Leonhard Krenzheim

Leonhard Krenzheim (also Krentzheim ; born September 16, 1532 in Iphofen ; † December 12, 1598 in Fraustadt ) was a German Protestant pastor and theologian. Scientifically, he made a name for himself as a chronologist . His main work, the Chronologia , written in German . This is a thorough and diligent annual calculation , published in 1576/77

Life

Krenzheim, the son of a baker, attended schools in Kitzingen and Nuremberg . In 1551 he moved to the University of Wittenberg , where he studied with Philipp Melanchthon and in 1553 acquired the academic degree of a master's degree in philosophy. Melanchthon to Silesia suggested he was on November 7, 1553 Legnica to Deacon at St. Mary's Church ordained . In 1560 he moved to the Johanniskirche and became court preacher to Duke Heinrich XI in Liegnitz . From 1566 pastor at the Marienkirche, he moved up in 1572 to the pastoral office of the Peter and Paul Church and the office of superintendent .

As a Philippist , he was a thorn in the side of followers of Lutheran Orthodoxy . In the theological controversies of that time he was publicly accused of cryptocalvinism by Jakob Colerus (1537-1612) in 1573 . However, he was able to defend himself successfully. Attacks also followed in the aftermath. In 1582/83 the dispute flared up again with the predominantly Gnesio - Lutheran pastors, and in 1590 the situation became threatening. After negative reports from various faculties, Krenzheim was dismissed from his offices in 1593 by Duke Friedrich IV .

Krenzheim initially found a new job in the Bohemian town of Rognitz and was appointed from there to Fraustadt in 1595, where he died in 1598 at the age of 66. He had unsuccessfully turned to the emperor for reinstatement.

The fate of the superintendent is mentioned in the writing Vas Heidelbergense by the Reformed pastor Anton Praetorius to show how violent the clashes between Lutherans and Reformed were and what consequences clergy threatened if they expressed sympathy for the beliefs of the Calvinists. Something similar has come down to us from the astronomer Johannes Kepler .

His works were placed on the index of forbidden books by the Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1596 .

Fonts (selection)

• Chronologia. This is thorough and diligent annual calculation: sampt a record of the most terrible stories, changes and coincidences, so both regiments in churches and world regiments have happened at any time, from the beginning of the world, bit ours, both from divine scriptures, and others believe and evaluate histories, if taken from the Calculo Astronomico, and faithfully drawn together , Görlitz 1576/77.

literature

• KF Schönwälder: The Piasts to Briege or History of the City and the Principality of Brieg. Second volume: From the Church Reformation to the award of the Letter of Majesty (1521 to 1609) . Commission publisher by Adolf Bänder, Brieg 1855.
• Adolf Schimmelpfennig :  Krenzheim, Leonhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, pp. 125-128.
• D. Bahlow: Leonhard Krentzheim, the 'secret Calvinist' in Liegnitz . In: Communications from the history and antiquity association zu Liegnitz 15 , 1934, pp. 106–220.
• Matthias Pohlig: Between erudition and confessional identity - Lutheran church and universal historiography 1546-1617 . Tübingen 2007, pp. 216-224.
• A. Kamp: From Paleolithic to Postmodernism - The Genesis of our Epoch System , Vol. I: From the Beginnings to the End of the 17th Century , Amsterdam / Philadelphia 2010, pp. 186–214.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Index Librorum prohibitorum: cum regulis confectis per patres a Tridentina Synodo delectos, auctoritate Pii IV., Sixti V. ac Clementis VIII. Rome 1596, p. 29 ( digitized version at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek ).