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Erhart Hegenwalt [Erhard Hegenwald; Erhart Hegen Walt], was a writer of the Reformation. Very little is known of this writer. He had been schoolmaster in Pfäfers Abbey and participated in the "First Zürich Disputation" of Ulrich Zwingli on January 29, 1523. He wrote a documentation of the dispute, titled "Handlung der Versammlung in der loblichen stat Zürich auff den 24. tag Jeners 1523, von wegen d. h. Evangelii" (Acto of the assembly in the praised city Zürich on January 24, 1523, on the Holy Gospel). This was printed in the same several times.
On Friday after Epiphany 1524, Erhart Hegewald's hymn "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, nach deiner großen Barmherzigkeit" (Have pity on me, O Lord God, according to thy great mercy) appeared in Wittenberg as a broadside. It is a paraphrase of Psalm 51 "Miserere". The song was included in the Erfurt Enchiridion and in other hymnals. This is the only hymn ascribed to him.
From Wittenberg, Erhart Hegenwald remained in contact with reformist circles in Zürich, said in a letter to Conrad Grebel from January 1, 1525. In 1526, Hegewald received his doctorate in medicine in Wittenberg. It is not clear if he is the person of the same name who worked as a physician in Frankfurt from 1528 to 1540. |
