Martin Helwig (geographer)

Martin Helwig (born November 5, 1516 in Neisse , Principality of Neisse ; † January 26, 1574 in Breslau , Principality of Breslau ) was a German cartographer and educator .

Life

Rübezahl in Helwig's Silesian Map, 1561

Martin Helwig was a supporter of Lutheran teaching and a humanist. As a student of the humanist Valentin Potsendorf , he attended the University of Wittenberg , where he earned the academic degree of a master's degree. He then returned to his homeland to teach as a master's degree in Latin schools. Between 1544 and 1551 he worked in Schweidnitz . For reasons of faith, he moved to the Maria Magdalenen Gymnasium in Breslau in 1552 , where he worked successfully as a moderator from 1560 until his death in 1574 . There he taught mathematics , geography and classical languages such as Greek and Latin. For his teaching he created a map of ancient Italy in 1561, which he aptly named "Lumen Historiae Romanae". Helwig was also known as a poet and good philologist.

In the same year, 1561, Helwig designed the first map of Silesia, which was based on his own surveys and measurements; it came out in the first edition without a title and found such recognition over the course of many years that Caspar Peucer in Wittenberg recommended it to his students and Abraham Oertel included it in his "Theatro orbis terrarum", which appeared in Antwerp in 1577. A total of eleven print editions are known today. For the map of Silesia he wrote in 1564 the explanation of the Silesian portfolios, what for and how to use them useful: Sampt a perfect register, so that every city, castle and monastery can be found without effort . A country description “Descriptio Silesiae” written in 1571 is missing.

literature

• Adolf Schimmelpfennig :  Helwig, Martin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 718.
• Helwig, Martin. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 12, Leipzig 1735, column 1328.
• Manfred Spata: ... the mother of all other Silesian Land Charts - Martin Helwigs Schlesienkarte 1561 / ... matka wszystkich innych map slaskich - Marcina Helwiga mapa Slaska z 1561 roku. Exhibition catalog Haus Schlesien (ed.), Königswinter 2011.
• Manfred Spata: News on Martin Helwig's 1561 map of Silesia - are the miniature vedutas of Silesian cities authentic? In: Yearbook of the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau, Volume XLIX, Ed .: Peter Baumgart et al., Insingen 2009, pp. 249–265
• Kazimierz Kozica: Mapa Śląska Martina Helwiga i jej nieznane wydanie z 1612 roku (Martin Helwig's map of Silesia in an unknown edition from 1612). in: Polski Przegląd Kartograficzny, 36, 2/2004, 92-103

Web links

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

• Literature by and about Martin Helwig in the catalog of the German National Library