The Preachers’ Library of Breitenberg
Only a very few people in our parish are aware of the fact that there is yet another jewel that belongs to our parish, above and beyond our remarkable historical buildings and valuable organ: the Preachers’ Library of Breitenberg. Over the many centuries, the pastors of Breitenberg collected sermons and books and, along with gifts from their patron Graf zu Rantzau, donated their collections to the library. And thus a true gem in the making came about. The oldest and most valuable book in the collection dates back to 1493. Even with some damage, the Schedelsche Weltchronik (The World Chronicles by Schedel), is worth approximately €15,000 today. The second oldest book is a volume of collected judicial writings that dates back to 1507. This book came from Segeberg’s Augustine Choir Foundation (Augustiner-Chorherrenstift). Over the centuries a great many other books of antiquity and value have also been donated to the library, including some handwriting scores of baroque music. The list of the many valuable works contained in this library is practically endless!
The beginnings of this extensive library date back to 1565, which Johann Rantzau (1492-1565) donated his collection of the German Jenaer edition of Martin Luther’s sermons (bound in soft and fragile pigskin) to the church at Breitenberg. Graf Rantzau made the manor house of Breitenburg his entailed estate. He also became a devote Protestant, working together with his Danish colleagues on advancing the Lutheran cause. When Wallenstein’s troups attacked the Breitenburg 1627( during the Thirty Years’ War) the library was plundered.
In about 1635, further donations by Breitenberg’s deputy Heinrich Magens (1595-1640) expanded the initial donations considerably, thus enabling the collection to be genuinely called a library. This library remained in Breitenberg until the mid 1970s, when it was moved to Itzehoe and its management taken over by the church administration there.
Unfortunately, as the library grew over the years, it also fell into a state of disrepair. At Itzehoe, the books were first stored in the parish house, and thereafter were located to the basement of the church district administration building. Then in 2002, it was decided to move the library to the NEK archives in Kiel (after a general cataloguing and some pre-cleaning) in order to prevent further deterioration. This amazing library is now located there, now awaiting both the money and the volunteers necessary to bring it back to life. The value of this library is far from monetary alone: in contrast to many other parish libraries of the Schleswig-Holstein region, our library contains many rare and valuable volumes on subjects other than theology. Subjects like philosophy, philology, music, art and the arts, medicine, geography, local history and other historical subjects. Some of the holdings have been studied already, and one of the tracts on music has even been filmed! Such is the value of our library today.
Yet so much more is now needed, however, to bring this library fully back to life. Together, our Church Administration of Breitenberg, the Kiel Church Archives, the Nordelbische Church Library in Hamburg, have decided to carry out a project involving a full restoration and cataloguing of this library--to the degree possible. About €200,000 is needed to achieve this goal--some of which has already been realized. As much as possible the Breitenberger preachers’ library should get restored and catalogued, that one could have excess to it wire internet for doing research. The first step is already done – a small amount of money is at deposal. As a matter of fact the scientist in music Professor Küster from the University of Freiburg found some unknown short pieces by Dietrich Buxtehude.
You never know which hidden secrets might be discovered!
But money is not our only need. Equally important is the interest of our parishioners and friends and your willingness to become involved if you can. Volunteers can contribute greatly to this restoration project. By volunteering to help, volunteers can help cut costs, for example, by helping to clean the books. Even a single volunteer or two would be a great help. Just think of how much progress could be made if one volunteer could retrieve and return the books, while another volunteer engages in cleaning them!
Please do let us know if you are willing to help. We would love to hear from our parishioners and others regarding their interest in and regard for this truly amazing library!
Dr. Joachim Stüben, Nordelbische Church Library
(Translation: Heidi Zierau, Altenberge, Germany)
