Johannes Nauclerus

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Portrait of Johannes Nauclerus on a painting from the holdings of the Tübingen Professorengalerie

Johannes Nauclerus (* 1425 ; † January 5, 1510 in Tübingen ; actually Johannes Vergenhans ) was a German scholar, theologian , legal scholar and historian who was close to humanism . As a confidante of Count Eberhard in the beard , he was after the founding of the University of Tübingen in 1477 its first rector (until 1478) and later its long-term chancellor (1482 to 1509). Nauclerus is best known to posterity for his world chronicle published posthumously in 1516 .

Life

Nauclerus' place of birth and exact date of birth are not known for certain. Nauclerus' father appears in a document from Count Ludwig II of Württemberg-Urach from 1455, in which he is referred to as "our servant". From this it was deduced that the father belonged to the knightly class or at least was close, but this has not been proven. A younger brother of Nauclerus, Ludwig Vergenhans , later became provost of the cathedral in Stuttgart and Chancellor of Württemberg . The two scholars adopted the fashion at that time in accordance with the Latinized surnames nauclerus (from the Greek ναύκληρος, ship master , mate , pilot ) for Vergenhans (of ferryman , an old word for ferryman ).

Nauclerus probably had a spiritual training. Until 1459 he was the educator of the young Count Eberhard im Bart, whose confidante he later became. As a reward he became a pastor in Weil der Stadt in 1461 (proven in 1461, 1462 and 1464). In 1464 he appears in the register of the University of Basel as a decretorum doctor (doctorate in law), the following year he taught there. However, the offer of a high ecclesiastical office in Stuttgart prompted Nauclerus to leave Basel again: on February 15, 1466, he received the richest benefice of Württemberg , the provost of the Holy Cross of the Stuttgart collegiate church, as the successor to Johann von Westernach, who had retired due to old age (term of office 1434–1466 ). In 1472, Count Eberhard im Bart called his old teacher back to his service in the Urach region. Nauclerus renounced his Stuttgart provost office on November 10, 1472 and shortly before January 5, 1473 received an ecclesiastical benefice as canon of the Sindelfingen Canons' Monastery , at that time the most important monastery in the Urach region. As early as 1459 he met Pope Pius II in Italy at the Congress of Mantua and was probably in Italy for a longer period afterwards. In 1466 he was in Rome at the papal chamber , in 1467 Count Ulrich von Württemberg-Stuttgart sent him to the field camp of Charles the Bold in Péronne . Before February 17, 1475 he also appeared as a pastor in Brackenheim .

Nauclerus was significantly involved in founding the University of Tübingen in 1477 by Count Eberhard im Bart. He obtained the necessary papal authorization for the foundation on behalf of Eberhard im Bart in Rome, but according to the latest research not personally. He wrote Eberhard's decree, with which he announced the foundation, and he also wrote the first university constitution based on the model of the constitution of the University of Basel. The relocation of the Sindelfingen Canons' Monastery to Tübingen and the use of its income for the university secured its economic basis, which Nauclerus helped to ensure.

Nauclerus, who himself taught canon law at the legal faculty , became the first rector of the new university for a year, until 1478. Thanks to good relationships with the University of Basel and the Sorbonne in Paris , he won excellent teachers for Tübingen, including Johannes Heynlin and Heinrich Bebel . He also introduced Johannes Reuchlin in Tübingen and Stuttgart. From 1479 he administered the parish of the Tübingen collegiate church for three years . After the first Tübingen provost chancellor Johannes Tegen died on September 30, 1482, the chapter of the Tübingen monastery at the presentation of Eberhard in the beard chose him as his successor. Between January 21 and February 4, 1483 he was installed in his new office and had thus become the Pope's highest overseer. As a close confidante and advisor to the university's founder, Count Eberhard, who exerted his influence on the university administration, Nauclerus was the most important man at the university until Eberhard's death in 1496 and beyond, until he gave up the office in 1509 at an old age.

Nauclerus had a great influence on the Württemberg state politics of his time. In 1482 he accompanied Count Eberhard on his trip to Rome and Florence . He and his brother Ludwig experienced the creation of the Münsingen Treaty of 1482, with which Württemberg was reunited. He was also involved in the negotiations that led to the elevation of Württemberg to the duchy at the Reichstag in Worms in 1495 , as well as in the subsequent drafting of a new state order. After Eberhard's death in 1496, Nauclerus' advice was no longer asked for by his short-term successor Eberhard II , but after Eberhard II's dismissal in 1498, Nauclerus was again given high honors and appeared in 1500 as one of the three judges of the Swabian Confederation , an office that began in 1502 probably at the instigation of Nauclerus passed to the Württemberg council and well-known humanist Johannes Reuchlin.

On his death on January 5th, 1510, Nauclerus bequeathed 1000 guilders to the university , a high sum for the time. The grave inscription is handwritten from his tomb in the Tübingen collegiate church.

The world chronicle

Title page of the world chronicle of Johannes Nauclerus published by Nikolaus Basellius in 1516

In his old age, presumably from 1498 onwards, Nauclerus began to work out a world chronicle, which reached from the beginnings to 1501 and showed both scholastic and already humanistic traits. To this end, he processed numerous sources, including letters and documents, and for the first time based a historical source review. He preferred contemporary over later sources, but was also fooled by some historical forgers such as Annius von Viterbo . The breadth with which he treats Swabian and Württemberg history testifies to Nauclerus' patriotism.

In 1516, six years after the author's death, Nauclerus' Weltchronik appeared under the title Memorabilium omnis aetatis et omnium gentium chronici commentarii in two folio volumes in Thomas Anshelm's Tübingen office . The publisher was the Hirsau Benedictine monk Nikolaus Basellius , a student of Johannes Trithemius . Basellius had edited the chronicle and continued it until 1513, Johannes Reuchlin wrote the foreword. The chronicle was reprinted several times, eight reprints appeared from 1544 to 1675. Sequels were also written and prove the success of the work, which Nauclerus secured "a high position as a historian".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Lehr 2011. Dieter Mertens: Eberhard in the beard and humanism , in: Hans-Martin Maurer (ed.): Eberhard and Mechthild. Studies on politics and culture in the late Middle Ages. Stuttgart 1994, pp. 35-81, here. P. 56f.
  2. ↑ Haering (see literature), p. 24

literature

Web links

Commons : Johannes Nauclerus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Johannes Nauclerus  - Sources and full texts


personal data
SURNAME Nauclerus, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vergenhans, Johannes (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first rector and later chancellor of the University of Tübingen; Author of a world chronicle
DATE OF BIRTH 1425
DATE OF DEATH January 5, 1510
Place of death Tübingen