Konrad von Megenberg

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Konrad von Megenberg , also Konrad von Mengelberg , Latinized (as "Konrad von Mägdeberg") also Conradus de Montepuellarum (* 1309 in Mäbenberg zu Georgensgmünd near Nuremberg ; † April 14, 1374 in Regensburg ) was a secular clergyman and author of 22 Latin writings, the To deal with hagiographic , theological , moral-philosophical and, above all, natural history in his main work, Book of Nature .

Life

Konrad von Megenberg was born the son of a ministerial and came to Erfurt as a pupil at the age of seven . He later gave tutoring there and earned a living. He received a position as a lecturer in the Cistercian College of St. Bernard, which enabled him to study Artes Liberales at the Sorbonne in Paris and to acquire a master 's degree. At the University of Paris he taught from 1334 to 1342. During this time he was on behalf of the Anglican nation of the university twice (1337 and 1341) to negotiate with Pope Benedict XII. sent to the Curia in Avignon.

Due to an academic dispute, he left Paris and took on the post of rector at the Stephansschule in Vienna (from which the Vienna University emerged in 1365 ). The Anglican nation to which he had belonged in the Sorbonne issued him a letter of recommendation for the Duke of Austria and the Council of the City of Vienna. He may have written his German works for the Stephansschule or for members of the Viennese court .

Konrad von Megenberg moved to Regensburg in 1342 . He had already been offered a canonical in Regensburg during a trip to Avignon in 1341 , which he now accepted. He initially worked as a teacher at the cathedral school . As early as 1349 he traveled again to Avignon and probably tried to enter the service of Emperor Charles IV , Duke Rudolf IV of Austria or the cardinal and later Pope Pierre Roger de Beaufort , which he did not succeed. In 1357 he was mediated by the Domdechant Konrad VI. von Haimberg (later Bishop of Regensburg) cathedral pastor of St. Ulrich , however, gave up this office four years later and continued to live as a canon in Regensburg until his death in 1374 . He was buried in the local cathedral parish church in Niedermünster . A church window donated by him in Regensburg Cathedral represents his person.

plant

Konrad's works are divided into three creative phases. The Paris phase around 1337, the Vienna phase and the Regensburg phase from 1348 to 1374. In particular, the period from 1348 to 1354 can be described as his most productive. While he was teaching at the cathedral school, he completed works that he had started in Vienna and wrote others.

Theological, political and moral-philosophical writings

Konrad von Megenberg's political writings Planctus ecclesiae in Germaniam and Tractatus de translatione imperii show that he was involved in the disputes between Ludwig the Bavarian and Pope Johannes XXII. not on the side of either party, but took a middle position.

His theological writing Lacrimae Ecclesiae opposes the mendicant orders and may be identical with the work Tractatus contra mendicantes ad papam Urbanum V . Konrad took a negative attitude towards the Franciscans at Ludwig's court, and did not shy away from satire ; He was particularly negative towards Wilhelm von Ockham , who worked at court .

Konrad von Megenberg also wrote some important canonical writings such as the Tractatus de arboris consanguinitatis et affinitatis , the Repertorium nuptiale , the Statuta et consuetudines capituli ecclesiae Ratisbonensis and the Tractatus de limitibus pariochialibus in Ratisbona .

Konrad's main work, in addition to the powerful book of nature, are his moral-philosophical writings, the Monastica or Speculum felicitatis humane, and above all his extremely extensive encyclopedic Yconomica (economics).

Scientific writings

Bloodletting men from "Book of Nature"
Colored woodcut from an incunabula edition of the "Book of Nature" from 1481

His German works are devoted to scientific topics and were written by him expressly for laypeople .

In 1349 Konrad von Megenberg wrote the Causa terre motus , a treatise on the connections between earthquakes and plague epidemics .

The German Sphaera is a translation of Johannes von Sacrobosco's (approx. 1200–1256) work Sphaera mundi , which was the standard textbook of astronomy in the Middle Ages .

In the years 1348 to 1350 he wrote the book of nature (or: book of natural things ), which is generally regarded as the "first systematized German-language compendium of knowledge about created nature". He used the Liber de natura rerum by Thomas von Cantimpré as a source and also refers to the scholar Albertus Magnus . It achieved great importance and distribution and was reprinted as a nature book in Frankfurt in 1536 and 1540 .

reception

Apart from the Book of Nature , Konrad von Megenberg's writings were probably not widely used. Most of the texts contain only the title or one to a maximum of three manuscripts. Exceptions are the Tractatus de limitibus parochiarum civitatis Ratisponensis with nine and the Deutsche Sphaera with ten manuscripts.

Trivia

The name of Konrad von Megenberg was Latinized in Paris between 1337 and 1338 to Conradus de Montepuellarum (Eng. Mountain of Girls), due to problems of articulation. Further non-literary evidence of Konrad is his seal with coat of arms, which consists of a divided shield, with three female busts shown in the upper section. In the lower section a three-mountain is shown, on which a three-branch oak branch sprouts with a leaf on each branch. There is also a portrait of Konrad on a glass window in Regensburg Cathedral . In the Augustinian monastery in Regensburg , Konrad is shown in two portraits with the inscription "Conradus de Frauenberg". There is also a Maidenbergstrasse in Regensburg, which was named after him. Although it is widely assumed that Konrad died on April 14, 1374, this was refuted by the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in 2006. This date is only the day of his self-donated Anniversar .

literature

Work editions

  • Print by Johann Bäumler. Augsburg 1481 (Trustees of British Museum, London)
  • Conradus von Megenberg: Nature book, of use, property, miracle effect and use of all creatures, elements and creatures, too good for man: not only for the physically skilled and art lovers, special to have every household feeder in his home useful and fun to read and to read knowledge. Printed by Christian Egenolff , Frankfurt am Main 1540.
  • State writings of the later Middle Ages 2.1: The works of Konrad von Megenberg. Part 1: Planctus ecclesiae in Germaniam. Edited by Richard Scholz = State writings of the later Middle Ages 2.1: Leipzig 1941 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • State writings of the later Middle Ages 2,4: The works of Konrad von Megenberg. Part 4: Monastics (Monastica). Edited by Sabine Krüger = State writings of the later Middle Ages 2,4: Stuttgart 1941 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • State writings of the later Middle Ages 3.1: The works of Konrad von Megenberg (continuation) Economics (Yconomica). Part 1. Edited by Sabine Krüger. Stuttgart 1973 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • State writings of the later Middle Ages 3.2: The works of Konrad von Megenberg (continuation) Economics (Yconomica). Part 2. Edited by Sabine Krüger. Stuttgart 1977 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • State writings of the later Middle Ages 3,3: The works of Konrad von Megenberg (continuation) Economics (Yconomica). Part 3. Edited by Sabine Krüger. Stuttgart 1984 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • Francis B. Brévart: Konrad von Megenberg. The German Sphaera. Old German text library 90. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1980. ISBN 3-484-20109-6
  • Francis B. Brévart: Konrad Heinfogel, Sphaera materialis. Text and comment. Göppingen work on German studies 325. Kümmerle, Göppingen 1981. ISBN 3-87452-530-9
  • Georg Leidinger : Andreas of Regensburg. All works . Sources and discussions on Bavarian and German history NF vol. 1. Aalen 1969. (Reprint of the Munich 1903 edition; excerpt from the Causa terre motus )
  • Sabine Krüger: 'The Crisis of Time as the Cause of the Plague? The treatise "De mortalite in Alemannia" by Konrad von Megenberg '. In: Festschrift for Hermann Heimpel on his 70th birthday. Publications of the Max Planck Institute for History 36/2 (Göttingen 1972) 839–883. (with edition of the text)

Translations and revisions

  • The book of nature: the first natural history in German. Edited by Franz Pfeiffer , Stuttgart 1862; Reprint Hildesheim 1962.
  • The book of nature. The first natural history in German. Edited and annotated in New High German by Hugo Schulz. Greifswald, Julius Abel 1897
  • Lamentation of the Church over Germany ( Planctus ecclesiae in Germaniam ). Edited and introduced by Horst Kusch. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1956. (Latin and German)
  • Konrad von Megenberg's treatise "De limitibus parochiarum civitatis Ratisbonensis" - a contribution to the history of the parish institute from the 14th century. Critically examined and ed. by Philipp Schneider. Pustet, Regensburg 1906.

Secondary literature

  • Walter Buckl: Megenberg second hand. Studies for the editorial team B of the "Puochs ​​von den Naturlichen Thingen". Hildesheim, New York 1993.
  • Werner Chrobag, Raymond Dittrich, Johann Gruber u. a .: Konrad von Megenberg. Regensburg canon, cathedral priest and scholar (1309-1374). Edited by Paul Mai. Regensburg 2009. ISBN 978-3-7954-2281-3 .
  • Thomas Cramer: History of German Literature in the Late Middle Ages . DTV, Munich 1990, 2000, p. 123ff. ISBN 3-423-30779-X .
  • Gisela Drossbach: The "Yconomica" of Konrad von Megenberg - the "house" as the norm for political and social structures. Böhlau, Cologne 1997. (Norm and Structure, 6) ISBN 3-412-15396-6
  • Gisela Drossbach: house and yard. To represent the offices and services in the "Leges Palatinae" of King Jacob III. from Mallorca and the "Yconomica" by Konrad von Megenberg. in: The public and private in the premodern, ed. by Gert Melville / Peter von Moos, Frankfurt / New York 1998, pp. 639–669 (= norm and structure in the change from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period, 10).
  • Gisela Drossbach: Sciencia de regimine domus directed: The court between ideal and reality in the "Yconomica" of Konrad von Megenberg. in: Courtyards and Court Regulations 1200-1600. 5th Symposium of the Residences Commission of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, ed. v. Holger Kruse / Werner Paravicini, Sigmaringen 1999.
  • Gisela Drossbach: New research on the late medieval reception history of Konrad von Megenberg. In: ZBLG. 72.1, 2009, pp. 1-17.
  • Dagmar Gottschall: Konrad von Megenberg's book of natural things - a document of German-speaking Albertus Magnus reception in the 14th century. (= Studies and texts on the intellectual history of the Middle Ages. Volume 83). Brill, Leiden 2004. ISBN 90-04-14015-8 .
  • Gerold Hayer: Konrad von Megenberg: The book of nature. Investigations into its text and tradition history . (Phil. Habilitation thesis Salzburg 1991) Munich texts and studies on German literature of the Middle Ages. Volume 110. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1998. ISBN 3-484-89110-6
  • Helmut Ibach : Life and writings of Konrad von Megenberg. (New German Research 210, Medieval History Department 7), Berlin 1938.
  • Sabine Krüger: Konrad von Megenberg. in: Franconian pictures of life. New series of CVs from Franconia, ed. by Gerhard Pfeiffer, Vol. 2, Würzburg, 1968, pp. 83-103.
  • Johannes Madey :  Konrad von Megenberg. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 423-425.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Claudia Märtl, Gisela Drossbach, Martin Kintzinger: Konrad von Megenberg (1309 - 1374) and his work. The knowledge of time. Munich 2006. ISBN 978-3-406-10672-9
  • Johannes Gottfried Mayer : Konrad von Megenberg and Paracelsus. On a turning point in the vernacular scientific literature of the late Middle Ages , in: Würzburger Fachprose-Studien. Contributions to medieval medicine, pharmacy and class history from the Würzburg Medical History Institute, Würzburg 1995, pp. 322–338
  • Traude-Marie Nischik: The vernacular nature book in the late Middle Ages. Expertise and thing interpretation with Jacob von Maerlant and Konrad von Megenberg. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1986. ISBN 3-484-15048-3
  • Sabine Krüger:  Konrad von Megenberg. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 546 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Sigmund von Riezler :  Konrad von Megenberg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, pp. 648-650.
  • Georg Steer: On the aftermath of the ›Book of Nature‹ Konrad von Megenberg in the 16th century. in: Festgabe for Josef Dünninger for his 65th birthday. Edited by Dieter Harmening, Gerhard Lutz (among others). E. Schmidt, Berlin 1970, pp. 570-584. ISBN 3-503-00606-0 .
  • Georg Steer: Konrad von Megenberg. In: Author's Lexicon , V, Sp. 221–236.
  • Lynn Thorndike: The Sphere of Sacrobosco and its Commentators . in: Corpus of mediaeval scientific texts. Volume 2. Univ. of Chicago Pr., Chicago 1949.
  • H. Unterreitmeier: German astronomy / astrology in the late Middle Ages. in: Archives for cultural history. Böhlau, Cologne 65.1983, pp. 21-41. ISSN  0003-9233
  • Margit Weber: Konrad von Megenberg. Canon in Regensburg. in: Contributions to the history of the diocese of Regensburg 23/24 (1989) pp. 206–215.
  • Margit Weber: Konrad von Megenberg. Life and work. in: Contributions to the history of the Diocese of Regensburg 20 (1986) pp. 213-324.
  • Wolfgang Wegner: Konrad von Megenberg. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 775 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "The literature of the first hundred years after the invention of typography" Christian Friedrich Harless
  2. ↑ on the other hand Buckl, p. 37f .: as a 13/14 year old
  3. ↑ a b c d e Book of Nature . August 20, 1481. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
  4. ^ Wolfgang Wegner: Konrad von Megenberg. 2005, p. 775.
  5. ↑ Chroback / Dittrich / Gruber / from Klimstein / Meyer Hofer / Weber: Conrad of Megenberg. Regensburg canon, cathedral priest and scholar (1309–1374). Ed. Msgr. Dr. Paul Mai: Regensburg 2009.
  6. ↑ Chroback / Dittrich / Gruber / from Klimstein / Meyer Hofer / Weber: Conrad of Megenberg. Regensburg canon, cathedral priest and scholar (1309–1374). Ed. Msgr. Dr. Paul Mai: Regensburg 2009, pp. 51–55
  7. ↑ Helmut Boese : On the text transmission of Thomas Cantimpratensis' Liber de natura rerum. In: Archivum fratrum praedicatorum 39, 1969, pp. 53-68.
  8. ^ Annemarie Brückner: Source studies on Konrad von Megenberg. Thomas Cantipratanus “De animalibus quadrupedibus” as a template in the “Book of Nature”. Phil. Diss. Frankfurt am Main 1961.
  9. ↑ Helgard Ulmschneider: "Ain Puoch from Latin ... that Albertus had collected like a master". On the sources of Konrads von Megenberg 'Book of Nature' based on recent manuscript finds. In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature. Volume 121, 1992, pp. 36-63.
  10. ↑ Dagmar Gottschall: Konrad von Megenberg's book of natural things - a document of German-language Albertus Magnus reception in the 14th century. Brill, Leiden 2004 (= studies and texts on the intellectual history of the Middle Ages , 83).
  11. ^ Ibach, Helmut: Life and writings of Konrad von Megenberg. Berlin 1938, p. 10.
  12. ^ Ibach, Helmut: Life and writings of Konrad von Megenberg. Berlin 1938, p. 15.
  13. ↑ Märtel, Claudia / Drossbach, Gisela / Kintziger, Martin: Conrad of Megenberg (1309-1374) and his work. The knowledge of time. Munich 2006, p. 516
personal data
SURNAME Konrad von Megenberg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author of numerous writings in Latin and Middle High German
DATE OF BIRTH 1309
PLACE OF BIRTH Mäbenberg (to Georgensgmünd )
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1374
Place of death regensburg