Schleswig Bible (1664)

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Title page of the Schleswig Bible. Copy from the Saxon State Library in Dresden

The Schleswig Bible from 1664 ( VD 17 23: 322792R) is a full Bible with the text of the Luther Bible from 1545. It was printed by the princely book printer Johann Holwein at the instigation of the Duchess-widow Maria Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf in Schleswig . Together with the church book ( Agende ) published by Adam Olearius in 1665 and the Husum court hymn book from 1676, it marks the transition from Low German to High German church language for northern Germany .

To the edition

The edition was around 100 copies. They mainly served the members and guests of the palace in front of Husum , where Maria Elisabeth went after the death of her husband, Duke Friedrich III. had withdrawn from Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf . Several copies were also sent to Protestant parishes in Schleswig-Holstein. During the Danish-Swedish War 1658–60 , many churches in the country were stripped of their books and especially their Bibles.

To the text

The Schleswig Bible from 1664 comprises two volumes in the sizes 24.4 × 22 × 11.4 cm (first volume) and 24.5 × 20.4 × 8.5 cm (second volume) and was considered a "dainty" print edition at that time the Luther Bible. The first volume contains the books from Genesis to the Song of Solomon . The second volume contains the prophets , the Apocrypha and the New Testament . The text corresponds to “the last and most correct edition, according to An. Christi 1545 the year before his (sc. Luther's) death under Hertzog Johan Friedrich Churf. went out to Saxony ”, so the message on the title page.

The last thorough editing of the Bible took two years to complete and lasted from July 17, 1539 to the summer of 1541. Luther himself described the 1541 edition as his last legacy. The edition of spring 1545 brought further improvements which were suggested earlier and which were based on the Wittenberg edition of 1543. The Bible from 1545 is still considered to be the "final edition". As such, it acquired an almost canonical meaning and is viewed as the last inviolable legacy of Luther, as the “living Luther” stands behind every word.

In the second volume, after the prophets, the following "books as they are called Apocrypha " have been included: the book of Judith , the book of wisdom , the book of Tobit , Jesus Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch , the 1st and 2nd books of the Maccabees , the play in the book of Esther , Susanna in the bath , from the book of Daniel : From Bel to Babel, From Dragon to Babel, the Asariae prayer, the song of the three men in the furnace and the Manasseh prayer . The 3rd and 4th books of Ezra and the 3rd book of the Maccabees have not been printed, although the Ernestine or Elector Bible also published this Apocryphal. The 3rd and 4th books of Ezra, although contained in the Vulgate , were originally intended by Luther (1523) for his Apocryphal section, but deleted by him in 1534, "because there is nothing in it that is not much better in Esopo , or even less books can be found ”. The 3rd Book of Maccabees, which was missing in the Vulgate, was also rejected by Luther. As early as 1531, the Froscherbibel contained both the 3rd and 4th Esra and the 3rd Maccabees.

According to the title page, the summaries come from the Nuremberg, strictly orthodox , Lutheran theologian Johann Saubert the Elder. Ä. He came to Nuremberg in 1622 as a deacon of St. Aegidien , later he was pastor at the Church of Our Lady and Lorenz , then to St. Sebald and Senior Ministerii and city librarian. As a Lutheran dogmatist, he published a large number of apologetic writings, such as B. Christian condom, or protective artzney against such Oerter, since public idolatry is carried out . Johann Saubert the Elder wrote for the first edition (1641) of the so-called Weimar Bible , also known as the Elector's Bible . Ä. the brief summaries that introduce the chapters of the Old and New Testaments. The texts of these summaries have been taken verbatim from the Schleswig Bible of 1664.

The prefaces to the Old and New Testament, although not explicitly mentioned in the headings, come from the pen of Martin Luther and correspond to the texts of the Elector's Bible .

The registers “of the Epistles and Gospels / which are read on the festivals and days of the Apostles” correspond to those of the Elector's Bible . Readings are prescribed for the following days of the Apostles : S. Andreae , Nicolai , Thomae , Stephanus , Pauli Conversion , Matthiae , Annunciation , Philippi and Jacobi, John the Baptist , Petri and Pauli , Visitation of Mary , Mary Magdalene , Jacobi , Laurentii , Bartholomai , Birth of Mary , Creutz exaltation , Matthai , Michaelis , Simonis and Judae, All Saints , Catharinae .

The following copperplate engravings have been added to the text:

For dedication

The twelve-page dedication (Dedicatio) for the most noble, high-born Princess Mrs. Maria Elisabeth, born from the electoral tribe of Saxony, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein, etc., comes from the pen of the scribble Adam Olearius . Born in 1599 in Aschersleben, Olearius served Duke Friedrich III from 1633. from Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf. Olearius took part twice, in 1633 and 1635, as legation secretary in the Gottorf diplomatic trips to Russia and Persia and wrote the well-known Moscowite and Persian travel description . As early as 1639 he was by Friedrich III. appointed court mathematician and ten years later court librarian.

In 1658, the Gottorf state got into the turmoil of the Danish-Swedish war, which impaired the economic strength of the duchies even more than the Thirty Years' War . The Duke and Olearius were driven out of Schleswig by Brandenburg and Polish troops. Friedrich III. died in 1659 in the Tönning fortress at the mouth of the Eider .

In the last years of his life, Olearius restricted himself entirely to his literary work. The list of his publications is long and varied. A number of religious works were also created, most of which were dedicated to the Duchess widow Maria Elisabeth. So z. B. a translation of the Liber de mortalitate by the church father Cyprian , texts from sermons by the Gottorf court preacher and general superintendent Johannes Reinboth (1609–1673) and a reprint of the Luther Bible, which was written with consideration for the declining eyesight of old people - including the duchess widow - was printed with extra large letters.

Possibly the well-known eleven electoral and princely vitae and copper engraving portraits of the so-called "Weimar" or "Ernestine" or "Elector's Bible" gave Olearius the impetus, as did the Schleswig Bible with nine Orthodox Lutheran testimonies of the spiritual and family ancestors of the Duchess widow initiate. Threading the proverb "The apple doesn't like to fold far from the trunk", Olearius documents the deep Lutheran piety and the religious work of the Saxon electoral ancestors.

It was Fridericus Sapiens, Friedrich III. the sage (1463–1525), "the widely famous Elector of Saxony, who took the dear man Lutherum under his protection ... and kept it secretly hidden in his castle in Wartburg" and through his actions enabled the spread of the Gospel in the German lands . He was followed by his brother Johannes Constans , the steadfast, who ruled from 1525 to 1532 and who “ with an armed hand dampened the peasant uprising caused by Thomas Müntzer's heresy”. His son Johann Friedrich I the Magnanimous, also called Magnanimus, Elector from 1532 to 1547, had the first complete edition of the Luther Bible printed and published in the High German translation in September 1534.

The following six electors are presented as the direct ancestors of the Duchess-widow: Duke Heinrich the Pious , son of Alberti Bellicosi, the arguable; Elector Moritz the Great (Mauritius Magnus), the son of Heinrici Pii; and Elector August , the brother and successor of Moritz, who, after the adoption of the Lutheran formula of concord of 1577, caused the normal Bible in Electoral Saxony to be published. It is reported from August that "once in four weeks he read through the entire Bible / as well as in one and a half months all twelve Tomos Lutheri one after the other / and some days with 100 sheets and let it be read to him".

He was followed by his son Christian I , who like his father turned against the Calvinist heresy and fought it with all means. In the same anti-Calvinist spirit, Elector Christian II , the eldest son of Christian I, supported the works of Lutheran orthodoxy in the country. The list of electoral witnesses of faith closes with the “most laudable elector Johan Georgen , the father of the duchess widow”. It was the exemplary piety and exemplary belief in the pure Lutheran doctrine of these electoral ancestors that Olearius recommended to the widow.

To the title page illustration

Copper title of the Schleswig Bible. Copy from the Saxon State Library in Dresden

The theme of the illustration is "The Place of God". Four people stand in front of a rotunda supported by seven columns on a pedestal: On the far left is the apostle Paul , who holds an open book in his right hand and leans on a sword with his left hand. Next to him stands Jesus Christ , surrounded by a ray nimbus. In his right hand he carries the globe cruciger , the imperial orb with the cross. On the right side stands Moses as the representative of the Old Covenant. In his right hand he holds the two stone tablets with Hebrew letters. In his left hand he holds the staff with which he not only divided the Red Sea (Ex 14:16), but also struck water from the rock (Ex 17,6). On the far right is Aaron , the brother of Moses and first high priest of the Old Covenant. He is dressed with the purple skirt and the bells on it and the breastplate with the twelve precious stones. He is holding the censer in his hand. He wears a high, turban-like hat on his head (Ex 28).

The tetragram appears in heaven, the name of God, Yahweh, written in four Hebrew letters . Rays fall on the heavenly hosts and on the twelve apostles who sit on the clouds. Only the decorative strip can be seen from the roof of the rotunda. It is formed from the classic egg stick decoration. The text: "The place of God" is written above a decorative strip ( astragalus ). An archangel holds an open book with both hands with the following text: "BIBLIA This is the whole Holy Scriptures Old and New Testaments Teutsch D. Martin Luther Anno 1664".

The front of the base shows three representations. In the middle “the apartment of the damned”. On the left is the jaws of hell, which is represented by a dragon's throat, into which devils drive the damned. To the left and right of it are the iconographic allegories of the Reformation dialectic of law and gospel, sin and grace, death and life. On the left-hand side of the Gospel or of grace, there are two leafy trees and a life-giving fountain in the middle. On the right, the trees have died and symbolize the law, sin and death.

To the print shop

In 1635, the city of Schleswig owned a high-performance Jakob zur Glocken printing house, to which a publishing house, an assortment and a bookbindery were affiliated. In addition to Low German literature, Jakob zur Glocken also printed and published the much sought-after works by the travel writers Johann Albrecht von Mandelslo and Adam Olearius, as well as theological works and official printed matter. The art-loving Duke Friedrich III. von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf supported the printing company with orders and privileges and awarded it the title “Princely Court Printing House in Schleswig”. His son Christian Albrecht , the founder of the University of Kiel , also had scientific inclinations, which were expressed in orders to the printing company.

In 1650 Jakob zur Glocken published a theological work that was printed by Johann Holwein. It can be assumed that Holwein took over the printing company that year, while the publishing house remained with the previous owner.

Johann Holwein was born in Wolfenbüttel around 1615 , learned the art of printing from his father there and then went to Celle with him . He has been known in Schleswig since 1650 because of the pressure given above. There he bought his own house and in 1658 became the royal court printer. After that, Jakob zur Glocken completely withdrew from his business. It is not known when he died.

After Holwein had published several theological and also works by Mandelslo and Olearius by 1663, he printed the Schleswig Bible in 1664 at the expense of the widowed Duchess Maria Elisabeth after the translation of Martin Luther, which is particularly noteworthy because it contains maps and copper engravings and The Bible text is printed in a beautiful, very large fracture so that it can be read by the faint of eyes.

So a pious duchess, a well-known writer and librarian, and an important printer were responsible for the production of the Bible. The entire Bible is available in two volumes with beautiful bindings in the Royal Library in Copenhagen and also in the Saxon State Library in Dresden , which the Duchess probably received as a gift.

swell

  • Fritz Juntke : The Schleswig Bible from 1664 and its bindings , in: Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1980, S. 316-324.
  • Otto FA Meinardus : On the Schleswig “Maria Elisabeth” Bible from 1664 , in: Contributions to the Schleswig City History, Issue 37/1992, pp. 97-103.

literature

  • Wilhelm Hahn: Schleswiger Buchdrucker 1480-1850 . Contributions to the history of the town of Schleswig 3 (1958) 38–52.
  • Josef Benzing : The book printers of the 16th and 17th centuries in the German-speaking area , Wiesbaden 1963, p. 381.
  • Dieter Lohmeier : Art. Holwein, Johann . Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck, Volume 13, Neumünster 2011, p. 214 ff.

Web links

  • 350 years: Schleswig's oldest Bible celebrates its birthday - Source: shz.de © 2014.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in VD 17
  2. ^ Wilhelm Hahn: Schleswiger Buchdrucker 1480-1850 . Contributions to the history of the city of Schleswig 3 (1958) 38–52; Josef Benzing: The book printers of the 16th and 17th centuries in the German-speaking area , Wiesbaden 1963, p. 381; Dieter Lohmeier: Art. Holwein, Johann . Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck, Volume 13, p. 214 ff.
  3. ^ Ada Kadelbach: The Duchess Marie Elisabeth (1610–1684) and the Husum court hymn book from 1676 , in: Between Eider and Wiedau. Home calendar for North Friesland 1985 , Husum 1984.
  4. ↑ Dieter Andresen: "Gades luterreines Wordt". Low German in the century of the Reformation , in: Writings of the Association for Schleswig-Holstein Church History , 1993; now in: Dieter Andresen: Evangelium Plattdeutsch. Contributions to “Church and Low German” 1972–2012 , Bredstedt 2012, p. 242 ff.
  5. ↑ Copies of the Schleswig Bible from 1664 belong (in full or in part) to the parishes Hollingstedt , Apenrade , Heiligenstedten and Dänischenhagen and the following libraries: Royal Library of Copenhagen ; Schleswig-Holstein State Museum , Gottorf Castle; Eutin State Library , Eutin; Duke August Library , Wolfenbüttel; SUB Goettingen ; LB Stuttgart and SB Wuppertal ; ULB Saxony-Anhalt in Halle and SLUB Dresden .
  6. ↑ W. Hahn, op.cit., 47
  7. ↑ Hans Volz (Ed.): D. Martin Luther. The entire Holy Scripture, Deudsch, Wittenberg 1545. Last edition published during Luther's lifetime , Munich 1972.
  8. ↑ Biblia; that is: The whole holy scripture: Deudsch Auffs new zugericht. D. Mart. Luth. Gifted with Elector of Saxony Freedom , Wittenberg: Hans Lufft 1545. 2 parts in one volume.
  9. ↑ Klaus Dietrich Fricke: The Apocryphal part of the Luther Bible. The Apocryphal Question in the Ecumenical Horizon , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 51–82.
  10. ^ Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : Allgemeine Gelehrten Lexikon , Leipzig 1751, 4th part, p. 163 f .; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , Berlin 1970 (reprint), Volume 30, pp. 414-415.
  11. ↑ Due to the Eisenach Pericope Ordinance of 1896, the readings for these festive days have been dropped.
  12. ↑ Luther as a professor without a beret and without a book. One senses the seriousness of the face of the difficult decisions made in 1525, in which Luther had to preserve the spiritual character of the biblical Reformation. Compare Oskar Thulin: Martin Luther. His life in pictures and contemporary documents , Munich / Berlin 1958, No. 46; also Hans Preuß : Luther portraits , Leipzig 1918, no.11.
  13. ↑ Often coveted description of the Newen Orientalische Rejse / So happened by the opportunity of a Holstein legation to the king in Persia ... By M. Adamium Olearium, Ascanium Saxonem, Fürstl. Schleßwig-Holsteinischen Hoff-Mathemat., Schleswig: to the bell 1647; Increased Newe Description of the Muscowitischen and Persischen Reyse So by the occasion of a Holstein embassy to the Russian Tsar and King in Persia ... Which on the other hand publishes Adam Olearius Ascanius / the princely ruling rulers of Schleßwig-Holstein Bibliothecarius vnd Hoff Mathematicus, Schleswig : Holwein 1656.
  14. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier (Ed.): Vermehre Newe Description Der Muscowitischen vnd Persischen Reyse , Tübingen 1971, p. 39.
  15. ↑ Biblia, Das ist die gantze H. Schrifft, Altes vnd Newes Testaments Teutsch / D. Martin Luthers: On the gracious ordinance of the Illuminated / High Born Prince and Herr / Herr Ernsts / Hertziehenden zu Sachsen ... , Nuremberg: Wolfgang Endter 1641.
  16. ↑ Olearius is wrong when he writes "on the orders of this elector, Luther's entire Bible, which was translated into German, was first printed in 1538".
  17. ↑ Biblia Das ist / The whole holy scripture Deudsch, D. Mart. Luth. , Wittenberg: Hans Krafft's heirs 1581.
  18. ↑ Joh. Reinboth: The twelve-starred grace crown ... Schleßwig bey to the bells. Printed by Johan Holwein in 1650.
  19. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Art. Holwein, Johann . Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck, Volume 13, p. 214.