![Johann Heinrich Ernesti](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Johann_Heinrich_Ernesti.jpg)
Johann Heinrich Ernesti (12 March 1652 – 16 October 1729) was a Saxon philosopher, Lutheran theologian, Latin classicist and poet. He was rector of the
Thomasschule
St. Thomas School, Leipzig (german: Thomasschule zu Leipzig; la, Schola Thomana Lipsiensis) is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest schools ...
, and Professor of Poetry at
Leipzig University
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...
. He gained fame through his writings on
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
.
Life
Ernesti was born in
Königsfeld,
[Johann Georg Theodor Grässe]
''Lehrbuch einer allgemeinen Literärgeschichte aller bekannten Völker der Welt: Bd. 1''
Arnoldische Buchhandlung, 1853, p. 964. the son of the preacher Daniel Ernesti.
He received his first lessons from his father, who was a
Königsfeld rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
. Later, he attended high school in
Altenburg under his cousin Jacob Daniel Ernesti. From 1670, he studied theology and philosophy at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
, where he became Baccalaureus in 1672, and in 1674 Master of Philosophy.
In 1680 he was appointed as an assessor at the Faculty of Arts of the University.
Furthermore, he worked until 1682 as a Saturday preacher at the
Church of St. Nicholas. He was conrector (vice-principal) from 1680 and from 1684 to 1729
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
(principal) of the Thomasschule, succeeding
Jacob Thomasius
Jakob Thomasius ( la, Jacobus Thomasius; 27 August 1622 – 9 September 1684) was a German academic philosopher and jurist. He is now regarded as an important founding figure in the scholarly study of the history of philosophy. His views were ec ...
.
He introduced a new education policy, including allowing school prayer in German. He served for 45 years, the longest term of office of all known principals. His successor was the influential
Johann Matthias Gesner
Johann Matthias Gesner (9 April 1691 – 3 August 1761) was a German classical scholar and schoolmaster.
Life
He was born at Roth an der Rednitz near Ansbach. His father, Johann Samuel Gesner, a pastor in Auhausen, died in 1704, leaving the fa ...
.
From 1691 Ernesti was professor of poetry at the University of Leipzig. He taught about Roman poets Horace, Ovid, Juvenal and Virgil and also more recent Latin writers such as
Helius Eobanus Hessus
Helius Eobanus Hessus (6 January 1488 – 5 October 1540) was a German Latin poet and later a Lutheran humanist. He was born at Halgehausen in Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel).
His family name is said to have been Koch; Eoban was the name of a ...
. Ernesti himself was active as a writer, his output included
panegyrics. His most important work was ''14 Selectarum Orationum Liber'' (
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
).
![Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Der_Geist_hilft_unser_Schwachheit_auf.JPEG)
When composer
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
applied for the post of cantor (choirmaster) in 1723, Ernesti was the rector of the school.
Ernesti died on 16 October 1729 in Leipzig.
For the memorial service for Ernesti's death held on 21 October 1729 in the
Paulinerkirche, the university church, Bach composed the motet
''Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf'', BWV 226.
Works
* ''Centuria evangeliorum ad usum scholasticum exactorum'', 1687.
* ''De usu profanarum litterarum in interpretandis scripturis sacris'', 1688.
* ''De usu sacrarum litterarum in interpretandis scriptoribus profanis'', 1689.
* ''Dissert. acad. de pharisaeismis in libris profanorum scriptorum occurrentibus'', 1690.
* ''De orationibus in libris N. T. historicis'', 1692.
* ''De Regulo'', 1694.
* ''Historiae rerum sacrarum et profanarum parallelae'', 1694–96.
* ''Cornelius Nepos per epistolas scribens'', 1698.
* ''Misnia Romana'', 1698.
* ''Compendium hermoneuticae profanae s. de legendis scriptoribus profanis praecepta nonnulla'', 1699.
* ''Commentatio'', 1700.
* ''Orationes de professoribus oratoriis'', 1702.
* ''De prof. ethicis'', 1702.
* ''De professoribus poeticis'', 1702.
* ''De prof. dialecticis et logicis'', 1703.
* ''De sportula Romanorum quotidiana'', 1703.
* ''ὈρνιθογραΦία Ovidiana'', 1705.
* ''Commentationes novae in Cornelium Nepotem. Justinum, Terentium, Plautum, Curtium et poesim barbaricam'', 1707/38.
* ''Commentatio in res philosophicas seculares'', 1709.
* ''Paralipomena'', 1711.
* ''Historia rerum Lipsicarum metrica'', 1712.
* ''Observationes poeticae de genere carminum didactico et versu rhythmico'', 1714.
* ''Usurpata a Curtio in particulis latinitas'', 1719.
* ''De latente in fabulis poeticis divina veritate'', 1722.
* ''Accedunt Praefatio et Indices.'' Bearbeitungen von
Gottlob Benedikt von Schirach, Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, Halle 1746.
* ''14 Selectarum Orationum Liber.'' Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, Halle 1822.
References
Bibliography
* Leontsky, Jan. Bach against Ernesti, the strange quarrel. (Essay in French). Tarnhelm Ed. 2011.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernesti, Johann H
German philosophers
German Lutheran theologians
17th-century German Protestant theologians
18th-century German Protestant theologians
German poets
1652 births
1729 deaths
Academic staff of Leipzig University
Leipzig University alumni
17th-century Latin-language writers
18th-century Latin-language writers
17th-century philosophers
18th-century philosophers
Lutheran philosophers
German male poets
17th-century German writers
18th-century German writers
German male non-fiction writers
18th-century German male writers
17th-century German male writers