Andreas Masius (or Maes) (30 November 1514 – 7 April 1573) was a Catholic priest, humanist and one of the first European

syriacists Syriac studies is the study of the Syriac language and Syriac Christianity. A specialist in Syriac studies is known as a Syriacist. Specifically, British, French, and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of S ...

. He was born in

Lennik Lennik () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Sint-Kwintens-Lennik, Sint-Martens-Lennik, Eizeringen and Gaasbeek. It is also situated in the Pajottenland. On January 1, 20 ...

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Haina ...

. Following his education, and after a short period of training at

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, studying Latin under

Conrad Goclenius Conrad Goclenius (or in German "Conrad Wackers" or "Conrad Gockelen") was a Renaissance humanist, and Latin scholar, and the closest confidant of humanist Desiderius Erasmus, who was born in Mengeringhausen in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1490, ...

, Masius worked as secretary for the

bishop of Constance The Prince-Bishopric of Constance, (german: Hochstift Konstanz, Fürstbistum Konstanz, Bistum Konstanz) was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-12th century until its secularisation in 1802–1803. In his dua ...

, Johan Weze († 13 November 1548). Later, among other things, he became the diplomatic representative in Rome for the Abbot Gerwig Blarer (1495-1567) of Weingarten. On behalf of Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1555 he requested permission from the Pope for the establishment of a university at

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

. After leaving the priesthood and marrying, in 1559, he settled in

Zevenaar Zevenaar () is a municipality and a city in the Gelderland province, in the eastern Netherlands near the border with Germany. Population centres *Angerlo *Babberich *Giesbeek *Lathum *Ooy *Oud-Zevenaar *Zevenaar History The earliest signs of h ...

and in the last years of his life published several works. Masius studied Hebrew in Leuven, Arabic in Rome with

Guillaume Postel Guillaume Postel (25 March 1510 – 6 September 1581) was a French people, French linguist, astronomer, Christian Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalist, diplomat, polyglot, professor, Religious universalism, religious universalist, and writer. Born in ...

and in 1553 Syriac with Moses of Mardin, a priest of the Patriarchate of Antioch in Syria. In the same year in Rome he translated two creedal documents from Syriac for

Yohannan Sulaqa Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa ( syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܬܡܝܢܝܐ ܝܘܚܢܢ ܣܘܠܩܐ; la, Simeon Sulacha; also ''Yohannan d'Bēth Bello'' ( syr, ܝܘܚܢܢ ܕܒܝܬ ܒܠܘ), John Soulaqa, Sulaka or Sulacha; circa 1510–1555) was the first Patriarch ...

, the (anti-)patriarch-elect of the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...

. In 1554, probably in Germany, he made a Latin translation of the Syriac 'Basilius-Anaphora' for

Julius von Pflug Julius von Pflug (1499 in Eythra – 3 September 1564 in Zeitz) was the last Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Naumburg from 1542 until his death. He was one of the most significant reformers involved with the Protestant Reformation. Life H ...

(† 3 September 1564), the last Catholic

bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. These were printed together with Masius' translation of the treatise ''De Paradiso'' of

Moses Bar-Kepha Moses bar Kepha or Moses bar Cephas (Syriac ''Mushe bar Kipho''; born in Balad in Nineveh, now in Iraq, about the year 813; died at the age of ninety, in 903) was a writer and one of the most celebrated bishops of the Syriac Orthodox Church of th ...

. In 1571 Masius published his ''Grammatica linguae syricae'' as well as the dictionary ''Syrorum Peculium. Hoc est, vocabula apud Syros scriptores passim vsurpata'', at the

Plantin press The Plantin Press at Antwerp was one of the focal centers of the fine printed book in the 16th century. History Christophe Plantin (c. 1520–1589) of Touraine was trained as a bookbinder. He fled from Paris where at least one printer had rece ...

in Antwerp. In 1574 it was published his work
Josuae Imperatoris historia illustrata atque explicata
', that included some Hexaplaric readings. He died in

in 1573.

Literature

* Albert van Roey: ''Les études syriaques d'Andreas Masius''. In: Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 9 (1978), 141-158. * M. Lossen, ''Briefe von Andreas Masius und seinen Freunden'' (1538) * J. W. Wesselius, ''The Syriac Correspondence of Andreas Masius: A Preliminary Report''

External links

Syriac Mss at Yale
- contains an account of Masius's life. {{DEFAULTSORT:Masius, Andreas 1514 births 1573 deaths People from Flemish Brabant People from Zevenaar Syriacists Belgian Arabists