Konrad Gruter

Konrad Gruter (* around 1370 in Werden ) was a German cleric and author of the oldest mechanics treatise in Western Europe.

Live and act

Konrad Gruter was born around 1370 in Werden an der Ruhr and is the author of the text De aquarum conductibus, molendinis aliisque machinis et aedificiis (1424), the author of which was unknown for a long time and could only be clearly assigned in 2006. The richly illustrated, lavishly designed machine book is considered the "oldest mechanics treatise in Western Europe".

Konrad Gruter was the son of a landowning ministerial family (also called: Fermentarius / Fermentator = brewer) of the Benedictine monastery in Werden an der Ruhr (today Essen-Werden). A relative acted as bailiff there between 1348 and 1354. Perhaps Gruter attended the convent's Latin school. As early as 1380, the entitlement to a benefice to St. Andreas in Cologne is documented. Between 1391 and the autumn of 1393 he studied at the University of Cologne and then traveled to Italy, where he spent many years as a cleric in various places.

First, Konrad Gruter came to the court of Pope Boniface IX. to Rome , where he headed a kind of test laboratory for seven years, in which he carried out experiments on hydrotechnology and on the construction of an eternal wheel ( perpetual motion machine ). After the failure of these efforts, he went to northern Italy in 1400, where he worked in Modena , Ferrara , Padua , Camerino and Lucca , among others . He also visited Florence , Ravenna and Venice .

Finally, Gruter's magnificent manuscript was commissioned by Erik VII , King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Duke of Pomerania in 1424 in Venice. In three parts, the construction methods of water mills and techniques of water lifting are explained here. However, it never came into the hands of the client and remained in Italy until 1623 in the papal library, where it is still located today (Codex Vaticanus latinus 5961).

The work of Konrad Gruter was also known to the engineers of the Renaissance. Further developments of his ideas can be found in Leonardo da Vinci's illustrations .

expenditure

• Dietrich Lohrmann , Horst Kranz, Ulrich Alertz (eds.): Konrad Gruter von Werden: De machinis et rebus mechanicis. A machine book from Italy for the King of Denmark. 1393-1424 (= Studi e testi. 428-429). 2 volumes (Vol. 1: Introduction. Vol. 2: Edition. ). Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 2006, ISBN 88-210-0786-3 (critical edition of the Latin text with German translation, introduction and commentary)

literature

• Horst Kranz: From Werden an der Ruhr to Lucca. A Rhenish engineer and author in late medieval Italy. In: Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine . Vol. 205, 2002, pp. 49-64, doi : 10.7788 / annalen.2002.205.1.49 .
• Dietrich Lohrmann: The machine book of Konrad Gruter for Erich VII, King of Denmark (1424). In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages . Vol. 63, 2007, pp. 71-92, ( digitized version ).
• Dietrich Lohrmann: Les moulins d'un ingénieur allemand en Italie vers 1425. In: Paola Galetti, Pierre Racine (ed.): I mulini nell'Europa medievale. Atti del convegno di San Quirino d'Orcia, 21–23 September 2000 (= Biblioteca di storia agraria medievale. 21). CLUEB, Bologna 2003, ISBN 88-491-2046-X , pp. 303-316.
• Dietrich Lohrmann: Water technology with Konrad Gruter von Werden (1424). In: Harald Roscher, Gilbert Wiplinger (Red.): Frontinus-Tagungen from 2008 - 2010 and further articles (= series of publications of the Frontinus-Gesellschaft. Issue 28). Frontinus-Gesellschaft, Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-9806091-4-2 , pp. 73-94, ( online ).

Web links

• Homepage with a wealth of material (including images) on the author and manuscript
• Literature by and about Konrad Gruter in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marc van den Broek : Leonardo da Vinci's ingenuity. A search for traces , Mainz, 2018, ISBN 978-3-961760-45-9 , pp. 30–31