Johann Gronenberg

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Johann Gronenberg , also: Rhau-Grunenberg , Gruneberg, Grünberg, Viridimontanus, Prasinoreos (* in Grünberg ( Gießen ); † after 1523 before 1525 in Wittenberg ) was a printer during the Reformation. In 1516, for example, Rhau-Grunenberg printed the " Eyn deutsch Theologia " in fragmentary form for Martin Luther for the first time . His 95 theses presented by Luther in 1517 as a single-sheet print (folio sheet in two columns) probably also came from the Gronenberg press.

Life

Born in Grünberg, he was matriculated at the University of Erfurt in the winter semester of 1502/1503 , he had also worked for a time in the Wolf Stürmer printing house in Erfurt. A book of poetry by Battista Mantovano from the Erphordiae printing works has the following title: "Erphordiae: Joh. Ru et Wolphius Sturmer 1507".

At the invitation of Johann von Staupitz , he came to the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg. For a long time he was the first and only printer who worked in Wittenberg after Nikolaus Marschalk and who mainly published the university's publications. He secured his income through contracts from the university. Around 1508 he settled in Wittenberg , where he set up a printing shop in the Augustinian monastery. His predecessor Nikolaus Marschalk († May 12, 1525) left him the necessary type material ( letterpress ). Marschalk, who came from Erfurt, founded a printing company in Wittenberg in 1502, but left the city again in 1505. He probably bought a house in Wittenberg in 1512. The domicile was near the Augustinian monastery and was inhabited by Rhau-Grunenberg until 1517, it was near Martin Luther's home. He later moved near the New College. This new house also appears in the Wittenberg tax lists as his property.

His craft , the “black art” or ars (nove) ingeniosa , remained, his book productions and prints remained more conventional for the next decade. The seldom available printed work “Dye zaigung des hochlobwirdigen hailigthums der Stiftskirchen aller Hailigen zu Wittenbergk” goes back to him, which later became known as the healing book of Frederick the Wise . During his work, the first writings by Martin Luther and pamphlets by Andreas Bodenstein against Johannes Eck were published. In 1522 he also printed the writings of Heinrich von Kettenbach , who came from Ulm .

In 1513, Luther had the entire Latin Psalter printed as a working text by Johannes Gronenberg for the listeners of his first psalms lecture, a single copy of which has survived today as the Wolfenbüttel Psalter . Nevertheless, the large number of orders and the less innovative changes on the part of Gronenberg visibly overwhelmed the small print shop. In a letter to Georg Spalatin in August 1521, Luther expressed himself very angry about the print quality, a problem that had already made itself felt earlier and that led Luther, with the help of Lucas Cranach and Christian Döring, to convince the Leipzig printer Melchior Lotter Establish a branch under the direction of his sons in Wittenberg. Luther, however, had a high opinion of Gronenberg and later provided him with print jobs.

Apparently he was still printing in Wittenberg in 1523, because in Matthäus Aurogallus “Compendium Hebraeae Grammatices” from 1523 his printer's signature appears , which shows a mermaid in a lake with green banks in front of high mountains. Apparently his relative Georg Rhau took over his printing house . He died before the marriage of his daughter Eufemia, who had married Simon Funck in 1527 and who sold his printing company in 1530.

Printing environment in Wittenberg during the Reformation

In 1519, Melchior Lotter the Elder from Leipzig founded a branch of his printing and publishing company, which he passed on to his sons Melchior and Michael . Another printing company was founded by a journeyman of Johann Gronenberg Hans Lufft ; he worked for a certain time, around 1515, at Gronenberg. At the end of 1522 Georg Rhau settled down as a printer in Wittenberg, later he founded a book printing company, which he ran until his death. Joseph Klug was another printer who was drawn from 1523 to 1525. He headed the book printing workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his business partner Christian Döring . Also nickel Schirlenz belonged to the group of the local printer. He printed the Vulgate revision for the first time in his company in 1529.

Later around 1543 there were six printing works in Wittenberg.

literature

  • Stefan Oehmig: 700 years of Wittenberg, city - university - Reformation. Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Weimar 1995, ISBN 3740009578
  • Johannes Joachim: The printers Johannes Grunenberg and Georg Rhau in Wittenberg. In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen Volume 21 (1904) pp. 433–439
  • Hans Lülfing : University, printing and book trade in Wittenberg, mainly in the 16th century. In: 450 Years of Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Volume 1: Wittenberg 1502-1817, Halle 1952, pp. 377–391, 380
  • Johannes Luther : The Wittenberg printing in its transition to the Reformation press. In: Luther studies on the 400th anniversary of the Reformation (...), Weimar 1917, pp. 261–282
  • Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon's correspondence. People. Volume 12
  • Ernst Kelchner :  Gronenberg, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 717.

Web links

  • Remembrance room of the Reformation. Luther's early writings: World Document Heritage in Thuringia, www.thueringen.de [1]
  • Stefan Oehmig (Ed.): Book printing and book culture in Wittenberg during the Reformation. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2015, ISBN 978-3-374-04078-0 , reading sample, [2]
  • The Luther printer Rhau-Grunenberg, 2015 Friends of the Museum Grünberg. [3]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helga Schnabel-Schüle (Ed.): Reformation. Historical and cultural studies manual. JBMetzler, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-476-02593-7 , p. 106.
  2. ↑ Eyn German Theologia: that is Eyn noble book, from [m] right board, w [a] z Adam vn [d] Christ be, vn [d] like Adam yn vns die vn [d] Christ first sall
  3. ↑ This contrasts with the opinion that Luther himself apparently commissioned Jacob Thanner in Leipzig in 1517 to print a single sheet of the Latin text.
  4. ↑ in some places Mainz was also given as the place of birth
  5. ↑ Andrew Pettegree : The Luther brand. How an unknown monk made a small German town the center of the printing industry and himself the most famous man in Europe - and kicked off the Protestant Reformation. Insel, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-458-17691-6 , p. 57
personal data
SURNAME Gronenberg, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gruneberg, Johann; Grünneberg, Johann; Viridimontanus, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Printer of the Reformation period
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Grünberg ( Giessen )
DATE OF DEATH around 1523
Place of death Wittenberg