Jiří Černý

7.8 Child Education in the 16th Century (Paper)

Jiří Černý – Department of Art Education, Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

Abstract:

Nikolaus Herman was a prolific author. He worked in the mining town of Jáchymov from around 1522. At the time, the town was flourishing, ranking as the second largest in Bohemia after Prague. It could therefore afford to host many intellectuals. Herman – a cantor, teacher, songwriter, and translator who was in contact with Martin Luther – was one of them.

Although Herman was one of the best-known authors of the 16^th century, and his songs can still be found in Protestant hymnals today, we enter largely uncharted territory when attempting to study his work. An unexpected territory opens up with his booklet from 1526, which consists of several parts. The main part, entitled A Stern Judgement from God (Eyn gestreng vrteyl Gottes), uses a number of biblical passages to illustrate how young children should be raised. It offers parents advice on making children obedient and administering chastisement. It may come as a surprise that Herman takes a differentiated view of corporal punishment. 

The treatise is followed by Herman’s translations, including a German version of Plutarch’s treatise De liberis educandis. This paper will examine how this Lutheran intellectual engaged with traditional biblical texts and what conclusions he drew from the biblical passages he collected. 

Herman’s work offers an opportunity to explore the opinions of a generation that might be described as ‘print natives,’ drawing a parallel to the modern concept of ‘digital natives.’ These individuals were integrated into a broad network of contacts and lived during a time of significant upheaval marked by media transformation. Although Herman is admittedly not orientated towards visual culture, his texts belong to an older, now largely forgotten tradition that underpins our contemporary understanding of education.