ERCKER, Lazarus

E. was born in 1528 or 1530 in Annaberg in Saxony into a family of mine entrepreneur. In 1547/48 he studied natural sciences and mathematics at the University of Wittenberg and upgraded his knowledge while he stayed in Italy. From 1550 on he worked as a control tester of coins and was promoted to assayer at the court of electoral prince of Saxony in Dresden in 1556. Here he wrote his first manual of testing, in which he described analytical methods for testing the quality of ores and metals in the coins. In 1557 he again worked as a clerk in the Mint in Annaberg and in 1557/58 made a study trip to the mining areas in the Tyrol Alps. When he returned, he adopted a service of control tester of coins in Goslar, where he remained until 1565. He finished writing a manual on the manufacture of coins, in which he described the techniques for the preparation of metal for coins and for checking the quality of coins in 1563. He also dealt with the problems in obtaining metals from ore and in 1565 wrote a debate on deposits of lead in Rammelsberg in Harz. In 1566 he worked in Freiberg metallurgical plant, where he continued his research to improve the metallurgical technologies. When his concept of streamlining the management of Prince's plants in Dresden was rejected, he left Saxony in 1568 and travelled to the Czech Republic. After a short stay in Jáchymov he was recruited as a control tester of coins in 1568 in Kutna Hora, where in 1569 he completed a second book on the analysis of ores and metals, which he dedicated to Caesar Maximilian II. In 1570 he was admitted in the Czech Royal Chamber, where he was given a task to improve the operating of the mines. In 1574 he issued a wide-ranging work on testing in Prague, which experienced 15 reprints and was translated into four languages. By the beginning of the 18th century, this work served as a manual and recipe book at a number of European mountain schools. In 1577 he was appointed a Mining Master of Czech Kingdom, which brought him the task of eliminating the cause for the decreasing production in the Czech mines by means of effective measures in the operation field and existing laws. In 1583 he was entrusted with the management of the Royal Mint in Prague. In 1590 he became the highest officer in minting money or the mint master. Thus a function, until then reserved only for members of the highest provincial nobility, was given to him. He was elevated into nobility by Rudolf II due to his credit for developing Czech mining and metallurgy, and given the title »von Schreckenfels«. His main work on testing (1574) with comments and in Czech translation was issued by the National Technical Museum in Prague in 1974.