Johann, Hans or Johannes Virdung of Hassfurt (15 March 1463 - 1538/39) was a celebrated

astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

of the early sixteenth century from the Electoral Palatinate. He had an official position at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, at the court of the

Elector Palatine The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...

. He wrote various works under generic names (''Prognosticon'', ''Practica''), including a millennarian work, ''Practica von dem Entchrist'' around 1510. He was a correspondent of

Johannes Trithemius Johannes Trithemius (; 1 February 1462 – 13 December 1516), born Johann Heidenberg, was a German Benedictine abbot and a polymath who was active in the German Renaissance as a lexicographer, chronicler, cryptographer, and occultist. He is consi ...

. One of the early sources for the Faust legend occurs in a letter of Trithemius to Virdung. Virdung studied at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

beginning in 1481, then in Cracow from 1484 to 1486 or 1487. He returned to Leipzig in 1487, where he graduated as a "Magister" in 1491. It has been suggested that Virdung was of the school of the astronomer Albertus de Brudzewo, and had studied with him and Johannes de GlogoviaJan Glogowczyk, Jan Glogau, Jan of Glogow (1455-1507). See :pl:Jan z Głogowa. in Cracow.

Notes

Works

References

*Max Steinmetz (1986), "Johann Virdung von Hassfurt, sein Leben und seine astrologischen Flugschriften", in ''Astrologi hallucinati, stars at the end of the world in Luther's time'' * Lynn Thorndike ''Johann Virdung of Hassfurt again'' Isis 25, 1936, p. 363; ''Faust and Johann Virdung of Hassfurt'', Isis 26, 1936/37, p. 321; ''Another Virdung Manuscript'', Isis 34, 1942/43, p. 291; ''Johann Virdung of Hassfurt: dates of birth and death'', Isis 37, 1947, p. 74 {{DEFAULTSORT:Virdung, Johannes 1455 births Year of death missing People from the Electoral Palatinate German astrologers Christian astrologers