Other Events and Attributes:

• Life Event: 1508, Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; Set Up Print Shop in Wittenberg

Notes:

The Luther printer Rhau-Grunenberg
Letterpress signet from Rhau-Grunenberg
Letterpress signet from Rhau-Grunenberg
Letterpress signs from Rhau-Grunenberg
The Luther printer Rhau-Grunenberg Wittenberg, the city of Luther, the starting point and the center of the reformed movement for decades, turned out to be one of the most important printing and publishing places in Germany. At the beginning of the university stories was the plan to complete the equipment of the university by calling a book printer. The first real printer was Nicolaus Marschalk, born in Erfurt in 1502. However, he left the Leureca already in 1505 to dedicate himself as a diplomat in Mecklenburg services to practical life. In the meantime, the professors of a commercial printer in Leipzig (Martin Landsberg) used to bring their writings to pressure. The permanent establishment of a commercial printer was initially prevented by the Pest Epidemic.

He came from Erfurt, where he worked in the printing house Wolf Stürmers. He called himself according to his hometown Grünberg and Gronenberg (K), Grunenberg (k), Gruenenberg, Viridimotanus. Initially, his printing activities are closely related to the university and academic teaching. He printed text editions for the lecture, using Marschalk's type material. In 1516 Rhau-Grunenberg printed the "Theologia" for Luther for the first time. In 1517, however, Luther opened the world-shattering, revolutionary struggle with the one-sheet printing of the 95 theses, placarded at the castle church in Wittenberg. Probably this poster print of the 95 theses had also emerged from the press of Rhau-Grunenberg. However, with the increasing demand, the technical equipment of his printer proved to be inadequate. The old letters from Marschalk gradually became useless, the typeface and sentence remained unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, Rhau-Grunenberg was the one who made the typographic advance for the breakthrough of the Reformation. In a letter to xxx Luther complained about the print quality of Rhau-Grunenberg. With Melchior Lotter and Hans Lufft other printers came to Wittenberg, who took over the work of Rhau-Grunenberg. In 1524 the number of his works decreases and in 1525 his last works are published. His house also appears in the Wittenberg tax lists. On August 19, 1527, Luther wrote a letter to Spalatin in which, among other things,

The Rhau family
Since there are no civil status records from the time before the Thirty Years' War in Grünberg, no direct relatives can be proven here. But is a family Rau detectable since 1378 in Grünberg. A document from the year 1479 calls a "Rupert Rau". At the end of the 16th century three families lived in Grünberg called "Rau", all belonging to the urban upper class.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Rhau, Georg was born in 1488 in Eisfeld, Hildburghausen, Thüringen, Germany; died on 6 Aug 1548 in Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
2. Rhau, Johann was born in 1491 in Germany; died in DECEASED in Germany.