Juan Díaz (theologian)

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Juan Díaz . In: Théodore de Bèze : Icones . Geneva 1580

Juan Díaz , also Ioannes Diasius (* around 1510 in Cuenca in Spain ; † March 27, 1546 in Neuburg an der Donau ), was a Spanish humanist , philologist and Protestant who had his own twin brother murdered. The act, which entered the literature as the Cain murder, caused political turbulence.

Live and act

Juan Díaz came from a Spanish noble family. He spent his youth in various Spanish universities. To study Greek and Latin literature, he went to Paris , where he stayed for 13 years and expanded his philological studies to include theology . In this context he learned Hebrew and earned an outstanding reputation among the Spanish at the University of Paris .

Committed to the tradition of humanism, Juan Díaz advocated research into the sources ; His corresponding study of the Holy Scriptures led him to a critical attitude towards the dogma of the Roman Church, especially towards its doctrine of grace . Thanks to his excellent language skills and the associated skills in translating and publishing, he won the attention of the Protestant-minded humanists. In 1545 in Strasbourg he met Martin Bucer , among others , and Claude de Senarclens (Claudius Senarclaeus) , who was also close to Martin Luther's circle . Together with him and Bucer he represented the Protestants at the Regensburg Religious Discussion in 1546 .

The meeting was overshadowed by Luther's death on February 18, 1546. The Protestants felt weakened. Juan Díaz discussed the church dogmas with his compatriot Pedro de Malvenda, whom he already knew from his early studies in Paris and who now represented the Catholic Curia in Regensburg. Through Malvenda, Juan's twin, the cleric Alfonso Díaz, who was a lawyer at the Rota in Rome , learned of the strictly Protestant attitude of his only brother towards the Roman Church. After the meeting on March 10th, Juan Díaz stayed in Neuburg to oversee the printing of a Bucer paper; Claude Senarclens followed him a short time later and lived with him in the house.

The Cain murder

Neuburg an der Donau, from the "Topographia Germaniae des Matthäus Merian ", 1644

In Neuburg, Juan Díaz received a visit from his brother Alfonso, who unsuccessfully tried to change his mind and left for Augsburg after a few days . On March 27, Alfonso appeared again late at night, accompanied by a servant, both on horseback. Juan Díaz, who had already slept, opened the door. Alfonso stayed outside, the servant struck Juan several times with an ax inside. He died as a result of severe head injuries in the arms of his companion Senarclens, who had woken up due to the noise and had rushed over. The perpetrators fled immediately. They were caught and imprisoned in Innsbruck .

The following court hearing was initially determined by the dispute over jurisdiction. Count Palatine Ottheinrich demanded the extradition of the perpetrators; Alfonso Díaz claimed that he acted in the service of the emperor and was therefore not to be prosecuted for his act. He achieved that Charles V withdrew the case from the Innsbruck judges. The news of what was now called the Cain murder spread quickly through leaflets . Also Philipp Melanchthon reported on the case Díaz, delivered as Narratio 1546. April 17 Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony complained to his ambassador to the Reichstag on the "listen" to the "pfaffen" to "stopffen their firm the right and and to prevent". The Protestants saw in the affair an occasion to cancel their participation in the Council of Trent , citing the violation of the imperial escort promised to them. After the emperor passed the case on to his brother, King Ferdinand I , the negotiations in court came to nothing. Alfonso Díaz is said to have committed suicide in Trento in 1557 .

Impact history

The Latin script Historia vera de morte sancti viri Ioannis Diazii Hispani […] per Claudium Senarclaeum , published six months after his murder, provides information about the life, work and death of Juan Díaz, which was printed in October 1546 by Johannes Oporinus in Basel and Francisco de Enzinas is attributed. The report, designed as a first-person narrative in the form of a bogus letter from Diáz's companion and murder witness Claudius Senarclaeus , is introduced by an epistle by Martin Bucer. The later transmission of the deed was based on the leaflets and on Melanchthon's report, in the context of which reference was repeatedly made to the Basel script; a Spanish translation of this was published in Madrid in 1865 and some excerpts were translated into English by John E. Longhurst in 1964. The story of the life and death of Juan Diaz remained an integral part of Protestant martyrs' books until the 19th century.

The Cain murder is also documented in the received trial files and in the correspondence of people involved in the act.

Editions

(in chronological order)

  • Historia Vera de Morte Sancti uiri Ioannis Diazij Hispani, quem eius frater germanus Alphonsus Diazius, exemplum sequutus primi parricidae Cain, uelut alteru [m] Abelem, nefarie interfecit, per Claudium Senarclaeum . Oporinus , Basel 1546 ( digitized version of the Bavarian State Library )
  • Ignacio Javier García Pinilla (Ed.): Francisco de Enzinas. Verdadera historia de la muerte del santo varón Juan Díaz, by Claude Senarclens . Ediciones del la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca Santander 2008 (Spanish, GoogleBooks , edition of the Latin text with Spanish synoptic translation; the German-language sources on the Diaz case in the footnotes of the introduction)
  • Francisco de Enzinas / Claudius Senarcleus, translated into German by Otmar Gratzl: Der Kainsmord zu Neuburg . Verlag Johannes Petri, Basel 2015. ISBN 978-3-03784-071-9

literature

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Juan Diaz. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 1280.  ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )
  • Konrad Fischer: Philipp Melanchthon and the Reformation in the Young Palatinate . Lecture as part of the Evangelical Week in Neuburg ad Donau, May 3, 2005, p. 13f. (PDF; 139 kB)
  • Theodor Fliedner (ed.): Book of martyrs and other witnesses of faith of the Protestant church. 1850, Volume II, p. 345 ff .; Excerpt from: Short Evangelical Martyrs Book. Volume I (1864), p. 296 ff.
  • Felix Heinzer: The album amicorum (1545-1569) of Claude de Senarclens . In: Wolfgang Klose (Ed.): Family books of the 16th century . (PDF; 2.6 MB) Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1989, pp. 95–124; on the Cain murder, pp. 100-104
  • John E. Longhurst: Luther's Ghost in Spain (1517-1546) . Coronado Press: Lawrence, Kansas 1964; Chapter 5: Juan Díaz . (On-line)
  • Kathrin Stegbauer: Perspectives on the Diaz murder case (1546) in the dispute between the denominations. Journalistic possibilities in the area of ​​tension between arguments relating to politics and the history of salvation. In: Wolfgang Harms, Alfred Messerli (ed.): History of perception and discourse of knowledge in the illustrated leaflet of the early modern period (1450–1700). Schwabe & Co, Basel 2002, ISBN 3-7965-1935-0 , pp. 371-414.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Corpus Reformatorum , Vol. 6, No. 3444, col. 112-114 and vol. 20, col. 515-517
  2. ^ Letter from the Elector of May 11, 1546 (excerpt); in: JV Pollet: Martin Bucer . Vol. 34. Tom II. Documents. Brill 1985, p. 31f.
  3. ↑ Historia vera de morte sancti uiri Ioannis Diazij Hispani, quem eius frater germanus Alphonsus Diazius, exemplum sequutus primi parricidae Cain, uelut alteru [m] Abelem, nefarie interfecit . Joannes Oporinus, Basel MD XLVI. Proof of printing at WorldCat
  4. ↑ Brief outline of Díaz's life and death with sources in: Eduard Boehmer: Bibliotheca Wiffeniana. Spanish reformers of two centuries . Vol. 1, Strasbourg 1874, pp. 188 ff.
  5. ↑ Historia de la muerte de Juan Diaz, par determinacion tomada en Roma, le hizo malar su hermano Alfonso Diaz, en la madrugada del sabado 27 iiim del ano 1546 . (Volume XX of the Reformistas antiguos espanoles . Madrid, 1885).
  6. ↑ Theodor Fliedner: Book of Martyrs and Other Witnesses of Faith of the Protestant Church , 1850
  7. ↑ Ignacio Javier García Pinilla (ed.): Francisco de Enzinas. Verdadera historia de la muerte del santo varón Juan Díaz, by Claude Senarclens . Ediciones del la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca Santander 2008; Introducción , pp. 13-61
personal data
SURNAME Díaz, Juan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish humanist, philologist and Protestant
DATE OF BIRTH around 1510
PLACE OF BIRTH Cuenca (Spain)
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1546
Place of death Neuburg on the Danube