Oswald Myconius

Oswald Myconius, actually Geißhüsler (* 1488 in Lucerne, † October 14, 1552 in Basel ) was a Swiss reformer.

Life and work

Born he was probably the son of a miller in Lucerne. After a basic training in the hometown he studied from 1510 in Basel, where he was enrolled under the name Osualdus Molitoris. After four years of study, he was appointed schoolmaster of the grammar school at the Theodor Church. In Basel, he not only learned Erasmus of Rotterdam, of which he is said to have given the name Myconius to know, but also Glarean Heinrich and Hans Holbein the younger. Whether created by Holbein advertising sign for Myconius was created, but is not occupied. But of lasting cultural and historical value is a copy of Erasmus 's writing On The Praise of Folly, which was owned by Myconius. It not only contains numerous marginal notes of Myconius, but also 82 marginal drawings by Hans Holbein.

Already in 1516 left Myconius Basel to take up the position of a schoolmaster at the school of the Great Minster in Zurich pin. From here, he would continue letter contacts with other humanists such Glarean, Vadian and Zwingli. Myconius was the Zwingli informed about the vacant Leutpriesterstelle and held it over the internals in job assignment to date. However, Zurich was only a stopover. Well, on the advice of the Lucerne canons John Xylotectus he took in 1519 to the schoolmaster position at the collegiate school in Lucerne. Because of his evangelical views he learned here soon various hostile. Myconius left Lucerne 1522 and returned after a short stay in Einsiedeln back to Zurich, where he became a teacher at the Dame Cathedral School.

In 1532 he was John Oecolampadius successor as professor and pastor at Basel Münster, thus also the position was connected as Antistes the Basel Church. He was involved in major school reforms, supported Martin Bucer's mediation efforts between Martin Luther and the Swiss and wrote, among other things, the first biography of Huldrych Zwingli ( 1532).

Works

• Descriptio de situ et Helvetiae vicinis Gentibus ... cum commentariis Osualdi Myconii Lucernani. 1519. ( Commentary on Scripture from Glarean ) digitized
• Osvaldi Myconii Lucernani Ad sacerdotes Helvetiae, qui Tigurinis male loquuntur, suasoria, ut male loqui desinant. 1524. Digitalisat
• De tumultu Bernensium intestino commentarius Oswaldi Myconii Lucernani. 1528 ( printed 1739 ). Digitalisat
• D. De vita et Huldrichi Zvinglii ... obitu. 1532 ( printed 1536). Digitized (new edited and translated by Ernst Gerhard frilly. From the life and death of Huldrych Zwingli St. Gallen in 1979. )