Peter Generanus

Petrus Generanus (around 1520 in Genner near Aabenraa ; † April 17, 1584 ) was a German-Danish pastor and provost.

Live and act

Petrus Generanus was a son of Paul Generanus, who is listed in the Wittenberg register as Petrus Pauli and Peter Paulsen . He had a brother named Andreas Paulsen Genner († February 25, 1596 in Øster Løgum Sogn ), who also worked as a pastor. The surname of the brothers goes back to their place of birth Genner . Petrus Generanus kept this, like his descendants, consistently.

Generanus first attended the trivial school in Hadersleben and learned from 1532 to 1536 in the Cistercian monastery Rüde with Abbot Hans Hildebrand. He then studied ten years at the University of Wittenberg . There he received his doctorate in 1540 together with Niels Palladius and Georg Boëtius, who later worked as court preacher in Hadersleben, to become a master. A year later he published the first Latin translation of the Schmalkaldic articles , in whose dedication he thanked his teacher Hans Hildebrand. Generanu's version did not go into the Symbolic Books ; Although his version was generally considered the better, it had to give way to the translation by Nikolaus Selnecker .

After that, Christian III tried . and Hans the Elder , who had generously encouraged Generanus Studium to persuade him to return to his homeland. Generanus, however, had taken a liking to living and studying in Wittenberg and had found ways of obtaining funds elsewhere, which Philipp Melanchthon described as "New Monkery". He also hoped to find a permanent job at the university. His teacher Johannes Bugenhagen , however, doubted the suitability of his student. He praised Generanus hard work, the good exam, the way of life and the ordination, but came to the conclusion that he was only “serving as a preacher, no further”.

In Wittenberg, Generanus probably married Gertrud Blume († November 14, 1596), as he did Christian III. In early 1545. The couple had their son Johannes (* around 1560-1624) and their daughter Catharina († April 13, 1604). A year later he returned to his homeland. He wrote to Christian III that he had a wife and children.

In Hadersleben, Generanus worked as the second court preacher to Hans the Elder from 1546. Since the payment seemed too low to him, he moved to Aabenraa as pastor in 1548 . Here he worked in the area of Adolf I from 1552 as provost. Due to health problems and a waning voice, two successive chaplains helped him from 1561. From 1583 he got the support of his son Johannes, who was anjugated to him.

Generanu's work in Aabenraa is only praised for the fact that he was particularly committed to improving the school system. The pastor and provost died in 1584. His son continued to run the provost from 1585.

family

It is unclear whether the woman named in 1546 was Gertrud Blume. According to Johannes Bugenhagen, Generanus "honestly freed himself and made friends [...] with the worthy Mr. M. Fröschel, our church priest and preacher, of whom he has become a brother-in-law". P. Rhode, however, wrote that Gertrud Blume, the mother of Johannes Generanus, came from the Wittenberg family of the Blumes. A comparison of this information with information available on Sebastian Fröschel's first and second wives shows that these data do not match. Fröschel can neither have been a brother of Gertrud Blumes nor have her first or second marriage.

It is sometimes assumed that Blume was a daughter of Fröschel, but this cannot be true either. Presumably Bugenhagen used the word “brother-in-law” in a different sense. Another possibility would be that Gertrud was the widow of Sebastian Fröschel's brother. However, if Generanus had been married twice, Gertrud would have been his second wife.

literature

• A. Andersen: Generanus, Petrus . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 1. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1970, pp. 147–148