Johannes Rhenanus

Johannes Rhenanus (* around 1528 in Melsungen ; † April 29, 1589 in Allendorf in den Sooden ; actually Johann Rheinlandt ) was a German Salinist , theologian , alchemist , printer and author .

Life

John Rhenanus studied theology from 1548 in Marburg, in 1553 he was Adam Krafft , the reformer of Hesse, ordained . In the years 1553 and 1554 he was first active as a second pastor in his hometown, at Whitsun 1555 Landgrave Philip I transferred him to Allendorf in the Soden . In the meantime he no longer called himself Rhineland, but Latinized his name (according to the custom of the scholars of the time) in Johannes Rhenanus.

In 1566 he married Catharina Braun († 1586), the daughter of the Melsung rent clerk Jost Braun, with whom he fathered five children. In his second marriage he was with Catharina Schott, geb. von Löwenstein, married.

He should not be confused with Johannes Rhenanus , his grandson, who was a doctor for Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel , received his doctorate in Marburg under Johannes Hartmann in 1610 and was the author and editor of alchemical texts in the 17th century. He was the son of Dr. Martin Rhenanus and was born in Kassel.

Working as a salinist

Although his new place of work, Allendorf in the Soden, had been living on salt production for several hundred years , which was boiled from the brine springs there , the saltworks was in a crisis. Although more and more salt was needed, production could not easily be increased because the boiling huts were in poor condition and the forests that supplied the firewood were devastated. On the other hand, the pancake had an interest in driving the already high salt prices up even further, and therefore hid a new brine leader. They too stood in the way of necessary modernizations due to disagreement. To improve the situation, Philip I had 43 new boiling huts built there, each with one pan, which now faced 42 pans. Because the cooperation between state and private boiling huts proved to be difficult and a uniform setting of the salt prices was impossible, Philip I also leased the pans and their forest by edict in 1540. Under the supervision of the landgrave, the saltworks made a profit again after a few years.

In Rhenanus, Philip I found a capable man to further promote the salt works and to introduce new production methods. In 1559 he appointed him salt grave and initially entrusted him with the supervision of the important timber industry, against the resistance of the Pfänizenship . In 1561 he was given co-supervision of the salt works in order to vigorously improve the outdated working methods. Rhenanus was set up his own boiling hut for experimentation, in which he could boil 140 pans of salt per year, while in the huts with conventional production methods only 90 to 95 pans managed in the same time.

The salt bible

Philip I already had the idea for it, but it was only his successor, Landgrave Wilhelm IV. , Who ordered Rhenanus to write down his knowledge of salt production. However, the landgrave had to admonish Rhenanus and his co-author and fellow salt grave, Christoph Homberg, not to give up the work on it in favor of debauchery: “Then whoever you and the pastor should go away, as Ir, both drinking halfway, doesn’t worry a lot and keep silent , so no one can resist itzo, who desolates the arrival or opportunity of the salt dwarf. ”Nonetheless, the Landgrave occasionally sent a wine barrel from the court cellar to Soden.

After almost 20 years of work, the New Saltz book (now called the “ Salt Bible ”) was ready. The work comprises 2000 pages in five books, with four appendices and a few miscells. The original is in the library of the mining office in Clausthal-Zellerfeld , a contemporary copy in the library of the University of Kassel . In the Salt Museum in Bad Sooden-Allendorf, a copy is issued.

Introduction of lignite

In order to solve the problem of the energy shortage after the deforestation of the surrounding forests, Rhenanus experimented from 1563 with brown coal , which had been discovered a few years earlier on the nearby Meißner . He was able to use higher flame temperatures when he put the boiling pans, which had previously hung over an open fire, on a grate on bricks. In 1575 Wilhelm IV allowed him to drive a tunnel into the slope of the Hoher Meissner called Schwalbental in order to further explore the coal deposits. Financed from the proceeds of the Saline Soden, Germany's first lignite mine was built there.

Despite initial successes with lignite firing, Rhenanus was not satisfied. The lignite burned worse than the charcoal, the technology of which was better known, so that Wilhelm IV responded to complaints from the pancake and Rhenanus threatened to cut salaries. However, he was so convinced of his ideas that he replied to the landgrave that he would pay for the further experiments himself. In fact, he managed to further increase the burning temperature of the coal by putting a fireplace on his stove. This invention went down in history as the "Allendorfer Windofen". In addition, he used the heat of the exhaust gases in the chimney to dry the salt, which could only be sold in a dry state to prevent weight adulteration. Due to the coal firing, the production capacity of the salt works increased by more than 20% in a short time and soon other salt works also began to fire their pans with coal.

Improvement of horse art

Since 1560 Rhenanus also worked on improving horse art , the technique with which the brine was extracted from the earth. He recognized the shortcomings of the Göpelwerk , a conveyor system powered by two horses, and developed his own pumping station, which was also in use in other places for centuries.

Further research

After the successes in Soden, attempts were also made in other branches of industry, for example in glassworks , to introduce lignite firing. However, this was only possible with desulphurized coal. Rhenanus was also involved in the development of coking lignite. This also made it possible to burn lime and melt copper . Other energy-consuming industries could now also be converted to lignite firing. By replacing renewable with fossil fuels, Rhenanus anticipated an element of the industrial revolution .

As a specialist in technology, he enjoyed such a reputation that foreign princes asked for expert opinions. From 1567 he made numerous trips, including to Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Thuringia and Saxony. In 1584 his sovereign allowed him to travel to Pomerania for several months, where he was supposed to examine a new salt vein. He visited numerous salt pans, iron ore works and hammer mills, and also wrote a travelogue that has survived.

Printer in Marburg

To a limited extent, Rhenanus has also emerged as a printer. The VD16 database lists two wedding poems that he printed in Marburg in 1553.

Disease, death and offspring

After Rhenanus became seriously ill in 1589, he sent an empty wine barrel to Wilhelm IV and asked that it be filled with the good droplets from the court cellar - it would be the last wine he would drink. He died shortly afterwards and was buried in St. Mary's Church in Sooden.

Rhenanus left debts of 993 guilders, which corresponded to three annual salaries. The landgrave was generous and settled the outstanding debts. Rhenanus' son Martin became a doctor of medicine and practiced as such in the neighboring town of Eschwege . His grandson of the same name, Johannes Rhenanus, like his grandfather also an alchemist, became the personal physician of Landgrave Moritz the Scholar .

Afterlife

In Bad Sooden-Allendorf there is not only a Rhenanus school , but also a Rhenanusplatz, a Rhenanus clinic and the Rhenanushaus (parish hall of the Protestant parish of St. Marien). Every year at the Fountain Festival, Rhenanus is embodied by an appropriately costumed priest next to the mayor, who represents the landgrave.

A portrait of Rhenanus has not yet become known.

literature

• Hans-Henning Walter (Hrsg.): The German saltworks in the 16th century, travel reports of the Allendorfer Salzgräfen Johannes Rhenanus . 1989
• Hans-Henning Walter:  Rhenanus, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 494 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Hermann Cramer: M. Johannes Rhenanus, the pastor and salt count of Allendorf ad Werra, A contribution to the mining history of Pomerania from the 16th century . Hall 1879

Web links

• Publications by and about Johannes Rhenanus in VD 16 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rhenanus, Johannes . In: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE) . 2., revised. and extended edition. tape 8 : Poethen – Schlueter . De Gruyter / KG Saur, Berlin / Boston / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-094025-1 , p. 359 .
2. ↑ Johannes Rhenanus . ( Memento from July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Geschichtsverein Melsungen e. V.
3. ^ John Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa, Glasgow 1906, Volume 2, p. 264
4. ^ History of the Saline Allendorf an der Werra , part I. Association for local history BSA
5. ^ History of the Saline Allendorf an der Werra , part II. Association for local history BSA
6. ↑ Waitz von Eschen: The North Hessian Lignite Mining 1578 to 2003 (PDF; 691 kB)