Stephan Roth (town clerk)

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Stephan Roth statue at St. Marien Cathedral in Zwickau

Stephan Roth (* 1492 in Zwickau ; † July 8, 1546 ibid) was town clerk and councilor of Zwickau during the Reformation . The Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek owes a significant legacy to him.

Live and act

He was born the son of the schumacher Bartholomäus Roth and his wife Ursula (née Drechsel). After attending Latin schools in Zwickau, Chemnitz and Glauchau , among others , Stephan Roth, who had received a 200 guilder scholarship from the Zwickau Council, began studying in Leipzig at one of the oldest universities in Germany, the Alma Mater Lipsiensis , which he did after four in 1516 Years as a master’s degree. There he became familiar and familiar with the idea of humanism . After graduating from the artist faculty, Roth first had to teach himself in order to be able to study the higher arts afterwards. He became head of the Latin school in Zwickau in 1517 and in St. Joachimsthal in 1521 , so that he could finally study theology with Melanchton and Luther in Wittenberg . 1525–1527 Roth was rector of the Francisceum Zerbst . From 1528 he was town clerk in Zwickau - from 1530 council clerk (upper town clerk ) and from 1543 councilor . As such, he founded the Zwickau city ​​archive and decisively expanded the holdings of the council school library . He also upgraded the latter with an estate of around 4,000 letters and 6,000 books, some of which were handwritten. This allows a look at the beginnings of printing and the Reformation .

As town clerk and later councilor, Roth had a great many tasks to perform, but important activities began during and through his studies in Wittenberg . So Roth was commissioned by Luther to publish them due to his good sermon transcripts . He also gave lectures and sermons in Wittenberg himself. However, the later offices gave Roth little free time, because the office of town clerk was certainly the most labor-intensive of the city administration, even if it promised a secure financial situation. He had to take minutes of council meetings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, keep decision books, council bills, craftsmen's regulations, penal registers, main accounting books and more. As an inspector for the Latin school from 1528, Roth managed to find a good rector for the city and awarded scholarships. It was also he who introduced Greek lessons in Zwickau. What is also remarkable, however, is the dispute as councilor with Martin Luther and the elector in order to successfully enforce the city's rights. Roth represented the city in all sorts of external affairs and in Saxon state parliaments.

His marriage to Ursula Krüger (sister-in-law of the well-known Wittenberg book printer Georg Rhaw ) was on May 11th, 1524 and lasted, despite many problems in the first years of marriage, until her death on November 5th, 1544. Even ailing, he married a second time on January 17, 1545 with the Zwickau citizen's wife Barbara Pfützner. The marriage lasted only a short time, Roth himself died a year and a half later on July 8, 1546 in Zwickau.

Roth's house, 2018

In his honor, the "Stephan Roth Citizens' Medal" was later donated to deserving citizens. The city of Zwickau has named a street after him and a plaque commemorates Roth's house, which he bought in 1534 on Ober Steinweg.

literature

  • Paul Mitzschke:  Roth, Stephan . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, pp. 564-567.
  • Georg Buchwald: Town clerk M. Stephan Roth in Zwickau in its literary and bookselling importance for the Reformation . In: Archive for the history of the German book trade 16 (1893), pp. 6–246 Internet Archive .
  • Georg Müller: Mag. Stephan Roth, school principal, town clerk and councilor of Zwickau in the age of the Reformation. In: Contributions to the Saxon church history. Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig, 1898, vol. 1, p. 43 ff. ( Digitized version )
  • Metzler, Regine (Ed.): Stephan Roth 1492–1546. City clerk in Zwickau and educated citizen of the Reformation period , Leipzig 2008.
  • Zürner, Inis: Outstanding personalities in the history of the Zwickau Council School Library , In: Zwickau Council School Library / Zwickau Cultural Office (Ed.): 500 years Zwickau Council School Library 1498–1998 , Zwickau 1988, pp. 42–45.

Web links

Commons : Stephan Roth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zürner, Inis: Outstanding Personalities in the History of the Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek , In: Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek / Kulturamt Zwickau (ed.): 500 Years Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek 1498–1998 , Zwickau 1988, pp. 39–41.
  2. ↑ Zürner, Inis: Outstanding Personalities in the History of the Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek , In: Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek / Kulturamt Zwickau (Ed.): 500 Years Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek 1498–1998 , Zwickau 1988, pp. 42–44.
  3. ↑ Metzler, Regine (ed.): Stephan Roth 1492–1546. City clerk in Zwickau and educated citizen of the Reformation period , Leipzig 2008, pp. 137-139, 169.
  4. ↑ Zürner, Inis: Outstanding Personalities in the History of the Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek, In: Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek / Kulturamt Zwickau (Ed.): 500 Years Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek 1498–1998, Zwickau 1988, pp. 42–45.
  5. ↑ Metzler, Regine (ed.): Stephan Roth 1492–1546. City clerk in Zwickau and educated citizen of the Reformation period, Leipzig 2008, p. 138.
personal data
SURNAME Roth, Stephan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German humanist
DATE OF BIRTH 1492
PLACE OF BIRTH Zwickau
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1546
Place of death Zwickau