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WALTHER, RUDOLPH. 



WALTON, BUIAN. 



CM 



In 1626 Rudolph Christian, sovereign count of Ostfriesland, conferred 

 upon him the dignity of general superintendent of the Lutheran church 

 iu bis dominions. Several distinguished works on divinity which he 

 published during the course of these years had made his name known 

 in Germany, and the universities of Rostock and Wittenberg both 

 offered him a chair of divinity, which however he declined. However 

 in 1642 he accepted au invitation of Frederic, Duke of Brunswick- 

 Liiueberg, who appointed him general superintendent of the Lutheran 

 church in his duchy. He died at Zelle, on the 9th of February 1662. His 

 principal works are : 1, ' Hamus et Laqueus Salomonis/ 4to, Emden, 

 1628; 2, 'Officina Biblica/ 4to, Nurnberg, 1636; 4to, 1668. This 

 book shows the extensive learning of the author, and is of importance 

 with regard to the Apocrypha ; it also gives information on several 

 writings attributed to the Apostles which are not contained in the 

 New Testament. 3, ' Harmonia totius Sacrae Scripturae, sive Con- 

 ciliatio Locorum Veteris et Novi Testamenti apparenter sibi contra- 

 dicentium/ 4to, Nurnberg, 1637. This book ran through seven 

 editions in tho space of seventeen years. 4, ' Tractatus de Manna/ 

 12mo, Leiden, 1633; 5, ' Exercitationes Biblicae,' 4to, Nurnberg, 

 1638; 6, ' Quadragena Miscellanearum Theologicarum ; ' this book 

 was the forerunner of 7, ' Centuria Miscellanearum Theologicarum ; ' 

 4to, Nurnberg, 1646, in which the author discusses one hundred 

 difficult questions concerning divinity. Similar works are : 8, ' Liber 

 singularis Quaesitorum et Responsorum Theologicorum, per epistolas;' 



9, 'Spicilegium Controversiarum illustrium XXII. deDei Nominibus;' 



10, 'Postilla Mosaica, oder Erklaruug etlicher Historien, Fiirbilder, 

 und Spriiche ausden Fiinf Biichern Mosis; ' 11, ' Postilla Evangelica,' 

 &c. ; 12, 'Der Gvildene Schliissel des Alien, und der siisse Kern des 

 Neueii Testaments, das ist, Grundliche Erkliirung der tiefsinnigen 

 Epistel S. Pauli an die Hebraeer ; ' this book was much esteemed. 

 The learning of Walther was unanimously acknowledged, but the 

 length of his works and his want of taste in the arrangement of his 

 materials were condemned. Walther had a son, called MICHAEL 

 WALTHER, like his father, who was born at Aurich in 1638, and who 

 became professor of mathematics, and afterwards of divinity, in the 

 university of AVittenberg, where he died in 1692. He published 

 several good works both on mathematics aud divinity. The principal 

 are: 1, ' Disquisitio Mathematica de mutuis Siderum Radiatiouibus 

 quas vulgo Aspectus vocant,' 4to, Wittenberg, 1660 ; 2, ' De Harmonia 

 Musica ; ' 3, 'De Novo Legislatore Christo contra Socinianos et 

 Arminianos; ' several dissertations on comets, the golden number, 

 the torrid zone, on geographical longitude, &c. 



WALTHER, or GUALTE'RUS, RUDOLPH, was born at Zurich 

 in the year 1519. After having studied Protestant divinity in seve- 

 ral schools in Switzerland, he went to Marburg in Hesse, and made 

 himself known as a learned divine and an able negociator in those 

 politico-theological transactions which, according to the circumstances, 

 either troubled or quieted Germany during the 16th century. He 

 accompanied the landgrave, Philip the Magnanimous, of Hesse, to 

 the diet of Regensburg in 1541, and although he was rather young, 

 the landgrave put him at the head of the Hessian divines who were 

 present at the diet. At Regensburg, Walter made the acquaintance 

 of Melanchthon, Bucer, Sturm, and other eminent theologians. He 

 returned to Switzerland in the same year (1541), and was appointed 

 head-master of the Schola Carolina at Zurich ; in the following year 

 (1542) he was chosen minister at St. Peter in that town, where he died 

 in 1586. The principal works of Walther are : 1, 'Apologia Zvinglii.' 

 Walther became soon an adherent of Zwingli, and more than once 

 attacked Luther. 2, 'Monomachia Davidis et Goliath!:' this is a 

 poem written in Latin verse. 3, ' Homiliae in totum Novum Testa- 

 mentum,' published by Josias Simler, the divine, folio, Zurich, 1594. 

 He has also written 4, ' Homiliae in Joannis Epistolas : in 12 Pro- 

 phetas Minores ; in Matthaeum ; in Marcum ; iu Lucam ; in Acta 

 Apostolorum ; in Epistolam ad Romanes ; in Epistolam ad Corinthios ; 

 in Epistolam ad Galatas ; ' and a great number more. 5, ' Argumenta 

 omnium tarn Veteris quam Novi Testameuti Capitum ; ' the author 

 has made these arguments the subject of an elegiac poem, written in 

 Latin verse. 6, ' Nabales, Comoedia Sacra ex Samuele,' I. c. 25 ; and 

 several other Latin poems, among which there is one on the learning 

 of the German nobility. 7, ' Apologia ad Catholicam Ecclesiam pro 

 Ulrico Zvinglio, ejusdemque Operum Editione;' 8, ' Translatio Mosis 

 Pentateuchi, cum Argumentis, DiBpositionibus, et Explicationibus ; ' 9, 

 ' Ulrici Zvinglii Libri XXIV. ; ' this is a Latin translation of Zwingli's 

 sermons and other writings. 10, ' Wahrhaftig Bekenntniss des Kir- 

 chendienstes zu Ziirch mit gebiihrender Antwort auf Lutheri Ver- 

 dammniss und Schelten,' in German and Latin. Walther's name is 

 mentioned among the most eminent German divines of the 16th 

 century. Some say that the Latin version of the Bible by Vatablus 

 (Franois Watebled, or Gastebled, who died in Paris in 1547, and who 

 translated some books of Aristotle) is made by Walther. 



WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE, one of the most celebrated 

 of the old German Minnesangera, was born sometime between 1165 and 

 1170. His birth-place hi uncertain, but he was undoubtedly a German, 

 and most probably an Austrian, as it was at Vienna, he himself tells 

 us, that he acquired the art of poetry ; and he there found his first 

 patron in Duke Friedrich. His earliest poems were given to the 

 world about 1187, and he continued to produce them until 1227. 

 They are distinguished by a depth of feeling, a rich poetic colouring, a 



BIOG. DIV. VOL. VI. 



lively perception of the beauties of nature, a reverence for woman, 

 devout aspirations, and a nervous masculine strength. They are by no 

 means confined to minne, or love-songs. Though these preponderate in 

 the early part of his career, in his riper years he took a lively interest 

 in the welfare of his country, and hi his songs and poerns endeavoured 

 to awaken the patriotic feelings of his countrymen. He exhorted thetn 

 to support Philip of Swabia, as emperor, against Otto of Brunswick ; 

 he lamented over the disruption of the empire, and the decay of the 

 old customs, discipline, and manhood; he complained of the endea- 

 vours of the pope to take advantage of the civil contests in Germany 

 to extend the clerical powers ; and he called upon Philip to put an end 

 to all this confusion. He was of knightly rank, and after the death of 

 his first patron, Friedrich, he undertook a pilgrimage through Germany, 

 at length took up his residence at the court of Hermann, landgrave of 

 Thuriugia, and is said to have taken a part in the poetical contest of 

 the Meistersiingers on the Wartburg. On the accession of Friedrich 

 von Hohenstaufen in 1212, Walther was rewarded with a fief. In 

 some of his songs he praised his patron's princely virtues, and 

 exhorted him to repress the arrogance of the clergy ; but though an 

 opponent to the worldly ambition of the priests, he continued a pious 

 adherent of the church. In 1228-9 he took part in the crusade of 

 Friedrich II., aud is supposed about the same time to have composed 

 his poem of ' Freidank.' His death took place at Wiirzburg soon 

 after, where his monument was for a long time shown in the burial- 

 ground of the cathedral, but has now disappeared. By his contem- 

 poraries he was highly estimated ; Gottfried of Strassburg in his 

 ' Tristan ' calls him the master of song. 



His works have been often reprinted. L. Uhland has written an in- 

 teresting account of his life, and the character of his poetry, published 

 in 1822. Lachmann has edited the poems exceedingly well, twice, in 

 1827 and 1843 ; Karl Simrock has published a very successful transla- 

 tion of them from the old German, with explanatory notes by himself 

 and Wackernagel, in 1833; and in 1848 they were again translated 

 and annotated by F. Koch, from Lachmann's edition, wherein the 

 earliest known copies of the original had been followed. 



WALTON, BRIAN, a learned prelate of the English Church, and 

 editor of the Polyglott Bible known by his name, was born in 1600, at 

 Cleveland, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He entered first Mag- 

 dalen College, and afterwards Peter House, at Cambridge, and in 1623 

 took his degree of M.A. For a while he is said to have kept a school, 

 and at the same time, or afterwards, to have served as curate in Suffolk, 

 whence he removed to London, where he acted as curate at Allhallows, 

 Bread-street. He was then presented successively to the rectories of 

 St. Martin's Orgar, in Candlewick ward, London, and Sandon in Essex; 

 aud before 1639, at which time he. commenced D.D., he was prebendary 

 of St. Paul's and chaplain to the king. During the early years of the 

 quarrel between the king and the parliament, and the church and the 

 puritans, Walton made himself very conspicuous in the suits be- 

 tween the clergy and the citizens respecting tithes and other eccle- 

 siastical matters, and in other ways obnoxious to the winning party. 

 On the ascendancy of the puritans he was consequently treated with 

 much rigour. He was summoned before the bar of the House of 

 Commons as a delinquent, his livings were sequestered, and he himself 

 was compelled to fly. He took refuge in Oxford, and there in 1645 he 

 was incorporated D.D. At Oxford he formed tho plan of his famous 

 Polyglott Bible, and commenced the collection of the necessary 

 materials ; but it was not completed till some years after his removal to 

 London, whither he was permitted to return on the death of the king. 



Walton's Polyglott is in 6 vols. large folio. It was published by 

 subscription (being, it is believed, the first book printed in England iu 

 that manner), and the volumes came out in the following order : the 

 first volume in September 1654, the second in July 1655, the third in 

 July 1656, and the last three in 1657. "And thus," says Dr. Twells 

 (' Life of Pocock '), " in about four years was finished the English 

 Polyglott Bible, the glory of that age and of the English Church and 

 nation, a work vastly exceeding all former attempts of that kind, and 

 that came so near perfection as to discourage all future ones." Some 

 portions of this Polyglott are printed in seven languages, all open at 

 one view. No one book is given in nine languages, but nine languages 

 are used in the course of the work, namely, Hebrew, Chaldee, Sama- 

 ritan, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, Greek, and Latin. A vast 

 body of introductory matter is in the first volume, and the sixth is 

 made up of various readings, critical remai'ks, &c. Brian Walton was 

 assisted by a number of men who formed a constellation of Oriental 

 and general scholars, such as perhaps have appeared together at no 

 other period during the whole history of our country. One of these 

 men was Dr. Edmund Castell, who published bis ' Lexicon Hepta- 

 glotton ' in 1669, 2 vols. folio. This is a lexicon of the seven Oriental 

 languages occurring in Walton's Polyglott, and it has grammars of all 

 these languages prefixed. It generally accompanies the Polyglott, 

 which can hardly be pronounced complete without it. Walton's work 

 is by no means equal in appearance to the three preceding Polyglotts 

 (the Complutensian, the Antwerp, and the Parisian), but in point of 

 solid usefulness to the biblical scholar it is far beyond any one of them. 

 The eight volumes form an extraordinary collection of aids for study- 

 ing the original scriptures. Its history is recorded at length in Arch- 

 deacon Todd's ' Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Right Rev. 

 Brian Walton, D.D., Lord Bishop of Chester/ 2 vols. 8vo. London, 



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