Andreas Osiander, Baptismal Order for the Imperial City of Nuremberg, 1524 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, 4 Liturg. 196#Beibd.1)

At the beginning of 1524 Andreas Osiander (1498–1552) wrote a new baptismal order for Nuremberg. It is part of various measures to reform the religious service regulations in Nuremberg, which were commissioned by the city council.

In the new version, Osiander translated the Latin Bamberg baptismal order which had been previously used in the Nuremberg church of Saint Lawrence into German. Nonetheless, the Bamberg regulations formed only the basis from which Osiander departed considerably. Prayers from Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) German baptismal booklet of 1523 and elements of other orders of baptism were also included. In particular, the detailed form of the exorcism of the baptisms, originating from mediaeval liturgy, is a special feature of Osiander’s work, although it did not occur in the Lutheran order.

The handwritten regulations were approved by the Nuremberg council and were first applied on 24 February 1524. Before August 1525, the order was already reproduced by the Nuremberg printer Jobst Gutknecht (d. 1548). The coat of arms of the imperial city of Nuremberg was also printed on the cover page. Osiander’s order had its effect on the Würzburg baptismal order of 1524 and on the “Tauffbuch deutsch Breslisch” (i.e. the German baptismal order) of Wrocław. The presumed author, Johann Heß (1490–1547), originally had moved from Nuremberg to Wrocław.

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