Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/253

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SPEYER


215


SPILLMANN


Crusade at Speyer and won King Conrad III to the causo. Besides the four Sahan emperors, Phihp of Swahia, Rudolph of Habsburg, and the rival kings, Adolph of Nassau and Albert of Austria, are also buried in the cathedral. A lay brothcrlinod, the Twelve Brothers of Prayer, prayed without iiilerniis- sion in the cathedral, for the repose of the souls of these kings. Among the later bishops Matthias of Ramung (1464-78) should be especially mentioned for his reforming the clergy and people, and bringing new life into the diocese.

At the time of the Reformation several Diets were held at Speyer, the most important being in 1526 and 1.529. In 1526 theconditionof politicalaffairsenabled the Protestants to secure the relatively favourable de- cision that each constituent state should act in refer- ence to the matters contained in the Edict of Worms (1521) as it could an- swer to God and the emperor. But the action taken in 1529 was more decided : the Edict of Worms was to be executed, and the ecclesiastical innovations were to be abolished. Against this the Evangehcal constituents pro- tested. By the Ref- ormation the diocese lost two thirds of its chvirches and bene- fices. Bishop Eber- hard von Dienheim (1581-1610) sought to introduce the re- forms ordered by t}ie Council of Trent in the remaining terri- tory. The gains tem- „ .,„„„, porarily acquired Begun mioso; de,t

during the Thirty Years' War were nearly all lost by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). The diocese suffered greatly dur- ing the predatory wars of Louis XIV of France, and in 1689 the city and cathedral were burned. In 1794 the cathedral, which had been restored at great ex- pense, was once more ravaged by the lawless soldiery of the French Revolution. In 1801 that part of the diocese on the left bank of the Rhine had to be ceded to Mainz; in 1815 the diocese was assigned to Bavaria; in 1817 it received new boundaries in the Bavarian Concordat and was made suffragan of the new metro- politan Bamberg. By the liberality of King Louis I of Bavaria, the cathedral was suitably decorated (1846-53), the frescoes being done by Schraudolph. The area of the diocese corresponds to that of the Bavarian Palatinate of the Rhine. Dr. Michael Faulhaber, formerly a professor at the University of Strasburg, was appointed bishop in 1910. The dio- cese has 12 deaneries, 2.35 parishes, 6 curacies, 86 chaplaincies and vicarships, 377 secular clergy, and 10 regular clergy. The Catholic population is 413,- 481; the Protestant population is about 500,000. The diocese has also 1 Dominican monastery (Ogger- sheim), 1 Capuchin monastery (St. Ingbert), and 100 houses for nuns.

Remling, Gesch. der Bischdfe zu Speyer nebst Urkundenbuch (4 vols.. Mainz, lS.i2-54); Idem. Neuere Ge.ich. der Bwhofr zxi Speyer (Speyer, 1867); Geibsel, Der Kaiserdom zxi Speier, I-III (Mainz, 1828: 2nd ed., Cologne, 1876).

Klemens Loffler.

Speyer, Johann and Wexdelin vox, German printers in Venice from 1468 to 1477. They were among the first of those who, after 1462, left Mainz for Italy to introduce there the art of printing books.


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We have scant knowledge of their lives. They came originally from Speyer (capital of the Bavarian pa- latinate). Early in 1460-61 .Johann appears in Mainz as a "goldsmith" — it was there, no doubt, that he learned the art of printing books. In 1468, with his wife, children, and brother Wendelin, he .set out for Venice. The establishment of their printing house, the first in Venice, took place under the most favour- able auspices. The Venetian Senate extended a cordial welcome to Johann, and granted him a full monopoly of printing for five years. His first book, Cicero's "Epistote ad familiares", appeared in 1469. During the printing of Augustine's "De Civitate Dei" (1470) Johann died, and Wendelin completed it. The latter assumed control of the business after the death of Johann and carried it on successfully until 1477. About 1472 he associated with him the Ger- man printer, Johann von Koln. Together they issued seven works. Besides their great skill as printers, their extraordinary industry is worthy of note. Before Johann d icd , four great works had been issued: two editions of Cicero; Pliny; and one vol- ume of Livy. The "De Civitate Dei" had been begun. Within seven months eight hundred vol- umes were printed.

From 1470 to 1477 Wendelin issued over seventy great works (Italian and Roman classics, Fathers of Speyer i\^q Church, jurists,

etc.). Johann printed in an antique type modelled after the best Italian manuscript writ- ing, beautiful, and carefully cut. It is decidedly superior to the later antique type, which deteri- orated through desire to save space, and it is almost equal to the beautiful type of Jenson. Jo- hann's clear type and his entire technical execution are surprisingly perfect. In addition to this first type, Wendelin used five newly cut types of exquis- ite workmanship, among them three slender Gothic models, probably reduced to save space. His work showed the same correctness of text, beauty of print- ing, and evenness that had characterized Johann's. The latter was the first printer to number the leaves with Arabic figures, and was also the first who used the colon and interrogation point. In Wendelin's books appeared for the first time the so called catch-words (Kustoden) , that is to say he printed on the lower margin of each page the first word of the page following.

Denis, Suffragium pro J. de Spira (Vienna, 1794); Brown, Venetian Printing Press (London, 1891); Onoania, Art de I'im- primerie d Venise (Venice, 1895-6) ; Hahtwig and others, Fest- schrift zum SOOjahr. Geburlslage von Johann Gutenberg (Mainz, 1900), 342.

Heinrich W. Wallau.

Spillmann, Joseph, author, b. at Ziig, Switzerland, 22 April, 1842; d. at Luxemburg, 20 February, 1905. He attended the primarj' school and gymnasium of his native town, but feeble health necessitiited his leaving his studies and devoting himself to his father's busi- ness. At the age of sixteen he resumed his interrupted studies at the Jesuit college of Feldkirch. Having entered the Jesuit novitiate at Gorheim (1862), he was sent, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870), to France, to nurse the sick. Two years later, when his


h Soldiery in 1794; restored in the cntury