Caspar Creuziger

Caspar Cruciger the Elder ( also: Kreutzer, Crutziger etc.; * January 1, 1504 in Leipzig, † November 16, 1548 in Wittenberg ) was a German Protestant theologian and reformer.

Life

As the son of a merchant Georg Kreuzinger († June 28, 1544 in Leipzig), who came from a Bohemian family and the Hussite traditions used, Caspar Cruciger was born on January 1, 1504 in Leipzig. His father Georg Cruciger had acquired in Leipzig in 1502, the Civil Rights and came the following to a certain prosperity. Therefore, could the young Casper Cruciger already in early youth a humanistic education at George Helt ( from Forchheim, so Forchemius called ) and Kaspar Börner enjoyed at the Thomas School in Leipzig. On October 19, 1513 he became a student at the University of Leipzig, where he was a pupil of the Englishman Richard Croke and Peter Mosellanus. As a student at George Helt he lived with, among others, the Leipzig disputation between Martin Luther and John Eck.

After the outbreak of the plague in Leipzig in 1521 Cruciger moved to Wittenberg. Here he continued his studies in theology continued, extended it to the tray Hebrew and returned in 1522 returned to Leipzig. Already in the following year, on 13 April 1523 he was matriculated at Wittenberg. There, his interests extended also to the natural sciences, so he put a botanical garden in 1524. His mathematical and astronomical studies with Erasmus Reinhold brought him recognition and promoted the enforcement of the Copernican worldview.

In December 1524 Philipp Melanchthon suggested to entrust him with the " Lectio Quintiliana " at the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1525 he was appointed rector and preacher of the newly established Protestant locust school in Magdeburg, which flourished under his leadership. On November 17, 1528 Cruciger became a professor of theology and the associated preacher in the castle church in Wittenberg.

He first in the Faculty of Arts, where he became theological lectures, so he took his doctorate at June 17, 1533 as a doctor of theology and was appointed in the same year as professor of theology at Wittenberg. His work he put from now on primarily in Wittenberg Luther's side and helped continue this in translating and preparing to print the Bible. It was not until his involvement and that of Friedrich Myconius at the Reformation movement in Leipzig in the summer of 1539, things changed. Since then, it can be found at the Hagenauer religious discussions, at the Diet of Worms Colloquy (1541 ) and at the Regensburg religious discussions, where he records and negotiations made ​​important services as secretary. Remained in Wittenberg.

Were particularly difficult this time of the Smalcald War, when he tried to Philipp Melanchthon and Paul Eber to get the University of Wittenberg. Drawn from these hardships, he died on November 16, 1548 by 18 clock in the afternoon. His body was buried on November 18, 1548 in the town of Wittenberg. Cruciger had also taken over organizational duties at Wittenberg University. So he was in the winter semester 1530/31 Dean of the Faculty of Arts, in the summer semester 1546 to until the winter semester 1548/49 Dean of the Faculty of Theology, and in the summer semester 1533, in the winter semester 1538/39, in the winter semester 1542/43, in the winter semester 1546/47 for the summer semester 1548 Rector of Wittenberg Alma Mater

To Cruciger family circumstances it can be said that he married the former nun, Elizabeth of Meseritz in summer 1524. From this marriage a daughter emerged, who married Luther's son John in his second marriage, and the son Caspar Cruciger the Younger. On April 24, 1536 Cruciger married at Schloss castle in a hurry second marriage Apollina († September 28, 1557 ), the daughter of the Leipzig councilors Günterode Kunz and his wife Anna Alpeck († 1541). The wedding sermon Martin Luther. From this marriage the daughter Apollonia is known that the poet Georg Mauritius married on June 6, 1569.

Works

• Cooperation in the translation of the Bible
• Summer Postille
• Postscript and printing of Luther sermons
• Cruciger academic speeches
• Presentation about the early church confessions
• Excerpts from the religious discussions
• Correspondence between him and Melanchthon

Memorials

The cities of Magdeburg and Leipzig named a street in his honor ( Crucigerstraße or Creuzigerstraße ) and Lutherstadt Wittenberg, there is a commemorative plaque.