Johann Esdras Edzard was the
third known son of Esdras Edzardi and Angelika Leß Edzard. Johann’s parents had
married in 1657 and he was born 23 June 1662 in Hamburg. Young Johann attending school during
his early years at Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums (Academic School of the
Johannuem), a Gymnasium (grammar or high school) in Hamburg, Germany. The school focused on teaching young children
Latin and ancient Greek languages. Also
at Johannuem were his older brothers Jodocus Pancratius Edzard (born 1659) and
Georg Eliezer Edzard (born 1661).
After his early education, he was
sent away from Hamburg by his father to further prepare for theological
work. He spent time at universities in
Germany and Switzerland, specifically studying at Gießen in 1683 and Rostock in 1684.
His enrollment record at the University of Rostock was recorded in July
1684, the summer semester. He was
enrollee number 28 of 55 in 1684 while his brother Jodocus Pancratius Edzard
was enrollee number 27. They were each
notated as originating in Hamburg. While
in Rostock, Johann was a private docent.
He graduated in 1685 and by 5 May 1685 was in Hamburg and among
candidates for the Lutheran ministry.
Though no documentation exists, Johann may have achieved his doctorate
at Rostock (Jesper Swedberg notes many times in his autobiography that Johann
Esdras Edzard was known as Dr. Edzard or Dr. Edzardus).
Looking south across the Warnow
River at the city of Rostock, about seven miles south of the Baltic Sea (H. P.
Haack).
In 1686, Johann was appointed as
pastor of the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, the oldest Lutheran
church in London, England. This church had
received a Royal Charter in 1672 from King Charles II to accommodate German
Lutheran merchants (mostly from Hamburg) living in London. This Lutheran church was given the site of
the former Holy Trinity the Less church that had been destroyed in the 1666
Great Fire of London. The German
Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, named in honor of the former church located at
that site, building was completed in 1673 and was located in Queenhithe ward at
the eastern end of Knightrider Street on the south side. The church was known by many names such as
the Lutheran Trinity Church, the Protestant Lutheran Church, the Lutheran
Church in Trinity Lane, the High German Lutheran Church, and the true
Protestant High German Lutheran Church.
The previous pastor of the German
Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane was Swede John Barkman. He had been pastor there since 1672. At Barkman’s death in 1686, the church
recruited Johann Esdras Edzard as their new pastor. Johann worked with church vestrymen Theodore
and Jacob Jacobsen, sons of a Hamburg silk merchant and housemaster of the
London Steelyard. They were original
members and founders of the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane. The church was known to have actively assisted
German countrymen who were preparing journeys to the New World (America) via a
stop in London. Also the church was
known to follow the Lutheran principle – “faith, not nationality, ties
Christians together.”
Queenhithe Ward on the north side
of the Thames River. The Lutheran Church
is identified in this 1756 London map on the south of Trinity Lane, which is an
extension of Knightrider Street.
The Lutheran Church on Trinity
Lane in London
Johann was married to Agneta
Brodermann of Hamburg. She was born in
1662 and was the daughter of Hamburg native Diedrich Brodermann and Margaretha
Held. The location of their marriage is
unknown but since Agneta’s father was born and died (1676) in Hamburg, the
marriage was likely in Hamburg and occurred between 1685 and 1690. They had the following known children:
·
Esdras Theodore Edzard, born 1691 in London
·
Angelica Margaretha Edzard, born 1692 in London
·
Gustav Jacob Edzard, born 1694 in London
·
George Eberhard Edzard, born circa 1694 to 1695
in London
1691 Baptismal
Record of Esdras Theodore Edzard
The naming pattern for Johann’s
children reveals some interesting information.
Obviously, Johann named his first known son after his father
Esdras. Theodore could have been used to
honor Johann’s vestryman at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane – Theodore
Jacobsen. Johann’s second known son was
given the name middle name Jacob which could have honored another vestryman at
the church and brother of Theodore – Jacob Jacobsen. Johann’s daughter was named after both his
own mother and his wife’s mother. And
certainly George was named after Johann’s brother George Eleazer Edzard.
Many of the records left by
Johann Esdras Edzard (at least those that are available to this researcher) are
in the form of signed certificates verifying the acceptance of sacraments (the
Lord’s Supper). Lutheran pastors
administered physical sacraments with God’s word to offer assurance that sins were
forgiven and that salvation was eternal.
Johann’s recorded sacraments (the ones I have seen) were given to Gerrard
Muysken (1690), Elizabeth Muysken (1690), John Dorryes (1690), Carl Isaacs
(1690), John James Nicolai (1692), Henry Sperling (1695), David Langenmantel
(1698), Reinier Sbuelen (1698), Hans Jacob von Strassen (1699), Servas Latomus
(1699), John Nieman (1700), Baltzar Lyell (1700), John William Lutkens (1700), and
Samuel Reimers (1700). Other records
reveal that Johann Esdras Edzard signed recommendations for congregation
members to travel. On 25 September 1705,
Johann recommended Esdras Marcus Lichtenstein and his son to Hamburg. On 28 March 1706, he recommended Frederick
Pasdorff and Christopher Wilkins to Holland.
And on 16 May 1706, Johann recommended John Neiman, Daniel Kroger, George
Prigg, George Seidell, Gethard Lupkins, son Gustav Edzard (12 years old), and
himself to Holland.
On 17 May 1693, Johann Esdras
Edzard (the record states Mr. John Esdras Edzard) received passes for his
family to travel to Gravesend, England and Hamburg, Germany. Those who received passes included his wife
Angelika, two children (Esdras Theodore Edzard – born 1691 – and Angelica
Margaretha Edzard – born 1692), an unknown man, and a maid servant (Calendar of
State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of William and Mary, volume 4, page
141). Gravesend was located at the mouth
of the Thames in London and may have been a port of embarkation for the
group. Their ultimate destination was
certainly Hamburg to visit family and work that would have been related to
Johann’s church or his education.
As a pastor in London, Johann
wrote sermons that would be heard and read by Lutherans in London and across
Europe. These sermons were written in
German and also translated into the English language. In 1696, F. Collins of London printed a 26
page sermon delivered by Johann Esdras Edzard on 16 April 1696 to his
congregation at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane. James Knapton, who was involved in many
published theological and religious books, presented the sermon to Collins to
be printed at the Crown in St. Paul’s Church Yard.
Another Johann Esdras Edzard
sermon was printed and published in 1702.
This sermon was known as “God Save
the Queen! The Most Hearty Acclamations of the Lutherans in London, Expressed
at the Royal Proclamation and Coronation of Her Most Sacred Majesty Queen Anne;
By the Grace of God, Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender
of the Faith” and was delivered to
Johann’s German Lutheran Church congregation in Trinity Lane. The translation from German to English was delivered
by publisher Thomas Bennet to printer F. Collins at the Half Moon in St. Paul’s
Church Yard.
Johann was both similar and different
to his father Esdras Edzard. Unlike his
father, Johann held the position of pastor.
Yet Johann also sought to convert Jews to the Christian belief so that
their souls could be saved and find eternal rest in Heaven. When Johann Edzard was in Strasbourg,
Germany, he met a Jew who feared for his life due to his beliefs. The discrimination of Jews was common in
Germany and across Europe. This particular
Jew reported that Johann “begat me into Christ utterly convincing and
faithfully instructing me and by the grace of God, made me a member of the
church of Christ presenting me to his congregation where I delivered my confession
and was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” In another account, Johann happened to meet a
rabbi named Yom Tov of Prague who was visiting London in 1693. This Jew, who changed his name to Theodore
John, reported “like a spiritual father (Johann Edzard) begat me into Christ,
utterly convincing and faithfully instructing me.” One source reported that (Esdras) Edzard’s
son (John Esdras Edzard), a preacher in London, brought several Jews to a
knowledge of Christ (History of London Society for Promoting Christianity
Amongst the Jews from 1889 to 1908).
The method Johann used to convert
Jews revolved around convincing Jews of the “gross and blind errors of Judaism
and of their vain waiting for the Messiah.”
Johann instructed that all Jewish doctrine was incorrect and that
waiting for the Messiah was a waste of time since the Messiah had already
come. Johann produced his own baptismal
catechism that included fifty four questions which persons baptized must answer
with agreement. These questions dealt
with the New Covenant, the Virgin Birth, the meaning of baptism, and mostly – the
true Messiah. The emphasis on Jesus
Christ as the Messiah was nothing new to Lutherans however Johann’s distinctive
approach featured the profound emphasis on the Messiah.
Johann Esdras Edzard was not the
only Esdras Edzard offspring that followed their father into Lutheran
supportive professions. Johann’s oldest
brother Jodocus Pancratius Edzard, as a student, traveled to German cities
densely populated with Jews. His goal –
to dispute religious beliefs. He even
visited the famous Rabbi Abendada at his Frankfurt synagogue to discuss
theology. While traveling, he oversaw
the conversion of many Jews. His work
prepared him for a return to Hamburg where he worked with his father converting
Hamburg Jews. Brother George Eliezer
Edzard first became a professor of history, Greek, and oriental languages and
later Rector at the Akademischen Gymnasium (Academic High School) in Hamburg. He produced transcriptions of Jewish texts and
other Lutheran pamphlets from German to Latin.
Youngest brother Sebastian Edzard followed his older brothers to
Wittenberg, enrolling there in 1694. The
next year he worked at Wittenberg as an adjunct philology faculty member. He
then accepted a job as professor of logic and metaphysics at the Akademischen
Gymnasium in Hamburg where he worked alongside brother George. His spare time was spent as a missionary to
convert Jews and was credited with 24 conversions.
On 15 May 1705, Theodore Jacobsen,
a founder and vestryman at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, brought
charges against Johann Esdras Edzard and others as defendants. The complaint and trial specifics are unknown
as are the remaining players named as plaintiffs and defendants. Theodore Jacobsen and his family were
merchants who were charter members of the first Lutheran Church in London. The Jacobsen family ran the London Steelyard
where Jacob Jacobsen served as housemaster from the 1660s until 1680 when his
brother Theodore attained leadership.
Grandmother Angelika Edzard died
in 1688 when Johann was 26. Though he
experienced the loss of siblings when he was a child, the first of his adult
siblings to pass to heaven was his oldest brother Jodocus Pancratius Edzard who
died in 1703 during just his 44th year.
However, perhaps the greatest loss was in 1708 when his father Esdras
Edzard died at an advanced age.
Fulham to Queenhithe (location of
the German Lutheran Church) map
Eric Alstrin (1683-1762)
Johann signed recommendations in
his role as minister of the German Lutheran Church. These recommendations appeared to have been
related to travel. On 16 May 1706,
Johann Esdras Edzard signed recommendations for John Neiman, Daniel Kroger,
George Prigg, George Seidell, Gethard Lupkins, and two others. On the same day, he signed a recommendation for
himself and his 11 or 12 year old son Gustav Jacob Edzard. The record revealed that these men were
destined to travel to Holland.
At Johann’s home in Fulham, Eric
Alstrin (1683-1762) was asked to reside with his family and serve as tutor for
Johann’s sons Esdras Theodore Edzard, Gustav Jacob Edzard, and George Eberhard
Edzard (this was between 1709 and 1712).
For Alstrin’s service, Johann taught the young man oriental languages
(Johann had many visitors who visited him to learn oriental languages, such as
Jesper Swedberg). The education would
serve Alstrin well as he would later become a Swedish professor and Bishop of
Strangnas, Sweden. Alstrin was just one
of many scholars who lived with the Johann Esdras Edzard family. For example, another Swede named Martin
Hegardt resided at the Edzard Fulham home (also between 1709 and 1712) and was
later elected pastor in a Lutheran Protestant church, ordained by Johann Esdras
Edzard, named professor of theology at Lund University in Sweden, and chosen to
host Swedish King Charles XII in his home for two years (A Study of the
Documentary Sources of His Biography, Covering the Period of His Preparation
1688-1744, Alfred Action, 1958). Hegardt
was naturalized by oath in Westminster, London in 1710 at the same time as
German Agneta (Brodermann) Edzard (assumed to be the wife of Johann Esdras
Edzard) and German Lutheran theologian Balthasar Mentzer (records from Letter
of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland).
Henry
Compton (top), Balthasar Mentzer (middle), and the 1713 City of
London Tax Record for Portsoken (bottom)
According to London tax records,
Johann owned a living in house at Portsoken which was less than a half mile due
west of Johann’s church. However, late
in the same year, Johann Esdras Edzard died in London at the age of just 51
years. The most accepted date for his
death was 15 November 1713 (also found to be 4 November 1713 and 10 May
1714). His will was written 28 April
1713 and he stated:
In the name of the holy
and ever blessed trinity I John Esdras Edzard of the parish of Saint Michael
Queenhith London, minister to the High German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane
being through God’s mercy in health of body and of a sound and perfect mind
considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the hour thereof and
being unwilling to dye intestate do make this my last will and testament by
which I remit my soul to God my maker and creator hoping through the full and
everlasting merit of Jesus Christ my dear and blessed savior to receive a full
and free pardon and remission of all my great and manifold sins whatsoever
wherewith I have offended his dreadful majesty fully assured of his grace and
mercy in his dearly beloved son towards all penitent sinners according to the
infallible dictates of his holy spirit in the gospel I remit my body to the
earth to be buryed without any pomp in the vault of the Lutheran Church at the
discretion of my son Esdras Theodor Edzard…
He gave “…to the poor of the said
Lutheran Church ten pound sterling in money to be distributed amongst them at
the discretion of the said my son…” Also
he gave “…further ten pound in books towards the erecting of a small library
for the use of the minster schoolmaster or any member of the congregation more
particularly towards the information of the poor children in the German
language and Christian religion.” He
revealed that he had assets “in the Bank of England (central bank of England,
London), East Indian Company (a joint stock company, London), South Seas
Company (a joint stock company, London), the Queen’s Exchequer (London), the
Emperor’s Loan (London), and the Admirable Society for a Perpetual Assurance
(the first life insurance company in the world, London).” All those assets were given to his three
sons. And, a wife was not
mentioned. Some histories report her
death as 1721 but since she was not mentioned in the will, she must have died
prior to 1713. A funeral oration was
written for Johann Esdras Edzard by another Lutheran pastor in London -
Balthasar Mentzer.
Who was Balthasar Mentzer? He was actually Balthasar Mentzer IV, son of a German theology professor. Mentzer was tutored by Esdras Edzard in Hamburg, Germany and became a German Lutheran theologian. He traveled throughout Germany, Holland, and England. In London, he preached to German Lutheran congregations and became the successor of Johan Esdras Edzard after his death. Mentzer attempted to publish a British Church History started previously by Johan Esdras Edzard but he was unable to find a publisher to complete the book.
Balthasar Mentzer IV
Who was Balthasar Mentzer? He was actually Balthasar Mentzer IV, son of a German theology professor. Mentzer was tutored by Esdras Edzard in Hamburg, Germany and became a German Lutheran theologian. He traveled throughout Germany, Holland, and England. In London, he preached to German Lutheran congregations and became the successor of Johan Esdras Edzard after his death. Mentzer attempted to publish a British Church History started previously by Johan Esdras Edzard but he was unable to find a publisher to complete the book.
After the death of Johann
Esdras Edzard, his sons were less productive and therefore, harder to
track. Gustav Jacob
Edzard married Astrea (unknown surname), lived Covent Garden where he
attended St. Paul Church, lived later at Cordwainer, London where he attended
St. Mary Aldemary Church, and had at least one son Gustav born about 1722 and
one daughter Anna Maria born about 1730.
George Eberhard Edzard, like Gustav, lived
at Covent Garden, Middlesex where he was married to Ann (unknown surname) and
had at least one son named John Edzard (who was born about 1714 and died young
about 1718). Esdras Theodore Edzard moved
to Norfolk and led an interesting life that was led him across the Atlantic
Ocean…
This man’s name has been
variously recorded in many different forms: Johann Esdras Edzard was also
called Edzard, Johann E. Edzardi, Joann Ezra [Zedler] Edzardi,
Joannes Ezra Edzardi, Johann Esdras Edzardi, Johann Esdra Edzardi, John Esdras
Edzardi, Johann Ezra Edzardi, John Esdras Edzard, John Esdras Edzard, John
Esdra Edzard, Johann Esdra Edzard, Johann Ezra Edzard, John Esdras Edzard, Jean
Esdras Edzard, and Ioannes Esdras Edzardus.
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