Elisabeth Cruciger

The hymn Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn by Elisabeth Cruciger from Martin Luther's Erfurt Enchiridion, 1524

Elisabeth Cruciger (also spelled Kreuziger, Creutziger etc.; née von Meseritz) (c. 1500 – 2 May 1535), a German writer, was the first female poet and hymnwriter of the Protestant Reformation and a friend of Martin Luther.

Life

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the younger: Christ blessing the Children, w. Caspar Cruciger in black, next to Elisabeth and second wife Apollonia Günterode in background

Ruins of Marienbusch Abbey

Elisabeth von Meseritz was born into a noble family in Eastern Pomerania. While still a child, she became a nun at the Marienbusch Abbey, a Premonstratensian cloister in Treptow an der Rega. At the cloisters, she learnt of the religious ideas of the Reformation through Johannes Bugenhagen, one of the influential figures in Lutheranism.

In 1522 Elisabeth left the abbey to move to Wittenberg, where she joined Bugenhagen's household. Then in 1524 she married the theologian Caspar Cruciger, a student and an assistant to Martin Luther. Together they had two children: a daughter, Elisabeth, who married Andreas Kegel, the rector of Luther's hometown Eisleben, and then—on Kegel's death—Luther's son Johannes; and a son, Caspar Cruciger the Younger, who succeeded in Philip Melanchthon's post as professorship at Wittenburg.

Elisabeth Cruciger died in Wittenberg in 1535.

Veneration

In 2022, Elisabeth Cruciger was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 3 May.

Works

• For Epiphany - "Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn" in the current German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG) Nr. 67 (originally known as Eyn Lobsanck vom Christo, first published in Erfurt 1524 in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbüchlein, an early Protestant hymnal)

References

• Ahuis, Ferdinand (2017), Spehr, Christopher (ed.), "Elisabeth Cruciger, geb. Von Meseritz – Luthers »liebe Els«", Lutherjahrbuch, 84, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 224–262, doi:10.13109/9783666874499.224, ISBN 978-3-525-87449-3
• Bertoglio, Chiara (2017), Reforming Music: Music and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century, Walter de Gruyter, pp. 641–642, ISBN 9783110520811
• Classens, Albrecht (2002), Religiöse Frauenlieder des 15.-16. Jahrhunderts, Studies in spirituality, Peeters, pp. 258–265, ISBN 9789042910980
• Haas, Rainer (1972), "Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz. Verlag Traugott Bautz, Hamm/Westfalen 1970 (1. und 2. Lieferung)", Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, 24 (1): 95–96, doi:10.1163/157007372x01151, ISSN 0044-3441
• Haemig, Mary Jane (2001), "Elisabeth Cruciger (1500?-1535): The Case of the Disappearing Hymn Writer", The Sixteenth Century Journal, 32 (1): 21–44, doi:10.2307/2671393, JSTOR 2671393
• Jenny, Markus (1962), Geschichte des Deutschschwveizerischen Evangelischen Gesangbuches imn 16. Jahrhundert, Bärenreiter-Verlag, Basel
• Koldau, Linda Maria (2005), Frauen - Musik - Kultur. Ein Handbuch zum deutschen Sprachgebiet der Frühen Neuzeit, Böhlau, pp. 419–423
• Reich, Christa (2001), Hahn, Gerhard; Henkys, Jürgen (eds.), "67 Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn", Liederkunde zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch, Issue 31; Issue 20 (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 48–54, ISBN 3-525-50321-0
• Schneider-Böklen, Elisabeth (2001), "Elisabeth Cruciger", in Herbst, Wolfgang (ed.), Wer ist wer im Gesangbuch?, Handbuch Zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch, vol. 2, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 65–66, ISBN 9783525503232
• Schneider-Böklen, Elisabeth (2017), "Elisabeth Cruciger - Nun, Minster's Wife and First Lutheran Poetess" (PDF), Journal of the European Society of Women in Theological Society, 25: 117–129
• Schulze, Hans-Joachim (2006), "Foreword" (PDF), Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn / Lord Christ, the one begotten son / BWV 96, translated by David Kosviner, Carus-Verlag, pp. 3–4
• Volz, Hans (1966), "Woher stammt die Kirchelied-Dichterin Elisabeth Cruciger?", Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie, 11: 163–165, JSTOR 24193595
• Wengert, Timothy J. (1989), "Caspar Cruciger (1504-1548): The Case of the Disappearing Reformer", The Sixteenth Century Journal, 20 (3): 417–441, doi:10.2307/2540788, JSTOR 2540788
• White, Micheline (2011), "Women's Hymns in Mid-Sixteenth-Century England: Elisabeth Cruciger, Miles Coverdale, and Lady Elizabeth Tyrwhit", ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 24: 21–32, doi:10.1080/0895769X.2011.540502, S2CID 162210702

Further references

• (in German) Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1975). "Elisabeth Cruciger". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 1. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 1170–1171. ISBN 3-88309-013-1.
• (in German) Carl Bertheau: Kreutziger, Elisabeth. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Vol 17, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, p. 148 f.
• (in German) Sonja Domröse: Frauen der Reformationszeit, Gelehrt, mutig und glaubensfest, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-55012-0
• (in German) Walther Killy: Killy Literaturlexikon. Autoren und Werke deutscher Sprache. Directmedia Publications, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89853-109-0. (1 CD-ROM)
• (in German) Elisabeth Schneider-Böklen: Elisabeth Cruciger, die erste Dichterin des Protestantismus. In: Gottesdienst und Kirchenmusik. Heft 2/1994, S. 32 ff.
• (in German) Wolfgang Herbst: Wer ist wer im Gesangbuch? (Onlineleseprobe)

External links

• Publications by or about Elisabeth Cruciger at VD 17