Johann Pistorius (14 February 1546 – 19 June 1608), also anglicized as John Pistorius or distinguished as Johann Pistorius the Younger, was a German controversialist and historian. He is sometimes called Niddanus from the name of his birthplace, Nidda in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Life

His father was a well-known Protestant minister,

Johann Pistorius the Elder Johann Pistorius (January 1504, Nidda, Hesse – 25 January 1583, Nidda) was a German Protestant minister and Protestant reformer. From 1541 he was the Superintendent at the church in Nidda in Hesse. Along with Philipp Melanchthon and Martin ...

(died 1583 at Nidda). From 1541 he was superintendent or chief minister of Nidda, and took part in several religious

disputation In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations (in Latin: ''disputationes'', singular: ''disputatio'') offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences. Fixed ru ...

s between Catholics and Protestants. Pistorius the Younger studied theology, law, and medicine at

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

and

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

1559-67. He received the degree of

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

, and in 1575 was appointed court physician to the Margrave Karl II of Baden-Durlach, who frequently sought his advice in political and theological matters. Pistorius turned from

Lutheranism 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 ...

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

; through his influence the Margrave Ernst Friedrich of Baden-Durlach made the same change. As time went on, however, Pistorius became dissatisfied with Calvinism also. In 1584 he became a privy councillor of Margrave James III of Baden-Hochberg at

Emmendingen Emmendingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Emmedinge'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Emmendingen of Germany. It is located at the Elz River, north of Freiburg im Breisgau. The town contains more than 26,000 residents, which ...

; after further investigation he entered the Catholic Church in 1588. At his request the Margrave James brought about the religious disputations of Baden, 1589, and Emmendingen, 1590. After the second disputation the court preacher Johannes Zehender and the margrave himself became Catholics. James III, however, died on 17 August 1590, and being succeeded by his Protestant brother Ernst Friedrich, Pistorius was obliged to leave. He went to

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, became a priest in 1591, then vicar-general of Constance until 1594; after this he was an imperial councillor, cathedral provost of Breslau,

Apostolic prothonotary In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic (PA; Latin: ''protonotarius apostolicus'') is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pop ...

, and in 1601 confessor to the

Emperor Rudolph II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...

. After his death his library came into the possession of the Jesuits of

Molsheim Molsheim () is a commune and a subprefecture in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.

and later was transferred to the theological seminary at Strasburg. He died in Freiburg.

Works

Pistorius published a detailed account of the conversion of Margrave James III: "Jakobs Marggrafen zu Baden ... christliche, erhebliche und wolfundirte Motifen" (Cologne, 1591). His numerous writings against Protestantism, while evincing clearness, skill, and thorough knowledge of his opponents, especially of Luther, are marked by controversial sharpness and coarseness. The most important are: "Anatomia Lutheri" (Cologne, 1595-8);"Hochwichtige Merkzeichen des alten und neuen Glaubens" (Münster, 1599); "Wegweiser vor alle verführte Christen" (Münster, 1599). Pistorius was attacked violently by the Protestants; e. g., by Samuel Huber, Cyriakus Spangenberg, Balthasar Mentzer, Horstius, and

Christoph Agricola Christoph Ludwig Agricola (5 November 1665 – 8 August 1724) was a German landscape painter and etcher. He was born and died at Regensburg (Ratisbon). Life and career Christoph Ludwig Agricola was born on 5 November 1665 at Regensburg in Germa ...

. Replies to the "Anatomia Lutheri" were written by the Protestant theologians of Wittenberg and Hesse. Pistorius also busied himself with

cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknownst to those who are outside their group. Th ...

istic studies, and published "Artis cabbalisticæ, h. e. reconditæ theologiæ et philosophiæ scriptorum tomus unus" (Basle, 1587). As court historiographer to the Margrave of Baden, he investigated the genealogy of the princely

House of Zähringen The House of Zähringen (german: Zähringer) was a dynasty of Swabian nobility. The family's name derived from Zähringen Castle near Freiburg im Breisgau. The Zähringer in the 12th century used the title of Duke of Zähringen, in compensation ...

; he also issued two works on historical sources: "Polonicæ historiæ corpus, i. e. Polonicarum rerum latini veteres et recentiores scriptores quotquot exstant" (Basle, 1582), and "Rerum Germanicarum veteres jam primum publicati scriptores aliquot insignes medii ævi ad Carolum V" (Frankfort, 1583–1607).

References

*Günther, Hans-Jürgen, ''Die Reformation und ihre Kinder - dargestellt an Vater u. Sohn Johannes Pistorius Niddanus. Eine Doppel-Biographie,'' Nidda 1994 *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, ''Der Humanist Johannes Pistorius – Gründer des „Gymnasium Illustre“ zu Durlach, Markgrafen-Gymnasium Karlsruhe Durlach'', Jahresbericht 1993/94, Durlach 1994. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, ''Dr. Johannes Pistorius (1546–1608) Ein Arzt, Humanist und Theologe prägt badische Geschichte'', in: AQUAE, Arbeitskreis für Stadtgeschichte Baden- Baden, Baden-Baden 1995. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, "J. P. Niddanus d. J.", in: ''Lebensbilder aus Baden- Württemberg,'' Bd. 19, Stuttgart 1998, S. 109–145. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, "Pistorius", in: ''Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche'', Bd. 8, Freiburg 1999, S. 319 f. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, "Pistorius, 1. Johannes d. Ä., 2. Johannes d. J.", in: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB), Bd. 22, Berlin 2001, S. 486 f. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, ''J. Pistorius Niddanus, Vater und Sohn – Zwei Niddaer Persönlichkeiten im Jahrhundert von Reformation und katholischer Reform'': Artikel in „NIDDA – Die Geschichte einer Stadt und ihres Umlandes“, Nidda 2003, S. 123–134. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen/ Schlaefli, Louis: ''Bibliothekographie der Bücher aus der ehemaligen Bibliothek des Johannes Pistorius, die im Grand Séminaire zu Strasbourg zu finden sind''. A: Katalog n. d. Straßburger Bibliotheksordnung, 31 S., B: Katalog nach Autoren, 35 S., C: Katalog nach Erscheinungsjahren der Bücher, 36 S., Emmendingen 1995. *Günther, Hans-Jürgen, "Emmendingen im Reformationsjahrhundert", in (Hrsg.:Jenne Hans-Jörg, Auer Gerhard A.) ''Geschichte der Stadt Emmendingen'', Band I, Emmendingen 2006, S. 131-278 *Räss, ''Die Convertiten seit der Reformation'' (Freiburg, 1866), II, 488-507; III, 91 sqq. *Gass, in Allgem. deut. Biog., XXVI, 199-201 *

Hugo von Hurter The von Hurter family belonged to the Swiss nobility; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries three of them were known for their conversions to Roman Catholicism, their ecclesiastical careers in Austria and their theological writings. Friedri ...

, ''Nomenclator'', III (Innsbruck, 1907) *Janssen, ''Hist. of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages'', X (tr. Christie, London, 1906), 116-48 *Schmidlin, ''Johann Pistorius als Propst im Elsass'' in Hist. Jahrbuch, XXIX (1908), 790-804 *Zell, ''Markgraf Jakob III. von Baden'' in Hist-pol. Blätter, XXXVIII (1856) *Von Weech, "Zur Gesch. des Markgrafen Jacob III. von Baden und Hachberg", in ''Zeitsch. für Gesch. des Oberrheins'', new series, VII (1892), 656-700; VIII (1893), 710; XII (1897), 266-72. *

External links

* * http://www.latein-pagina.de/iexplorer/pistoriusvita.htm, From the website of Latin pagina.de by Hans-Juergen Guenther (a list of all fonts contain Pistorius) * http://gso.gbv.de/DB=1.28/REL?PPN=004318404&RELTYPE=TT&COOKIE=U999,K999,D1.28,E1e9159cf-66,I0,B9994++++++,SY,A%5C9008+1,,0,H12-23,,30-31,,50,,60-61,,73-77,,80,,88-90,NGAST,R187.13.220.22,FN, in

VD 17 The Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (in English: ''Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries from 1601 to 1700''), abbreviated VD17, is a project to make a retrospective German n ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pistorius, Johann 1546 births 1608 deaths People from Nidda German Roman Catholics 16th-century German physicians Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism German male non-fiction writers 16th-century German historians 16th-century German male writers