Nicolaus Bulow

Nicolaus Bulow , also Buelow , (* around 1465 in Lübeck , † probably in Moscow in 1548 ) was a German doctor and translator.

Live and act

Bulow came from a middle-class family closely associated with the Church. One of his uncles was a canon from Lübeck. This shaped Bulow's later interests. His father Hans died in Lübeck around 1477 and was married to Greteke, née Wittenborg.

From 1480 Bulow studied at the University of Rostock , where he completed his master's degree in 1483/84 . He then presumably studied theology. From 1490/91 he lived in Russia, first in Novgorod until 1504 , and a little later in Moscow. In the meantime he may have been at the court of Pope Julius II , from whom he returned to Russia in 1506. A corresponding visit can be found in sources.

Bulow had received a call to Novgorod to draw up tables for the church feast days . The Byzantine festival calendar used in Russia only covered the period up to 1492. In Novgorod he belonged to the lively circle of Archbishop Gennadij . Therefore, he translated an article on the calculation of time and a text directed against the Jews from Latin into Russian.

In Moscow, Bulow worked as the personal physician of Grand Duke Vasilij III. Most likely he only had knowledge as a surgeon. He also worked as an interpreter at the Moscow court. In the 1530s he translated the medical script of Johann Wonnecke von Kaub "Gaerde der Suntheit". He used a Middle Low German print by Steffen Arndes from Lübeck as a template .

During his time in Moscow, Bulov wrote missions. In it he advocated that the Russian Orthodox Church should merge with the Catholic Church in Rome . He also described his expectations for the future, for which he gave astrological reasons. Bulow could openly speak out in favor of a union of the churches, since he did not criticize the Russian church. Instead, he emphasized what both churches basically shared and what is therefore a basis for unification. Bulow found supporters, but also critics for his ideas. Opponents included Maksim Grek and the monk Filofej . Both wrote letters and tracts of their own in which they presented their own convictions.

Through his knowledge and translation work in Russia, Bulow spread knowledge about medicine, mathematics and other subjects. He was also extremely active in the intellectual disputes in Moscow. It appeared unusually early in the cultural relations between Germans and Russians and is therefore of particular importance for this area.

Bulov died unmarried in Moscow.

literature

• David B. Miller: The Lübeckers Bartholomäus Ghotan and Nicolaus Bülow in Novgorod and Moscow and the Problem of Early Western Influences on Russian Culture . In: VIATOR 9 (1978), pp. 395-412 DOI: 10.1484 / J.VIATOR.2.301558
• Olaf Klose: Bulow, Nicolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 7. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1985, pp. 39-40.
• Peter Seidensticker: Ghotan and Bulow in Russia. Printers and doctors as mediators of new cultural techniques . In: Würzburg medical history reports 14 (1996), 311-324
• Between Christianization and Europeanization: Contributions to the history of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern times: Festschrift for Peter Nitsche on his 65th birthday , Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998, p. 227
• Norbert Angermann, Karsten Brüggemann, Inna Pōltsam-Jürjo (eds.): The Baltic countries and Europe in the early modern period , Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar 2015, p. 124/125

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry of matriculation 1480 in the Rostock matriculation portal
2. ↑ Entry in the Faculty's Dean's Office book