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Born: June 7, 1528 - Nordhausen, Thuringia, Germany
Died: February 10, 1604 - Straßburg |
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Cyriakus Spangenberg was a German theologian and historian (and hymn-writer and composer). As a son of the Südharz' reformator Johann(es) Spangenberg (1484-1550), he was as a student fellow tenant of Luther in Wittenberg, later a minister in Eisleben, and in 1559 became General Dean of the Grafschaft Mansfeld. In the dogma tables arguments of 1575, he was driven out as radical Lutheran and pursued, and was an occasional minister in Schlitz and Vacha/Werra.
Among other things Cyriakus Spangenberg published in 1568 Christlichs Gesangbüchlein, and in 1569/1570, under the title Cythara Luther, a big number of song lectures. He is the text-poet of strophes 2-5 of the church hymn Wir wollen alle fröhlich sein (EG 100), and published the melody to the song Lied Christe, du bist der helle Tag (EG 469) for the first time. As a historian he wrote Mansfeldi Chronica, Saxonian Chronica, and othes publications. His Adelsspiegel is probably the most important early-modern aristocracy treatise. |
