Johannes Cochläus

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Engraving by Johannes Cochlaeus
Cover picture of Cochlaeus' work Sieben Köpffe Martini Luther (1529)

Johannes Cochläus (actually Johannes Dobenck ) (born January 10, 1479 in Raubersried , † January 11, 1552 in Breslau ) was a German humanist and theologian. He was one of the bitterest opponents of Martin Luther .

Surname

His real name was Dobenck, also in the spelling Dobneck or Dorbenk. In the Renaissance, it was common among scholars to use a Greek or Latinized name. The name Cocleus or Cochläus, by which he became known, is derived from a Latinization of his home parish Wendelstein (Greek / Latin cochlea = snail, snail shell, spiral staircase). Often Johannes Cochläus was also called Wendelstinus.

Life

Cochläus studied at the University of Cologne and was rector of the school near St. Lorenz in Nuremberg in 1510 , a position he held until the spring of 1515. In 1512 he wrote the book Brevis Germaniae descriptio tum a rebus gestis moribusque populorum tum a locorum situ for the humanistic school . His descriptions of Switzerland, Westphalia, the Upper Palatinate and the Netherlands are based on his own observations during his study trips. At that time he belonged to a humanistic circle around Albrecht Dürer and Willibald Pirckheimer .

After a stay in Rome, during which he was ordained a priest in 1518 , he took up the office of dean at the Liebfrauenstift in Frankfurt am Main at the beginning of 1520 , for which he had already acquired a qualification in Rome. When the rector position of the newly founded Frankfurt Latin School was filled for the first time, he was defeated by the humanist Wilhelm Nesen , a staunch supporter of Luther. With the start of the Frankfurt guild uprising at Easter 1525, he fled to Mainz together with the dean of the Bartholomäusstift , Friedrich Martorff , who was also old believers , where he became canon of St. Viktor in front of Mainz in 1526 . He took as a theological advisor of Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz at the Diet of Speyer in part. Together with Petrus Sylvius, he was Duke Georg's advisor on theological issues. 1527–39 he was canon at Meißner Dom and finally canon at Breslauer Dom , where he died in 1552.

Act

At first Johannes Cochlaeus was friendly to the Lutheran like all humanists, but turned against him from the end of 1520. For many years he provided the Curia with information through secret contacts with the papal nuncio Hieronymus Aleander and his successors, including translating Luther's German writings into Latin.

When Luther stayed in Frankfurt on April 14, 1521, on his way to the Reichstag in Worms , Cochlaeus delivered an angry sermon against him and his followers, who had given Luther an enthusiastic reception. He followed Luther to Worms. On April 24, 1521, four days after Luther's defensive speech to the emperor, Cochlaeus offered him a public theological duel, which Luther humiliatingly rejected. He gave Cochläus another sharp public rejection in February 1523 in the text Adversus armatum virum Cocleum dedicated to Nesen ( Against the armed man, C. 1523). Since then, Cochlaeus has been in bitter personal hostility to Luther, even after Luther's death. At the Augsburg Reichstag (1530) he was involved in drafting the Confutatio Augustana against the Augsburg Confession . He took part in the Regensburg Religious Discussion (1546) as a Catholic theologian.

Among other things, he wrote Commentaria de actis et scriptis Martini Lutheri , Martin Luther, that is a short description of his actions and inscriptions according to the time from 1517 to the 1546th year of his absence . Cochläus' commentary on Luther shaped the Catholic image of Luther in historiography for centuries without being aware of it. Only the theologian Adolf Herte discovered this peculiarity in his study of Cochläus in 1915. See also: history of historiography .

A copy of De Gratia Sacramentorvm Liber Vnvs Ioan. Cochlei aduersus assertionem Marti. Lutheri from 1522 is in the holdings of the Mainz City Library . The previous owner was the Mainz Charterhouse .

Text editions and translations

  • Karl Langosch (Ed.): Johannes Cochlaeus: Brevis Germaniae descriptio (1512). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1976, ISBN 3-534-00522-8 (critical edition with translation)

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Johannes Cochläus  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg von Kress: The appointment of Johannes Cochläus to the school near St. Lorenz in Nuremberg in 1510. In: Communications of the Association for the History of the City of Nuremberg , Volume 7 (1888), pp. 19–38 bib-bvb.de
  2. ↑ Michael Klein : Historical thinking and class criticism from an apocalyptic perspective . Hamm 2004, p. 108 ( fernuni-hagen.de [PDF; 841 kB ; accessed on February 20, 2013] Dissertation at Fernuni Hagen ).
  3. ^ German translation by Hüber, Ingolstadt 1582. Cf. Otto: Johann C., der Humanist . Wroclaw 1874.
predecessor Office successor
Hieronymus Emser Court chaplain in Dresden
1528–1539 		Paul Lindenau
personal data
SURNAME Cochlaeus, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cochlaeus, Johannes; Dobenck, Johann; Wendelstein, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German humanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1479
PLACE OF BIRTH Raubersried (Wendelstein)
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1552
Place of death Wroclaw