Johannes Honterus - Denkmal in Kronstadt

Johannes Honter (also known as Johann Hynter;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ized as Johann Honterus or Ioannes Honterus;

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

sources may credit him as Ioan, Hungarian ones as János; 1498 – 23 January 1549) was a Transylvanian Saxon,

renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

Protestant reformer Protestant Reformers were those theologians whose careers, works and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the context of the Reformation, Martin Luther was the first reformer (sharing his views publicly in 15 ...

, and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. Honter is best known for his geographic and

cartographic Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

publishing activity, as well as for implementing the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

reform in Transylvania and founding the church, which would become the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania, after Romania annexed Transylvania.

Education and activity

Early life

Born in Brassó ''(German: Kronstadt, today Brașov, Romania)'',

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, he studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

between 1520 and 1525, graduating with a ''

magister artium A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

'' title. As the Ottomans approached

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1529 (''see Siege of Vienna''), Honter moved first to Regensburg, and, in 1530, he registered at the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

's Jagiellonian University (in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) as "Johannes Georgii de Corona, artium magister Viennensis" (Corona is medieval Latin for Brassó). It was in Kraków that he published his first books, a

grammar and

cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

manual. Between 1530 and 1532 he lived in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and practiced

wood engraving Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...

, notably designing two star maps that already show his advanced skills in the craft. In the same time period he often traveled to his native Transylvania, gathering information that was to serve in his design of a map of Transylvania, commonly known as Siebenbuergen,Johann Honter map, published by A. Ortelius in 1566
/ref> one that he engraved and printed in Basel, and the very first one of the region to be printed. The only known copy of the map survives in the National Library of Hungary. It is known that Honter was not pleased with the map – he tried to get back all copies that he had sent to friends and other scientists. His plan was to improve the map before reprint and distribution. Dedicated to the leadership of Brassó, it was the basic design for all later maps of Transylvania, up to the early 18th century.

Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a Brabantian cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the '' Theatrum Orbis Terra ...

made the map famous by beautifully engraving it in copper.

In Brassó

Honter Universalis Cosmographia 1546 UTA

He returned to Brassó in 1533 and became involved in local events. During his stay in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, Honter had encountered

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

ideas, and he worked hard to introduce Lutheranism to Transylvania (german: Siebenbürgen). He attempted to achieve this by informing as many persons as possible. As such, he founded the humanist gymnasium local school (functioning to this day as the "Johannes Honterus" School), set up a printing press (1539), printed a large number of books (some of which he himself authored), such as the ''Reformationsbuechlein'', published the ''Kirchenordnung aller Deutschen in Siebenbuergen'' and assisted in the introduction of a paper mill. In 1542, in Brassó, he printed a new version of his cosmography manual, this time in verse, under the name '' Rudimenta Cosmographica''. He believed that verse would help students remember information contained in the book. Additionally, the book contains 13 maps, engraved by Honter himself. The maps show all known parts of the world. The ''Rudimenta'' was so successful that no less than 39 editions of it were printed in Brassó,

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, Antwerp,

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. The book was last reprinted in 1602, but sections of it have been included in other books up to 1692. It can be considered the first European-wide manual.

References

Bibliography

* NUSSBÄCHER, Gernot; PHILIPPI, Astrid, eds., 1983. ''Odae cum harmoniis 1548''. Facsimilia and music transcriptions. București: Editura Muzicală

External links

In German

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honter, Johannes 1498 births 1549 deaths 16th-century Hungarian people Hungarian Renaissance humanists Protestant Reformers Hungarian Lutherans German Lutherans Hungarian cartographers German cartographers University of Vienna alumni Jagiellonian University alumni Transylvanian-Saxon people Hungarian expatriates in Austria Hungarian expatriates in Germany Hungarian expatriates in Poland People from Brașov 16th-century cartographers 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers