Johannes Bertelius lso Jean Bertels(1544 – June 19, 1607), abbot of Echternach and writer of a history of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, was born in

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 ...

. After obtaining a degree in philosophy at the Pedagogy of the Lily in

Leuven University KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

, Bertelius was elected abbot of

Altmünster Abbey Altmünster Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on the Plateau Altmünster, between the Fishmarket and Clausen areas of Luxembourg City. It was the first Abbey in Luxembourg City-founded in 1083 by Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg as a private monast ...

, Luxembourg, in 1573 and was consecrated in 1576. On his orders the relics of

John the Blind John the Blind or John of Luxembourg ( lb, Jang de Blannen; german: link=no, Johann der Blinde; cz, Jan Lucemburský; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of ...

, Duke of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, were buried there. In 1595 king

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

appointed him abbot of the Benedictine monastery of

St. Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His father, ...

at Echternach. The following year the abbey was pillaged by Dutch freebooters and Bertelius was taken prisoner and removed to

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

. He was released only after a ransom payment. After his return, he devoted himself to literary work until his death. He was buried in a chapel of the monastery at Echternach.

Works

In 1581, Bertelius published a catalogue of the abbots of the Altmünster abbey and his ''Dialogi XXVI in regulam S. Benedicti''. In 1595, the ''Catalogus et series episcoporum Epternacensium'' was printed. The year 1606 saw the publication of a treatise on the pagan gods worshipped by the ancient Germanic tribes (''Deorum sacrifiorumque gentilium descriptio''). The main work by Bertelius, however, is the ''Historia Luxemburgensis'', printed in Cologne in 1605. This was the first history of Luxembourg. Apart from the Latin works by Bertelius, there exists a collection of drawings made by him which has been edited by Paul Spang.

References

Short online biography of Bertelius
*Brimmeyr, J.P. (1923) ''Geschichte der Stadt und der Abtei Echternach, 3 vols., Imprimerie centrale Gustave Soupert (Luxemburg)'', vol. 2: ''Zweite Hälfte des zweiten Teiles, begreifend den Zeitraum 1298-1797'', pp. 66–80 *Neyen, C.-A. (1860-1876) ‘Bertels, Jean’, in: id., ''Biographie luxembourgeoise. Histoire des hommes distingués originaires de ce pays considéré á l’époque de sa plus grande étendu ou qui se sont rendus remarquables pendant le séjour qu’ils y ont fait'', 2 vols., Pierre Bruck (Luxembourg), vol. 1, pp. 62–5 *Spang, P. (1984) ''Bertels abbas delineavit (1544-1607)'', RTL/Édition (Luxembourg) * Sprunck, A. (1955) ‘Bertels, Johann’, in: Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (ed.), ''Neue deutsche Biographie'', Duncker & Humblot (Berlin), vol. 2, p. 149 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertelius, Johannes 1544 births 1607 deaths 16th-century writers in Latin 17th-century writers in Latin Abbots of Echternach 16th-century Luxembourgian people 16th-century historians Renaissance humanists Luxembourgian historians 17th-century Luxembourgian people 17th-century historians