Martin Gruneweg

Martin Gruneweg (born April 25, 1562 in Danzig , Royal Prussia , † around 1618) was a German merchant and Dominican monk . His records of trips to Eastern Europe and Constantinople are important testimonies to this time.

Life

St. Anne's Church in Lviv

He was the son of a German Lutheran merchant in Danzig. At the age of five, Martin attended a local school, in 1579 he went to Bydgoszcz , where he also learned Polish. From 1582 Martin Gruneweg worked as an assistant to a German merchant in Warsaw . There he met an Armenian merchant, to whom he traveled to Lemberg in 1584 . With him he made several trips to Kiev , the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople .

In 1587 Gruneweg returned to Gdansk and converted to Catholicism a year later . He became a Dominican monk in Lemberg and a priest in 1592. In 1602 he went on a trip to Italy ( Rome , Venice ). He then lived briefly in Dominican monasteries in Krakow and Warsaw and from 1605 in Płock .

He died around 1618.

plant

Martin Gruneweg wrote down his travel experiences in detail. These records have been preserved and are important evidence of the culture, geography and historical events of the areas visited. They were first published in print in 2008.

• Almut Bues, Albrecht Berger (Ed.): The notes of the Dominican Martin Gruneweg (1562 - approx. 1618) about his family in Danzig, his trade trips in Eastern Europe and his monastic life in Poland. Volume 1-4. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008. About 2000 pages. ( Google book )

literature

• Almut Bues (ed.): Martin Gruneweg (1562 - after 1615) - a European way of life. Martin Gruneweg (1562 - after 1615) - a European way of life . (= Sources and studies. German Historical Institute Warsaw. Volume 21). Harrasowitz, Wiesbaden 2009. ISBN 978-3-447-05926-8 .

Web links

Commons : Martin Gruneweg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Martin Gruneweg (1562 - after 1615). A European way of life. Conference report Krakow 2008