introduction hebrew studies in wittenberg (1502–1813): from lingua sacra to semitic studies 1

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 EJJS 6.1Also available online – brill.nl/ejjs DOI: 10.1163/187247112X637542

INTRODUCTIONHEBREW STUDIES IN WITTENBERG (1502–1813):

FROM LINGUA SACRA TO SEMITIC STUDIES1

Gianfranco Miletto & Giuseppe Veltri

Abstract

The beginnings of the study of the Hebrew language in Wittenberg go back to the very first years of the university’s establishment and are associated with the initiatives of several scholars dealing with humanistic studies at the time. Through developing the study in three ancient languages, in keeping with the ideal of a complete human-istic erudition, Wittenberg perceived an opportunity to carve a niche of excellence for itself vis-à-vis the older universities. By introducing instruction in Hebrew along with Greek and Latin, the newly founded Leucorea sought to distinguish itself as a model for all other universities in Germany. The article traces the important steps of the history of the study of Hebrew language in Wittenberg among and outside of the theo-logical faculty mentioning the curricula of its most famous teachers and professors.

KeywordsHebraism, Wittenberg, Jewish studies, Hebrew and Semitic studies

Introduction

The beginnings of the study of the Hebrew language in Wittenberg go back to the very first years of the university’s establishment and are associated with the initiatives of several scholars dealing with human-istic studies at the time. The Deed of Foundation issued by King (and later Emperor) Maximilian I (6 July 1502) gives special emphasis to the study of the ‘noble arts’ (bonae artes) in the Faculty of Arts or Faculty

1 English translation of our article “Die Hebraistik in Wittenberg (1502–1813): von der ‘lingua sacra’ zur Semitistik,” Henoch 25 (2003): 93–111, published also in Gottes Sprache in der philologischen Werkstatt, eds. Giuseppe Veltri and Gerold Necker (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2004): 75–96. The German version has been translated by Bill Templer and bibliographically updated by Giuseppe Veltri.

2 gianfranco miletto & giuseppe veltri

of Philosophy. According to Maximilian I, the new university, dubbed “Leucorea,”2 was to ensure that

the sciences, noble arts and liberal studies increase in a process of felici-tous progress, so that our subjects can draw from the spring of divine wisdom and become more adept in administering the government and attending to other human affairs.3

There is also special mention of the humanities in the electoral invita-tion sent out by Frederick the Wise and his brother and co-regent John (24 August 1502) on the upcoming formal opening of the university on 18 October. The courses on offer in the Faculty of Arts were to encompass not only the traditional liberal arts, but also “poetry and other arts.”4 The new wind of humanism was thus also stirring in Wittenberg. Coming from Italy, it had already penetrated into other universities in German-speaking Europe, such as Vienna, Ingolstadt, Heidelberg and Tübingen. Yet in the first phase of the founding and development of the University of Wittenberg (1502–1518), the cultivation of the humanistic disciplines was largely dependent on the initiative of individual lecturers who relocated to Wittenberg and gathered around themselves a circle of scholars with similar interests in the humanities. Frederick the Wise himself sought to recruit teach-ing staff for his new university who were oriented to humanistic edu-cation. Christoph Scheurl and Richardus Sbrulius (who came from Friaul) were particularly involved in introducing Italian humanism in Wittenberg. Scheurl, born 1481 in Nuremberg, had studied law in Bologna beginning in 1498 and had a good knowledge of Italian humanism as a result of his extended stay in Italy. In early 1507, Frederick the Wise appointed him as a Lecturer (Dozent) in Law and the “arts” at the new university. Scheurl came on 8 April 1507 to Wittenberg and was elected Rector of the Leucorea. Working together with Scheurl was the Italian Sbrulius, who King Maximilian I had recommended to Frederick the Wise at the Reichstag in Konstanz

2 From Greek leukos ‘white,’ a reference to the translation of Wittenberg, ‘white mountain.’

3 Walter Friedensburg, Urkundenbuch der Universität Wittenberg, 2 vols. (Magdeburg: Selbstverlag der Historischen Kommission, 1926–27), vol. 1: 1–3. German trans. Anton Blaschka, “Der Stiftsbrief Maximilians I. und das Patent Friedrichs des Weisen zur Gründung der Wittenberger Universität,” in 450 Jahre Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 3 vols. (Halle: Selbstverlag der Martin-Luther-Universitä Halle-Wittenberg, 1952), vol. 1: 69–101, esp. pp. 78–80.

4 Friedensburg, Urkundenbuch, vol. 1: 4. According to conceptions of the day, poetics also encompassed study of the works of Greek and Latin authors.

hebrew studies in wittenberg (1502–1813) 3

in 1507. The Elector appointed Sbrulius as Lecturer for Poetics and Rhetoric at the Leucorea, where he remained until 1513.5

Even before Scheurl and Sbrulius, a group of Wittenberg humanists, the so-called “grammatici,” had formed around Nikolaus Marschalk, Balthasar Vach (“Phacchus”)6 and Hermann Trebellius. These humanists pioneered the introduction of the Greek language at the University of Wittenberg.7 Marschalk was one of the first Wittenberg humanists who dealt with the Hebrew language.

Nikolaus Marschalk8 was born about 1470 in the small town of Roßla in Thuringia, from which he derived his humanistic appella-tion “Marescalcus Nicolaus Thurius.” He registered at the University of Erfurt in 1491 as “Nicolaus Marescalcus de Gronenberg,” and in 1496 he was awarded the degrees magister liberalium artium and Bachelor of Both Laws. Marschalk began his activity in Erfurt as a printer, initially working together with Wolfgang Schenk, who had opened a printing press in Erfurt in 1499. That same year at Schenk’s press, Marschalk published a Latin lexicon (12 folio sheets in quarto) on Giorgio Valla’s Latin translation of Michael Psellos’ De victus ratione. Further publications with humanistic content followed: an annotated edition of Martianus Capella’s De arte grammatica (1500, 32 folio sheets in quarto) and his Orthographia (1501, 56 folio sheets in quarto), along with a comparative study of Greek and Latin meant for students. That same year, Marschalk published his Grammatica exegetica in the printing press of Paul von Hachenborg; he dedicated the book to one of his pupils, Peter Eberbach. In the introduction, Marschalk elucidated his conception of humanistic education as instruction in moral values in the sense of Cicero’s vir bonus dicendi peritus.

5 Heinz Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät 1502–1817 (Cologne, Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2002), pp. 15, 23. On the introduction of humanism in Wittenberg, see Max Steinmetz, “Die Universität Wittenberg und der Humanismus (1502–1521),” in 450 Jahre Martin-Luther-Universität, vol. 1: 103–139; Maria Grossmann, Humanism in Wittenberg 1485–1517 (Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1975); Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, pp. 1–46.

6 On Vach, see Martin Treu, “Balthasar Fabritius Phacchus. Wittenberger Humanist und Freund Ulrichs von Hutten,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 80 (1989): 68–87.

7 Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, p. 22.8 On Marschalk, see Gustav Bauch, “Die Einführung des Hebräischen in Witten-

berg. Mit Berücksichtigung der Vorgeschichte des Studiums der Sprache in Deut-schland,” Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 48 (1904): 22–32, 77–86, 145–60, 214–23, 283–99, 328–40, 461–90; here pp. 145–146, and the intro-duction to Marschalk’s Oratio habita albiori academia in Alemania iam nuperrima ad promo-tionem primorum baccalauriorum numero quattuor et viginti anno Domini 1503, ed. Edgar C. Reinke and Gottfried G. Krodel (Valparaiso, Indiana: Valparaiso University, 1967), 3–26.


In October 1501, Marschalk established a private printing press and published Laus musarum (18 leaves in quarto), an anthology of poems by Greek and Latin authors. He also added some of his own Latin poems set to music and accompanied by musical notation. His Laus musarum was only a preliminary volume for a more ambitious project. One year later he published the Enchiridion poetarum clarissimorum (462 leaves in quarto), an anthology of Latin poems from ancient authors down to the present.

Hebrew was also a focus among his humanistic interests. Before relocating to Wittenberg, Marschalk published in Erfurt an Introductio ad litteras hebraicas utilissima (1501), and about 1502 followed that with the first separate edition of Introductio perbrevis ad hebraicam lin-guam, which had earlier been included by the Venetian printer Aldo Manuzio together with the Greek grammar De octo partibus orationis by the Byzantine scholar Constantinus Lascaris. It appears that due to his open opposition to scholasticism, Marschalk did not obtain a posi-tion at the University of Erfurt. Nonetheless, he was able in private to continue teaching his knowledge of humanism. He formed a circle of pupils that included the brothers Peter and Heinrich Eberbach, Hermann Trebelius von Eisenach, Georg Spalatin, Christian Beyer and Johann Lang. Spalatin, Trebelius and Beyer followed their men-tor to Wittenberg and would later play an important role in the history of the newly founded university.

In the winter of 1502, Marschalk accepted the invitation from the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise (1486–1525) and moved to Wittenberg. In the rotulus of 1502, Marschalk is listed as “Nicolaus Marscalcus Thurius artium magister et utriusque iuris baccalaureus Erfordiensis.” Along with a teaching appointment in the Faculty of Arts, he continued his study of law, gaining a doctorate on 23 April 1504. The appointment of Martin Pollich from Mellrichstadt as first Rector of the University of Wittenberg upset the humanists, the so-called grammatici. Pollich had been the personal physician of Frederick the Wise and was considered a strict scholastic theologian who appeared to have no special understanding of the concerns of the humanists. Marschalk submitted a complaint to the Elector. The Elector intervened and tried to settle the dispute. Nonetheless, many humanists left Wittenberg, among them Hermann von der Busche, who went in 1503 to Leipzig. Marschalk left Wittenberg in early 1505. Later that same year he declined the offer of the Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg for a position at the planned University of Frankfurt an der Oder. Instead he went into the service of the Mecklenburg Duke


Henry V the Peaceable, where he worked until 1510 as “orator,” i.e. as counsel and ambassador.

In late 1510, Marschalk returned to the academic world. He taught law at the University of Rostock, also giving humanistic lectures. His knowledge of Hebrew had also improved, because he offered Duke Henry to read the Holy Scriptures in two languages at the university, “Greek and Jewish.” The Duke accepted Marschalk’s proposal and instructed the University to pay him an additional 50 guilders for his lectures. Marschalk also continued to work with his press. In 1514, he managed to reacquire the Latin and Greek movable type which he had entrusted to his pupil Trebellius, and which had finally ended up in the possession of the printer Johannes Gronenberg. The Rostock printing house issued several historical works and textbooks which were intended to support and supplement Marschalk’s teaching activities. Among these was also the Rudimenta prima linguae Hebraicae (Rhostochii, 1516). During the early Reformation, Marschalk was against Luther and his combination of humanism and Reformation. He died 12 July 1525 in Rostock and was buried in Doberan (Althof ).

Despite the brevity of his stay, Marschalk made great contributions to the development of humanism in Wittenberg. Through his print-ing press and teaching, he prepared the soil in which, contrary to his expectations, the plant of the Reformation would grow as a result of the confluence of humanistic education and theological innovations. We have no proof that Marschalk taught Hebrew in Wittenberg, but in the light of his Erfurt introduction to Hebrew grammar and his Hebrew lectures at the University of Rostock, it can be assumed that in Wittenberg as well he was at least teaching the rudiments of Hebrew in private lessons.

Among the theologians who were part of the humanistic circle of Christoph Scheurl and who combined theological and humanistic education was also Andreas Bodenstein, named after his place of birth “Karlstadt” (ca. 1480–1541).9 Karlstadt was the first to include a Hebrew quote in a work printed in Wittenberg. Bodenstein added the saying in Hebrew (with Latin translation) to his work Distinctiones Thomistarum, published by the printer Johannes Rhau-Grunenberg (or Gronenberg) in Wittenberg in 1508:

9 On Karlstadt’s activity in connection with the introduction of Hebrew at the Leucorea, see Hans Peter Rüger, “Karlstadt als Hebraist an der Universität Witten-berg,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 75 (1984): 297–308.


Jesus, Son of God, Son of David and Maria, King of the World.A[ndreas] B[odenstein] K[arlstadt] YHWH Sadday (sic!)10

The rendering of the name “Jesus” in Hebrew as “YeHaShWaH” should not be viewed simply as an example of Karlstadt’s humanistic erudition. Rather, it should be seen as reflective more of his Kabbalistic interests under the influence of Reuchlin. “YHWH Sadday” is written incorrectly, using Hebrew “samek” /סדי/. The correct rendering is “YHWH Shadday,” corresponding to Latin “Deus omnipotens,” i.e. ‘God the Allmighty.’ Confusing of the letter “shin” with “samek” is probably due to Karlstadt’s deficient knowledge of Hebrew at this point in time and his dependence on his available source text. Reuchlin had already interpreted the name of Jesus as an expansion of the divine tetragrammaton “YHWH” in his De Verbo mirifico (ca. 1494), and had mentioned “Shadday,” one of God’s names, as SDI with Latin letters. This led to a mistaken rendering in Hebrew in the quote by Karlstadt.11 As an enthusiastic follower of Reuchlin, Karlstadt gradually deepened his knowledge of Hebrew, also with help from some Jewish scholars, in order to be able to better explore his interests in biblical philology and Christian Kabbalah.12 And indeed, in the summer semester 1516, he

10 See this addition as reproduced in Hans-Jürgen Zobel, Altes Testament—Lite-ratursammlung und Heilige Schrift: gesammelte Aufsätze zur Entstehung, Geschichte und Auslegung des Alten Testaments, eds. Julia Männchen and Ernst-Joachim Waschke (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1993), 202, fn. 10, based on Bauch, “Die Einführung des Hebräischen,” here p. 146, fn. 2. Zobel, p. 202 online, URL: http://tinyurl.com/3zvq6c3 (accessed 27 August 2011).

11 “Tribus characteribus in tempore naturae, et quatuor characteribus in tempore legis, et quinque characteribus in tempore gratiae, invocata est divina omnipotentia. Locutus est enim dominus ad Moysen dicens: ‘Ego sum Tetragrammus, qui apparui Abraham, Ishac et Iacob in deo Sadai, et nomen meum Adonai non indicavi eis.’ [Exodus 6:2–3] Et sequitur: ‘Et assumam vos mihi in populum et ero vester deus, et scietis, quia sum Adonai.’ [Exodus 6:7] Audivistis Moysen, audite Evangelistam et Apostolum dei. ‘Hoc est,’ inquit, ‘mandatum dei, ut credamus in nomine filii eius Ihsuh Christi.’ [1 John 3:23] Iungite universa haec, et cognoscetis facile omnium potentissimam usquequaque apparuisse virtutem et operationem semper efficacis-simam, per nomen avorum Trigrammaton, et patrum Tetragrammaton, et filiorum Pentagrammaton, id est, in natura SDI, in lege ADNI, in charitate IHSUH. (De verbo mirifico III, 15–39), quoted from Johannes Reuchlin Sämtliche Werke, eds. Widu-W. Ehlers, Hans-G. Roloff and Peter Schäfer (Stuttgart–Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1996), vol. 1.1: 402. On this, see François Secret, Les kabbalistes chrétiens de la Renaissance (Milan: Archè, 1985): 41–50. On Reuchlin as a basis for Karlstadt’s quote, see Rüger, “Karlstadt als Hebraist an der Universität Wittenberg,” pp. 299–302. On Karlstadt more generally in this period, see Ronald J. Sider, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: the Development of his Thought, 1517–1525 (Leiden: Brill, 1974).

12 See the letter from Karlstadt to Spalatin ( July 1516), mentioned by Bauch, “Die Einführung des Hebräischen in Wittenberg,” p. 147.


was able to read Reuchlin’s De arte cabbalistica. Together with Spalatin and Luther, Karlstadt played a major role in establishing a professorial chair for Hebrew.13

The first scholar to teach Hebrew in Wittenberg before the estab-lishment of a formal chair for Hebrew, even if only in private lessons, was the humanist Tileman from the Conradi family in Göttingen.14 He was probably born around 1485, the son of a Catholic priest by the same name in the Göttingen parish of St. Albani. His unmarried mother was from Braunschweig (Brunswick). For that reason, Conradi sometimes said his hometown was Braunschweig, and at times men-tioned Göttingen, the city of his father. From 1509, Conradi adopted the humanistic name “Syasticanus,” which he had thought up for himself as a Greek rendering of Göttingen as “sia” (= laconic form for the classical Greek thea, German ‘goddess,’ and asty, i.e. ‘town’). In the winter semester 1502/03, he registered as “Tiloninus Conradus de gottingen” at the University of Erfurt, where he was awarded the degree of Bachelor in September 1504. In Erfurt he joined the circle of humanists there and presented his first trial example of Latin poetry, apparently not quite successful. In 1509, Conradi came to Wittenberg, lured there perhaps by the humanistic disciplines of poeterei (‘poetry’) and the humanae literae, which had an important place in the Faculty of Arts of the new university. In the summer of the following year, he was awarded the degree of M.A. and then began to study law. In the spring of 1511, Conradi was accepted into the senate of the Faculty of Arts. His humanistic education, deepened during a trip to Italy, comprised knowledge of Latin and Greek, and elementary Hebrew, which he taught from about 1515 in his private school “Schola phi-lymnea.” The “Schola philymnea” can be seen as the precursor of the Paedagogium established several years later. But Conradi was not given a regular post at the University, which is why he left Wittenberg in 1520 and pursued a career in law. The last information we have pertaining to him deals with his activity as a lawyer in Worms in 1521/1522. His interest in Hebrew was probably inspired by Luther, under whose influence Conradi turned to theology, as he reported in his Triumphus Christi (Wittenberg 1516). Even after leaving, Conradi kept alive a

13 See also Alister E. McGrath, The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), esp. pp. 127–128.

14 Hans Volz, “Der Humanist Tilemann Conradi aus Göttingen. Ein Beitrag zum Thema: Humanismus und Reformation,” Jahrbuch Gesellschaft für niedersächsische Kirchengeschichte 65 (1967): 76–116.


correspondence with the Wittenberg reformers (Melanchthon, Karlstadt and Spalatin). The first written texts of his in Hebrew are contained in his Comoedia Teratologia (Wittenberg 1509), a polemic against the scho-lastic clergy, where after the greetings in Greek and Latin, he added the Hebrew words “Amen, Qadosh, Qadosh, Qadosh” (= “Amen, Holy, Holy, Holy”).15 Even if his proficiency in Hebrew did not go much further than the most elementary rudiments, he nonetheless had laid the foundation for the learning of Hebrew in Wittenberg. He in effect embodied the shift from a purely literary humanism toward a biblical humanism, which would later characterize the development of humanistic studies at the Leucorea.

In order to further humanistic studies, the Elector Frederick the Wise established an academy in 1518 where the young prospective students could learn the rudiments of Latin, Greek and Hebrew as preparation for their courses at the university. In 1517, a year before, the Collegium trilingue has been opened at the University of Louvain at the initiative of Busleyden, a friend of Erasmus. It would later become a European center for the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. As a result of the founding of the trilingual Paedagogium, the humanistic ideal of homo trilinguis,16 namely the scholar well-versed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, also established itself in Wittenberg as the basis of academic education. Two scholars, Jodocus Morlyn (or Jobst Mörlin) from Feldkirch and Johann Reuber (Latinized as “Raptor”) from Bockenheim were the first heads of the institute. Morlyn regis-tered as a student at the University of Freiburg in September 1508, from the summer of 1509 was a student in Leipzig, and from 1510 in Wittenberg, where he was promoted to magister liberalium artium in February 1512. In 1516, he became dean of the Faculty of Arts. In

15 See original, URL: http://tinyurl.com/3d6bcbb (accessed 27 August 2011). 16 Hieronymus had already used the appellation for himself of trilinguis to under-

score his proficiency in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, for example in Contra Rufinum II,22,25 “Ergo et apostoli, et apostolici viri, qui linguis loquebantur, in crimine sunt, et me trilinguem bilinguis ipse ridebis?” and III, 6,25. “Ego philosophus, rhetor, grammaticus, dialecticus, hebraeus, graecus, latinus, trilinguis.” In humanism, the term homo trilinguis was mentioned for example in reference to erudition in three ancient languages. For example, Erasmus praises a humanist and Hebrew scholar like Reuchlin as follows: “Egregius ille trilinguis eruditionis phoenix” (Colloquia familiaria, XVII Apotheosis Capnionis). On the importance of Hebrew in humanist education, see Ilana Zinguer, ed. L’hébreu au temps de la Renaissance (Leiden, New York, Cologne: Brill, 1992). On evaluating the three languages in the first synoptic Bible editions, see Giuseppe Veltri, “Le traduzioni bibliche come problema testuale e storiografico nel Rinascimento delle ‘poliglotte’ e d’Azaria de’ Rossi,” Laurentianum 35 (1994): 3–32.


1520, he was still active as a lecturer in metaphysics at the univer-sity. In 1521, poverty constrained him to leave Wittenberg, and he accepted the position of heading a parish in Westhausen near Coburg. Reuber, who had come in 1511 to Wittenberg with a degree of M.A., switched in 1520 from the Paedagogium to the Chair for Logic, and later to the Faculty of Law. From 1523 on, only one more teacher with the degree magister liberalium artium was appointed to the Paedagogium. Finally it was closed on 24 August 1588, because prospective students found they were better served at the university by private preceptors. This increased the standing of the Faculty of Philosophy.17

Through developing this study in three ancient languages, in keep-ing with the ideal of a complete humanistic erudition, Wittenberg per-ceived an opportunity to carve a niche of excellence for itself vis-à-vis the older universities, most especially the nearby University of Leipzig to the north.18 By introducing instruction in Hebrew along with Greek and Latin, the newly founded Leucorea sought to distinguish itself as a model for all other universities in Germany.

But the future of Hebrew at the university could only be placed on a secured footing by creating a professorial chair for Hebrew in the Faculty of Arts. A key role in this was played by the emergent Reformation. The Reformational efforts of Luther and Karlstadt were oriented to the humanists’ ideal of erudition in three classical languages. A good grounding in Hebrew and Greek were viewed as a necessary prerequisite in order to be able to work with the origi-nal text of the Old and New Testament. It proved possible—in the competition with Leipzig, and with support from Spalatin, who had himself studied in Wittenberg and been active as privy councilor at the court of Frederick the Wise—to realize the plan of Martin Luther and Karlstadt to establish a professorship for Greek and Hebrew at the University of Wittenberg.

Thus, in 1518 Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Böschenstein came to Wittenberg as professors for Greek and Hebrew. The appointment of Melanchthon in particular had significant conse-quences for shaping the study of Greek and Hebrew at the Leucorea.

17 Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, p. 148.18 Not until 1517, in his inaugural lecture, did the Greek language scholar (then

also university rector) Petrus Mosellanus in Leipzig refer to the importance of Hebrew likewise for medical students, see his “Oratio de variarum linguarum cognitione paranda” (publ. 1518) and Achim Krümmel, “Mosellanus, Petrus (Peter Schade),” Biographisch-bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 6 (1993), cols. 169–171.


Through his influence, both languages were placed in the service of the Reformation movement, principally as tools of research for Holy Scripture. His call ad fontes brought with it a demand for renewal of the educational system,19 according to which humanistic studies were to address the needs of theology. Christian Hebrew Studies which devel-oped in Wittenberg from the matrix of interests grounded in humanism thus became in the course of the sixteenth century an auxiliary scien-tific discipline of theology. The study of Hebrew was deemed legitimate solely as a lingua sacra, a philological tool for Bible exegesis. Absolutely alien to the reformers was the idea of using Hebrew to become better acquainted with rabbinical literature and the Jewish tradition. They had an attitude of mistrust and even animosity toward Judaism and Jewish tradition.20 For Luther, the rabbis were “the most wicked of persons, prisoners of the devil and devilish obsession.”21 They were “blinded and perverse, and though they have the book, as Isaiah says, they are blind to its reading.”22 In Luther’s view, their commentaries, through delusions and reveries, had falsified and distorted the Holy Scriptures. The commentaries offered no help in understanding the

19 See on this also Manfred Lemmer, “Deutsche Sprache und Literatur an den Universitäten Wittenberg und Halle (1502–1945),” Beiträge zur Geschichte der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg 1502–2002, ed. Hermann J. Rupieper (Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2002), 147–153.

20 On the relations between Luther and the Jews, see for example Walter Bienert, Martin Luther und die Juden: ein Quellenbuch mit zeitgenössischen Illustrationen, mit Einführungen und Erläuterungen (Frankfurt a. M.: Evangelisches Verlagswerk, 1982); Heinz Kremers, ed., Die Juden und Martin Luther—Martin Luther und die Juden: Geschichte, Wirkungsgeschichte, Herausforderung (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1985); Ernst L. Ehrlich, “Luther und die Juden,” Antisemitismus. Von der Judenfeindschaft zum Holocaust, ed. Herbert A. Strauss (Frankfurt a. M., New York: Campus Verlag, 1985), pp. 47–65; Wolfgang Dietrich, Lutherisches Trauma: Luther und die Juden—Juden und Luther (Marburg: Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit, 1997; Andreas Späth, Luther und die Juden (Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft 2001); Peter von der Osten-Sacken, Martin Luther und die Juden: neu untersucht anhand von Anton Margarithas “der gantz Jüdisch glaub” (1530/31) (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2002); see also the special issue of the Jewish Studies Quarterly 7 (2000), ed. Giuseppe Veltri, esp. the introduction, pp. 289–295.

21 Martin Luthers sowol in deutscher als lateinischer Sprache verfertigte und aus der letztern in die erstere übersetzte sämtliche Schriften, ed. Johann Georg Walch (Halle im Magdeburgischen: Gebauer, 1732), vol. 2: col. 1458: “Ego vero toto pectore detestor Iudaeos et commen-tarios Rabinorum, quia hic mos est, imo manifestus furor eorum, ut undecunque pos-sunt, colligant suorum laudes et gentium ignominiam. Sunt meledictissimi et tenentur captivi et obsessi a Sathana”. See also Ludwig Geiger, Das Studium der hebräischen Sprache in Deutschland vom Ende des XV. bis zur Mitte des XVI. Jahrhunderts (Breslau: Schletter’sche Buchhandlung, 1870), p. 6, fn. 2.

22 D. Martin Luthers Werke: Tischreden (Weimar: Böhlau, 1919), vol. 5: no. 5324, p. 59.


deep meaning and stylistic phraseology of biblical Hebrew. For that, only the enlightenment of Christ was necessary, and illumination which only Christians possessed: “So we have to accomplish this, as Christians who have the understanding of Christ, without which the art of language is likewise of no value.”23

According to Luther, the good Hebrew scholar should never lose sight of this theological perspective so as to avoid falling prey to the same errors of the rabbis: “Because there are many Hebraists who are more rabbinical than Christian. Nonetheless, the truth is: anyone who does not seek or see Christ in the Bible or Hebrew language sees nothing, and speaks like a blind man of color.”24 In his 1543 treatise on the “Jews and their Lies,” Luther stressed: “I advise that their rab-bis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17:10) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: ‘what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord.’ Those villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people’s obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy.”25

The rabbinical texts were also despised by a humanist of the stature of Melanchthon, who did not share the views of his renowned great uncle Johann Reuchlin about this. Reuchlin had championed the preservation and investigation of the rabbinical commentaries, which he regarded as a quite useful instrument for the exegesis of the Holy Scriptures, and had begun himself to delve into this.26 Regarding the

23 Ibid., Vol. 14, col. 19. See also Geiger, Das Studium der hebräischen Sprache, p. 6. Luther often accused the rabbis of having changed the Holy Scriptures in their commentaries. See, for ex,. in the Weimar ed. of Luthers Werke, Vol. 3, p. 20; Vol. 40/3, p. 731; Vol. 47, pp. 687, 870. Luther even accorded the rabbis only a milited knowledge of biblical Hebrew: “Iudaeis (. . .) nihil est fidendum, qui linguam hebraeam integram iam non habent apud se” (Praelectiones in Prophetas Minores 1524–26, Weimarer Ausgabe, vol. 13, p. 97).

24 Luther’s letter to the Elector Johann Friedrich (3 December 1543) in Luthers Weimar Ausgabe, vol. 10, p. 461. On the Hebraists who in Luther’s view “write in the manner of the Jews” (‘judentzen’), see also Tischreden, vol. 5: no. 5521, p. 212.

25 Martin Luther, “On the Jews and Their Lies.” Trans. Martin Bertram in Luther’s Works, vol. 41 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press & Augsburg Fortress, 1971). URL: http://tinyurl.com/9ddrs (accessed 27 August 2011).

26 In the Augenspiegel (Fol. XIIIb), Reuchlin comments on the question of whether the rabbinical commentaries should be burned: “Ich sag auch und hab des meinen anseger, daß sich unsere doctores und lerer der hailigen schrift zu verstentnus des texts inn der bibel saer und fast sollicher commenten, glossen, und usslegungen müssent


lost inheritance of Reuchlin’s library, Melanchthon wrote to Georg Spalatin (3 October 1523) that Reuchlin had greatly valued the Hebrew books and spent much money on them. But he said he did not have a high opinion of the Hebrew books in his uncle’s library, aside from the Bible, which in any case stood out above all books.27

Thus, right from the beginning, definite theological limits were set circumscribing the study of Hebrew. That often resulted in ten-sion between theologians and philologists. The first two incumbents of the Hebrew chair in at the Leucorea in Wittenberg, Böschenstein (1518–1519) and Matthaeus Adrianus (1520–21), turned out to be bitterly disappointing for the religious reformers. Böschenstein was a philologist who dealt with the Hebrew language for its own sake qua language. He wanted to teach more than just basic Hebrew grammar and lexis. He was also interested in teaching Hebrew literature and in getting students to practice spoken Hebrew. Adrianus, who had been recommended by Luther himself, exceeded his authority, intervened in theological disputes too much and went as far as to criticize Luther.

Matthäus Aurogallus (‘Golden Rooster’) was the first Hebraist whom the religious reformers found to be suitable for their own ends. In a letter to Elector John Frederick dated 3 December 1543, Luther described him in eulogy as someone “who served pure doc-trine faithfully and with diligence, seeking Christ and seeing him in the Bible and the Hebrew language.”28 From 1521 to his death on 10 November 1543, Aurogallus had occupied the chair for Hebrew, and performed his teaching duties in keeping with the expectations of the champions of the Reformation. He proved to be not only an adept and knowledgeable teacher, but also a valuable associate for Luther in his translation of the Old Testament. Aurogallus saw the study of Hebrew, fully in keeping with Luther’s views, purely as a philological tool for discovering the true meaning of Holy Scripture, as he clearly formulated this in the dedication to Petrus Weller in the Compendium

gebrauchen, wöllent sie vor anfechtung fremds glaubens wol beston (. . .) sollich com-mentarien kan und mag die christenlich kirch nit von handen lassen, dan sie behalt-ten die hebraische sprach in der aigenschaft übung, dero die hailig schrift nit kan mangeln, besunder in alten testament.” Quoted in Geiger, Das Studium der hebräischen Sprache, pp. 6–7, fn. 2.

27 Melanchthons Briefwechsel. Kritische und kommentierte Gesamtausgabe, ed. Heinz Scheible (Stuttgart–Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1991), vol. 1, p. 294: “Hebraicos ipse [d.h. Reuchlin] plurimi faciebat et magno emerat, in quibus nihil est quod probem praeter Biblia. At ea alioqui extant.”

28 On Aurogallus, see Bauch “Die Einführung des Hebräischen in Wittenberg,” pp. 467–77; Michael Becht, “Aurogallus,” Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 1 (1993): 1258.


Hebreae Chaldeaequae grammatices (Wittenberg 1525). However, we can also note certain aspects of Aurogallus’ approach which deviate from the strict adherence to Reformational views on the study of Hebrew, and which point to future developments in Hebrew Studies in Wittenberg. Aurogallus added to the Compendium Hebreae grammatices (Wittenberg 1523, followed two years later by another grammar also including Aramaic) a list of the most common abbreviations found in the rabbinical commentaries.29 He also utilized the rabbinical com-mentaries in the etymological discussion of biblical place and personal names in his De Hebraeis, Urbium, Regionum, populorum, fluminum, montium, & alioru[m] locorum, nominibus (Wittenberg 1526, later editions, Basle 1539 and 1543).30 Along with the church fathers, the classical and medieval authors (including Boccaccio), Rashi and the Targumim are his main sources. One of his innovations is also the inclusion of Aramaic. The teaching of Hebrew was expanded by Aurogallus to encompass Aramaic, and was integrated in the Reformation move-ment. This probably reflected the influence of the biblia rabbinica of Felix Pratensis, which was printed early on, in 1517, by Daniel Bomberg and contained Hebrew and Aramaic commentaries (addimus veteras interpretationes hebraicas et chaldaicas), because they contained and passed on ancient mysteries (arcana et recondita mysteria).31

His death immediately raised the question of a suitable succes-sor. Temporarily the vacant position was occupied jointly by Lukas Edenberger and Theodor Fabricius, until Matthias Flacius was appointed; he stemmed from Istria. The engagement of two teachers for the Hebrew chair and the possibility to employ local staff indicate that the study of Hebrew had developed substantially in a short period. But the problem of relations with the Faculty of Theology continued. The chair for Hebrew was in the Faculty of Philosophy, yet due to its importance for Bible exegesis, the competence of that chair also neces-sarily overlapped with the sphere of theology. A lasting solution which could preserve the interests of the theologians was necessary. This arose

29 See Otto Eissfeldt, “Des Matthäus Aurigallus Hebräische Grammatik von 1523,” in idem, Kleine Schriften, eds. Rudolf Sellheim and Fritz Maass, 3 vols. (Tübingen: Mohr, 1966), vol. 3: 200–204.

30 See Otto Eissfeldt, “Ein Lexikon der altpalästinischen und altorientalischen Geographie aus den Anfängen der Universität Wittenberg,” in 450 Jahre Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, vol. 1: 239–253, reprinted in Kleine Schriften, vol. 1: 184–199.

31 See Veltri, “Le traduzioni bibliche,” pp. 3–32; Bruno Chiesa, Filologia storica della Bibbia ebraica (Brescia: Paideai, 2002), vol. 2: 329–335.


as a result of the defeat of John Frederick in the Battle of Mühlberg (24 April 1547) during the Schmalkaldic War, when Wittenberg and its university passed to the control of the Albertines. The individual faculties were reorganized due to the change in Electoral control, and the chair of Hebrew was transferred to the Faculty of Theology.32 With the person of the theologian Johannes Forster (1496–1556),33 the Faculty of Theology took possession of the professorship for Hebrew, which it would retain control of until 1588.

The importance of Forster as a Hebrew scholar lay basically in his Dictionarium hebraicum novum, non ex Rabbinorum Commentis nec ex nostratium doctorum stulta imitatione descriptum sed ex ipsis thesauris S. Biblicorum et eorun-dem accurata collatione depromptum cum phrasis Veteris et Novi Testamenti dili-genter annotatis (Basle 1557, new ed. 1564), an extensive Hebrew-Latin dictionary, half Bible concordance, half dictionary of roots, which rep-resented the culmination of his many years of Hebrew study. Faithful to Luther’s basic principle of sola Scriptura, Forster was convinced that only a comparative linguistic study could establish the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures. His dictionary was based on a purely lexical study of the Scriptures, without consulting the Jewish commentaries and grammars or resorting to Kabbalistic interpretations.34

But the Faculty of Philosophy did not relinquish its claims. During the four decades when the Faculty of Theology had the chair for Hebrew under its wing, Hebrew courses continued to be offered in the Faculty of Philosophy. The continuing dispute between the two facul-ties ended in an open controversy which was not resolved until 1588 by the Elector with a compromise. The professorship for Hebrew was returned to the Faculty of Philosophy, but the Faculty of Theology was given the right of supervision over the chair in order to avoid danger-ous expansion of language instruction that trespassed on the territory of theology. Although the Hebrew chair was under the supervision of

32 Friedensburg, Geschichte der Universität Wittenberg, pp. 252–259; Hans-Jürgen Zobel, “Die Hebraisten an der Universität zu Wittenberg (1502–1817),” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg 7 (1957/58): 1173–1185, here p. 1176.

33 Georg Theodor Strobel, Nachricht von dem Leben D. Johann Forsters, ehemaligen berühmten Lehrers der Theologie und der hebräischen Sprache zu Wittenberg (Nürnberg: Bauer, 1775); Manfred Knedlik “Forster, Frobenius,” Biographisch–bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 2 (1990): 72; Heinz Scheible, “Forster, Johann,” Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart IV 3 (2000): 197.

34 Although Forster had been a pupil of Reuchlin, he did not share any interest in his mentor’s Kabbalistic studies. For Forster, the Kabbalah was not just “useless” but “wicked” and “misleading” (Dictionarium, pp. 714 ff.).


the theologians, it was able to gain a certain autonomy, which was manifested in a new field of study. Although Hebrew as a lingua sacra was a required subject for theology students, which presupposed a close connection between philological and theological teaching pro-grams, the syllabus covered was extended to include Rabbinica and other Oriental languages.

In August 1588, as a result of the restructuring of the university under Elector Christian I, the chair for Hebrew was transferred from the Faculty of Theology’s supervision and placed totally under the Faculty of Philosophy. Since 1571, Valentin Schindler (d. 1604)35 had been teaching there. Through the new Electoral decision, he now became the sole full professor of Hebrew at the University of Wittenberg.

His opus magnum was the Lexikon Pentaglotton (Frankfurt am Main, 1612; new printings 1635, 1637, 1646, 1653, 1695), of which he had published a first sample already in 1578 in Epitome bibliorum. For a better philological interpretation of the Old Testament, along with Hebrew, other Semitic languages were brought in: Aramaic, Rabbinical Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic, where Arabic was written in Hebrew orthography. With his work, Schindler paved the way to stud-ies on rabbinical language and literature and Oriental languages.

The path Schindler had taken was not continued by his direct successor. Laurentius Fabricius (1554, Danzig, d. 28 April 1629 in Wittenberg) restricted his teaching from 1593 to May 1628 mainly to Hebrew grammar with textual exercises from the books of the Bible, as he formulated it in his syllabus Ad pietatis et sanctae Hebreae linguae Studiosos (Wittenberg 1602). However, we can assume that he also knew Syriac and Arabic and included these in his teaching. That can be ascertained from a Probuleuma (attestation) of 29 April 1636 that accords him and his pupil and later successor Martin Trost the merit of having expanded the chair for Hebrew by adding Syriac, Aramaic and Arabic.

Rather, we find that Schindler’s heritage was continued by Martin Trost.36 Born in Höxter in 1588, Trost studied in Wittenberg with Fabricius. As a result of the upheavals during the Thirty Years’ War,

35 On Schindler, see Zobel, “Die Hebraisten an der Universität zu Wittenberg (1502–1817),” p. 1177.

36 On Trost, see August Buchner, Dissertationum Academicarum sive programmatum publico nomine editorum volumen II (Wittenberg: apud Johannen Seelfischium, typis Fincelianis in Wittenbergae 1651), pp. 569–578.


he was active in Köthen (1623), Helmstedt (1625), Söro (Dänemark, 1626) and Rostock (1628) as a Hebrew scholar. On 23 May 1628, he was called back to Wittenberg and initially appointed as “Extraordinarius Linguarum Orientalium” (Assoc. Prof., this term was used for the first time in connection with Trost’s special appointment) at the side of the gravely ill Laurentius Fabricius, whose chair Trost assumed after the death of Fabricius. Trost died a victim of the plague on 8 April 1636 in Wittenberg.

In terms of the standards of the day, Trost possessed an extraor-dinarily good knowledge of Oriental languages, which he had been studying since his early youth. The main focus of his investigations was in the field of Syriac. His opus magnum is his Lexicon Syriacum.37 It is based on the Syriac version of the New Testament. Trost’s special accomplishment here is that he goes beyond a mere listing of words, also dealing with phrases and idioms. He gives a translation into Latin and German. His Hebrew grammar also enjoyed high regard for a long period. (Grammatica Ebraea generalis, Wittenberg, 1632); it was revised and reprinted by his pupils and successors Jakob Weller and Andreas Sennert.

As Trost’s successor, two candidates were short-listed: Johann Ehrenreich Ostermann and Jakob Weller. Weller (1602–1664)38 was given the appointment, but not without opposition from the Faculty of Philosophy, because Weller, who obtained a doctorate in theology in 1635, was Extraordinarius in the Faculty of Theology. There were fears that his appointment could lead to renewed interference by the theologians in the internal affairs of the Faculty of Philosophy. Weller’s competence in Oriental languages was recognized as beyond question. He taught Hebrew according to the grammar of his teacher and men-tor, which he reprinted in a revised edition; he also continued to teach Syriac. Weller left Wittenberg in 1639 and gave up his chair in order to pursue a career as a pastor.

37 Lexicon Syriacum: Ex Inductione omnium exemplorum Novi Testamenti Syriaci adornatum; Adjecta singulorum vocabulorum significatione latina & germanica, cum Indice triplici. Autore Martino Trostio (Cothenis Anhaltinorum: Fürstliche Druckerei, 1623).

38 On Weller, see Johannes Andreas Gleich, Annales Ecclesiastici oder gründliche Nachrichten der Reformationshistorie Kur-Sächs. Albertinischer Linie (Dresden, Leipzig: Verlag Christian Sauereissigs, 1730), 2nd part, pp. 207–312; Wolfgang Sommer, “Jakob Weller als Oberhofprediger in Dresden,” in Vestigia pietatis, Studien zur Geschichte der Frömmigkeit in Thüringen und Sachsen, eds. Gerhard Grafet alii (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2000); Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, pp. 193–194.


The expansion of the scope of the chair for Hebrew to include other Semitic languages, a process initiated by Valentin Schindler and Martin Trost, was continued by Andreas Sennert (1606–1689). He was born in Wittenberg in 1606, the son of the physician and professor Daniel Sennert at the University of Wittenberg. He stud-ied in Leipzig (1626, M.A., 1627), Jena (1628), Straßburg (1634) and Wittenberg. Already as a young child, Sennert developed a strong interest in Oriental languages, studying at the age of 10 with Martin Trost. Sennert traveled to Holland to deepen his knowledge of Oriental languages. In 1636 he returned to Wittenberg and was appointed Associate Professor of Oriental Languages in the Faculty of Philosophy by Elector George I on the recommendation of the univer-sity. In 1640, he assumed Weller’s chair as full professor. He remained incumbent of the chair for Hebrew almost 50 years, until 1689, and had a significant impact in shaping the further course of studies in Hebrew and Oriental languages at the Leucorea. During his tenure, the final expansion of Hebrew was implemented to include Oriental Studies as well. He had a special interest in Arabic. In his inaugural address, Sennert stressed the necessity of knowing Arabic not only as an additional philological tool for interpreting the Old Testament but also because of its importance as a still living language and a means for direct access to the scientific writings of the Arabs. Many of his studies deal with rabbinical Hebrew and a synoptic treatment of various Semitic languages (such as Hypotyposis harmonica linguarum orientalium chaldaeae, syrae, arabicaeque cum matre ebraea, Wittebergae 1653; Centuria canonum philologicorum de idiotismis linguarum orientalium hebraeae, chaldaeae, syrae, arabicae, Wittebergae 1653; Bibliotheca orientalis, sive idea pleni systematis linguarum orientalium maxime Ebraeae matris, Chaldaeae, Syrae Arabicaeque . . . nec non Rabbinismi, Wittebergae, 1656). Sennert was lauded for his work in university administration as rector (1688) and librarian; in his latter capacity, he was the first to prepare and publish catalogues of university book holdings. H also collected and published a large amount of material about life at the university which is a valu-able source for the history of the Leucorea.

Sennert defended his justified claim to deal with texts and their interpretation, like his colleagues in Greek and Latin, and not just grammar, vis-à-vis the Electoral visitors who came to the university on 12 July 1665. This stance was opposed to the theologians who sought to restrict the competence of the chair for Hebrew to the treatment of purely grammatical questions, without any application


to theological interpretations. Ultimately he proposed, in keeping with the example of other universities, to separate Hebrew Studies from the other Oriental languages.39 This was a clear indication of how the Faculty of Philosophy wished to break free from the tutelage of theol-ogy. The study of Hebrew and other Semitic languages was increas-ingly regarded as an independent discipline, without any theological justification. Sennert is considered a moderate innovator opposed to theological dogmatism, and he was celebrated by the Wittenberg enlighteners as such. Almost along the lines of Galileo, he declared in reference to the much-debated topic of celestial waters that nature was the first book for natural scientists, and the Bible was secondary, though this did not constitute a challenge to divine authority (De aquis supracoelestibus, et quidem pro negativa earundem, petita maxime ex fontibus originariis et sacris, quaestio et responsio, Wittenberg, 1670). Sennert, who continued working as a teacher and scholar into his old age, died in 1689 in Wittenberg.40

After his death, Theodor Dassow41 occupied the chair for Oriental languages for almost a decade. He was born on 27 March 1648 in Hamburg into a family of theologians. He attended the Johanneum in Hamburg and took the courses of Esdras Edzard42 on rabbini-cal literature. He continued his studies at the University of Gießen (1669), where he was promoted to magister liberalium artium in 1672. He then moved to Wittenberg and registered at the university on 7 October 1673 in the Faculty of Philosophy. Before his appointment as Professor of Oriental Languages, he was initially adjunct professor

39 See Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, p. 245.40 A list of his works can be found in the contribution of Veltri in this special issue,

authored by Gianfranco Miletto. 41 Stephan R. Lange, “Theodor Dassow. Nachlaß und Bibliothek. Postgraduales

Universitätsstudium Bibliothekswissenschaft. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Institut für Bibliothekswissenschaft und wissenschaftliche Information” (21 June 1993, unpubl.). A list of his works can be found in the Appendix I of contribution of Veltri in this special issue, authored by Gianfranco Miletto.

42 Edzard Esdras Orientalist and pioneer of mission to the Jews (Hamburg 1629–1708). Edzard studied theology (from 1647) in Leipzig and Wittenberg, and studied rabbinical literature (from 1650) in Basle with Johann Buxtorf the Younger. After he was awarded the licenciate in theology in 1656 in Rostock, he returned to Hamburg and devoted himself completely as a private scholar of independent means to his studies and missionary work among the Jews. Edzard was considered an outstanding Orientalist in his lifetime, and from 1659 gave private, cost-free instruc-tion in Hebrew and rabbinical literature. Among his pupils was August Hermann Francke. See Martin Friedrich, Zwischen Abwehr und Bekehrung, (Tübingen: Mohr, 1988), pp. 107–123.


(1676) and later (1678) Professor of Poetry as well as Assoc. Prof. for Oriental Languages at the side of Sennert. He undertook research trips to Holland and England (1676–1678), where he deepened his studies of rabbinical literature and acquired expensive works in this field. As Dassow explained in his Rabbinismus philologiae sacrae ancil-lans (Wittenberg 1674), he regarded rabbinical literature as quite useful and helpful for biblical interpretation. The beginnings laid by Reuchlin now found a first concrete application. He was especially interested in Jewish antiquities, a topic his posthumous opus magnum, Antiquitates hebraicae, quamplurima utriusque foederis loca difficiliora illustrantes (Copenhagen and Leipzig 1742) deals with. On 13 April 1699, Dassow submitted a habilitation thesis on the Lord’s Supper (Disputatio theologica inauguralis de sublimitate variae unionis in mysterio s. coenae) and was awarded the licentiate in theology.

That same year, he moved to Kiel as Professor of Theology and pastor of the Church of St. Nicolas. In 1709, he went to Rendsburg as superintendent and provost, where he remained until his death on 6 January 1721. He left his library to the University of Wittenberg, and his posthumous papers (some 1,000 sheets) in still preserved in the library of the Seminary in Wittenberg.43 Now in preparation is a study on the archive and the history of Hebrew Studies in Wittenberg and the universities influenced by the Leucorea.

Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen was his ideal successor due to his exceptional grounding in Oriental languages and experience in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.44 Born on 3 October 1663 in Ilsenburg, Wichmannshausen studied classical philology and, under the guidance of Johann Benedikt Carpzov Junior, he studied Oriental philology in Leipzig (1683) and received the degree magister liberalium artium on 22 May 1685. He was introduced to rabbinical literature by the Jewish convert Federicus Albertus Christianus. He deepened his knowledge of rabbinical texts in Helmstedt, Leiden, Oxford and

43 A list of the manuscripts and his works in the archive of the Predigerseminar can be found in the Appendix II in the contribution of Veltri in this special issue, authored by Gianfranco Miletto.

44 On Wichmannshausen, see Woken, Franz: Bibliotheca Theologico-Philologico-Philosophico-Historica, qua varia difficillima dubia, ad theologiam, vel directe, vel indirecte spectantia, ex principiis genuinis solvuntur, et varia variorum cogitata ex nuper editis Disput. et programmatibus breviter adducuntur, nonnullaque ex Mss. Afferuntur, (Wittenbergae: in officina Henningiana, 1732), vol. 1: 148–163: “De professorum orientalium linguarum in Academia Wittenbergensi meritis in linguas orientales,” Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, pp. 304–307.


Cambridge (1688). In 1691–1692, he made an educational trip to Italy together with the historian Konrad Samuel Schurzfleisch. In Rome, Wichmannshausen studied Syriac and Arabic with a Maronite teacher. In 1692, he was appointed Assoc. Professor and returned to Wittenberg. On 24 March 1693, he was appointed Professor of Poetry. From 1699 to 1727, Wichmannshausen taught Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and Rabbinica. He died on 17 January 1727.

Through Sennert and Dassow, the study of rabbinical literature and Jewish antiquities also gained a foothold in Wittenberg, and then became an integral part of the curriculum of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Leucorea down into the eighteenth century.45 Rabbinical tra-dition awakened at this time in Wittenberg lively interest, similar to interest at other European universities, especially in England and the Netherlands. The teachers in Wittenberg were in close contact with these centers, as their research trips and the numerous quotations from contemporary literature in their works attest. Unfortunately, the relations of these Hebrew scholars in Wittenberg with other European universities still remain a topic barely researched. Based on current knowledge, however, we can state that research on the Talmud in Wittenberg was carried out in conjunction with theology and was seen as a legal and historical source for Bible exegesis.46

Probably on the basis of Hebrew Studies in Wittenberg and Basle, as well as Pietistic missionary research, interest was sparked in rab-binical and more generally in Jewish literature. Doctoral theses and translations often explored topics in Jewish-humanistic, exegetical, philosophical or even contemporary Yiddish literature. Many interest-ing aspects of Jewish literature and philosophy were also discussed in the faculties of philosophy and theology.47

In the eighteenth century, the nexus between Hebrew and theology was no longer predominant. Instruction in the language was naturally

45 From 1700 to 1702, a post of Assoc. Prof. for Rabbinical Language was estab-lished, occupied by Christian Lebrecht Felsius. But on 24 June 1701, he had to leave his position because he was unable to lecture in Latin. In 1742, the baptized Jew Johann Christian Neumann from Leipzig was employed as “lector talmudicus.” The situ-ation changed at the end of the eighteenth century. The request for employment as lecturer for rabbinical-Talmudic language by the Jewish convert Gotthilf Ringerecht Frommann was rejected by the university, since the Faculty of Philosophy saw no need for this. See Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, pp. 303, 343, 469.

46 See Carsten Wilke, “Augiasstall oder Bildungsgut? Zum protestantischen Studium des Talmud in der Barockzeit,” Kalonymos 4 (2001): 14–20, here p. 18.

47 See the contribution of Giuseppe Veltri in this issue.


regarded as a required subject for theology students. But applicants for the chair of Hebrew at the University of Wittenberg were now expected to have an extensive knowledge of other Oriental languages. When in 1727 the matter of finding a successor for Wichmannshausen was broached, the Faculty of Philosophy stressed that the applicant should present proof of competence in other Oriental languages as well as Hebrew. That was “because in today’s quite changed situation, it is a virtual necessity to have better and more precise knowledge than before of Oriental and more distant peoples, their languages and histories.”48 In the eighteenth century at the Leucorea, along with Hebrew, there was instruction in Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Coptic, in part for scholarly interest, partially for practical purposes, to be used in business and diplomacy.

This expansion of the scope of the subject under the chair for Hebrew remained in effect until the university was dissolved on 6 March 1816. The unification of the Leucorea in Wittenberg with the University of Halle the following year as the Friedrichs-Universität Halle-Wittenberg rescued the great heritage of Wittenberg, which as the birthplace of Hebrew Studies in Germany had served as a paragon and model for other universities. In Halle, Hebrew and Semitic studies linked up with the achievements in Classical Studies in the tradition of Friedrich August Wolf,49 and gradually a new discipline crystal-lized which was clearly separate from theology. The upshot was that between 1821 and 1895, 127 Jewish Orientalists earned their doctor-ate at the University of Halle; by contrast, in Berlin in roughly the same period of time, only five Jewish students completed a doctorate in Oriental Studies, and at the University of Bonn, only a single Jewish Orientalist finished his studies there.50 However, the prerequisites and causal factors which accompanied the genesis of Oriental Studies, and the academic matrix for such studies amply available at the University of Halle in the nineteenth century are another topic.

48 University Archive Halle-Wittenberg, Rep. 1, No. 1624, fol. 2 (Probuleuma der philosophischen Fakultät vom 18. Februar 1727), quoted in Kathe, Die Wittenberger philosophische Fakultät, p. 305.

49 See Giuseppe Veltri, “Athen und Jerusalem: Der Kontrast zwischen Hermeneutik und kritischer Philologie im Werk von Friedrich August Wolf ”, in Gottes Sprache in der philologischen Werkstatt, 75–96.

50 Carsten Wilke, “Rabbinerpromotionen an der Philosophischen Fakultät in Halle, 1845–1895,” in: Jüdische Kultur und Bildung in Mitteldeutschland, eds. Giuseppe Veltri and Christian Wiese (Berlin: Metropol-Verl., 2009), 261–316.


Giuseppe Veltri is Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg and Director of the Zunz Centre (Halle). He has published widely in the subjects of hermeneutics and philosophy including Gegenwart der Tradition (2002), Cultural Intermediaries (2004 with D. Ruderman); Libraries, Translation and ‘Canonic texts’ (2006); The Jewish Body (2008, with M. Diemling); Renaissance Philosophy in Jewish Garb (2009); Judah Moscato’s Sermons, 2 vols. (2011).

Gianfranco Miletto is university private lecturer (“Privatdozent”) at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. He has published on Biblical Philology and on the Jewish culture in Italy at the time of the Renaissance and Counter-Reformation: L’Antico Testamento Ebraico nella tradizione babilonese (1992); Die Heldenschilde des Abraham ben David Portaleone, 2 vols. (2003); Glauben und Wissen im Zeitalter der Reformation (2004); Judah Moscato’s Sermons, 2 vols. (2011).

introduction hebrew studies in wittenberg (1502–1813): from lingua sacra to semitic studies 1

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