Johannes Magirus the elder

Johannes Magirus (26 March 1537 – 4 July 1614) was a German Lutheran Theologian. Name change His name at birth, like that of his father, was Johannes Koch. The English language equivalent would be “John Cook”. At some point he renamed himself “Johannes Magirus”, reflecting an enthusiasm for classical culture that was common among many intellectuals of his time and place. Magirus (“Μάγειρας”) is the Greek word for “cook.” Life Johannes Koch was born in Backnang in Württemberg. and underwent an impoverished upbringing, supporting his mother Magdalena (born Magdalena Kurtz). As a boy he excelled at scholarship, especially in his study of Latin, raising concern on the part of a step father that he might be taken to Spain by Spanish soldiers of the Imperial army who were in Backnang in connection with the Schmalkaldic War between December 1546 and December 1549. He was removed from school and apprenticed in a craft trade for more than a year in order to divert attention from his academic prowess, but by 1553, at the unusually youthful age of just 16, he was studying Theology with a scholarship to the University of Tübingen. Continuing in his scholarly precocity, he became a Bachelor of