Abstract
Andreæ’s personal library was twice destroyed by fire (Vaihingen 1618 and Calw 1634) so that, as Gilly observes (1988:72), it is completely impossible to reconstruct his rich collection of books. This limits our ability to identify all the sources upon which he drew, or to assess the argument of Held that Christianopolis is an independent and original work, and not, as others have suggested, a copy of earlier works.78 Nevertheless some of the main precursors of Andreæ are obvious.
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Particularly Campanella’s Civitas solis. See 2.3.2 below.
1.1.4 above. According to Wehr (1988:24), Will-Erich Peuckert had good reason to call Arndt a ‘half-Rosicrucian’.
‘[Christianopolis] is an entertainment, which was not held against that celebrated man, Thomas More.’ (Introduction). Andreæ may have simply wanted to suggest that a work designed to entertain the reader need not be unworthy of the deacon of the church at Vaihingen. In the same year he brought out his Geistliche Kurzweil, an entertainment (‘Kurzweil’) whose title stresses its spiritual or moral character. Andreæ’s defensiveness here may reflect his dedication of Christianopolis to Arndt, placing himself on the side of the pietistic wing of the Lutheran church.
Plato Republic 495e. Similarly Xenophon Œconomicus iv, 2–4, Aristotle Politica 1328b‘36–40. It may be that this view, which was carried over into Rome (as in Cicero De Officiis I,150), owed a good deal to the political changes which led to an Athenian Assembly which included the fullers, cobblers, builders, smiths and small farmers dismissed by Xenophon as ‘dunces and weaklings.’ (Memorabilia lII,vii.6).
Andreæ does allow, however, that heavy work may be used as a punishment of wrongdoers in ch.87.
Plato Laws 739c, Republic 457d Andreæ’s objection to common meals is the noise and disturbance they entail (ch.15); ‘constant shouting’ is the first charge he levied against life at Court (6.1 below).
e.g. Plato Laws 736e. The converse became, and remains, a commonplace of public finance, as in ‘The most welcome way of increasing revenue would be for the prince to abolish superfluous expenditure, to disband redundant offices, to avoid wars ...’(Erasmus Works 5,260)
‘There are human and there are divine goods, and the human hang upon the divine; and the state which attains the greater, at the same time acquires the less; or, not having the greater, has neither.’ (Plato Laws 631 b,c)
A long-standing tradition. For example ‘There are some barbarians with whom, because gold is indigenous and plentiful, it is customary to keep the criminals in their convict establishments chained with gold, and to load the wicked with riches — the more guilty, the more wealthy.’ (Tertullian De Cultu Feminarum I,ix).
This is familiar when an occupation changes from being the preserve of one sex and becomes dominated by the other, as in ‘male flight’ from secretarial work.
The concept was well understood in other applications: as Moryson observed (Itinerary’:IV,167) [In England] ‘they labour not to destroy the Crowes, consuming great quantity of Come, because they feede on wormes and other things hurting the Come. And in great Cities it is forbidden to kill Kytes or Ravens, because they devoure the filth of the streetes.’
Working on road repairs is also a communal activity in both Utopia and Christianopolis. 88 Apart from the scholars and higher magistrates who are exempt.
Johan Eberlin (or Eberlein, Apriolus) von Günzburg ‘New Statutes which Psitacus has brought from the land of Wolfaria, concerning the reformation of the spiritual estate’ and ‘Description of a new Order of the Secular Estate of Wolfaria as reported by Psitacus.’ in Bell (1967:125,n.13), who notes that Psitacus was the latinized nickname of Eberlin’s cousin, Ulrich Sittich. ‘Psittacus’ the rhetorician is a character in Andreæ’s Turbo.
E.g. tithes, hunting and fishing rights, forestry and timber rights, serfdom, the law. See Bell (1967:130–1).
Andreæ favours foreign languages where Luther ‘stood too much under the shadow of Humanism ... to be able to see the value of the study of any foreign language except Hebrew and the classics. Hence .. his educational system was much less cosmopolitan’ than his religious Reformation. It may be arguable here that Andreæ separates himself from his hero, Luther, preferring to follow the example of his great-grandfather Jakob Endris, the traveller: ‘impoverishment of languages’ is part of Andreæ’s indictment of the universities in the introduction to Christianopolis, and in the Library of the community ‘There is no language on earth that has not contributed something of itself, and no great mind that has not paid its tribute, to this collection’.(ch.39) Andreæ’s views on how and why to learn languages, and on the limitations to their study, are elaborated in ch.57.
Bell (1967:135), who quotes a reference to ‘kloster-katz, die vornen läckt und hunden kratzt’ (cloister-cats, that smile in front and scratch behind) and adds that ‘His venom against the begging monks, particularly his own order, the Franciscan Observants, knew no bounds.’
Similarly in Myth. Andreæ has Cabala supporting ‘Hypocrites ... and Monks who enjoy very luxurious poverty’ (‘Cabala’ Myth. I,30.)
‘We order that all public adulterers shall be executed’ (Bell 1967:130).
Herzog August Bibiliothek Ms Cod. 11.12 Aug. 2°, fol.228–9 See Montgomery (1973:49 and n.116). The Lutheran interest in Campanella followed an earlier enthusiasm for his cause among German Catholics during 1607–11. See Headley pp.69–89.
cited Van Dülmen (1978:247 n.10) Purver (1967:223–4) suggests that the name was abandoned in favour of ‘Antilia’ when Andreæ and his friends took up the project of a Christian Union again in Nuremberg (without Wense and Adami) because Civitas solis had now been published and they wished to avoid association with its Roman Catholic, Italian author.
Although Christianopolis was printed before Civitas solis, Campanella’s text was written first, having started life in an Italian manuscript version (Città del sole) in 1602. This was revised in 1611, and the first Latin version was written in 1613–14; this was probably the version that Adami had printed at Frankfurt in 1623. (Elliott and Millner p.i)
Yates claims that the description of Civitas solis had been brought to Andrea’s Tübingen circle by Adami and Wense, and that ‘The utopian city described by Johann Valentin Andreæ ... is also decorated all over with pictures which are used for instructing youth.’ (Yates 1966:378) This is somewhat exaggerated. While the exterior walls of Civitas solis are described as covered with illustrations, specimens and descriptions of natural and civil history, Andreæ makes no mention of anything of this sort outside the rooms of the college.
‘Zweifellos hat der ebenso belesene wie sprachkundige Andreae von unmittelbaren Vorgängern gelernt ...’ Wehr (1988:24). A similar position had been taken by Purver (1967:225), and by Eliav-Feldon (1982:27)
Robert von Mohl Geschichte u. Literatur der Staatswissenschaft I,pp.187 ff; Sigwart Kleine Schriften pp.174–5; Andreas Voigt Soziale Utopien pp.73 ff; Joseph Prys Staatsroman des 16. u. 17. Jahrhunderts p.114. (cited Held pp.16–17.)
It is sometimes difficult to separate the question of influence from the related issue of the relative merits of Civitas solis and Christianopolis: Sommer (1996:115n.5) suggests that Mumford was alone in holding this view, and points out that even the editor of a recent edition of Christianopolis felt it does not hold its own (‘hält ... nicht stand’, Van Dülmen 1982:11–12) against Utopia, Civitas solis or New Atlantis.
Doni was familiar with More’s Utopia, as well as such works as Guevara’s fable of the Guaramanti. (Grendler 1965)
Campanella agrees however that some kinds of service, such as waiting on tables, is not demeaning, at least to the younger members of the community. 104 Longevity is also to be found in Bacon’s New Atlantis, at least among the hermits in Solomon’s House.
Eurich (1967:134). Davis agrees that Andrea ‘admired Campanella as an anti-Aristotelian, translated several of his sonnets and dedicated two apologues to him in the Mythologia Christiana’ (Davis 1981:73).
Myth. I,10 ‘Campanella’. Evidently the defeat of the Armada and the rise of the Dutch Republic are intended. The Armada recurs in Christenburg.
Andrea, Seleniana Augustalia [1649], 146, cited in Montgomery.
Civitas solis p.64. Bowdlerised English versions of Civitas solis, such as that of Morley 1885, may have made the relationship between Campanella and Andreæ more difficult to understand by suppressing the anti-Lutheran bias of the Civitas along with its account of the sexual practices of the Solarians.
Compare ‘Andreæ’s Christianopolis is heavily influenced by Campanella’s City of the Sun. Its inhabitants, like Campanella’s Solarians, are practisers of astral magic... Campanella’s City of the Sun ... is a utopian city governed by priests skilled in astral magic who know how to keep the population in health and happiness through their understanding of how to draw down beneficent astral influences.’(Yates 1984:236–7) By contrast, Eurich argues that Andreæ’s people ‘are exceptionally free from astrological influence ... No mention is made of magical practices or ceremonies bordering on the pagan sacrifice as was the custom of the Solarians.’(Eurich 1967 : 120)
Del senso IV,331 cited Headley p.166
See Headley p.92. Among the many precursors of Campanella, few can be closer on this point than Dante, who places above the gates of hell the observation that ‘I was made by Divine Power, Highest Wisdom and Primal Love’ (Fecemi la divina podestate, La somma sapienza e’l primo amore) Divine Comedy Canto 3, 4–6.
Andreæ’s translation runs: Io nacqui. 1. Mich hat gesandt die höchst Weißheit/ Durch Recht, Verstand, und Lieb bereit/ Zu Bstreiten meiner Feinde drey/ Gewalt Geschwetz, und Gleißnerey. 2. Hie werden drey mit drey Bezwungen,/ Damit ist der Vernunfft gelungen,/ Und wird die Welt der Marter quit,/ So zwang, lug, schein stehts bringen mit. 3. Hunger, Krieg, Pest, Neid, und Betrug/ Unrecht, Geilheit, Treghet, Unfug,/ Bringt eygen Lieb, der Thorheit Kind/ Drum greifft ich an die Mutter gSchwind. (Geistliche Kurzweil p.96). [I was born. 1. I was sent by the highest wisdom, prepared with Justice, Knowledge and and Love to do battle with my three enemies, Force, Sophistry and Hypocrisy. 2. Here three are conquered by three, so that reason will succeed and the world will be free of the torment which is always brought by Force, Lies and Illusion. 3. Famine, war, plague, envy, and deceit, injustice, luxury/lasciviousness, indolence disorder are brought by self-love, the child of Ignorance. Therefore I hasten to attack the mother.]
There is a clear contrast with Macbeth’s earlier reference to precedence in the seating arrangements: ‘You know your own degrees, sit down.’ (Macbeth III,4)
Tirannide — sofismi — ipocrisia in Campanella’s sonnet; Gewalt — Geschwetz — Gleißnerey and zwang — lug — schein in Andreæ’s translation. The sequence in Andreæ’s Hercules fable is: Tvrannis — Sophistica — Hypocrisis and violentia — mendacium — simulatio
Hercules, cum terras reviseret, tria efferatissima & perniciosissima monstra reperit, Tyrannidem, Sophisticam, & Hypocrisin; quœ Potenti, Scientiœ & Amoris loco imperium occupaverant. Ea cum debellanda sibi omnino sciret, & animum sponte viresque offerret, ac jam variis minutioribus bestiis, quas illa trina mala produxerant, extinguendis laudabilem operam prœstitisset, non potuit tamen ea ex latibulis suis extrahere, ne dum in luctam & certamen provocare. Nam ignorantia vallo ita sese muniverant, ut, quicquid egerit aut impugnarit, Hercules frustra fuerit. An eo tempore nunquam arce sua egrediuntur, nunquam veram lucem aspiciunt; sed ne dum Hercules obsidionem solvit, ac legatum Thomam Campanellum ascivit. Nam, ignorantia infracta, nihil est, quod de Monstrorum interitu speremus: ea vero diruta, nihil tam infirmum erit, quam violenti, mendacii, & simulationis imperium. (Myth. Manipulus VI, 16 ‘Hercules’)
Hercules christianus was dedicated to Besold. In the Vita Andreæ says that it was a disguised (in volucra) portrayal of Tobias Hess, who had died in 1614 and whom it was not permitted to praise openly. (Montgomery 1973: I,42 n.92).
Hypocrisia in the first edition, amended to Hypocrisis in 1618.
Gwalt, Schein and Gschwetz in Christenburg 15 and 40.
Tyraney, Heücheley and Unütz Geschwetz in Christenburg 27,28 and 29.
Potentia, Scientia and Amor in ‘Hercules’; in Andreæ’s translation of the sonnet they are Recht, Verstand and Lieb — perhaps closer to Justice, Understanding and Love.
Auch müßen wir Drey Männer han/ Die vnsern feinden widerstahn/ Die abwehren mit allem fleiß/ Das kein Gwalt, Schein vnd gschwetz einreyß. (27) Rectus, Credens and Eruditus are the first names in the three lists of virtues (27–29), though none is separated off as a Captain in the way that Accomodatus, Confessor and Opinans are in (11–13).
There is a certain flexibility or slippage in Andreæ’s terminology: the Antichrist may stand behind the evils which plague society (as in Christenburg) or may be used as a synonym for Hypocrisy, the chief evil of Christianopolis. Similarly Ignorance may appear as a synonym for Sophistry, as the opposite of (true) learning. The sequential development is not affected by this.
Adversarium habet ... maxime vero Hypocrisin; maxime vero tyrannide abhorret; maxime vero sophistice ... dimicat. (Imago 4,5,6)
The exact date assumes that we can take Andreæ literally and deduct 26 years from the 1659 publication of Theophilus. Montgomery (1973:1,71).
The programme of the work, which matches very closely that of the ‘Civis Sol is ‘ outlined in the funeral tribute to Wilhelm Wense, is de Christiana Religione sanctius colenda, Vita temperantius instituenda, Literatura rationalibus docenda.
See e.g. the purposes of the Christian Society described in Andreæ’s funeral tribute to Wilhelm Wense (above 1.1.4).
Letter from Comenius to Hesenthaler 1 Sept., 1656, Rood (1970:103), Brecht (1988 :33). Like Andreæ, Comenius had lost his library and many of his manuscripts.
Alles was (1) im Sein ist. Das soll erkannt werden; (2) verpflichtend ist. Das soll getan werden; (3) Gottes Gnade gewährt. Das soll empfangen werden ie (1) Erleuchtung, (2) Tugend, (3) Frömmigkeit.’ (Comenius, cited in Blekastad 1969:172)
Zechbrüeder, Spiler, Kuppler, Däntzer, Jubilier, Mahler vnd Fuchsschwäntzer, Springer, Gauckhler, Comödianten, Breutter, Thurnierer, Musicanten, Schaweßen vnd Pasteten bacher, Fewerwerckh-, Grotten- vnd Auffzügmacher, SeidenStickher vnndt Sammetschneider, Goldmacher vnd sonst Geltvertreiber. ‘ (canto 8)
chs. 4,97. One difference is that ‘false Rosicrucians’ are absent from the followers of Tyranny. Exluding evil influences is presumably something that Andreæ and Besold may have discussed: for Besold (1626a:3–4) the strength or durability (firmitas) of the state requires that subordinates be governed justly and well, and that it be protected against all falling into corruption.
Tyrannorum est, fauces obstruere, ora comprimere, singultus etiam prohibere: sed bonorum principum, admonere velle, imo nonnunquam opportune corrigi (Theophilus 3;116; van Dülmen p.170)
‘wol Ander Mann ... so die Leutt drehen vmb, wie Töpf, Politen vnndt Ragionisten, Sejaner vnndt Macchiavellisten: Kirchen Reuber vnd Clösterstürmer ... Vmblag außbringer ... NewOrdnung Schmider ...BaurenSchinder’ (canto 8) ‘Ragionists’ were guided by the Piedmontese Jesuit Giovanni Botero’s (1589) Reason of State, which discussed the basis of state power in population and trade.(Bonney 1995:183)
Maulthieren ... auß dem Nebel Land ... denn Ir Vernufft vil lieber ist, als der Einfaltig Jesus Christ ... Freyheit druckher, Lugen schmuckhier, Weißheit kracher, Warcheit lacher’ (Christenburg 5,10). On simplicity cf Erasmus ‘Praise ofFolly’
Sanftmut Meider ... Dadurch all Einfalt würt betört,/ Dadurch all Lugen würdt gelehrt,/ Dadurch all Vngreimbts würd eingschwetzt,/ Dadurch all fridlichs würd verhetzt,/ Dadurch all Göttlichs würd veracht,/ Dadurch wird Pflantzt der eitel Pracht,/ Dadurch all gutte Kunst verschimpft,/ Dadurch all Weißheit verunglimpft,/
Potentia, Nummus, Liga, Silentium, Immanitas and Pertinacia (canto 15). It may be noted that Potentia is evil here; in ‘Hercules’ it was the opposite of Tyranny.
Imbecillitas, Paupertas, Solitudo, Contemplatio, Humanitas and Remissio. (canto 30).
Accomodatus, Saginatus, Connivens, Tradens, Meticulosus and Imperitus ... Abstemius, Evitans, Servans, Cordatus and Instructus. Those associated with Hypocrisy within the city are Confessor, Nominatus, Hilaris, Consuetus, Credulus and Tectus, the true opponents of Hypocrita are Credens, Operans, Compositus, Rationalis, Convincens and Candidus. Similarly there is support for Sophistry from a group within the city: Opinans, Loquax, Delectans, Admirator, Stupidus and Otiosus, and the real defenders of learning are Eruditus, Eloquens, Subtilis, Aestimator, Sagax and Laboriosus
vides nempe ternario prœcipua huius terrœ definiri ... hoc numero comprehendi quamcunque iniquitatis summam ‘ (Menippus 95 ‘Trias’)
There are a few gaps in the Societas Christiana, but it is quite clear that both writers envisaged a hierarchy in which three leaders have each three subordinates, each of whom is assisted by three officials. A titular head (‘Sun’ or Metaphysic in Campanella, a noble patron in Imago) completes the tally.
See too Montgomery 1973 :I,140.
Andreæ’s work on education — Theophilus — describes his ideal curriculum in detail.
Andreæ adds other lands to the main ones described by Hall, producing approximate opposites such as Crapula & Hambronia, Yvronia & Setenea, Viraginia & Nabalonia, etc (the lands of Gluttony and Starvation, Drunkenness and Thirst, Bossy Women and Morose Men...)
50° is close to Würtemberg in Andreæ’s map of Germany in Math 91.
A word Andreæ spells incorrectly, both here and in the first edition of Menippus. 145 e.g. Casa di un principe, Plate 28 in the Avery MS of Serlio’s projected Sixth Book of Architecture.
They are not fountains in fact, but the position of gates to the garden. The printer set them with lower-case ‘o’ and used upper case for the other features of the illustration.
The dimensions of Andreæ’s planned accommodation are close to those authorized by the Rebuilding Act of 1667 for three-storey buildings for the ‘streets and lanes of note and the River Thames’. The four-storey plans of buildings for ‘the high and principal streets’ of rebuilt London are close to the dimensions of the towers in Andreæ’s college. (cited in Morris 1994:259–260) 148 The only known printed copy is in the Herzog August Bibliothek. Its existence refutes Montgomery’s suggestion that ‘Andreæ may have done no more than circulate it in MS during his lifetime’(Montgomery 1973:II,497). provided of course that the attributed title page is genuine. It is certainly a little surprising that the Lutheran Christenburg was published in a Catholic centre in 1626.
Besold (1639:48) cites Turbo (by ‘Andreas de Valentia’) in his treatment of alchemy in relation to public finance.
Als diß erfuhr der Antichrist, So der Welt ein abKurtzung ist (Christenburg V)
Imo ambulant, ut nos, loquuntur, nugantur malè beneque intermixtim habent.
See Epistemon’s account of life in Elysium in Gargantua and Pantagruel II,30.
Archimedes girgillos & crepundis mulierculis facit, & alicuius precii est, sed parum splendidè vestitus. We may see this as a lighthearted parallel passage to the one in ch.34 where ‘Understanding’ is sent back to her spindle (in girgillis) if she tries to discuss matters beyond her competence.
Virgilius mulieres abstergit, Ovidius planè miser est ... quia castratus, & fœminarum lusus.
This might be particularly fitting ocupation for the father of medicine, to Andreæ, since improved sewerage is advocated in ch.95 as most beneficial to public health.
Ulpianus pulicum Rempublicam describit.
Concern about women ruling the roost recurs in Christianopolis, where Andrea remarks that ‘there are many women who are domineering, it is the fault of men who are effeminate and have married mannish women. Nothing is more dangerous than when women rule in secret and men obey in public; on the other hand, nothing is more satisfactory than when men and women each have their own province.’(ch.89)
sed qui optimè dicit pessimè vivit, & qui benè vivere attentant proscribuntur. There is a parallel in Andrea’s complaint that in the world ‘whoever seeks the heavens may be judged to be heretical.’ (ch.28)
Neutiquam, nam & personati sumus omnes, & interne conflictamur omnes, & nescimur omnes, & opinamur omnes, & mentimur plerique. The mask is a common image in Andrea: see Christianopolis (Introduction).
Libraries are also treated with suspicion in Turbo, where one of Antichrist’s decrees to the clergy is ‘In order to make a good impression it is thoroughly recommended that one establish a Library which shall particularly consist of such books as spray the people with a good dose of poison.’ (Turbo, 3rd Entr’acte). This is matched by the mbivalent attitude towards the Library in Christianopolis (ch.39).
Peregrinus: Quid interest, Plebeius sciolo prœsit, dum melior.
Lunares Solaresque incolas.
Dealing with disputes in this way may be reminiscent of the Hartlib-Plattes Macaria.
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Andreae, J.V. (1999). The Sources of Christianopolis. In: Christianopolis. International Archives of the History of Ideas / Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Idées, vol 162. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9267-3_2
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