Album amicorum of Hermann Werner, 1598-1608

Physical description: 1 volume

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Items in Manuscript Collection
Call number	Note	Status
MSS CODEX 1157		In-library use

Description

Creators/Contributors

Author/Creator: Wermer, Hermann, former owner.

Contents/Summary

Summary: Student's album amicorum, kept over the period of a decade by Hermann Werner. Contents include 9 colored coats of arms, half-page colored scene of puttos, and a small sketch. The earliest entries appear to be from Stadthagen, including those of the 13-year-old Count Julius zu Holstein-Schaumburg (d. 1601) and of the Klencke family, whose members Ludolf, Wilken, and Theodor sign with Latin quotations and a full-page coat of arms. Late-Renaissance humanist friendship album from Northern Germany, including several noted representatives of local scholarship, politics and nobility.
Summary: The entries of the year 1599, mostly penned in Hanover or Helmstedt, include the physicians Jakob Horstius (1537-1600), professor at Helmstedt since 1584, and his son Heinrich Adolf (1569-1632), who was later to serve as local doctor in Torgau. The illustration provided by the Stadthagen "artis pharmaceuticae amator" Heinrich Weber features a putto seated on a skull, blowing bubbles. The year 1601 takes Werner to Quedlinburg, where he acquires entries by the Saxon counsellor Johann von Kostitz (1541-1611) and the young Counts Heinrich Wolrad (1590-1641) and Christoph Ludwig zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (1595-1619). Additional inscriptions are by Johannes Gerdangk (1573-1644), later prebend of Quedlinburg, and by the Helmstedt student of theology Warner Oporinus (1571-1643, later pastor in Brüggen and Rheden). Returned to Helmstedt and Hanover in 1602, Werner garners contributions by Heinrich Boethius (1551-1622), professor of divinity at Helmstedt, by the legal scholar Johannes Hackelbusch (a disciple of Statius Borcholt), by Wilhelm von der Wense (brother of the "Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft"'s Georg von der Wense), and his close relative Heinrich Hilmar von Münchhausen (1558-1617) with his young sons Liborius (1587-1646) and Philipp Adolf (1593-1657). Even Werner's brother signs, the aforementioned Christoph Werner. In 1604 Werner acquires the signature of Lorenz Scheurl (1558-1613), professor of divinity and superintendent in Helmstedt; entries from 1606 include that of Christian Hasthaejus, Ph.D. and M.D. In 1609 the three eldest sons of Duke Franz II of Sachsen-Lauenburg sign: the young Dukes Franz Julius (1584-1634, Imperial Chamberlain to Ferdinand II), Julius Heinrich (1586-1665, field marshal in the Battle of White Mountain and friend of Wallenstein), and Ernst Ludwig von Sachsen (1587-1620), as well as the Braunschweig patricians Melchior and Tilo von Vechelde. On 27 April 1608 the Hanover officer Bartold Knaust (1676-1642) signs his entry.

Subjects

Genre: Libri amicorum.; Autograph albums.
Local subject: Medieval and Renaissance studies > Germany > 16th century.

Bibliographic information

Earliest date: 1598
Latest date: 1608
Note: Contemporary blindstamped vellum binding (repairs; some warping) with modern pastedowns. Original marbled flyleaves.; Cataloged based on dealer description.
Access: Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Cite as: Album amicorum of Hermann Werner (Mss Codex 1157). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Source: Purchase; 2016. Accession MSS 2016-103.
Note: The owner of this volume was the otherwise unknown Helmstedt medical student Hermann Werner, brother of the Greek scholar Christoph Werner, who died in 1632 as headmaster in Stadhagen.