Johann Carolus

Title page of the relation from 1609

Johann Carolus (born March 26, 1575 in Mühlbach (Münstertal) , † August 15, 1634 in Strasbourg ) was a German printer , bookbinder and publisher in Strasbourg. His father Georg or Jörg Carolus was a pastor and came from Meiningen (Thuringia). Johann Carolus, who had acquired Strasbourg citizenship through marriage in 1599, took over Jobin's publishing house in 1604 . Carolus also held the offices of curate and councilor in Strasbourg.

To the history of the relation

As a publisher, Carolus was editor of the weekly paper Relation aller Fürnemmen und Gedenckworthy Histories , which first appeared in Strasbourg in the second or third week of September 1605. This is documented by a request to the City Council of Strasbourg, in which, after the first twelve editions were published, he tried in vain to obtain a monopoly right . Nevertheless, the paper could come out soon afterwards. Johann Carolus published it continuously until his death in 1634. His son Moritz took over the printing shop and continued printing newspapers until 1667. Carolus was buried in the Sainte-Hélène cemetery; his grave has not been preserved.

The oldest surviving year of the newspaper to this day is 1609; the first years are apparently lost. The relation appeared until 1659 and is recognized by the World Association of Newspapers as the first newspaper in the world. The German press historian Martin Welke came across documents on the pioneering work of Strasbourg in 1987 together with the Strasbourg archivist Jean-Pierre Kintz. Welke calls the request to the Strasbourg council “the newspaper's birth certificate”.

See also

• List of the oldest newspapers

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Die Zeit, issue of December 27, 2013 History of the newspaper: Can you print something like this?
2. ↑ World Association of Newspapers: Newspapers: 400 Years Young! ( Memento from May 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

literature

• Jakob Franck :  Karolus, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 416 f.
• Heinz August:  Carolus, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 154 ( digitized version ).
• Martin Welke: Johann Carolus and the beginning of the periodical daily press. Attempt to correct a research aberration . In: Martin Welke and Jürgen Wilke (eds.): 400 years of the newspaper. The development of the daily press in an international context. Edition lumière, Bremen 2008, pp. 9–116.
• Johannes Weber: "Unterthenige Supplication Johann Caroli / Buchtruckers". The beginning of printed weekly political newspapers in 1605 , first published in: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens , Vol. 38/1992, pp. 257–265 (PDF; 1.47 MB)
• Johannes Weber: Strasbourg 1605: The birth of the newspaper . In: Jahrbuch für Kommunikationgeschichte , 7/2005, pp. 3–27 (PDF; 122 kB)
• Johannes Weber: Strasbourg, 1605. The Origins of the Newspaper in Europe . In: German History 24/2006, pp. 387-412

Web links

Commons : Johann Carolus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Heidelberg University: Relation of all princes and memorable histories
• Exhibition of the Gutenberg Museum Mainz: 400 Years of the Newspaper: The Exhibition ( Memento from May 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Mitchell Stephens: History of Newspapers - Collier's Encyclopedia
• Johannes Weber: Anniversary: ​​400 years newspaper with facsimile of Johann Carolus' submission to the city council (PDF; 1.47 MB)
• Publications by and about Johann Carolus in VD 17 .