Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter, also called Widmannstadt, Johannes Albertus or Widmestadius, (1506 – 28 March 1557) was a German humanist, orientalist, philologist, and theologian.
Life
Widmannstetter was born in
Nellingen
Nellingen is a municipality in the Alb-Donau (district), Alb-Donau district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
References
Alb-Donau-Kreis
Württemberg
{{AlbDonau-geo-stub ...
/
Blaubeuren near
Ulm. He studied law, theology and oriental languages in
Tübingen. After 1527, he continued his studies in
Italy, in
Turin,
Naples and
Rome, focusing on
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n and
Arabian
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
. In 1533, Widmannstetter became secretary to pope,
Pope Clement VII. In the same year, he delivered a series of lectures in Rome, outlining
Nicolaus Copernicus' theory to the pope and the cardinals, with which both were impressed.
Pope Clement VII died in 1534, and was succeeded by
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549.
He came to ...
; Widmannstetter continued as his secretary.
After 1535, Widmannstetter was secretary of Cardinal
Nikolaus von Schönberg. Impressed by Widmannstetter's lessons on Copernicus' ideas, the Cardinal wrote a letter to Copernicus in 1536, urging him to publish (which he would do only in 1543, shortly before his death).
The rest of Widmanstetter's career was focussed on
orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
, to which he contributed a great deal, collecting hundreds of manuscripts in
Hebrew,
Arabic and
Syriac. Widmannstetter is considered to be a founder of European orientalism. He died in
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
, and his personal library was acquired by
Albert V, Duke of Bavaria.
Selected work
*1541/42: ''Sacrarum ceremoniarum sive rituum ecclesiasticorum sanctae romanae ecclesiae libri tres''
*1543: ''Notae contra Mohammedis dogmata''
*1552: ''Von den geistlichen und weltlichen Wappen eines Ritters'' (
Dillingen)
*1555: ''Liber sacrosancti Evangelii de Jesu Christo Domino et Deo nostro'' (
Vienna)
*1555: ''Syriacae linguae ... prima elementa'' (Vienna); also published in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, in 1572
Literature
*Max Müller (1907): ''Johann Albrecht von Widmanstetter 1506-1557. Sein Leben und Wirken''. Bamberg.
*Hans Striedl (1952): "Die Bücherei des Orientalisten Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter." In: Hans Joachim Kissling (ed.): ''Serta Monacensia''. Leiden, pp. 200–244.
*Hans Striedl (1953): D''er Humanist Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter als klassischer Philologe''. In: ''Festgabe der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek für Emil Gratzl''. Wiesbaden. Pages 96–120.
Notes
External links
* Short biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Widmannstetter, Johann Albrecht
1506 births
1557 deaths
German orientalists
German Renaissance humanists
Christian Hebraists
German male non-fiction writers