Petrus Paganus

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Petrus Paganus

Petrus Paganus (Paganus = country dweller) (born March 30, 1532 in Wanfried ; † May 29, 1576 ibid) was a famous German neo-Latin poet, humanist and wine drinker. He was the bearer of the laurel wreath of poetry (Poeta Laureatus Caesareus) and professor of poetry and history at the University of Marburg.

His life

Peter Dorfheiliger (Petrus Paganus) from Wanfried attended school in Eschwege , studied in Marburg (1550 Magister) and then undertook major trips to Belgium, France, Italy and Austria. In Vienna (1554–1560) he was crowned as a poet by Emperor Ferdinand with a laurel wreath (Poeta Laureatus Caesareus). Returned from there in 1561, he taught at the University of Marburg as a professor of poetry and history.

He led a very relaxed and careless life and adored love and wine to a high degree like his predecessors Helius Eobanus Hessus and Euricius Cordus , which also caused his premature end. Countless anecdotes and quarrels are known about him and are still going on today, especially from the time when he was contemplating marriage. His dissolute life and his drunkenness deterred the marriageable girls, so that he had to end his life unmourned by his wife and children. Even in the most exasperated condition, he could write classical verse. When he was once so bothered with the drink at a feast given by the Commander of the Teutonic Knights Order in Marburg that he swayed when setting off, that is, that it would be difficult for him to stand on one leg for a long time, this did not prevent him, in shining classical Latin and even more classical verses to conjure up the wavering subjects with the words:

"Sta pes; Sta mi pes; sta pes, ne talk mi pes! Nisi steteris, lapides hi tibi lectus erunt ”, that means

Stand, leg - stand still, my leg;
Stand, leg, and don't waver!
If you don't stand, the stones here will be
your bed
.

It was partly thanks to this incantation, partly to the help of two students, that he found his real bed on it. The Latin distich is, however, also ascribed to other authors; it should be a hiking legend.

After he had come to the realization in the course of time how an extraordinary measure was appropriate under such circumstances, he decided to give up the celibate class and bring home the daughter of a Marburg councilor. Before he applied for parental consent, however, he wished to convince himself of any inclination his lady might have and therefore addressed her as follows on the occasion of a wedding meal, as it seems after he had previously strengthened himself through the cup: “Still Before the end of this year, if luck is good, I decided to marry; will my angel follow this example? ”To this still not entirely unpleasant, if somewhat unclear, speech, he immediately received an answer, which, however, was far“ beyond ”his request for clarity:“ My Mr. Puit, you may free when you if I want when it is convenient for me, I will also be free ”. Paganus then gave up all thoughts of marriage. He is buried in Wanfried's Evangelical Church ; his memorial stone is to the right of the tower entrance; but this place is not his tomb; rather, it is located in the choir, below the southern choir window.

His tombstone

The Latin inscription on the tombstone is as follows:

ESPITAPHIUM PETRI PAGANI HESSI POETAE LAUREATI./ ECCE BREVIS MAGNI TUMUL / TEGIT OSSA POETAE PAGANI CUIUS / NOMEN IN ORBE VIGET HUNC WANFRIDA / DEDIT NOBIS / ESCHWEGE DES ETIO / PUSILLUM / PUSILLUM / ENUTRIDES / EXCHWEGE PUSILLUM / PUSILLUM / ENUTRIDES / ENUTRIDES CORRIPIT ACRIS ITER / HIC BELGAS ADIT ET / RAPIDUS QUA SEQUANA LAPIT / URBEM CAMPANI TRANSIT ET / ARVA SOLI / ISTRA DELAPSUS / PUGNACES / VENIT AD AUSTROS / HIC UBI LAUREOLAM / CLARA VIENNA DEDIT / IN PATRIAM / HIC UBI LAUREOLAM / CLARA VIENNA DEDIT / IN PATRIAM SIMUL / MARTIS IN URBE DOCET / PRINCIPIBUS CHARUM / SOLUIT STUDIOSA IUVENTUS / COLLEGAM DOCTI / SUSCIPIUNTQUE VIRI / AEGER IT IN PATRIAM / CONSUMPTI TABE MALIGNA / AD SEDES MIGRAT / SPIRITES / MEMORA LAS VALE!

It follows in German: Joh. Schimm in memor Discip. F. Nascitur Anno 1532 the Paschatis Moritur Anno 1576. in sine Maji Her Wilhelm von Ohnehausen, Landcompter zu Marpurg / Theodorius Gebhard / sister of the poet / Bertholdus / Johannes and Jacobus village saints / Johannes Hillemann / Johannes Hentrich and Johannes Ehrmeswert / brother's children and brothers-in-law / Wilhelm and Jacobus Rexrodt / ltem Michael Althans / sisters and brothers-in-law.

Translation of the Latin funerary inscription:

Gravestone of Peter Paganus, the Hessian poet crowned with the laurel wreath. See this short (small) burial mound covers the bones of the great poet Paganus. His name is famous around the world. Wanfried gave it to us; Eschwege raised him and taught him the fine sciences. Out of the desire to get to know other peoples and cities, he begins his great journey with courage. He went to Belgium and in a hurry he traveled through the Seine, the city of Champagne and its sunny floodplains. It went down the Danube and it comes to the fighting south; it was here that famous Vienna put the laurel wreath on him. He returned to his fatherland and with great applause he taught poetry and history in the Martian city (Marburg). He was dear to the princes, he was admired by the eager youth of learned men who accepted him into their circle of scholars. He comes sick in his hometown, consumed by evil addiction, his spirit soars up to the heavenly thrones. The nephews, mindful of their uncle, set this corpse stone so that everyone who sees it would shout: “Farewell to famous poet”.

His student Joh. Schimm made this poem in his memory.

He was born on Easter in 1532; he dies at the end of May in 1576.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Old stories from the state of Hesse by Dr. Wilhelm Christian Lange.
  2. ↑ Leonhard Christoph Ruehl : Menagiana, Perroniana and Thvana, or strange oddities of scholars and their writings . Braunschweig 1735, p. 218

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Paganus, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Village saint, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Latin poet, humanist and wine drinker
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1532
PLACE OF BIRTH Wanfried
DATE OF DEATH May 29, 1576
Place of death Wanfried