PETER OF DIEBURG

Also known as Dieppurch; chronicler of the Hildesheim house of the Brethren of the Common Life; b. Dieburg, east of Darmstadt, Germany, c. 1420; d. Hildesheim, 1494. Dieburg is known chiefly as the author of the annals (1440–94) of the house of the brethren of the common life in Hildesheim. These Latin annals, which are generally dependable, begin in 1440, the year the Brethren were founded at Hildesheim. They lived first in the Luremanshof in the Old Market, then purchased the Löchtenhof in 1443. Shortly before 1440, Dieburg had joined the Brethren in Herford; in 1440 he went to Hildesheim as a novice. He worked first as a kitchen helper, then as a copyist. After ordination, he became rector of the Hildesheim house in 1476 or 1477 and remained in office until his death, even though he tried to resign in 1491 because of his age. While rector, he maintained strict discipline, putting an end to the high-handed dealings of some of the Brethren.

A domus scolarium, or college, where students were boarded and educated by the Brethren, was founded during his rectorship. As in other houses of the Brethren, e.g., in Deventer and in Emmerich, the school aimed mainly—or even exclusively—at giving religious training to suitable young candidates for the community, or at least at inculcating a pious way of life in every student. Actual scholastic instruction was usually left to others. While Dieburg was in office, new houses of Brethren were founded from Lüchtenhof—one in Magdeburg (1482) and one in Berlicum in Friesland (1483), although the Friesland house perished in 1488. Dieburg was a pious, modest man who lived and acted entirely in the spirit of the devotio moderna.

Bibliography: Annalen und Akten der Brüder des Gemeinsamen Lebens im Lüchtenhofe zu Hildesheim, ed. r. doebner (Hanover 1903). e. barnikol, Bruder Dieburgs deutsches Christentum (Eisleben 1933). k. algermissen, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 8:361.

[w. j. alberts]