UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Biographical notes

In Josef Quint's academic life, the changes caused by the war are particularly evident. After his return from the First World War, he was able to begin his studies at the University of Bonn. After lecturing at his home University, in 1938 he was appointed Ordinarius for Older German Philology at the University of Breslau. In 1944 Josef Quint was ordered to Russia as a soldier and was taken prisoner by the Soviets. His possessions, his library and a substantial part of his research material fell victim to the war in Wroclaw. The first researches Quint did after the war were followed in 1948 by the resumption of the Eckhart edition works at the newly founded "Saarland University", where he took over the chair of Germanic philology. After rejecting a call from the University of Tübingen, he returned to the Rhineland in 1955. He gave his inaugural lecture at the University of Cologne on February 23, 1956. In his time as professor at the University of Cologne, the first volume of Eckhart's "Sermons, vol. 1", appeared, followed by the "Traktate" in 1963. After the retirement of Josef Quint, the Sermons, vol. 2 were published in 1971 and Sermons, vol. 3 in 1976. Volume 4 was completed after Quint's death in December 1976 at the Catholic University of Eichstädt.

50 years Meister Eckhart-Research

In 1934, the "Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaft", the predecessor institution of today's Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), commissioned Josef Quint to edit the first scientific edition of Meister Eckhart's German works. A precondition for this editorial work, however, was the search and retrieval of manuscripts that the philologist could locate and receive in libraries at home and abroad. While initially only 45 "Eckhart manuscripts" were known, Quint's research brought another 250 to light. He documented his discoveries in three reports on the handwritten tradition of the German works of Meister Eckhart. Josef Quint's researches (quote in German) "(...) halfen die hochproblematische, teilweise verhängnisvoll brüchige Überlieferung, die nur aus Kopien von mit Missverständnissen, Entstellungen und Verderbnissen aller Art durchsetzten Hörernachschriften des gesprochenen Predigerwortes besteht, wenigstens relativ zu sichern. Auf dieser Basis (...) gelang es ihm, das entscheidende Problem der Authentizität der tradierten Texte, dem man bislang nur mit größter Skepsis und Hilflosigkeit gegenüberstand, auf denkbar beste Weise zu lösen und einen Wortlaug zu konstituieren, der sowohl den ursprünglichen Gedanken Eckharts als auch seine so charakteristische Prägung verlässlich wiedergibt." (From the obituary of the University of Cologne of 1.2.1977)

"Philologist against his will" - without reluctance

Josef Quint's profession was German medieval studies, but his passion was art. "Professors paint" is the title of an article in the Cologne student magazine "perspektiven", in which Professor Quint was also represented with a portrait of Privy Councillor Meißner. He had already drawn and painted with considerable success in his youth. His painting of Leonordo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", drawn at the age of 15, survived the war and today adorns the Helfta Monastery in Lutherstadt Eisleben. His family and friends also know him for his poems and compositions, which are now in the family's private estate. The scientific legacy of Josef Quint is now largely kept in the Cologne University Archive and in the Research Centre for Medieval Spiritual Literature at the University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

Eckhart von Hochheim was born around 1260 in Thuringia. He belonged to the Dominican Order. Before his order sent him to the University of Paris, he studied theology at the University of Cologne, probably also with Albertus Magnus, which is indicated by Eckhart's quotations. Eckhart belonged to the Dominican monastery in Erfurt, whose prior he became in 1294. In 1302 he was awarded his Master's degree ("Meister") in Paris. Like Thomas Aquinas earlier, he was honoured to hold the chair of the Dominicans, which was reserved for non-French citizens (1302/03 and 1311/12). In 1303 the Order elected him Provincial of the new Province of Saxonia. The written treatises and sermons in Latin and German constitute the main work of Meister Eckhart. His German sermons, which were the subject of Josef Quint's research, deal exclusively with the religious world, "in der nur Gott und die Seele Bedeutung haben" (in which only God and the soul have meaning) (Urban Plotzke).Among the most famous works are "Buch der göttlichen Tröstung" (Book of divine consolation) and the sermon "Vom edlen Menschen" (The noble man). 1328 Meister Eckhart died in Avignon.