----------------------------------- Mircea Pteancu 25 Sep 2008 16:11 Honterus ----------------------------------- O figura putin cunoscuta este cea a lui Johannes Honterus,erudit cu studii efectuate in Krakowia si Basel si care a trait in Kronstadt ,adica in Brasov.Se pare ca el a publicat a doua harta cunoscuta a cerului instelat ''Imagines Constellationum Borealium'',prima apartinandu-i lui Albrect Durer.El a publicat de asemenea in Krakowia ,in 1530, un poem in latina in care scrie despre stele,planete si nebuloase.Odata cu Honterus sunt mentionati mai jos si trei poeti ,doi frati din Sura Mare si unul din Hermannstadt (sa fie Harmanul de azi?). Am preluat aceste informatii de la Peter Abraham caruia-i multumim.Mircea JOHANNES HONTER 1498-1549. C.1542 Rudimentoruni' Cosmographicorum: 13 woodcut maps 1546, 1549, 1564, 1570 Re-issued ============== Linda Hall lib. site: 5. Honter, Johannes. "Imagines Constellationum Borealium [- Australium]," in: Ptolemy, Claudius. Omnia quae extant opera. Basel, 1541. Albrecht Durer produced the first printed star charts in 1515. One chart or planisphere showed all the northern constellations; the other woodcut depicted the southern ones. The positions of the stars were accurately fixed (according to Ptolemy's catalog), and the figures were artistically portrayed, in a classical style that bore no resemblance to any of the Hyginus woodcuts. Durer also chose to illustrate the constellations as they would appear on a globe, that is, from the outside. The Durer planispheres are quite scarce and were never included in a printed book. Perhaps the next best thing are two charts by Johannes Honter, cut in 1532 and included in the first collected edition of the works of Claudius Ptolemy. Although clearly inspired by Durer, Honter made some significant changes. His maps show the stars as seen from the earth, rather than from the outside, as they were shown on Durer's charts. Honter also departed from Durer's classical style by dressing some of the constellation figures in contemporary clothing. We see at right a detail from the northern map, showing Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, in distinctly non-classical garb. A detail from the southern map shows Orion and Taurus. Durer's maps were accurate enough that you could have used them to find known stars or map new ones. If you had wished to use Honter's maps for such a purpose, you would have had to overcome a substantial flaw; the entire coordinate system of both charts was accidentally misplaced by nearly thirty degrees! ============================== The names of many Saxon preachers from those early years could be listed, but to look for parallels among the 100 or so Hungarian writers would be fruitless for the Sachsenland. They are to be sought in Germany, not here. Yet there were exceptions: first and foremost that of the Saxon prophet, the "Luther of Transylvania," Johannes Honter or simply Honterus. Honterus appeared in Kronstadt (Brasso, Brasov) in 1533, a man, in the words of G.D. Teutsch, the eminent historian of the Saxons, "who became the foundation and the rock of the new federation, the champion of God, through whom the Lord founded His Church here, a fountain from which flowed new moral and religious life for many generations."[7] His youth has been hidden in legend. Allegedly born in 1498, the son of a Saxon tanner named Georg Grass, it is believed that he studied extensively in Krakow, in Wittenberg, and in Basel. We know that he had indeed studied in Vienna, that he spent at least some time in Krakow, and that he was a very learned man by the time of his return. It is also a fact that he had learned a craft along the way that would now stand him in good stead: the craft of printing. Almost overnight he transformed Kronstadt into a religious and cultural center by establishing a press and a school there. A steady stream of Lutheran publications flowed from Kronstadt from then on, and soon Honterus also began to preach. The result of his efforts was the establishment of the Saxon Evangelical church, a church for which he provided both the theological and the organizational foundation in his most famous work, the Kirchenordnung, issued in 1542 for the Burzenland (Barcaság --- a region around Kronstadt), then again for all Saxon churches in 1547, under the title Kirchenordnung aller Deutschen in Siebenbuergen (Order of Worship for all Germans in Transylvania). We duly note the words "aller Deutschen" --- of all Germans. "But now the time is come," he states, "in which the Lord will awaken a new people unto himself; therefore let him who has ears to hear, hear."[8] And with this message the Saxons did become a new Volk, reborn as Germans in their native Transylvania and an example to others in thrift, diligence, learning, and virtue. A long succession of scholarly ecclesiastics in Kronstadt and Hermannstadt followed Honterus. They were outstanding citizens, judges, teachers, and preachers who formed a line uninterrupted until the chauvinism of our era, including the German chauvinism of the Saxons themselves, destroyed this gifted and honest people. In the sixteenth century, names of such brilliant men as Thomas Bomel, Matthias Fronius, Paul Kerzius, Simon Massa, and Michael Siegler can also be mentioned. All were intellectual leaders of their Volk; yet they do not belong, strictly speaking, in the field of letters. There were only three poets in this era: Hieronymus Ostermeyer of Grosscheuern (Nagycsûr, sura Mare), and Andreas and Paul Scherer of Hermannstadt. Of them, even G.D. Teutsch, who writes only in superlatives of his Saxons, has simply said that Ostermeyer was known for his truth, simplicity, and sincerity, and that he wrote in German; and that the Scherers were not unworthy to stand at his side.[9] Germany had already stilled the muses in the Sachsenland.