Hans von Ungnad
Austrian statesman and printer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans von Ungnad (1493–1564) was 16th-century Habsburg nobleman who was best known as founder of the South Slavic Bible Institute established to publish Protestant books translated to South Slavic languages.
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Hans von Ungnad | |
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| Born | November 19, 1493 |
| Died | December 27, 1564 (aged 71) |
| Other name | Ivan Ungnad |
| Occupation | 16th-century Habsburg nobleman |
Military career
In 1540 Ungnad had been appointed on the position of Captain General of Lower Austria (modern-day Slovenia), Croatia and other Habsburg estates.[1] The main threat to the territory he was responsible for was the Ottoman Empire and its forces in Ottoman Bosnia.[1] He believed that the best way to confront it was to spread the Protestantism to the very gates of Istanbul.[2] In 1555 he refused to execute anti-Protestant measures requested by Ferdinand I, resigned his position and opted for voluntary exile in Germany.[3]
South Slavic Bible Institute
The South Slavic Bible Institute[4] (German: Südslawische Bibelanstalt)[5] was established in Urach (modern-day Bad Urach in Germany) in January 1561. Baron Ungnad was its owner and patron.[6] Ungnad was supported by Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, who allowed Ungnad to use his castle (former convent) of Amandenhof near Urach[7] as a seat of this institute.[8]
Baron Ungnad was interested in Protestant proselytism propagated by Primož Trubar and attended the session of German theologians held in Tübingen in 1561.[7] At that occasion Ungnad, probably instructed by Duke Christoph, agreed that he would take responsibility for publishing Slavic books.[7]
Within the institute, Ungnad set up a press which he referred to as "the Slovene, Croatian and Cyrillic press" (German: Windische, Chrabatische und Cirulische Trukherey).[6] The manager and supervisor of the institute was Primož Trubar.[6] The books they printed at this press were planned to be used throughout the entire territory populated by South Slavs between the Soča River, the Black Sea,[9] and Constantinople.[10] Until 1565 were published thirty titles with over 30,000 copies.[11] Today exist only 300 books. Translations of Bible texts were inspired by glagolitic tradition. Thirteen books were printed in glagolitic, nine in Latin, and eight in Cyrillic script.[12] Trubar had idea to use their books to spread Protestantism among Croats and other South Slavs[13] and even among Muslims in Turkey.[14] For this task, Trubar engaged Stjepan Konzul Istranin and Antun Dalmatin as translators for Croatian and Serbian.[15]