Johannes Gottsleben

Johannes Gottsleben (* around 1559/60 in Allendorf an der Werra ; † February 20, 1612 in Krombach ; nicknamed Gotslebius , also called Theobius ) was a master's degree , professor and Protestant theologian in the age of the Reformation .

Stations of his life

Youth in Allendorf an der Werra (1559 / 60–1574)

Johannes Gottsleben comes from Allendorf an der Werra. We do not know whether there are any family ties to the citizen Claus Gotsleben, mentioned in Allendorf in 1512. Few documents have stood the test of time. The consequences of the Thirty Years' War with the destruction of many archives and the sources stored therein are particularly devastating for historical tradition .

At the time when Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous took over the salt works through lease agreements and Johannes Rhenanus took over the office of pastor and salt count in Sooden, Gottsleben was born around 1559/60 and attended the Allendorf Latin School, founded in 1250 until 1573/74 .

Studied in Marburg (1574–1579) and Jena (1586)

At the age of fifteen, Gottsleben began studying theology at the University of Marburg in 1574, together with his compatriots Johannes Iringius, Hieronymus Faber, Johannes Lossius, Henrich Riem, Matthias Turmann, Liborius Thomas and Israel Engelhard , which Landgrave Philipp had founded as the first Protestant university in 1527. The then often very young students first received basic training in the subjects of grammar - behind this was Latin, the scientific language of the time, which students also spoke to one another -, dialectics (logic) and rhetoric. Of course, this also included poetry with practical exercises in poetry.

After his studies in Marburg, which he completed around 1579 with the academic degree of a Magister artium, the trace of Gottsleben is lost for the time being. We do not know whether Gottsleben returned to his hometown Allendorf. However, later in Herborn he calls his origin "Magister Joannes Gotslebius Allendorfensis ad salinas Hassiacas". We meet Gottsleben again in Jena in 1586, where he enrolled at the university under its then rector Samuel Brothagen for the summer semester beginning in February. In Jena, he will have resumed his studies in order to obtain a doctorate in theology and thus be able to take up an academic teaching position. Or he had - as was the custom - accompanied a young noble gentleman or wealthy middle-class son to study in Jena as a private tutor and mentor.

Pedagogical research and professor at the pedagogy and high school in Herborn (1587 – autumn 1594) and Siegen (autumn 1594–1599 / 1600)

Gottsleben will later be able to pass on the experiences of his years of study in Marburg and as a teacher to his students. We find him again in 1587 in Herborn in Nassau , where he was taken by Count Johann VI. von Nassau-Dillenburg (1535–1606) was appointed to one of the three professorial positions for philosophy at the high school and, as an educational researcher, also taught several hours a day in the first class of the newly established pedagogy.

The High School Herborn was in the late 16th century, the only Calvinist training center in Germany and soon became one of the most important in Europe. When Gottsleben came to Herborn in 1587, on the recommendation of the theology professor and later rector of the high school Johannes Piscator, the capable preceptor of the third grade, Henrich Crantz from Beuren, was to be held in Herborn and, with the first grade, to take over the post of pedagogical arche. But Crantz made a different decision and in 1588 went to Korbach as rector of the Latin school. So Gottsleben - perhaps through the mediation of his fellow Allendorfer compatriot and Herborn chaplain Bernhard Textor (1560–1602), who was friends with the influential theology professor Caspar Olevian (1536–1587) - instead of Crantz pedagogical research and preceptor of the first class.

Marriage to Anna Maria Hoen in Herborn (1589), children, relatives

The senate meetings of the high school, in which Gottsleben regularly participated as a pedagogue researcher and full professor, were recorded by the school notary. In Herborn, this function was held for many years by the town clerk and imperial notary Wilhelm Hoen . The acquaintance of Gottsleben and Wilhelm Hoen probably came about through the meetings of the Senate. The non-local Gottsleben was still a bachelor with his stately 28 years and lived in Herborn Castle, where the classes of the pedagogy were held and the official residence of the pedagogical archen was also located. With an annual salary of 120 guilders, he had a good living and was able to look for a bride. Certainly he gladly accepted the invitations of the respected official family Hoen to teach their children and to talk privately. Gottsleben met Wilhelm Hoens' daughter Anna Maria, who was born around 1570/71, and founded a household with her on September 14, 1589 in Herborn. His mother-in-law, Güthe Hoen, was born in Behr, whose father Jost Behr was a sub-schoolmaster at the Latin School in Dillenburg and, together with her father-in-law Jost Hoen, taught the count's children. Gottsleben's then 13-year-old brother-in-law, Andreas Jacob Hoen, who later became an imperial notary and Herborn town clerk, attended the 3rd class of education in 1589.

Anna Maria Gottsleben's grandfather, whom she had no longer known herself, is the magister, educator and statesman Jost Hoen (around 1500–1569) , who was highly regarded at the court . He advised Count Wilhelm the Rich on school and theological issues and, as the Count's confidante, taught the Count's sons Prince Wilhelm of Orange , Johann , Ludwig , Adolf and Heinrich. The grandmother Margaretha Hoen, née Welcker from Diez, served as the chambermaid of the Countess Juliane von Nassau-Dillenburg. Anna Maria's uncle Anton Hoen is the Nassau-Diezische land clerk, rentmaster, bailiff and commander of the County of Diez. His son Philipp Heinrich, who succeeded Althusius on the legal professorship in Herborn and who, as Dillenburg office director, helped shape the program of Naussau politics for a long time, is the most famous member of the Hoen family. Philipp Heinrich Hoen was a student of his married cousin Gottsleben in the “Classis prima” of the Herborn pedagogy , to whom he devoted his “Dissertatio de variis feudorum divisionibus” published in 1598 in Jena.

We know four sons and one daughter of Johannes and Anna Maria Gottsleben's children:

Matthias Gottsleben (* around 1589/90; † ??)

The eldest son is Matthias, born around 1589/90. While his father held the position of court preacher and inspector in the residential town of Dillenburg, and was then pastor in Krombach, Matthias attended the pedagogy in Herborn and Siegen from 1598/99 to 1607. In the fifth grade, Hans Bollig taught him with fourteen classmates. At the time, the later famous theologian, educator and polyhistor Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638) was a pupil of Johannes Stöver (1572–1651) in the third class of education. In the first grade, Matthias prepared for the academic matriculation examination with Georg Pasor (1570–1637), who became known as the lexicographer and grammarian of the New Testament. From 1607 Matthias studied theology with Johannes Piscator (1546–1625) at the high school, which was then relocated from Herborn to Siegen. We have no news about his later life.

Johann Bernhard Gottsleben (around 1595 - November 1, 1635)

Johann Bernhard , the second oldest, saw the light of day around 1595. After studying theology at the Herborn High School, which began in 1614, he became the rector of the Latin School in Dillenburg at a young age and was then given a better paid pastor in Frohnhausen. Then he was court preacher at the palace chapel to Count Ludwig Heinrich, who was almost the same age, and first pastor at the city church. After five children had already died, his wife Magdalena, née Beigarten, and his three remaining children, Anna Margreth, Maria Magdalena and Johann Philipp, fell victim to the plague that was raging again in 1635 within a five-week period. The one who was so severely tested did not survive his terrible misfortune for long. Through constant contact with his family, suffering from plague, he became infected himself. On November 1, 1635, Johann Bernhard also died. Ten days after the death of his last daughter, he was buried with his wife and children on November 2, 1635.

Andreas Jacobus Gottsleben (* around 1600; † ??)

Andreas Jacobus, the third son, was born around 1600 and, after passing his school-leaving examination, switched from the first class of the Herborn Pedagogy to the high school on October 7, 1620. In 1635 we find his name again in the funeral sermon printed in memory of the fate of his highly respected brother Johann Bernhard. Like his cousins ​​Erasmus and Philipp Heinrich (II.) Hoen, who died in the war in 1631 and 1634, he was a soldier and at that time served as an ensign in the Dutch mercenary army ("Unirten Provincien Kriegsvolck") at Moers. Andreas Jacobus Gottsleben's trace is lost after 1635 in the turmoil of the war.

Margarete Gottsleben (* around 1602; † February 28, 1677)

Daughter Margarete is the fourth known child. Born around 1602, she married the wealthy Herborn baker and later mayor Jost Rücker, fifteen years after the death of her father around 1627. We only know of their children Johann Jacob, who was born in Herborn around 1637 and who later becomes pastor and inspector in Nassau-Beilstein .

Jodocus Wilhelm Gottsleben (* around 1604; † ??)

The youngest child is Jodocus Wilhelm, born around 1604. From 1615 he attended the pedagogy at Herborn and in 1623 switched to the high school. We are not aware of any traditions from his later life.

Court preacher in the royal seat of Dillenburg and inspector (1599–1604)

From Count Johann VI. Appointed court preacher and inspector of the church class in Dillenburg, Gottsleben handed over the teaching staff to his young successor and former student Matthias Martinius in the school year 1599/1600 . Gottsleben took over the office of court preacher and inspector from his fellow Allendorf compatriot and professor of practical theology Bernhard Textor , who he held for five years until 1604. His successor was the preacher Johann Jacob Hermannus, who was born in Strasbourg in Alsace .

Pastor in Krombach (1604–1612)

After Gottsleben received the order in March 1604 to create a church inventory for the Dillenburg parish class, he was transferred to the parish of Krombach near Siegen as a pastor shortly afterwards . The pastoral office in the country has done little to match his facilities. With his professorial way of preaching, he did not reach the rural community entrusted to him. During a church revision carried out on November 10, 1611, the congregation complained about him at court. His sermons are too “precipitant and scholastic, the catechization is bad”. The derogatory assessment of his administration came as a complete surprise to Gottsleben and had deeply affected him, "he was very sorry because the congregation would not have said a word to him about it in the seven years he was in office". Not recognized in Krombach and remained a stranger, Gottsleben died bitterly on February 20, 1612 shortly after the church revision.

After the death of her husband, the widow Anna Maria Gottsleben moved back to her home town of Herborn with the three youngest children, where her brother Andreas Jacob Hoen was the imperial notary and town clerk. Her sons Matthias and Johann Bernhard also attended the pedagogy and high school here. Although Anna Maria Gottsleben was just 42 years old when her husband died, she did not remarry. Unfortunately, we have not received any personal notes that Johannes Gottsleben will certainly have made during his long professional years. His estate and his book collection, which his wife estimated was worth over 300 guilders, burned in the great fire in Herborn in 1626.

As a result of the fire, Anna Maria Gottsleben lost all her canvas, except for her house, “without anything, if she had in Dillenberg”, furthermore all household items, pewter, clothes “and everything, sampt hers hern bl. Buher allzumahl”. Their total damage is given as 1500 guilders. A sum that at that time corresponded to about twelve annual salaries for a professor. The chief forester Schilt and Nol delivered wood to Anna Maria in 1630 to rebuild her burned down house. She died before the great plague, to which the family of her son Johann Bernhard fell victim in Dillenburg in 1635.

swell

Documents from the Herborn High School are kept in the Hessian Main State Archive in Wiesbaden. Finding aids: Rep. Around 1890 (handwritten), structured according to subject groups. I. Establishment, II. Relations with the sovereign, III. Constitution and administration of the high school, IV. Special fortunes of the school, V. Connection to the pedagogy, VI. Bills. Contents: 38 m files from 1584–1817, mainly on the foundation, constitution, administration and school assets, professors' personal files, invoices from school classes from 1604 and the monastery throne 1750–1817.

literature

• Emil Becker: Johann Gottsleb . In: Heimatblätter to maintain and promote the idea of ​​home. Supplement to Dill-Zeitung 10 (1937), p. 12.
• Emil Becker: The Dillenburg Latin School in the Nassau period . Dillenburg: Weidenbach, 1939.
• Emil Becker: Castle and City of Dillenburg . Dillenburg: Magistrate, 1950 [new edition. 1983], p. 180 [Annex E, here mention of the name Gottsleben].
• Max von Domarus: The great fire of the city of Herborn in 1626 and the collections for those who burned down . In: Annalen des Verein für Nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung 33 (1902/03), pp. 297–364 [p. 309, 337 and 350 Mention of the widow Anna Maria Gottsleben].
• Klaus Gottsleben: Johannes Gottsleben. Stations of his life in the age of the Reformation ( online publication ).
• Carl Heiler: The Herborn Student 1584-1817 . In: Nassauische Annalen 55 (1935), pp. 1–100.
• The register of the high school and the pedagogy in Herborn . Edited by Gottfried Zedler and Hans Sommer. Wiesbaden: Bergmann, 1908. (= publications of the Historical Commission for Nassau; 5), pp. VI, 188, 193, 197, 203, 218 (note 2) and 219.
• Gerhard Menk: The Herborn High School in its early days (1584–1660). A contribution to the higher education system of German Calvinism in the age of the Counter Reformation . Wiesbaden: Historical Commission for Nassau, 1981. (= publications of the Historical Commission for Nassau; 30) [p. 171, footnote 234 mentioning the pedagogical archen of Gottsleben].
• Hartmann Pieper: The Herborn branch of the Hoen family . In: Hessische Familienkunde 3 (1955), Sp. 229–232.
• Otto Renkhoff : Johannes Gottsleben . In: Nassau biography, short biographies from 13 centuries . 2., completely revised u. exp. Wiesbaden: Historical Commission for Nassau, 1992, p. 241.
• Johan de Wal:  Gottsleben, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 509.

For the origin of the family name, see: Gottsleben .