Marcus Schinnagel

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Marcus Schinnagel (* 1464 in Kaschau ; † around 1520) was a Bohemian-Polish mathematician , astronomer and astrologer .

Schinnagel probably studied at the University of Krakow from 1466 onwards, where, according to his own information, he obtained his master's degree . In Cracow he taught at the university. Around 1491 he was based in Swabia. He wrote a number of astrological-astronomical almanacs ( Practica ) for the years 1487, 1488, 1490, 1491 and 1493, both in Latin and in German. The almanac for 1491 is dedicated to the German King Maximilian and that for 1493 to the Polish King Johann Albrecht . The efforts to get patronage seem to have been unsuccessful, as Schinnagel describes himself in 1500 as a pastor ( plebanus ) in Landsberg am Lech .

In the Practica of 1491, held in verse, he writes about himself:

For was the saying has been
practiced and for the reason thought up
Maister marx schinagel he is called
Jn Schwaben wol Erkant
Ain astronomum he does call himself
Ain astrologiam even
wants to recognize Ain arismetricus also there
With his arts he is free.

Astronomical-astrological compendium, State Museum Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart

Even if Schinnagel was one of the more productive authors of almanacs from the period, their content was not exceptional. He is noteworthy, however, as the author of the text of a pentaptych , a set of panels consisting of a central part and two pairs of hinged wings, the outer shape of which is based on the shape of the Christian winged altar.

However, unlike the winged altars of the time, the panels are not bearers of Christian iconography, but contain tables and texts of astronomical and astrological content which, among other things, could be used to calculate the dates of mobile Christian festivals.

In the head of the middle panel there is the author's signature: Ego magister marcus schynagel alme universitatis crackoviensis. The date 1489 is at the foot of the board. The board, which measures 140 × 130 cm when closed and has a length of 330 cm when fully opened, was acquired in 1995 by the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart . According to Richard L. Kremer, the work is almost unique in its form both in the history of astronomy and in the history of art.

The closed altar shows the coats of arms of Johann Werner von Reischach and his wife Margrete Speth on both of its wings, a version that goes back to a restoration of the panels in 1611. After the couple's death, the work was located in the church of the Benedictine monastery Petershausen near Konstanz from 1620 , where it remained until the secularization in 1803.

The art historian Heidi Franz has suspected that a member of the Barons von Reischach was the commissioner of the work. In 1465 a Hans von Reischach zum Reichsenstein († 1492) married Margrethe Speth († 1497). The same name could have been the reason for the restoration. The work itself was a bourgeois patrician showpiece.

literature

  • Richard L. Kremer: Marcus Schinnagel's winged polyptych of 1489: astronomical computation in a liturgical format. In: Journal for the history of astronomy . Vol. 43 (2012), No. 3, pp. 321-345
  • Schinnagel (Schynnagel), Marcus (Marx). In: The German literature of the Middle Ages: author lexicon. 2nd edition, Volume VIII, Col. 680 f.
  • Heidrun Franz: The main work of the astrologer Marcus Schinnagel from 1489. Everyday management and future interpretation on the threshold of modern times (Writings on art history, Volume 48). Hamburg 2014 ISBN 978-3-8300-7964-4 (not evaluated)

Web links

Commons : Marcus Schinnagel  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kremer: Marcus Schinnagel's winged polyptych of 1489. JHA 43/3, p. 341.
  2. ↑ In the Prognostikon for the year 1493 , Schinnagel calls himself Magister Marcus Schinagel de Choschovia Alme vniuersitatis Cracoviensis Astrologus .
  3. ↑ London, British Library Add MS 34603, ff. 21v – 22r. S. a. Kremer: Marcus Schinnagel's winged polyptych of 1489. JHA 43/3, p. 323
  4. ↑ Printed in: Frederick R. Goff: Some undescribed ephemera of the 15th century in the Library of Congress. In: Contributions to incunabula , 3rd series, I (1965), pp. 100-102, Fig. 20
  5. ^ Kremer: Marcus Schinnagel's winged polyptych of 1489. JHA 43/3, p. 321
  6. ^ Kremer: Marcus Schinnagel's winged polyptych of 1489. JHA 43/3, p. 339
personal data
SURNAME Schinnagel, Marcus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schynnagel, Marcus; Schinnagel, Marx; Schynagel, Marc; Schynnagel, Marx; Schinnagel, Markus; Schynnagel, Markus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician and astrologer
DATE OF BIRTH 1464
PLACE OF BIRTH Košice
DATE OF DEATH around 1520