Rothbart, also historically written Rotbart, Rottbart, Rothbarth and Rotbarth, and in Low German sources as Rodebart, Rodebarth, Rodtbart, Rodbart, Rodebard and related forms, is a surname of German origin, derived from a descriptive name meaning "red beard", from Middle High German rôt ("red") and bart ("beard").
Historical sources show considerable variation in spelling, and individual families and regional groups may appear under several forms of the name. In northern Germany in particular, the Low German element rode frequently occurs in place of rot or roth. Parish records from Rügen preserve forms including Rodebart, Rodebarth, Rodtbarth, Rothbart, Rothbard, Rothbardt and Rotbart within the same local population.
Documented lines and bearers of the Rothbart name are recorded in several parts of Central Europe, including the German states, Austria and the territory of present-day Slovakia. Historical bearers of the name were active in church administration, architecture, the arts, agriculture, commerce, court service and politics.
Among the best-documented lines is a family originating in Roth am Sand in Middle Franconia, which later settled in Nuremberg and became closely associated with the court of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Members of this line served as artists, architects and senior court officials and produced works associated with Prince Albert, Queen Victoria and other members of the Coburg dynasty.
Another documented line was established in Land Hadeln and Jever during the Reformation. Four successive generations—Laurentius Rodtbart, Peter Rothbart, Christoph Rothbart and Vitus Barbarossa—served as Lutheran pastors, superintendents, theological writers and church administrators between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Historical forms of the name
The spelling of the surname was not historically fixed. In addition to Rothbart, Rotbart, Rottbart, Rothbarth and Rotbarth, historical records contain forms including Rothbardt, Rothbard, Rodtbart, Rodbart, Rodebart, Rodebarth, Rodtbarth, Rodthbart, Rohtbart, Rodebahrt and Rodebahrd.
The same family or regional group could appear under several forms. The scholarly register to the sixteenth-century church ordinances of Lower Saxony, for example, records the Jever clergyman Peter under the forms Rodebart and Rodtbart, while his matriculation at the University of Wittenberg records Petrus Rodbart Hadelowenensis.
Particularly extensive variation is documented on the island of Rügen. The baptismal registers of Gingst contain the forms Rodebart, Rodebarth, Rohtbart, Rodtbarth, Rothbart, Rothbardt, Rothbard, Rodebahrt, Rodebahrd and Rotbart during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Parish records from the Wittow peninsula similarly contain Rodebart, Rodebarth, Rodbart, Rodbarth, Rodthbart and Rothbart.
Some historical bearers also used translated or learned equivalents rather than ordinary spelling variants. Members of the Jever–Land Hadeln clerical family used Barbarossa alongside Rodtbart/Rothbart, while Franz Rotbart is recorded in Latin as Franciscus Aenobarbus. Both forms reproduce the meaning "red beard".
Medieval attestations
Forms of the name are documented in northern Germany during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest securely documented bearers was Bernhard Rodebart, a vicar of the collegiate church of St. Johann in Osnabrück. He appears repeatedly in the medieval cartulary of the foundation during the 1340s and 1350s. In 1341 and 1355 he is recorded among the vicars of St. Johann, while a document of 1354 likewise names Bernhard Rodebart together with Bernhard von Haren and Godeword von Meppen.
Bernhard had died by 1371. On 14 May of that year, the judges and aldermen of the Neustadt of Osnabrück recorded the sale of an annual rent to the chapter of St. Johann for the memorial of the deceased Bernhard Rodebart.
Rothbart family
Jever–Land Hadeln clerical line
Another documented line of the Rothbart family was established in Land Hadeln and Jever during the Reformation. Over four generations, members of this line served as Lutheran pastors, church administrators, superintendents and theological writers in northern Germany.
Sources record members of the family under several forms of the surname, including Rodtbart, Rothbart and Barbarossa. The latter form occurs particularly frequently among the later generations of the family.
The documented line included:
Laurentius (Laurenz) Rodtbart or Laurentius Barbarossa, pastor at Altenbruch in Land Hadeln Petrus (Peter) Rodtbart, pastor of Jever, first inspector of the churches of the Lordship of Jever and author of the Jever Church Order of 1562 Christoph Rothbart or Christoph Barbarossa (1562–1623), Lutheran theologian, pastor and superintendent of Land Hadeln Vitus Barbarossa (1592–1651), pastor and provost in Holstein
The family maintained a particularly strong association with the parish of Altenbruch. Laurentius served there as pastor, Peter later returned from Jever to succeed his father, and Christoph subsequently became pastor at Altenbruch and superintendent of Land Hadeln.
Laurentius Rodtbart
Laurentius Rodtbart, also recorded as Laurenz Rodtbart and Laurentius Barbarossa, was a Lutheran pastor at Altenbruch in Land Hadeln. He belonged to the first generation of Protestant clergy active there following the introduction of the Reformation.
The historical pastor list of the Altenbruch parish records Laurenz Rodtbart as holder of the first pastoral office following Johannes Brandes. Modern scholarship on the church organization of Jever independently identifies Pastor Laurentius Barbarossa zu Altenbrok im Land Hadeln as the father of Magister Petrus Rodtbart.
His son Peter subsequently entered the Lutheran ministry and pursued a career in Jever before returning to Land Hadeln. The scholarly edition of the Jever church ordinances states that Peter returned to Hadeln in 1570 and succeeded his father in office.
The association of the family with the Altenbruch church continued in the following generation through Laurentius's grandson Christoph Rothbart.
Peter Rothbart
Petrus Rodtbart, also known as Peter Rothbart, was a Lutheran clergyman, church administrator and author. He was the son of Laurentius Barbarossa, pastor of Altenbruch in Land Hadeln.
Peter studied at the University of Wittenberg, where the university matriculation records list Petrus Rodbart Hadelowenensis in May 1553.
He subsequently entered church service in Jever. He initially served as archdeacon and was later appointed pastor of Jever and inspector of the other churches of the territory. Historical scholarship identifies him as the first inspector or superintendent responsible for the churches of the Lordship of Jever.
An historical list of the pastors of Jever records:
Peter Rothbart 1558,62: Zeuge; verfaßt die Kirchenordnung.
Jever Church Order of 1562
Peter Rothbart played an important role in consolidating the Lutheran Reformation in Jever.
When he arrived in Jever, an earlier church order dating from 1548 was already in existence but had only partially regulated church practice. Maria of Jever commissioned Rothbart to review the existing articles, expand them and prepare a more comprehensive church order.
Rothbart revised the text with the assistance of people familiar with local conditions and subsequently undertook a further revision. The resulting Jever Church Order of 1562 was printed at Wittenberg by Laurentz Schwenck under the title:
Kerckenordeninge, Wo ydt mit Christliker Lere, rekinge der Sacrament, Ordination der Dener des hilligen Euangelij, ordentliken Ceremonien yn den Kercken, Visitation vnnde Scholen [...] schal geholden werden. Upt nye corrigert unde aversehen dorch M. Petrum Rodtbart.
Rothbart based substantial parts of the order on the Mecklenburg church order of 1552 associated with Philip Melanchthon. The Jever order established an explicitly Lutheran ecclesiastical system and bound the pastors of the territory to the Augsburg Confession of 1530.
The order regulated not only doctrine and worship but also the institutional organization of the church. It addressed:
the office and authority of the superintendent; the appointment and ordination of preachers; the administration of baptism and the Eucharist; annual synods of the clergy; church visitations; ecclesiastical discipline; the removal of clergy guilty of misconduct or doctrinal error; excommunication; and the organization and supervision of schools.
The order incorporated Martin Luther's ordination formula and referred to the baptismal form contained in Luther's catechism. Its communion order represented a liturgy revised according to Lutheran principles.
The printed church order achieved wider circulation than the earlier manuscript regulations of Jever and remained in force for thirteen years. Following the death of Maria of Jever in 1575, it was replaced by the Oldenburg church order.
Peter returned to Land Hadeln in 1570 and succeeded his father Laurentius in the ministry there.
Christoph Rothbart
Christoph Rothbart (1562–1623), commonly known as Christoph Barbarossa and also recorded as Christoph Rothbarth, was a Lutheran theologian, pastor, superintendent and religious author. He was born in Jever in 1562 while his father Peter Rothbart was serving in the territory.
Sources explicitly identify him as the son of Superintendent Peter Rothbart.
He attended school in Hanover and studied theology at the universities of Wittenberg and Rostock, obtaining the degree of Magister. In 1589 he became a preacher in Otterndorf in Land Hadeln.
His early publications were primarily theological. In 1595 he published Analysis Catechetica, a systematic treatment of catechetical theology which appeared with a preface by theologians of the University of Rostock.
In 1597 Rothbart became chief pastor at St. Johannis in Lüneburg. Publications from this period appeared under forms of his original surname, including Rothbardt and Rodtbart.
In 1599 he returned to Land Hadeln and became chief pastor at Altenbruch, the same parish in which his father and grandfather had served. He later became superintendent of Land Hadeln.
His theological publications included sermons and works on catechesis, predestination, marriage, the Passion of Christ and the Last Judgment. Among his works were Drey Predigten von der Predestination (1598), Creutz und Trostspiegel (1599), Lustgarten der Christen (1608) and Dispositiones Catecheticae (1611).
Later in his career Rothbart also wrote on alchemy, Paracelsus and the publications associated with the early Rosicrucian movement. He used the pseudonym Ratichius Brotoffer or Ratichs Brotoffer for some of these writings.
His Elucidarius Chymicus, first printed in 1616, presented an interpretation of the alchemical secrets which he believed to be concealed in the Fama Fraternitatis of the Rosicrucians. It was followed by the Elucidarius maior and Theophrastus non Theophrastus in 1617, the latter dealing with the religious and intellectual reputation of Paracelsus.
These works place Rothbart among the Lutheran theologians who participated in the early printed debate surrounding alchemy, Paracelsianism and the Rosicrucian manifestos. His writings continued to be reprinted long after his death; editions of the Elucidarius maior appeared again in the eighteenth century.
Contemporary and later portrait collections also preserve representations of Christoph Barbarossa.
Vitus Barbarossa
Vitus Barbarossa (25 March 1592 – 4 March 1651) was a Lutheran pastor, theologian and senior church administrator. He was born in Otterndorf in Land Hadeln, where his father Christoph Rothbart was then serving as a preacher.
The University of Rostock matriculation records explicitly identify Vitus as the son of Superintendent Christoph Barbarossa and as a native of Otterndorf in Land Hadeln. He matriculated at Rostock in 1611.