefica ingratitudine liber, Basel 1548 ( online )
  • De fiducia salutis propter Christum liber unus, Basel 1552 ( online )
  • De vita et moribus Christianorum libri tres, Basel 1554 ( online )

Honors

In his hometown of Attendorn, the municipal high school, which can be traced back to Tilmann Mülles teaching, was renamed Rivius-Gymnasium in his honor in 1975. His hometown has also collected editions of his works.

literature

  • Werner F. Cordes: Johannes Rivius from Attendorn (1500-1553). Pedagogue and textbook author in the age of the Reformation , in: Sauerland 2004 Issue 4, pp. 170–171
  • Bruno Hesse: Johannes Rivius Attendoriensis , in: Rivius-Gymnasium der Stadt Attendorn (Ed.): Rivius 2000. Gymnasium der Stadt Attendorn, pp. 23-27
  • Bruno Hesse and Peter Nake: Johannes Rivius from Attendorn , in: Rivius-Gymnasium der Stadt Attendorn (Hrsg.): Rivius-Gymnasium der Stadt Attendorn 1875-1975, Festschrift 1975, pp. 29–42
  • Georg Müller:  Rivius, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, pp. 709-713.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Müller:  Rivius, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, p. 713.
personal data
SURNAME Rivius, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pedagogue and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Attendorn
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1553
Place of death near Meissen