WINCKLER, JOHANN: German Lutheran and defender of Philipp Jakob Spener (q.v.); b. at Gol zern, near Grimma (17 m. s.e. of Leipsic) July 13, 1642; d. at Hamburg Apr. 5, 1705. His parents, who were poor peasants, self-sacrificingly had him educated at the school in. Grimma and at St. Thomas' in Leipsic, and at the University of Leipsic; but his poverty interrupted his university studies, and he became private tutor in Grimma, then in 1664 mas-
ter in Jena, and he delivered private lectures at Leipsic. He was with a son of Duke Philipp Ludwig of Holstein-Sonderburg at Tübingen, 1668-71, when began that acquaintance with Philipp Jakob Spener which had a decisive influence upon his life. In 1671 he was called to his first ministerial office in Homburg vor der HShe; in the following year he became superintendent in Braubach, and in 1676 court preacher in Darmstadt, in 1678 pastor in Mannheim, and in 1679 superintendent in Wertheim. In 1684 he was appointed chief preacher of St. Michael's in Hamburg, where he remained until his death. According to the unanimous testimony of his contemporaries Winckler had few equals as preacher, though his printed sermons make difficult reading because of the inserted excursuses. In several works he appears as a decided representative of the principles of Spener; but while defending in a bitter-controversy at Hamburg Spener's private conventicles, Winckler was not a blind follower, and maintained an independent position. He rendered great services to the cause of education, and several schools were on his initiative enlarged or newly founded. About 1688 he conceived the plan of a Bible society and himself took an active part in it by editing several editions of the Bible. Among his works mention may be made of: Bedenken über Kriegsmanns Symphonesis oder Bfiehlein von einzelnen Zusammenkiinfden der Christen (Hanau, 1679); Antwort auf Dilfelds Grundliche Erorterung der Frage von den Privatzusammenkfinften (1681); Sendschreiben an D. Hannekenium (Hamburg, 1690); Schriftmassiges and wohlgemeintes Bedenken (1693).
Bibliography: J. A. Fabrieius, Memorise Hamburgenses, iii. 351, Hamburg, 1711; J. Moller, Cimbria literata, ii. 990 sqq., Sleswick,'1687; J. Geffcken, Johann Wirtckler und die hamburgische Kirche in seiner Zeil, Hamburg, 1861; K. J. W. Wolters, in Gesammelte Vorerdge, ed. T. Schrader, pp. 143-216, ib. 1892; ADB, xliii. 365-373.
WINDESHEIM (WINDESEM), MONASTERY OF: A celebrated establishment situated at Windesheim (4 m. s. of Zwolle), the mother-house of a number of reformed cloisters of regular canons which flourished in the beginning and middle of the fifteenth century. Its history affords a glimpse into the reforming movement which in Holland, Germany, England, France, Bohemia, and even in Italy was a promise of the real Reformation. It stands in the closest relations with the Brethren of the Common Life (see CommoN LIFE, BRETHREN of THE), an organization which embodied in itself the impulses received from Geert Groote (q.v.). Jan Busch (q.v.), the author of the Chronicon Windeshemense, relates that Groote stated as his wish and counsel to his pupil and follower Florens Radewijns and his associates that they should seek to obtain in the founding of a monastery a center for the brethren and sisters who felt attracted by his (Groote's) personality. He also recommended the order of regular canons as that most suitable for their purposes. This choice is explicable from two standpoints. The times were not ripe for an association not founded on the rules and patterns then in existence. The Evangelical spirit was not then strong enough to stand on its own feet, the Church furnished still the legal spirit and forms. Further,
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A beginning was made when Berthold ten Hove (Have), a citizen of Zwolle in Salland, donated his patrimony "de hof to Windesem," for the future cloister. Hendrik van Wilsem, formerly assessor at Kampen, gave a piece of land. Other donations came in, and in 1386 it was decided to erect the monastery, in which Floria van Wevelinkhoven, the worthy bishop of Utrecht, showed interest. The six associates in the work were the two named above as making donations, Hendrik Klingebijl, Werner Keynkamp, Johannes van Kempen (Kempis), brother of the celebrated Thomas A Kempis (q.v.), and Hendrik de Wilde, all of them coming from the Brethren of the Common Life. Buildings for the purpose did not exist and must therefore be erected. The structures were begun in Mar., 1387, and the church was consecrated and the brethren were hooded on Nov. 17, of the same year. The vow of obedience was specifically made not to the bishop (of Utrecht) but to the superior who was to be chosen. At first Klingebijl, with the title of rector, assumed the direction; a year later Keynkamp became the leader with the title of prior. After about three years he resigned the position to Johannes Goswini Vos, who stamped his influence upon the order and gave it its unique significance.
Equally remarkable are the growth in wealth and the number of monasteries affiliated with Windesheim, while nunneries were founded which were governed by the same spirit. Among these may be named Marienborn near Arnhem (1392), Nieuwlicht near Hoorn in West Frisia (1392), while Eemstein was in close relations. These four combined in 1394 and formed a chapter, with Windesheim at the head and its prior the prior-superior of the order, and a yearly assemblage, approved by Boniface IX., May 16, 1395. By 1402 seven institutions were affiliated, by 1423 there were twenty-nine, twenty-four for men and five for women. In 1464 the chronicler speaks of an octogenari,2cs numerus, twenty-eight under the priorate of Johannes Vos (cf. Acquoy, iii. 1-232, for the list). The congregation won its first triumph at the Synod of Costnitz, where Prior Vos gained recognition as well as the favor of Martin V. by his defense of the Brethren of the Common Life against the attack of the Dominican Grabow. A second was that of the year 1435 in bringing about a reformation of the Augustinian cloisters in Germany. Epochal was the visit of Nicholas of Cusa (see CUSA) in celebrating his jubilee (1451). The cardinal's legation had as its purpose the initiation of a new religious-ethical life in Germany, especially in relation to the religious orders. Cusa appointed Jan Busch and Dr. Paulus, of the monastery of St. Mauritius at Halle, to visit the regular monasteries of Saxony, Thuringia, and Meissen, and to reform them in accordance with the statutes of the Windesheim congregation. The movement spread to the cloisters of other orders and beyond the limits of the region where it was initiated. A further result was the increase of in stitutions affiliated with Windesheim. But the Reformation brought to an end the significance of this monastery, though it lived on till the end of the sixteenth century, while the last prior-general, Constantinus Belting of Grauhoff near Goslar, died Jan. 17, 1807, and the last monastery (Frenswegen near Nordhorn) closed in 1809.
A point of importance is the connection with the Brethren of the Common Life, out of which Windesheim proceeded, with the spirit of which association it was in intimate sympathy. The distinction between the institutions of the Brethren and of Windesheim was that the tatter's reform was in the direction of the modern "devotion," the former rejected monastic rules and vows in order to a renewal of life in the common association of its members. The manner of living of the Brethren was often a door by which men entered the regular orders. On the other hand, the extension of the Windesheim congregation affected the Brethren by stimulating their zeal. Yet the Windeaheim purpose was by no means indulgence in ascetic practises to an unhealthy degree. While personal freedom in this direction was not disallowed, it is significant that the members did not recount the miracles of their associates. Yet there was a growing tendency to emphasize asceticism, a characteristic which comes out in Busch's account of such externals as the habit, method of singing, and the like to the exclusion of more important matters. A still further point of connection between the two orders is that the Windesheim people busied themselves in the making of books for their common use (not usually for commercial purposes). These activities were concerned with a correct text of the Bible, and with correct copies of the Fathers, especially of Augustine's writings; some of the members were celebrated for their work in this direction. But while the Brethren developed an independent literary purpose, in the monasteries an increasingly ascetic purpose robbed the results of much of their value, though they still rendered great service to following generations. Handicrafts, however, and to the extent of mercantile significance, were not unknown among them. The schools which they here and there conducted were of limited value because of their ecclesiastical character.
The reform of Windesheim did not contemplate a break with Rome; its direction was controlled by the forms and ideals of the Church of the, Middle Ages; it would befriend ethical purposes and control asceticism within sufferable bounds. So far as these failed in producing real reform, it was shown that the Church was awaiting and expecting mightier reformers. The Windesheim congregation forbade the possession and the reading of Lutheran books, and till its end remained true to the Roman
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