Hieronymus Megiser ( in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
– 1618 or 1619 in
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 ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
) was a German polymath, linguist and historian.
Career
From 1571 he studied at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
, and was a favourite student of the humanist and philologist
Nicodemus Frischlin. In 1577 he graduated there with a master's degree. In 1581 he moved as a private tutor to
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
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(Laibach). From 1582 he studied jurisprudence in
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
and was then active as a private tutor of young noblemen from Croatia and Styria. In 1588/89 he travelled to Italy and
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
, and in 1591 to North Germany, the Netherlands and England.
In 1590/91 he was granted the title of "Ordinarius Historiographus" by
Archduke Charles
Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Lawrence of Austria, Duke of Teschen (; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian field marshal, the third son of Emperor Leopold II and his wife, Maria Luisa of Spain. He was also the youn ...
in
Graz
Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
. In 1592, still in Graz, he published his
Dictionarium quatuor linguarum
''Dictionarium quatuor linguarum'' (The Dictionary of Four Languages) is a 16th-century book by the German polymath Hieronymus Megiser that includes a multilingual dictionary and a multilingual grammar of Italian, Slovene, German, and Latin. I ...
, the first multilingual dictionary of Slovene. He made the acquaintance of the young
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...
, and remained in learned correspondence with him. After further travels he settled in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
and married the daughter of the printer Johann Spiess. From 1593 until 1601 he was the Rector of the Protestant ''Collegium sapientiae et pietatis'' in
Klagenfurt, Carinthia.
After returning to Frankfurt am Main he became Professor of History at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (), 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 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
. From 1610 the interest of the
Upper Austria
Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...
n dignitaries in history was so great that they required a historian to head up the provincial library, in a similar way to a court historian. Megiser was selected for this role in 1615, and was commissioned to write a chronicle of the province.
In 1612 he published ''Annales Carinthiae'' or ''Chronica des Loeblichen Ertzhertzogthumbs Khaerndten'', which he signed as his own work, although it was mainly written by Carinthian pastor Michael Gothard Christalnick and only edited by Megiser on the request of the Carinthian Estates.
[Grossman, Karl: Megiser, Christalnick und die Annales Carinthiae, Mitteilungen des Instituts fuer Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 57, 1949, pp. 359-372.]
Further reading
* Hubert Bergmann: "Beobachtungen zu Megisers 'Dictionarium quatuor linguarum' von 1592 bzw. 1744 aus Sicht der bairischen Dialektlexikografie", in: ''Fokus Dialekt. Analysieren – Dokumentieren – Kommunizieren. Festschrift für Ingeborg Geyer zum 60. Geburtstag''. Hubert Bergmann, Manfred Michael Glauninger, Eveline Wandl-Vogt and Stefan Winterstein editors. Hildesheim 2010.
* Max Doblinger: "Hieronymus Megisers Leben und Werke", in: ''Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung'', Bd. XXVI, Innsbruck 1905, pp. 431-478.
* Anton Kreuzer: ''"Zweimal Kärnten"'', Klagenfurt 1970, pp. 24-27, Kreuzer-Buch Eigenverlag, Einigkeitsstraße 3, 9020 Klagenfurt.
* Josef Pauser, Martin Scheutz and Thomas Winkelbauer (eds.): ''Quellenkunde der Habsburgermonarchie (16.–18. Jahrhundert). Ein exemplarisches Handbuch(= Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Ergänzungsband 44)''. Sonderdruck. Wien, München 2004.
* Oskar Sakrausky: ''Protestantische Sprachschöpfung bei den Slowenen im 16. Jahrhundert: Einführung zur lateinischen Vorrede der Grammatik des Adam Bohorič und den lateinischen Disticha des Wörterbuches in vier Sprachen von Hieronimus Megiser''. In: ''Jahrbuch für die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Österreich'', Bd. 114, 1998, pp. 5-24.
* Heidi Stein: ''Der türkische Transkriptionstext des Hieronymus Megiser. Ein Beitrag zur Sprachgeschichte des Osmanisch-Türkischen.'' Phil. Diss. Leipzig 1975 (Masch. Ms.).
* Arno Strohmeyer: ""Vom Licht des Krieges zur Geburt der Geschichte". Die Geschichtskultur der österreichischen Stände im Werden der Habsburgermonarchie (1550–1650)". In: ''Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse'', Jg. 137, Wien 2002, pp. 147–165.
* Arno Strohmeyer: "Höfische" und "ständische" Geschichtsschreibung als historiographiegeschichtliche Kategorien: Die Erbländer im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert". In: ÖGL, Jg. 46, Wien 2002, pp. 202–218.
References
External links
Hieronymus Megiserat
Deutsche Biographie
() is a German-language online biographical dictionary. It published thus far information about more than 730,000 individuals and families (2016).Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften''Jahresbericht 2016'' p 7 ...
(ADB & NDB)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Megiser, Hieronymus
Linguists from Austria
16th-century German historians
1550s births
1610s deaths
Writers from Stuttgart
University of Tübingen alumni
University of Padua alumni
Academic staff of Leipzig University
17th-century historians from the Holy Roman Empire