Johann Philipp von Roth2602014

Johann Philipp von Roth

• *13 November 1754 – †13 June 1818• Baltic German origin• Studied in the universities of Königsberg (law) and Halle

(theology)• In 1780 was consecrated as a pastor of the congregation of Kanepi• Marriage on 18 September 1780• Husband to Beata Katharina Seefels (*1759 – †21.05.1818)• Had 12 children

Johann Philipp von Roth

• Participated in many scientific, educational and clerical unions• Was personally acquainted with the rector of the University of

Tartu – Georg Friedrich Parrot• Got along well with the people of Kanepi congregation• Was respected by the local landlords• Was the supporter and protector of the peasants• Appointed surnames (Estonian words) to the local peasantry

Johann Philipp von Roth’s school

• J. P. von Roth had the knowledge of the educational situation in Germany

• Founded the school for boys in Kanepi 1804– The new type of the parish school called Parochialschule– The Law of Peasantry 1819 accepted these schools in Livonia– The common subjects in the curriculum of the parish schools were

reading, writing, arithmetic, catechism– Additional subjects geography, history, singing, gymnastics, field

work, handicraft, model building

Johann Philipp von Roth’s school

• New curriculum and school organisation• A new method of interactive teaching used later in the Estonian

pedagogical science– The senior students taught the younger pupils– They all were supervised by the pastor

• The alumni of the school became schoolmasters and clerks in the manors

Johann Philipp von Roth’s school

• In the Estonian school history Kanepi parish school is mentioned as the first of this kind in Estonia

• The needlework school for poor girls was established by the pastor von Roth in 1811 (Armen- und Industrieschule)– The first educational establishment of the time for peasant girls

• Roth’s contemporaries highly evaluated 38 years of work of the pastor at Kanepi

St. John’s Lutheran Church

• Building initiated by Roth, construction began in 1804

• Architect – Friedrich Siegel• Church was completed in 1808• Consecrated in 1810 in the

name of St. John the Baptist

St. John’s Lutheran Church

• Holds the only Morning Star in Estonia (found during the restoration of 2002)

• Artist Adam Bauer finished the altarpiece „Jesus on the Cross“ in 1853

• The organ was set up in 1902 (made in Frankfurt)

The newspaper

• He, along with his brother and brother-in-law, published a newspaper for the peasant people „Tarto maa rahwa Näddali-Leht“ in 1806– Only 39 issues were published– Banned by the tsarist government due to its

liberalism

• His son Georg Philipp August von Roth had the first ABC book published in 1814

Achievements of Johann Philipp von Roth

• Founded a convention of clergymen of Võru in 1802• Compiled a handbook of local language and a book of songs in

1803• Translated the first Livonian Law of Peasantry in 1804 into the

South-Estonian Dialect• Kanepi parish was the first in Estonia to give surnames to

common people 1810• J. P. von Roth built the parish clerk house which has remained to

this very day

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