Siegismund Justus Ehrhardt

Siegismund Justus Ehrhardt (born September 22, 1732 in Gemünda , † June 6, 1793 in Beschine (in Silesia , today Baszyn)) was a Protestant theologian , diplomat and an important church historian .

Life

Siegismund Justus was the son of Adam Georg Ehrhardt († March 25, 1752), pastor in Gemünda, and Barbara Margaretha Löber. He was initially taught mostly by his father, learned Greek and Hebrew from Professor Georg Christoph Metz in Schweinfurt from 1748–1749 , matriculated on May 1, 1749 at the University of Erlangen and on April 30, 1750 at the University of Jena , where he was found on Joined the Latin Society on November 5, 1750. In 1754 he took over a vicar position in Burgpreppach in Lower Franconia (ordination in Schweinfurt on June 18, 1754) and married Johanna Margaretha Rosenberger there on October 15, 1754. According to his own statements, he then had to leave Lower Franconia because of hostility in the Catholic diocese of Würzburg against the Protestant pastors there. This representation was adopted in all later biographies. In fact, his wife had separated from him in 1760 and did not return to the rectory until two years later to commit suicide. The rule and the community made him responsible for this misfortune, whereupon he left his home with his maid and later second wife Anna Dorothea Bräunig († March 30, 1770) in November 1762. He initially stayed in Leipzig and came via Berlin in 1765 to Radach in der Neumark , where he supported the very old local pastor there. After further stays in Silesia ( Glogau and Herrnstadt ) he became a deacon there in 1768 at the parish church in Steinau and finally on 23 May 1774 pastor in Beschine in the district of Wohlau . In 1773 he was accepted into the Economic-Patriotic Society in Silesia. He was in his third marriage (May 2, 1775) with Johanna Eleonora Stiller († March 1, 1796), who brought a not insignificant fortune. After a long period of suffering, Siegismund Justus Ehrhardt died on June 6, 1793.

plant

Siegismund Justus Ehrhardt dealt with presbyterology very early on . In 1756 he worked on the parish history of Burgpreppach and drafted the plan for a Reformation and church history of the immediate imperial-free knighthood in Franconia . In the Neumark he conducted historical studies and in 1767 articles were published by him in a work about the Order of St. John . During his stay in Steinau he worked on the medieval documents kept in the town hall there, the contents of which he published in five parts as New Diplomatic Contributions from 1773 to 1774, and made the plan to create a complete Silesian church and preaching history. As a result of sermons from the dead , he collected church book excerpts and gradually enlarged his library to presumably over a thousand volumes. In 1777 a first manuscript for his great work was completed, which he announced in Breslau with the preliminary message to the public of the publication of the Silesian Presbyterology . He had previously asked Provincial Minister Hoym and even Frederick the Great for support for his life's work, but in the end he couldn't even find a publisher due to the lack of advance orders. He had to publish his great presbyterology of Protestant Silesia in four volumes between 1780 and 1790 at his own expense (printed by Johann Gottfried Pappäsch in Liegnitz). On 3212 pages it dealt with 600 parishes and around 7000 pastors with mostly detailed personal details and a list of the writings they wrote. A fifth volume for the principalities of Münsterberg and Schweidnitz as well as the county of Glatz could not go to press before his death. Nothing was left of his estate. The large library was auctioned off, its handwritten collection was lost and the records on the town history of Steinau or on the village and castle Rützen, which were kept in the city library in Wroclaw, were destroyed in 1945. Ehrhardt's work forms the basis of the pastors' book for the whole of Silesia up to 1945, on which, since the end of the Second World War, Pastor Johannes Grünewald and then Pastor Dietmar Neß have been working. The publication of the first volume is announced for 2013.

Selected bibliography

(A detailed bibliography with 54 titles in Grünewald, pp. 153–155)

• Treatises from the main enemies of religion in the city of Schmalkalden . Goettingen 1755
• History of the parish of Gemünda an der Krecke . In: Acta historico-ecclesiastica XIX (1755), pp. 211-222
• Treatise by the parish of Markburgpreppach in the knight canton of Baunach in Franconia . In: Acta historico-ecclesiastica XX (1756), pp. 95-128
• Ode to your royal. Maj. In Prussia very pleasant arrival in Leipzig on December 5th, 1762 . Leipzig 1762
• From the seventh Grand Prior of Teutschland Bertold IX., D. 1330 , thoughts on the origin of the present state of the Balley Brandenburg, or the mastery and its advantages [and further articles]. In: Johann Gottfreid Dienemann: News from the Order of St. John, in particular from its Lordship in the Mark, Saxony, Pomerania […] , Berlin 1767
• New diplomatic contributions to explain the old Lower Silesian history and rights . 5 parts, Breslau 1773–1774
• Presbyterology of Evangelical Silesia .
  • part One
    • 1st and 2nd main section: City and Principality of Breslau . Liegnitz 1780–1781, 222 pages
  • Part II
    • 1st main section: Principality of Brieg , Liegnitz 1782 ( e-copy )
    • 2nd main section: Principality of Carolath-Beuthen
    • 3rd main section: Principality of Crossen . Liegnitz 1782, 736 pages
  • Part III
    • 1st main section: Principality of Glogau . Liegnitz 1783, 507 pages ( e-copy ).
    • 2nd main section: Principality of Jauer . Liegnitz 1784, 544 pages
  • Part IV
    • 1st main section: Principality of Liegnitz . Liegnitz 1789.
    • 2nd main section: Continuation of the Principality of Liegnitz . Liegnitz 1790, a total of 743 pages

literature

• Johannes Grünewald: Siegismund Justus Ehrhardt 1732–1793 . In: Yearbook for Silesian Church History . tape 72 , 1993, pp. 121-156 .
• Adolf Schimmelpfennig :  Ehrhardt, Sigismund Justus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 713.
• Heinrich Schubert: Sigismund Justus Ehrhardt's life and writings . In: Journal of the Association for History and Antiquity of Silesia . tape 28 , 1894, pp. 81-98 .
• Heinrich Schubert: Subsequent to his biography . In: Journal of the Association for History and Antiquity of Silesia . tape 31 , 1897, pp. 276-284 (supplement, ibid. Volume 34, 1900, pp. 407-409).
• Matthias Simon: Sigismund Justus Ehrhardt, a prevented church historian in Franconia . In: Journal for Bavarian Church History . tape 31 , 1962, pp. 195-205 .
• Karl Konrad Streit: Alphabetical index of all writers living in Silesia in 1774 . Breslau 1776, p. 33-35 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Literary supplement to the Schlesische Provinzialblätter, Volume 18, 1793, pp. 236–238
2. ↑ For details in Simon, u. a. according to the parish chronicle of Burgpreppach
3. ↑ Grünewald, p. 134

Web links

Wikisource: Siegismund Justus Ehrhardt  - Sources and full texts