This is the location of the Lütetsburg, i.e. the burg (castle) of Lütet Manningha, who had this fortress built in the fourteenth century. One of his descendants was Unico Manningha. Unico was born in 1529 as the fourteenth child of Dodo Manningha and Sophia Ripperda. In 1549, Unico started studying at the University of Wittenberg in Germany, where he befriended the sons of Martin Luther. They presented him with a book in which their father had handwritten several notes. After his study, Unico returned to Ostfriesland and bought the Lütetsburg from his brother. Between 1557 and 1576, he had it rebuilt in Renaissance style. As a Calvinist, he also used the burg to offer asylum to Protestant refugees from the northern part of the Netherlands. One of these refugees was Philips van Marnix van Sint Aldegonde, the reputed author of the Wilhelmus (the Dutch national anthem), who wrote his De byencorf (The beehive), a satire about the Catholic church, while staying at the Lütetsburg. Unico Manningha died in 1588 at the Lütetsburg.
The book that Unico received as a gift from Luther’s sons was not just any book: it was a copy of Erasmus’ Latin translation of the New Testament, printed in 1527 in Basel, Switzerland, by Johann Froben. The first edition of this translation was already published in 1516, so even before Luther started the Reformation by publishing his theses in Wittenberg. According to Erasmus, the official Latin translation by the Catholic church (the so-called Vulgate) was incomplete, unclear, and at times incorrect. To justify his own translation, he added a Greek source text to his publication as well as detailed annotations about his translation decisions. Luther probably bought this copy, which was the fourth edition of Erasmus’ translation, in 1528.
Fairly soon after 1517, Erasmus and Luther had become opponents on principle. Like Luther, Erasmus objected to essential aspects of the Catholic church, but he mainly criticized its representatives and their unchristian behaviour rather than the doctrine of the church, and unity within Christendom was very important to him. Luther had other priorities.
Their differences are made clear in the margins of this book. Luther has annotated the text in about 470 different places. Sometimes he only underlined text, but he often wrote notes in the margin to explain or contradict Erasmus’ printed text. For example, Erasmus concludes the annotation of his translation of Lucas 2:14 with the comment (in Latin): “This should be enough, I think, for an honest reader.” Luther added in the margin (in Latin): “I am not an honest reader and you are not an honest writer.” All in all, Luther’s notes give a lively impression of his personality and his feud with Erasmus.
Unico Manningha did not have this book in his possession for very long. At some point between 1550 and 1555, he passed it on to Christoffel van Ewsum, a nobleman from the Ommelanden, who in turn gifted it to Regnerus Praedinius, headmaster of the Latin school in the city of Groningen. Praedinius wrote on the endpaper (in Latin): “After Lord Christoffel van Ewsum received this book from Unico Manningha, after Manningha had returned to the fatherland (i.e. Frisia), he passed it on as a gift to me. 1555.” Praedinius also added many notes to the book, even more than Luther. He enters into discussions with Luther and defends Erasmus’ points of view.
Eventually, this book ended up in the University of Groningen Library on 10 August 1724.
Authors: Myrthe Westra, Iris Loois, Adrie van der Laan
