Author: Unknown
Date: 1545.
material: bronze.
technique: casting
restoration: 19th century the end
Epitaph to the first rector of the Riga Cathedral Lutheran School and superintendent Jakob Battus ( ?–1545).
He had arrived from the Zeeland in the Netherlands and was a peasant’s son who had obtained a good education at various European universities. Battus came to Riga in 1528. He taught theology, classical languages. He took the position of Superintendent in 1542.
Inscriptions on Epitaph:
In the upper part: Epitaphion M. Jacobi Batti quandan / Superintendentis Ecclesiae Rigensis,qui obiit anno M D / XLV feria quinta post Martini.
In the center, the virtues are highlighted in the form of poetry:
Nescia mens fraudis, pietas et conscia virtus / Humani mores, ingeniumque probum / Artes et linguae, nec parva scientia sacrae
Scripturae, officii perpetuusque labor / Sedulitate tua bene recta ecclesia nostūra / Et schola, te pueros instituente bonos, / Batte, tibi vivo pepererunt, optime, laudes / Quas nullo poterit mors abolere die
His igitur laetus placidam nunc carpe quietem / Judicii summi dum tuba clara sonat.
Below is a quote from Isaiah 26:19 in the ancient Hebrew text:
יחיו מתיך נבלתי יקומון הקיצו ורננו שכני עפר כי טל אורת טלך וארץ רפאים תפיל׃ ס
In lower part:
MHΔEN AΓAN
Nothing excessive