Johannes Letzner
Encyclopedia
Johannes Letzner was a Renaissance-era German
protestant priest and historian of Lower Saxony
, in particular of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
He studied briefly at Wittenberg University
in 1550–1551 before moving to Uslar
as cantor and school master, and later as vicar to Parensen (1553) Langenholtensen
(1564), Lüthorst (1583), Iber (1589) and finally to Strodthagen where he retired in 1610 and died three years later.
Letzner's works were widely perused in 18th-century historiography of Germany, but they are now considered highly unreliable.
His magnum opus was going to be a "Great Chronicle of Brunswick-Lüneburg" ("Große Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Göttingensche Chronika") in eight volumes, on which he worked during 36 years of his life. This work was never printed in full, but the fifteen works Letzner published in print during his lifetime can be seen as portions of this work.
Conradus Fontanus is one of the purported sources used by Letzner, allegedly a medieval chronicler with a floruit close to 1200.
Fontanus was included by Adelung
in his continuation of Jöcher
's Gelehrten-Lexicon, but in 20th century scholarship has come to be considered as of dubious historicity, or spurious.
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which originated from the Italian Renaissance in Italy...
protestant priest and historian of Lower Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
, in particular of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
He studied briefly at Wittenberg University
University of Halle-Wittenberg
The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg , also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg within Saxony-Anhalt, Germany...
in 1550–1551 before moving to Uslar
Uslar
Uslar is a town and a municipality in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, in the south-western part of the district of Northeim, and in the south of the hills of Solling forest which are part of the Weser Uplands.Uslar is located on the German Framework Road....
as cantor and school master, and later as vicar to Parensen (1553) Langenholtensen
Langenholtensen
Langenholtensen is a village near the town of Northeim and part of that town, in Lower Saxony. The name comes from Holzhausen, a quite frequently occurring place-name in Germany.-Geography:The village of Langenholtensen lies just north of Northeim...
(1564), Lüthorst (1583), Iber (1589) and finally to Strodthagen where he retired in 1610 and died three years later.
Letzner's works were widely perused in 18th-century historiography of Germany, but they are now considered highly unreliable.
His magnum opus was going to be a "Great Chronicle of Brunswick-Lüneburg" ("Große Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Göttingensche Chronika") in eight volumes, on which he worked during 36 years of his life. This work was never printed in full, but the fifteen works Letzner published in print during his lifetime can be seen as portions of this work.
Conradus Fontanus is one of the purported sources used by Letzner, allegedly a medieval chronicler with a floruit close to 1200.
Fontanus was included by Adelung
Johann Christoph Adelung
Johann Christoph Adelung was a German grammarian and philologist.He was born at Spantekow, in Western Pomerania, and educated at schools in Anklam and Berge Monastery, Magdeburg, and the University of Halle...
in his continuation of Jöcher
Christian Gottlieb Jöcher
Christian Gottlieb Jöcher was a German academic, librarian and lexicographer.Jöcher was born in Leipzig, and became professor of history at the University of Leipzig in 1732...
's Gelehrten-Lexicon, but in 20th century scholarship has come to be considered as of dubious historicity, or spurious.