Johann Herwagen
{{Short description|Swiss protestant publisher (1497–1558)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Johann Herwagen
| birth_date = c. 1497
| birth_place = Hegau
| death_date = c. 1557-1558
| death_place = Basel
| occupation = Printer
| years_active = 1520-1558
| signature = Fotothek df tg 0005047 Druckermarke.jpg
}}
Johann Herwagen or Johann Herwagen the Elder, known as Hervagius (1497 in Hegau - 1557–1558 in Basel) was a Swiss Protestant publisher.
In contact with numerous European intellectuals, he was actively involved and made his mark in the dissemination and propagation of early ideas of the Reformation and the Renaissance.
Biography
He was born in 1497 in Hegau.{{Cite journal |last1=Sebastiani |first1=Valentina |last2=Ricketts |first2=Wendell |date=2014 |title=Froben Press Editions (1505-1559) in the Holdings of the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies Library: A Brief Survey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43446603 |journal=Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=213–234 |doi=10.33137/rr.v37i3.22463 |jstor=43446603 |issn=0034-429X |access-date=2024-06-20 |archive-date=2022-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229211129/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43446603 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Winger |first1=Howard W. |last2=Krek |first2=Miroslav |date=1960 |title=The Cover Design |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4304979 |journal=The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=144 |doi=10.1086/618747 |jstor=4304979 |issn=0024-2519}} He was one of the first Protestant publishers, and he edited Luther's texts in the 1520s.{{Cite journal |last=Strohm |first=Christoph |date=2020 |title=La réception de Luther par le jeune Calvin |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45285766 |journal=Revue d'histoire du protestantisme |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=69–88 |jstor=45285766 |issn=2297-6167}} He stayed in Strasbourg from 1523 to 1528. The publisher was very close to Johann Froben, and both were significant in the spread of Renaissance and Reformation ideas. In 1526, shortly after his death, he married his widow, Gertrude Lachner.{{Cite journal |last=Rostenberg |first=Leona |date=1944 |title=Johann Oporin, Printer, Publisher, and Scholar: 1507-68 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/616946 |journal=The Library Quarterly |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=207–213 |doi=10.1086/616946 |issn=0024-2519}} His good knowledge of Greek and Latin allowed him to intervene directly and be consulted in case of printing disputes.{{Cite journal |last=Winger |first=Howard W. |date=1962 |title=The Cover Design |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4305251 |journal=The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=223 |doi=10.1086/619019 |jstor=4305251 |issn=0024-2519}} During his lifetime, he was recognized as an important publisher and was nicknamed by his Latin name, Hervagius.{{Cite journal |last=Freedman |first=Luba |date=1995 |title=Cinquecento Mythographic Descriptions of Neptune |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30222798 |journal=International Journal of the Classical Tradition |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=44–53 |doi=10.1007/BF02678169 |jstor=30222798 |issn=1073-0508}} He was relatively close to Erasmus, among others,{{Cite journal |last1=Schwarzfuchs |first1=Lyse |last2=Kemp |first2=William |date=2016 |title=Érasme et l'hébreu à Lyon: les Colloques de 1530 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26202331 |journal=La Bibliofilía |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=251–264 |jstor=26202331 |issn=0006-0941 |access-date=2024-06-20 |archive-date=2022-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108215417/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26202331 |url-status=live }} and Erasmus declared about him that he 'was a man of good faith and not unlearned'.
Despite Lachner and Herwagen's friendship with Erasmus, the couple had conflicts with the humanist in the late 1520s regarding Erasmus Froben's education, as they did not wish to follow the Dutchman's advice for him to study at the University of Louvain instead of remaining in Switzerland or going to Lyon.{{Cite journal |last=Margolin |first=J. C. |date=1970 |title=Du Nouveau Sur Érasme: Un Billet Inédit De L'humaniste Hollandais |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20674692 |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=107–113 |issn=0006-1999 |jstor=20674692}} Despite their serious conflicts, the humanist continued to use their presses, likely out of friendship for Lachner rather than for Herwagen.{{cite web |author=PS Allen |language=en |title=Erasmus' Relations With His Printers |url=https://academic.oup.com/library/article-abstract/TBS-13/1/297/944737}}
In addition to Luther's texts, he published other Protestant works as well as a variety of other works, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey,{{Cite journal |date=2000 |title=Friends of the Library |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.25290/prinunivlibrchro.61.3.0447 |journal=The Princeton University Library Chronicle |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=447–451 |doi=10.25290/prinunivlibrchro.61.3.0447 |jstor=10.25290/prinunivlibrchro.61.3.0447 |issn=0032-8456}} Bede{{Cite journal |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |date=2007 |title=Byrhtferth of Ramsey and the "Glossae Bridferti in Bedam" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019979 |journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin |volume=17 |pages=384–400 |doi=10.1484/J.JML.2.305705 |jstor=45019979 |issn=0778-9750}} or mathematical treatises.{{Cite journal |last=Sharratt |first=Peter |date=1966 |title=La Ramée's Early Mathematical Teaching |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41430541 |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=605–614 |jstor=41430541 |issn=0006-1999}}{{Cite journal |last=Bushell |first=W. F. |date=1947 |title=A Century of School Mathematics. Presidential Address to the Mathematical Association, April, 1947 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3611358 |journal=The Mathematical Gazette |volume=31 |issue=294 |pages=69–89 |doi=10.2307/3611358 |jstor=3611358 |issn=0025-5572}} The Swiss printer established editorial connections with François Rabelais{{Cite journal |last=Monfort |first=Marie-Laure |date=2012 |title=Le Discours Scientifique De Panurge |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24328883 |journal=Seizième Siècle |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=255–272 |doi=10.3406/xvi.2012.1055 |jstor=24328883 |issn=1774-4466}} and Sebastian Castellio, publishing the Castellio Bible in 1555.{{Cite journal |last=Keller |first=Hans-Erich |date=1959 |title=Castellios Übertragung Der Bibel Ins Französische |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27936750 |journal=Romanische Forschungen |volume=71 |issue=3/4 |pages=383–403 |jstor=27936750 |issn=0035-8126}} Herwagen also had an interest in patristics and was one of the first publishers to print the Greek texts of certain Church Fathers, such as John Chrysostom.{{Cite journal |last=Love |first=Rosalind |date=2007 |title=Bede and John Chrysostom |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019958 |journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin |volume=17 |pages=72–86 |doi=10.1484/J.JML.2.305684 |jstor=45019958 |issn=0778-9750}} In 1538, he was involved in scandal after seducing Katherina Weckart, the wife of his stepson Erasmus Forben, who left him. He had to face a trial and was sentenced in 1542 to a heavy fine and exile. Although he continued his activities and managed to return to Basel, this significantly slowed down his publishing endeavors.
He died around 1557-1558{{Cite journal |last=Gorman |first=Michael |date=1996 |title=The glosses on Bede's "De temporum ratione" attributed to Byrhtferth of Ramsey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44509640 |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=25 |pages=209–232 |doi=10.1017/S0263675100002015 |jstor=44509640 |issn=0263-6751}} and his wife, Gertrude Herwagen née Lachner, died the following year.
He was the father of Johann Herwagen the Younger, who continued his works until his death in 1564.
References
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{{Pioneers of Printing Press}}
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Category:15th-century printers