Andreas Brunner
(Jesuit and historian 1589-1650)
The historian
Andreas Brunner was born in Heiligenkreuz near Hall
in Tyrol on the 30 November 1589. Born into a poor family he
became a novice in Landsberg/Lech in 1605. Shortly
thereafter he joined the Jesuit order in Munich where he would establish
himself as an eloquent preacher. After studying in Ingolstadt
(1608-1618), he taught ethics as professor in Dillingen
and Freiburg (Breisgau)
from 1619 to 1621.
In 1622
he was called to Munich, where the Jesuit
monk Matthäus Rader, had been instructed to write
a history of Bavaria by the lord elector
Maximilian I. First of all, Andreas Brunner should only help in collecting material,
but soon he took over the whole work. The "Annales
virtutis et fortunae Boiorum" were published 1626-37 in three volumes and
describe the Bavarian history from 600 BC. to 1314. They give evidence of Brunner´s intensive research, his sense of criticism and his
clear pursuit of objectivity. However, the description breaks off in the year
1314. The censors of his order had disapproved of his
portrayal of the time after 1314 under the rule of Ludwig the Bavarian and of
his conflicts with the curia. Brunner writes in a letter (General German Biography)
that he stops writing only "involuntarily (...), but to write about the
time of the Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian one must have more liberty in writing
than he has”. In addition, it is said that the material collected by Andreas
Brunner was probably used later by the professor Nicolaus
Burgundus of Ingolstadt as well as by the Jesuit P.Vervaux.
1632-35
Brunner was held hostage by the Swedish in Augsburg.
From 1637
on he finally worked as a celebrated preacher in Innsbruck and composed among
other things school dramas and religious plays. Appointed to province curator,
Andreas Brunner travelled to Rome for the election
of the General of the Order in 1649. On the journey home to Innsbruck he died on the 20
of April 1650.
- Brunner, Andreas, in:
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, III 446
- Hans Dachs: Brunner, Andreas,
in: Neue Deutsche Biographie II 681
- F.W. Bautz (Hg): Brunner,
Andreas, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon, 1.Band (Hamm 1975) S. 768 f.
edited by: Julia Hillebrand
translation by: Marion Wagner
(16.8.2004/13.5.2005)
