Thomas Blarer

Thomas Blarer von Giersberg , also Blaurer , (* 1499 in Konstanz , † March 19, 1567 in Neu-Giersberg ) was a hymn poet and lawyer.

Life

Thomas Blarer was the son of the Constance merchant and councilor Augustin Blarer († 1504) and his wife Katharina. His siblings were Ambrosius Blarer , Gerwig Blarer and Margarete Blarer . Blarer began studying law at the University of Freiburg in 1514 , which he continued until 1519. Captured by the wildfire of the Reformation , he went to the University of Wittenberg in 1520 . Here he was taken in by Martin Luther and witnessed his burning of the bull and the canonical rights in front of the Elstertor on December 10th. He also accompanied him in 1521 on the trip to the Reichstag in Worms . He shared his impressions of the Reformation environment with his prior in Alpirsbach, whom he knew, in the hope of winning him over to Luther's thoughts. So he experienced the Wittenberg movement and returned to his hometown in 1523.

In Constance he became a member of the council in 1525 and was mayor and bailiff from 1536 to 1548, alternating annually. As a committed representative of the Reformation in Constance, he took part in the city's peace negotiations in 1548 in Augsburg . When the city lost the imperial freedom and the recatholization took place, he and his brother Ambrosius Blarer were banished. He fled to Thurgau , where he found asylum with his sister in Neugiersberg.

He wrote seven hymns , which Johannes Zwick brought out in his “Neu Gesangbüchle” (1536, 1540). As a lyricist of psalms in the Psalter of Sigmund Hemmel , he was active in literature. Part of his work is available unprinted.

In the evangelical hymn books of the 20th century, Blarer's baptismal hymn “Praised be the Lord God, a Father of us all” ( EKG 146) and his Last Supper song “ You fed us body and soul” (EKG 148, EG 216).

His daughter Anna was married to the reformer Rudolf Gwalther .

literature

• Hartmann:  Blarer, Ambrosius . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 691-693. (especially p. 692)
• Otto Feger :  Blarer von Giersberg, Thomas. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 288 ( digitized version ).
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  BLARER (Blaurer) from Giersberg, Thomas. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 615-616.