Wigand Gerstenberg

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Wigand Gerstenberg (* probably May 1, 1457 in Frankenberg (Eder) ; † August 22, 1522 ibid), real family name probably Bodenbender (also Boddenbenders, Boddenbener), was a chronicler at the transition between the late Middle Ages and the Reformation period , which also included a history of the city Frankenberg as well as a chronicle of the Hessenland .

Life

Born and raised in Frankenberg as a member of a family of lay judges who also produced other clergymen and scholars, he first attended the Latin school in his hometown, where the neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus and the doctor and botanist Euricius Cordus also studied. Subsequently, Gerstenberg studied from 1473 at the university in Erfurt . In 1476 he witnessed the devastating fire that largely destroyed his hometown and ended its heyday as a trading center. Since 1486 at the latest, Gerstenberg was active as an altarist in the Frankenberg parish, i.e. as a mass priest in one of the altar priests without his own pastoral care.

Relations with the court of Landgrave Wilhelm III, who resided in Marburg . von Oberhessen enabled him to take up his chronicler activity. In 1493 he began his work on the compilation of the Hessian-Thuringian national history and now commuted between Marburg and Frankenberg.

In 1500 Wilhelm III died. childless and Upper Hesse fell to Landgrave Wilhelm II of Lower Hesse . Gerstenberg now lived exclusively in Frankenberg again and began to deal with the creation of his city chronicle. He also created additions to the city law of his hometown. But after a few years he regained access to the court of Wilhelm II and added further details to the country chronicle until Wilhelm II died in 1509.

Only a few records have survived from the time after that. Gerstenberg died in the summer of 1522, at a time when the Reformation movement was also beginning to gain influence in Frankenberg.

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Frankenberg citizens set fire to the castle of the town of Frankenberg - illustration from a work by Gerstenberg

Through his positions with Wilhelm III. and Wilhelm II. Gerstenberg had access to numerous historical documents. He meticulously listed this evidence in his works; on the other hand, he added embellishments, but also purely personal inventions. This applies in particular to the chronicle of the city of Frankenberg, which contains numerous not historically correct elements through which Gerstenberg later tried to give his city greater importance. Nevertheless, Gerstenberg's work is of great importance for the historiography of the region, as the elements proven by documents can usually be separated quite well from the invented elements.

In addition to his two important chronicles, the state chronicle of Thuringia and Hesse until 1247 and of Hesse since 1247 and the city ​​chronicle of Frankenberg , various other letters and documents from Wigand Gerstenberg have been preserved.

Works

  • The chronicles of Wigand Gerstenberg von Frankenberg (= publications of the historical commission for Hesse and Waldeck. Chronicles of Hesse and Waldeck. Vol. 1). Edited by Hermann Diemar. Elwert, Marburg 1909, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 061: 1-14071 ; Reprint: Elwert, Marburg 1989, ISBN 3-7708-0911-4 .
  • Digitization of the original manuscript in the ORKA of the University of Kassel

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Wigand Gerstenberg  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Gerstenberg, Wigand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bodenbender; Boddenbenders; Boddenbener
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chronicler of the state of Hesse and the city of Frankenberg (Eder)
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1457
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankenberg (Eder)
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1522
Place of death Frankenberg (Eder)