Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist Millenarianism

236 Pages·2000·6.64 MB·English

by  Howard Hotson (auth.)

PARADISE POSTPONED
ARCHIVES INTERNATIONALES D'HISTOIRE DES IDEES
INTERNATIONALARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS
172
PARADISE POSTPONED
Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of
Calvinist Millenarianism
by
HOWARD HOTSON
Founding Directors:
P.Dibont (Paris) and R.H.Popkin (Washington University,St. Louis& UCLA)
Director:
Sarah Hutton (Middlesex University,London, United Kingdom)
AssociateDirectors:J.E.Force (Universityof Kentucky, Lexington,U.S.A.);
J.e. Laursen(University ofCalifornia,Riverside,U.S.A.)
EditorialBoard:J.F.Battail(Paris);F.Duchesneau (Montreal);A.Gabbey (NewYork);
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AdvisoryEditorialBoard:J.Aubin (Paris); B.Copenhaver(UniversityofCalifornia,
LosAngeles, U.S.A.);
A.Crombie(Oxford);H.Gadamer(Heidelberg);H.Gouhier(Paris);
K. Hanada(Hokkaido University);W.Kirsop (Melbourne);
J.Malarczyk (Lublin);1.Orcibal (Paris);W. Rod (Munchen):
G.Rousseau (LosAngeles);J.P.Schobinger(Zurich);J.Tans (Groningen)
HOWARD HOTSON
UniversityofAberdeen, u.K.
PARADISE POSTPONED
Johann Heinrich and the Birth of
Calvinist Millenarianism
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.Y.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record far this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5641-2 ISBN 978-94-015-9494-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-9494-3
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Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000.
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Contents
Figures vii
Abbreviations viii
Acknowledgements IX
1.Introduction
i.Mede, Alsted and thebirth ofCalvinist millenarianism
ii.The developmentofAlsted'sapocalypticexpectations, 1610-30
iii.Leading questions andkey sources
Part One.Speculum mundi, sive harmonia trium voluminum:
the hermetic pre-history ofAlsted's millenarianism, 1610-24
2. Volumen historicumseu experimentalis: encyclopedic chronology 33
3. Volumen coelestissive astrologicum:astrological history 41
i.Great conjunctionsand newstars
ii.The annusmagnusand circulusjudiciorum Dei
iii.The sphere ofheaven, thewheel ofhistory, andthe circle oflearning
4. Volumen biblicusseupropheticus: propheticnumerology 85
i.The seals, trumpets andvials ofRevelation
ii.The propheticnumbers ofDaniel
Part Two. Diatribede mille annis apocalypticis:
the origins ofAlsted'smillenarianism, 1619-27
5.The Thirty Years War and Alsted's eschatological crisis, 1619-25 109
i.1619:rumours ofwar and initial doubts
ii. 1621-5: disaster and disillusionment
6. The sources ofthe Diatribede mille annis apocalypticis 121
i.Herbornmillenarianism:Johannes Piscator
ii..Heidelberg anti-rnillenarianism:DavidPareus
iii.Furtherauthorities:human andhermetic
iv.Tiibingenhermeticism:ChristophBesold
7.Conclusions 154
v
VI
Appendix: Two sources ofthe Diatribedemille annis apocalypticis 175
i.Johannes Piseator, 'Meditatio demille annis quorum fitmentio
Apoe. 20v.2quarum fitmentioapoe. 20.v.2,etdeinque nee
non deresurreetioneprima eujus fitmentio v.5.et6.', 1618
ii,Christoph Besold, 'DeHebraeorumad Christum sa1vatoremnostrum
eonversioneeonjeetanea', 1620
SelectBibliography 203
Index 219
Figures
1. The 'Speculummundi' fromAlsted, Thesaurus chronologiae, 1624 28
2. The origin andstructure ofthe Thesaurus chronologiae, 1620-24 37
3. Thegreat conjunctions:Kepler,Destellanova, 1606 42
4. The chronologyofthegreatconjunctions applied tohistory 44
5. JoannesDobricius,XaovounvuttopdasistZeiterinner, 1612 51
6. The 'Speculum mundi' of Stephanus Pannonius, 1608 63
7. The 'Circulusoperum etiudiciorum Dei' ofStephanusPannonius, 1608 64
8. The 'Circulusiudiciorum Dei'
from Alsted'sPraecognita theologica, 1614 65
9. The zodiac andtheastrological aspects 78
10. Ramon Lull's 'FigureA' 79
II. Alsted'sinterpretations oftheseals,trumpets,
andvials oftheApocalypse, 1622-1633 88
12. Raphael Egli,Propheticahalieutica nova etadmiranda, 1598 102
13. The millenarian reading oftheprophecy ofElias 115
14. The structure and origin ofthe
Diatribedemille annis apocalypticis, 1627 125
15. ScripturalpassagesintheDiatribefromBesold,Piscator,andDobricius 151
Vll
Abbreviations
ADB AllgemeinedeutscheBiographie(56 vols., Leipzig, 1875-1910).
Besold, Cat. Harvard UL Ms. Riant 5: catalogue of the library of Christoph
Besold.
Beso1d,Conjectanea Christoph Besold, 'De Hebraeorum ad Christum salvatorem nos-
trum conversione conjectanea' (1620), in Dissertationum philolo-
gicarum PENTAS(Tubingen, 1622) (reprintedinAppendix2).
Cursus J. H.Aisted,Cursusphilosophici encyclopaedia (2 vols, Herbom,
1620).
DJAK DUoJana AmoseKomenskeho(Prague, 1969-).
DNB Dictionary ofNational Biography, cd. Sir L. Stephens and Sir H.
Lee(21 vols.,Oxford 1908-9).
Ency. 1. H. Aisted, Encyclopaedia septem tomis distincta (2 vols.,
Herbom, 1630; facs. repro Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, 1989-90)
(referencetopage,column,andregula).
GothaFLB Forschung- und Landesbib1iothek,Gotha.
HP Samuel Hart1ib, The Hartlib Papers (2 CD-ROMs, Ann Arbor,
1995).
Matr.Herborn Die Matrikel der Hohen Schule und des Paedagogiums zu
Herborn,ed.G.Zedlerand H.Somner(Wiesbaden, 1908).
Munich BSB BayerischeStaatsbibliothek,Munich.
Nass.Drucke Antonius van der Linde, Die Nassauer Drucke der Kgl. Landes-
bibliothekin Wiesbaden(Wiesbaden,1882).
NDB NeuedeutscheBiographie(Berlin,1954-).
NNBW Nieuw nederlandsch biograjisch woordenboek, ed. P. C. Mo1huy-
sen and P.J.Blok (10 vols.,Leiden, 1911-37).
Pareus,Opera David Pareus, Operum theolgicorum exegeticorum tomi I, pars
prima (Frankfurtam Main, 1647).
Piscator, 'Meditatio' Johann Piscator, 'Meditatio de mille annis quorum fit mentio
Apoc.20':Munich BSB Clm 13237 NT. 75 (repr.inAppendix1).
Piscator, Comm.N.T. Johannes Piscator, Commentarii in omnes libros Novi Testamenti
(2 vo1s.,Herborn,1621).
Salzburg UB Universitatsbibliothek,Salzburg.
TRE Theologische Realencyclopiidie(Berlin, 1976-).
WiesbadenHStA HessischesHauptstaatsarchiv,Wiesbaden.
Wing D. Wing (ed.), Short-Title Catalogue, 1641-1700 (3 vols., New
York, 1945).
Zinner Ernst Zinner, Geschichte und Bibliographie der astronomischen
LiteraturinDeutschlandzur ZeitderRenaissance(Leipzig, 1941).
Vlll
Acknowledgements
Johann Heinrich Alsted's Diatribe de mille annis apoca/ypticis of1627 was
the first workby a mainstream Protestanttheologian exclusivelydedicatedto
defending the doctrine ofa future millennium. The particular attraction of
this small volumeas apointofdeparture for understanding the emergence of
millenarianism within confessional Protestantism, however, lies rather in its
place within a corpus of writings as voluminous and all-embracing as any
contemporary Protestant writer could boast. Returning the Diatribe to its
context in Alsted's vast and encyclopedic opera allows us to trace the deve-
lopment ofhis expectations year by year and to uncover the roots and ramifi-
cations ofhismillenarianism throughout theentire learned culture ofhisday.
A full study of the origins of Alsted's millenarianism, therefore,
could only have been undertaken alongside a more general study ofhis con-
text, life, and works. Equally clearly, the story ofthe genesis ofhis millen-
arianism has an important place within any such general survey of his
mental world. My own, recently published intellectual biography ofAlsted
accordingly concludes by surveying those features of his eschatological
expectations most salient for understanding the general pattern ofhis intel-
lectual developmentas a whole. The first debt to record here is therefore my
thanks to the Oxford University Press for permission to reproduce at scat-
tered points in the presentbook material first condensed into the last chapter
ofJohann Heinrich A/sted 1588-1638: Between Renaissance, Reformation
and UniversalReform (Oxford:Clarendon Press,2000).
Given its place alongside the intellectual biography, this book has
enjoyed a long gestation and benefited from a series offellowships awarded
in support of the broader project. It developed from the last chapter of a
DPhil dissertation at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, supervised by Charles
Webster, examined by R.J.W. Evans and Lisa Jardine, and funded by a
doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada and an Overseas Research Student Award from the
British Council. A post-doctoral fellowship at the Institut fur Europaische
Geschichte in Mainz provided ready access to the rich deposits ofHerborn
imprints and manuscripts in the Hessische Landesbibliothek and the Hessi-
sches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Wiesbaden. A Junior Research Fellowship at
Brasenose College, Oxford, and a Vollstipendium at the Herzog August
Bibliothek, Wolfenbuttel, permitted both studies to mature in appropriately
encyclopedic collections of early modern books. More recently, the fine
collection of central European Reformed divinity in the Department of
Special Collections ofthe University ofAberdeen has helped carry the work
ix
x
to completion. Special thanks are also due to the staff of the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek in Munich for permission to reproduce the full text ofone
of Alsted's key sources in Appendix 1 and for assistance in checking the
transcription ofthe Latin manuscript.
After this long gestation, this book has been delivered in very dis-
rupted circumstances, and for help amidst these difficulties I would like
express my thanks to a number offriends and colleagues: David Ditchbum,
Jane Ohlmeyer, Karen Jillings, and especially Gillian Brown and Janet
Hendry in Aberdeen, Gillian Bepler in Wolfenbuttel, Maja de Keijzer in
Dordrecht, and above all my wife, Maria Rosa Antognazza, and her family
inVenegono Inferiore.
H.H.
Wolfenbuttel
October2000