Christoph Helvig (1581–1617) was a German chronologist and historian, theologian and linguist. Helvig was born at

Sprendlingen Sprendlingen is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Sprendlingen lies in Rhenish H ...

. In chronology he generally was a follower of

Joseph Scaliger Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a French Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewis ...

. He is mentioned by Sir Thomas Browne, and

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...

. He remained an authority cited well into the eighteenth century;

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

's ''General Plan of Education'' described a course in this way:

The technical part of chronology, or the art of computing and adjusting time, as it is very difficult, so it is not of absolute necessity, but should, however, be taught, so far as it can be learned without the loss of those hours which are required for attainments of nearer concern. The student may join with this treatise Le Clerc's Compendium of History; and afterwards may, for the historical part of chronology, procure Helvicus's and
Isaacson Isaacson is a surname meaning "son of Isaac", the Biblical figure. People with the surname Isaacson include: * Doug Isaacson (born 1957), American politician * Jacob Isaacson (1911–1980), American composer and musician * James Isaacson (born ...
's Tables; and, if he is desirous of attaining the technical part, may first peruse Holder's Account of Time, Hearne's Ductor Historicus, Strauchius, the first part of Petavius's Rationarium Temporum; and, at length, Scaliger de Emendatiene Temporum. And, for instruction in the method of his historical studies, he may consult Hearne's Ductor Historicus, Wheare's Lectures, Rawlinson's Directions for the Study of History; and, for ecclesiastical history, Cave and Dupin, Baronius and Fleury.

His ''Theatrum historicum et chronologicum'' was published in 1609. English translation as ''The Historical and Chronological Theatre of Christopher Helvicus, Distributed into Equal Intervals of Tens, Fifties, and Hundreds: With an Assignation of Empires, Kingdoms, Governments'', 1687. The ''Compendiosa Institutio Linguæ Ebraicae'' was a Hebrew grammar. He became professor of Greek and Oriental languages and of theology at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

Bibliography

* Nathanael Riemer: ''The Christian Hebraist Christoph Helwig (1581–1617) and His Rendering of Jewish Stories in (His Work) „Jüdische Historien“.'' In: ''European Journal of Jewish Studies.'' Jg. 6 (2012), Nr. 1, S. 71–104.

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Funeral oration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helvig, Christoph 1581 births 1617 deaths 17th-century German historians Chronologists Academic staff of the University of Giessen German male non-fiction writers