Paulus Weidner

Dr. Paul Weidner at the age of thirty-eight. Woodcut 1563

Paulus Weidner von Billerburg , actually Ascher Judah ben Nathan Aschkenasi (* around 1525 in Udine ; † August 28, 1585 in Vienna ), was a Jewish convert, doctor and rector of the University of Vienna.

Life

Paulus Weidner was born in Udine around 1525 as a descendant of an originally German family. His older brother was Solomon Ashkenazi who later became a doctor and diplomat in the Ottoman service . After studying in Padua , he practiced as a doctor for six years in the Duchy of Carinthia , an area where Jews were actually prohibited from staying. In 1558 he moved to Vienna, where he and his wife and four children were baptized by Bishop Urban Sagstetter in St. Stephen's Cathedral . Like the convert Antonius Margaritha , he was appointed lecturer of the Hebrew language at the University of Vienna . He also worked as an imperial personal physician at the court.

Dr. Paul Weidner and family under the cross. Woodcut 1559

When Emperor Ferdinand I expelled the Jews from Bohemia with a few exceptions , Weidner was entrusted in 1560 with examining the Hebrew books that had been confiscated for alleged blasphemy. He also gave several sermons in the synagogue in Prague to warn the Jews who remained there about the false messiahs and to encourage them to convert . In addition to the Prague Sermon, which was printed in 1562, he published other writings. One year after his conversion, Loca praecipua fidei christianae was published , in which he explained in detail the reasons for his conversion and tried to prove the truth of the Christian faith based on the Bible and Jewish literature. His last publication, Sententiae Hebraicae , a collection of Hebrew proverbs , appeared in 1563 .

As a professor at the University of Vienna, he was dean of the medical faculty several times and was appointed rector three times. In addition to his academic work, he earned extra income as a moneylender. Emperor Maximillian II is said to have been one of his customers . After Weidner was ennobled in 1582, three years before his death, he and his descendants were allowed to bear von Billerburg in their name.

Works

• Loca praecipua fidei christianae. Vienna 1559 ( digitized version )
• A sermon ... preached to the Jews in Prague on April 26th in their synagogue, Anno MDLXI, and many people were confirmed to believe in Christianity. Vienna 1562 ( digitized version )
• Sententiae hebraicae ad vitae institutionem perutiles. Vienna 1563 ( digitized version )

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Weidner, Paul . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 53rd part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1886, p. 275 ( digitized version ).
• Paul J. Diamant : Paulus Weidner von Billerburg (1525–1585), imperial personal physician and rector of the university. In: Communications from the Association for the History of the City of Vienna. 13/14 (1933).
• Heribert Smolinsky : Conversion to denomination. Jewish converts in the 16th century. In: Friedrich Niewöhner, Fidel Rädle (ed.): Conversions in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period. Hildesheim, Zurich 1999, pp. 153–170.
• WEIDNER, PAULUS . In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 20, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865948-0 , p. 699 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Rebekka Voss: Controversial Redeemers: Politics, Ideology and Judeo-Christian Messianism in Germany 1500-1600. Düsseldorf 2007, p. 27.
2. ↑ Smolinsky: Konversion zur Konfession (1999), p. 161.
3. ↑ Cf. Maria Diemling: Grenzgängerum: Conversion from Judaism to Christianity in Vienna, 1500-2000. In: Viennese magazine for the history of modern times . 2 (2007).