Logo

24 Facts About Magdalena Heymair

1.

Magdalena Heymair was a teacher and Lutheran evangelical poet who wrote in the Middle Bavarian dialect.

2.

Magdalena Heymair is the first and only woman prior to the 18th century to publish pedagogical writings for elementary teaching.

3.

Magdalena Heymair is the first woman to have her works listed as heretical in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

4.

Magdalena Heymair was born in Regensburg and raised in the Roman Catholic faith.

5.

Magdalena Heymair apparently became a teacher herself to supplement the family's meagre income.

6.

Heymair's writings are dedicated to "numerous, mostly noble ladies" including Katharina von Degenberg, born von Freyberg, and Magdalena vom Wolffstein, born von Degenberg.

7.

Magdalena Heymair obtained a position as a schoolmistress at a girls' school in Cham.

8.

Magdalena Heymair corresponded with Nicolaus Gallus, a leader of the Lutheran Reformation in Regensburg, and was a close friend of the town's preacher, Willibald Ramsbeck.

9.

Magdalena Heymair used the settings of children's poet Nikolaus Herman as a model for her compositions.

10.

Wilhelm Magdalena Heymair applied unsuccessfully for employment in Amberg, and it has been assumed that he died not long afterward.

11.

Magdalena Heymair continued to write and publish as well as teach.

12.

Magdalena Heymair wrote her works in the Middle Bavarian dialect.

13.

Magdalena Heymair drew upon works of poets and composers such as Ludwig Helmbold, Paul Hofhaimer, Heinrich Isaac, Jakob Regnart, Hans Sachs, Ludwig Senfl, and Johann Walter.

14.

Magdalena Heymair differed from others of her time in using secular as well as religious songs as settings for her religious verses.

15.

Magdalena Heymair is the first and only woman whose pedagogical writings, specifically written for elementary teaching, were published before the 18th century.

16.

Magdalena Heymair took material from Biblical history and transformed it into a childlike rhyming form suitable for elementary teaching.

17.

Magdalena Heymair structured her songs into stanzas to make them easier to memorize.

18.

Magdalena Heymair developed her own teaching materials, setting biblical passages to music.

19.

Magdalena Heymair wrote five books of biblical songs, and other songs for girls.

20.

Magdalena Heymair mediated the biblical texts, emphasizing women of the Bible and the role of women in the New Testament and the Book of Acts.

21.

Magdalena Heymair justified her writing as an exercise of the priestly right and responsibility that, according to Lutheran belief, belonged to all Christians.

22.

Magdalena Heymair saw it as both an act of service to others, particularly "women, maidens, and children", and an act of thanksgiving to God.

23.

Magdalena Heymair was the first woman whose works were placed on the Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

24.

Magdalena Heymair is listed as "Magdalena Haymairus" in the first class of heretical writers as early as 1569.