Matthias von Kemnat

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Page from one of the chronicle manuscripts, around 1480

Matthias von Kemnat (actually Matthias Widmann ; * around 1430 in Kemnath in the Upper Palatinate ; † April 1, 1476 in Heidelberg ) was a German historian, astronomer and early humanist teaching in Heidelberg .

Life

Matthias von Kemnat was registered as pauper (incapable) at the University of Heidelberg in 1447. In 1449 he acquired the degree of Baccalaureus artium there .

Presumably, following his first university studies, he spent the time at Reichenbach am Regen Monastery , which at the time had distinguished itself as a center of astronomical studies.

In 1457 Kemnat appeared as a student of the humanist Arriginus von Busseto at the Plassenburg near Kulmbach .

Presumably returned to Heidelberg in 1459 at the latest, he became court chaplain of Count Palatine Friedrich the Victorious for the first time in 1460 . In 1465 he acquired the title of Baccalaureus in canon law . He held benefices at the Heidelberg Castle Chapel and in Untergriesheim .

From his return to Heidelberg around 1459 until his death, Matthias von Kemnat belonged to an important group of early German and Italian humanists at the court of Count Palatine Friedrich the Victorious with Peter Luder , Peter Anton von Clapis and Stephan Hoest .

In this environment he was one of the first humanistic discoverers of the ancient tradition in the monastery library of Lorsch Monastery , which had been pledged to the Electoral Palatinate in 1461. There he borrowed manuscripts from ancient authors, such as B. the satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus , Juvenal , Sallust (De coniuratione Catilinae, Bellum Iugurthinum) and Seneca (De beneficiis, De dementia).

Works

In addition to Latin letters and short Latin writings, the cleric wrote a German-language chronicle for the electoral court, completed in 1475/1476 , which Michel Beheim used as a basis for his chronicle .

While the (unprinted) first part represents a world chronicle based on the history of the Wittelsbacher , the second part focuses on his employer, Elector Friedrich, as a hero. For the first time, a German prince personally looked after his literary fame by sponsoring a court poet, as the humanists in Italy had propagated. The chronicle thus became a forerunner of the later so-called work of fame by Emperor Maximilian I such as Theuerdanks or Weißkunig .

Beheim explicitly names Matthias von Kemnat and the Palatinate Chancellery Alexander Bellendörfer at the end of his rhyme chronicle (p. 205) as his helpers; it is also assumed that Bellendörfer wrote the codex .

literature

  • Klaus Graf :  Matthias von Kemnat. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 410 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Author Lexicon . 2nd Edition Vol. 6, 1987, Col. 186-194.
  • Veit Probst: On the Chronicle of Matthias von Kemnat , in: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter, NF 1 (1994), pp. 59-67.
  • Ute von Bloh: Hostis Oblivionis et Fundamentum Memoriae. Book ownership and written use of Mathias von Kemnat . In: Müller (Ed.) Wissen für den Hof 1994, pp. 29–120.
  • Jan-Dirk Müller (Ed.): Knowledge for the farm. the late medieval writing process using the example of Heidelberg in the 15th century . Munich 1994. MDZ Munich - online offer of the book .
  • Jean-Marie Moeglin: Dynastic Consciousness and Historiography. On the self-confidence of the Wittelsbacher, Habsburg and Hohenzollern in the late Middle Ages . In: Historische Zeitschrift 256 (1993), pp. 593-635.
  • Birgit Studt : Fürstenhof and history. Legitimation through tradition (norm and structure. Studies on social change in the Middle Ages and early modern times 2), Cologne and Vienna 1992.
  • Birgit Studt: Tradition and Interest. Late manuscripts of the chronicle of Matthias von Kemnat and the historical research of the modern age , in: Kurt Andermann (Hrsg.): Historiographie am Oberrhein in the late Middle Ages and the early modern times, Sigmaringen 1988, pp. 275–308.
  • Maren Gottschalk: Historiography in the vicinity of Frederick I the Victorious of the Palatinate and Albrecht IV the Wise of Bavaria-Munich . Munich (Diss.) 1989.
  • Conrad Hofmann (ed.): The Matthias von Kemnat chronicle of Friedrich I. the victorious . In: Sources on the history of Friedrich the Victorious, Vol. 1: Matthias von Kemnat and Eikhart Artzt. Munich 1862, pp. 1–141 (incomplete edition of the second part of the chronicle).

Web links

Commons : Matthias von Kemnat  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Matthias von Kemnat  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ from Bloh 1994, p. 32.
  2. ↑ from Bloh 1994, p. 44 ff.
  3. ↑ Gottschalk 1989, p. 136.
  4. ↑ Hans von Zwiedineck-Südhorst: Journal for general history, culture, literature and art history , Volume 2, 1885, p. 194; (Detail scan)
  5. ↑ PDF document from the University of Heidelberg on the Palatinate rhyming chronicle by Michael Beheim
personal data
SURNAME Kemnat, Matthias von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Widmann, Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and humanist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1430
PLACE OF BIRTH Kemnath , Upper Palatinate
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1476
Place of death Heidelberg