Hieronymus Harder (1523 – April 1607) was a German botanist and teacher of Latin. Harder was born in

Meersburg Meersburg () is a town in Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany. It is on Lake Constance. It is known for its medieval city. The lower town ("Unterstadt") and upper town ("Oberstadt") are reserved for pedestrians only, and connected by t ...

in the

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

region of Germany, but part of his youth was spent in

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

, where his father taught from 1535 onwards. In 1560 Harder was examined in Ulm for the post of Latin Master and from 1561 taught at

Geislingen an der Steige Geislingen an der Steige () is surrounded by the heights of the Swabian Jura, Swabian Alb and embedded in 5 valleys. It is a town in the Göppingen (district), district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The name relates ...

, and in 1571–72 in

Bad Überkingen Bad Überkingen is a municipality in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History The three towns of Bad Überkingen, Hausen an der Fils, and Unterböhringen were ceded by the Free Imperial City of Ulm to the Electorate of ...

. From 1578 to shortly before his death he was

Preceptor A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

at the Latin school in Ulm, where he died. When not involved in his teaching activities, Harder collected plants in the

Swabian Alps The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

and around Lake Constance. From 1562 he put together some twelve volumes of plant collections - these being some of the earliest of the type known as '' Herbarium vivum'' in which missing parts of the specimens are represented by coloured drawings. These he passed on to prominent officials, including Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, who gave him financial support and tenure of his post. Names were given in Latin and German, with detailed information added. In addition to wild flowering plants, Harder included mosses, ferns and horsetails, as well as crop plants, such as tomato and tobacco, which only a few decades earlier had been introduced to Germany from America. Eleven of the twelve volumes are known and are kept in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

(the oldest from 1562 and in private hands),

München Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

(1574, 1576), the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

(1574),

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

(1592),

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

(1594),

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(1599),

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

(1599),

Überlingen Überlingen (; ) is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the German-Swiss border, border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second-largest city in the Bodenseek ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

(1592, 1594) and

Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...

(1607).

External links

Harder's ''Herbarium vivum'' in München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

References

* Werner Dobras: ''Hieronymus Harder und seine zwölf Pflanzensammlungen''. In: Ulm und Oberschwaben, Zeitschrift für Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur, Bd. 56, 2009, S. 46–82. * Stadt Ulm, Stadtarchiv: ''Gepresste Natur – Das Ulmer Herbarium des Hieronymus Harder''. Flyer zur Ausstellung vom 12. April bis 16. Juni 2008, Haus der Stadtgeschichte, Ulm. * Walther Zimmermann: ''Das Anfangsherbarium des Hieronymus Harder''. Süddeutsche Apotheker-Zeitung 76(64) S. 693–695, 1936; 77(86), S. 834–836, 1937; 77(87), S. 845–846, 1937; 77(88), S. 852–855, 1937. Stuttgart. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harder, Hieronymus 16th-century German botanists Educators from the Holy Roman Empire 1607 deaths 1523 births