An Example of a 16th-century German Didactic Text: Ortolf Fuchsberger's Leeßkonst

Abstract

During the first half of the sixteenth century, Ortolf Fuchsberger (ca. 1490-after 1541/1542) wrote a short didactic text titled Leeßkonst. Das Bůchel zům Leser. In 1542, it was published in Ingolstadt by the printer Alexander Weissenhorn. This small book fits within the tradition of didactic writings and educational works produced by reading teachers during the sixteenth century, featuring the typical structure and content of the syllabaries of that period, while also serving as a concise compendium of the elementary instruction imparted in German schools at the time. The text includes brief sections devoted to spelling, handwriting, numbers (both Roman and Arabic), and basic arithmetic methods, with a particular focus on addition. The present study aims to provide an introductory analysis of the text, highlighting its most interesting and/or innovative aspects in the teaching of both reading and writing in German. Notably, Ortolf Fuchsberger, along with Valentin Ickelsamer, stands out as one of the first advocates of the so-called Lautiermethode (phonics method), which emphasized teaching reading through the sounds rather than through the memorization of letters and/or syllables.