Oswald Myconius

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Oswald Myconius after an engraving from the 18th century.

Oswald Myconius , actually Geisshüsler (* 1488 in Lucerne ; † October 14, 1552 in Basel ), was a Swiss reformer .

Live and act

Hans Holbein: Advertising sign for a school in Basel, 1516

He was probably born as the son of a miller in Lucerne. After basic training in his hometown, he studied in Basel from 1510 , where he was matriculated under the name Osualdus Molitoris . After four years of study he was appointed schoolmaster of the Latin school at the Theodorskirche . In Basel he not only met Erasmus of Rotterdam , from whom he is said to have received the name Myconius, but also Heinrich Glarean and Hans Holbein the Younger . However, it has not been established whether the advertising sign created by Holbein was created for Myconius. However, a copy of Erasmus' On Praise of Folly, which was in the possession of Myconius, is of lasting cultural and historical value . It not only contains numerous marginal notes by Myconius, but also 82 marginal drawings by Hans Holbein.

Erasmus: In praise of folly with drawings by Holbein and notes in the margin by Myconius. 1515

Myconius left Basel as early as 1516 to take up the position of schoolmaster at the school of the Grossmünsterstift in Zurich . From here he continued to maintain correspondence with other humanists such as Glarean, Joachim von Watt (Vadian) and Ulrich Zwingli . It was Myconius who informed Zwingli about the vacant position as a priest and kept him up to date on the internals of the placement. However, Zurich was only a stopover. Probably on the advice of the Lucerne canon Johannes Xylotectus, he accepted the position of schoolmaster at the monastery school in Lucerne in 1519. Because of his evangelical views, he soon experienced various hostilities here. Myconius left Lucerne in 1522 and after a short stay in Einsiedeln returned to Zurich, where he became a teacher at the Fraumünster School .

In 1532 he was Johannes Oekolampad's successor as professor and pastor at Basel Minster , which was also associated with the position of Antistes of the Basel Church. He was involved in important school reforms, supported Martin Bucer's efforts to mediate between Martin Luther and the Swiss and wrote, among other things, the first biography of Huldrych Zwingli (1532).

Commemoration

Memorial plaque in Lucerne

A plaque commemorates Oswald Myconius at the Matthäuskirche in his hometown Lucerne . The community center of the reformed Lucerne city church, built in 1979, is called Myconiushaus.

research

His correspondence, comprising 1338 letters, is an important source for the history of the Reformation in Switzerland and Upper Germany. Myconius' main correspondents included Zwingli, Bucer and Vadian, as well as Heinrich Bullinger , Theodor Bibliander , Wolfgang Capito and Johannes Calvin . In 2017, all of his correspondence was published in book form.

Works

  • Descriptio de situ Helvetiae et vicinis gentibus… cum commentariis Osualdi Myconii Lucernani . 1519 (commentary on the Glarean script; digitized version ).
  • Osvaldi Myconii Lucernani Ad sacerdotes Helvetiae, qui Tigurinis male loquuntur, suasoria, ut male loqui desinant. 1524 ( digitized version ).
  • De tumultu Bernensium intestino commentarius Oswaldi Myconii Lucernani. 1528 (printed 1739; digitized ).
  • De D. Huldrichi Zvinglii… vita et obitu . 1532 (printed 1536; digitized ). Newly edited and translated by Ernst Gerhard Rüsch: From the life and death of Huldrych Zwingli . St. Gallen 1979.
  • Correspondence 1512–1552. Regesten, edited by Rainer Henrich. 2 volumes, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-290-17890-1 ( digitized version ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Willy Brändly: The schoolmaster's shield of Hans Holbeins and Myconius . In: Zwingliana 10, 1955, pp. 261-262. ( Digitized version )
  2. ↑ Ernst Gerhard Rüsch: From Humanism to Reformation. From the marginal notes by Oswald Myconius on the “Praise of Folly” by Erasmus of Rotterdam. In: Theologische Zeitschrift Basel, 39/1983, special issue, pp. 1–78.
predecessor Office successor
Johannes Oekolampad Antistes of the Basel Church
1532–1552 		Simon Sulzer
personal data
SURNAME Myconius, Oswald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geisshüsler, Oswald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss reformer
DATE OF BIRTH 1488
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1552
Place of death Basel