Magdalena Heymair

Magdalena Heymair (variously Heymairin, Haymerin, Haymairus; c. 1535 – after 1586) was a teacher and Lutheran evangelical poet who wrote in the Middle Bavarian dialect. Born a Roman Catholic, she converted to evangelical Lutheranism. In her educational songs for children, she often emphasized the role of women in the Bible. Magdalena Heymair is the first and only woman prior to the 18th century to publish pedagogical writings for elementary teaching. She is also the first woman to have her works listed as heretical in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Life Magdalena Heymair was born in Regensburg and raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Little is known about her family of origin, her marriage, or her death. In her letters and her books she mentions her school-teacher husband, Wilhelm Heymair, and her son. She apparently became a teacher herself to supplement the family's meagre income. A second daughter, Magdalena, married Johann Andreas von Wolfstein, Freiherr zu Obersulzburg (1541–1585) on 25 January 1569 and died 3 June 1597. Heymair's writings are dedicated to "numerous, mostly noble ladies" including Katharina von Degenberg, born von Freyberg, and Magdalena vom Wolffstein, born von Degenberg.

Katharina was also the daughter of Wolf von Freyberg, Herr zu Mickhausen, and was raised in the majority Protestant free imperial city of Augsburg. Katharina hosted a "Frauenzimmer" ("women's room") where women could read and discuss Lutheranism and evangelical ideas. Among those attending were Brigitta Weinzierl, a councilman's wife, and Magdalena Heymair. As a result of their meetings, the women ceased to attend Roman Catholic Mass, choosing instead to sing and read from Lutheran books. A number of the women, including Heymair, eventually had to flee from Straubing because of the negative public response to their conversion.

quote|"Eternal praise be to God, for I diligently considered her thought-provoking questions, and the Spirit of God often came to aid my contemplation, and led me to the Truth." Magdalena Heymair (translated).

Magdalena Heymair used the settings of children's poet Nikolaus Herman as a model for her compositions. In the preface to her first book, she writes that she was inspired by Die sonntags-evangelia of Nikolaus Herman, Kantor in Joachimsthal. Finding that he had written at the request of a school teacher, she asked God for the grace to arrange the daily lessons for singing.

By the end of 1570, Magdalena Heymair held a position as a schoolmistress in Regensburg.

One of her short pieces, "Das Gaistliche A. B. C." encourages readers in alphabetical stanzas to live a godly life. The final stanza (translated as follows) gives a sense of her ability to communicate at a child's level: quote|"We all will have to face / Christ’s Day of Judgment. / When you then will be able / To recite this ABC correctly / And without any lamentation / And if you will have lived according to its teachings / You will enjoy the fruits of it. / The enemy will be furious / When you will enter God's realm." Magdalena Heymair (translated). She is listed as "Magdalena Haymairus" in the first class of heretical writers as early as 1569. Other women listed later include Anne Askew, Olympia Fulvia Morata, Ursula of Munsterberg (1491–1534), Veronica Franco, and Paola Antonia Negri (1508–1555).