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Born: c1530 - Fulnek, Moravia (now Fulnek, Czech Republic)
Died: October 1571 - Eibenschütz, Moravia (now Ivančice, Czech Republic) |
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Petrus Herbert was a German Protestant theologian. He seems to have been a native of or resident at Fulnek in Moravia. He was ordained priest of the Brethren's Unity in 1562, became a member of the Select Council in 1567, and was latterly Consenior of the Unity. By the Unity he was entrusted with many important missions. He was sent as a deputy to confer with Calvin: and again in 1562 to arrange with Duke Christoph of Württemberg for the education at Tübingen of young men from the Bohemian Brethren. He was also one of the deputies sent to Vienna to present the revised form of the Brethren's Confession of Faith to the Emperor Maximilian II. in 1564, and in 1566 to present their new German Hymn Book. He died at Eibenschütz in 1571 (Koch, ii. 414, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, xiii. 263-264, &c.).
Petrus Herbert was one of the principal compilers of the enlarged edition of the Brethren's German Hymn Book published in 1566 as their Kirchengeseng, and contributed to it some 90 hymns. In the edition of 1639 there are 104 hymns marked as his. His hymns are distinguished by simplicity and beauty of style. A number are translations from the Bohemian. |
