Johann Wilhelm Reiffenstein

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Johann Wilhelm Reiffenstein , also Johannes Reiffenstein , (* around 1520 in Stolberg (Harz) , † March 19, 1575 in Stolberg (Harz) ) was a German humanist and friend of Martin Luther , Philipp Melanchthons and Justus Jonas .

Life

Stolberg (Harz), Rittergasse 7. This is where Reiffenstein's birthplace and parents' house stood

He is the son of the Countess-Stolberg rentmaster and later Chancellor Wilhelm Reiffenstein and his wife Barbara nee Meme. His nickname was Johann, Latinized Johannes, but after his father's death he called himself Wilhelm like him. Johann Reiffenstein grew up in the Harz Mountains . Together with his two older brothers Wilhelm and Albrecht, he enrolled in the register of the University of Wittenberg on August 24, 1533 . Until Martin Luther's death in 1546, he had the privilege of living in his house in Wittenberg. He was there several times at Luther's table companion, so that a deep affection for him, but also for Melanchthon and Jonas, soon developed.

In 1536 Philipp Melanchthon dedicated his edition of Johannes Vögelin's Elementa geometriae to him. In the same year, on November 26th, he publicly disputed at the University of Wittenberg . He also attended the University of Basel in 1538/1539 , where he a. a. studied with Simon Grynaeus (1493–1641). In 1540 Grynaeus dedicated his work Procli Diadochi Hypotyposis astronomicarum positionum to him. Basel, Johannes Walder. In the same year Justus Jonas also dedicated a book to him, namely his Pliny edition in Basel .

After returning from Switzerland, Johann Reiffenstein briefly entered the service of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, but soon devoted himself only to the sciences.

In 1545 he received the folio Bible from Luther, printed by Hans Lufft at the time , in which he wrote several verses by hand. Later Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Creuziger and other humanists also wrote themselves in this Bible. The original copy of this Bible is now in the city library in Hanover .

Johann Reiffenstein stood u. a. in correspondence with the Swiss scholar Conrad Gessner in Zurich , to whom he sent, for example, a stalactite from the Baumannshöhle , which he illustrated in his book published in 1565. He also told him about antediluvian bones in this cave as well as two copies of sheets from an Otfrid manuscript that can no longer be found today .

One of the last contemporary views of Luther comes from the pen of Johann Reiffenstein, who prepared it during a lecture at the beginning of 1546.

He died on Saturday, March 19, 1575 between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., leaving behind a wife and daughter.

Part of Johann Reiffenstein's book collection came to the Graflich-Stolberg library in Wernigerode .

literature

  • Eduard Jacobs : The Reiffenstein family of humanists. In: Quarterly magazine for culture and literature of the Renaissance. 2 (1887), pp. 71-96.
  • Eduard Jacobs: Luther's table companion Johann Wilhelm Reiffenstein. In: Journal of the Association for Church History in the Province of Saxony. 3 (1906) 1, pp. 48-67.
  • Ulf Sauter: In Martin Luther's footsteps in Stolberg / Harz. Personalities from the family and business environment of Luther in Stolberg / Harz. Insights into the development of the Reformation. Stolberg / Harz, self-published, 2016, pp. 49–51.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carolus Eduardus Foerstemann : Album Academiae vitebergensis from a. Ch. MDII usque ad a. MDCLX (1502–1560), Volume 1, Carolus Tauchnitius, Lipsiae (Leipzig), 1841.
  2. ↑ Greek spirit from Basel presses .
  3. ↑ Ulf Sauter: In Martin Luther's footsteps in Stolberg / Harz. Personalities from the family and business environment of Luther in Stolberg / Harz. Insights into the development of the Reformation. Stolberg / Harz, self-published, 2016, p. 50.
  4. ↑ Colored by Ulf Sauter: On Martin Luther's footsteps in Stolberg / Harz. Personalities from the family and business environment of Luther in Stolberg / Harz. Insights into the development of the Reformation. Stolberg / Harz, self-published, 2016, p. 51.
personal data
SURNAME Reiffenstein, Johann Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reiffenstein, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German humanist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1520
PLACE OF BIRTH Stolberg (Harz)
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1575
Place of death Stolberg (Harz)