Johannes Pontisella the Elder

Johannes Pontisella the Elder (* approx. 1510 in Bergell ; † 1574 in Chur ) was a Swiss Reformed clergyman and educator .

Life

Johannes Pontisella the Elder was probably born in the first quarter of the 16th century in the hamlet of Pontisella in Bergell . His father was a canon from Chur who switched to the Reformed denomination early on. Since the father died early, Pontisella was sent to Zurich for schooling in 1537 . Thanks to a scholarship donated by Heinrich Bullinger , he was also able to study theology at the University of Zurich . It is also thanks to this that Pontisella was able to take over the pastoral position in Schwamendingen in 1541 after he had been accepted into the Evangelical-Rhaetian Synod . The next year he became a teacher at the school in the Grossmünster .

In 1544 the head of the Latin school in Chur became vacant. Emissaries of the church association asked the mayor of Zurich to let Pontisella take over the post of headmaster for two years. Eventually Pontisella accepted the office. The school had only been founded a few years earlier, so his work there was crucial for the school's development - the rapidly growing number of students showed that he was doing a good job. However, there were problems when Simon Lemnius was hired against the will of the headmaster, who was known as a Lutheran satirist. Pontisella stayed there longer than initially requested. In 1546 there was almost a resignation as a result of a dispute with the monastery bailiff.

The problems came to a head. In the following years, Pontisella often claimed that he was not paid on time, and in 1551 he went to court claiming that he had not received a salary for two years and that he was receiving far too little for his work. On the other hand, he was accused of sloppiness in the management, so that he was released several times. Philipp Gallicius seemed to have been a special partner in the dispute , but no reason is known for this. Exactly he became school inspector in 1556, and as a result Pontisella claimed that no one had any confidence in him and wanted to resign immediately. But he kept the job anyway. Although expressed Johannes Fabricius Montanus Ponti Ellas Mentor Bullinger against the headmaster wanted to leave office only because of poor pay. Nevertheless, his relationship with the other pastors turned more positive. In addition, the synod often gave him assignments, even though he had not held the parish office since 1544.

In 1566 Pontisella became a member of the city council of Chur and participated in the settlement of the dispute between the city pastors Tobias Egli and Johannes Gantner . In the spring of 1574 Pontisella died in Chur. He was the head of the school until his death, and was succeeded by his son Johannes Pontisella the Younger, born in 1552 .

Although he was repeatedly involved in problems during his time as headmaster, Pontisella successfully strived for a higher level of education and thus laid the foundation for better education in the canton of Graubünden .

literature

• Martin Bundi: Pontisella, Johann. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2009
• Erich Wenneker :  Pontisella, Johannes. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 1083-1086.