Konrad Celtes
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Conrad Celtes (german: Konrad Celtes; la, Conradus Celtis (Protucius); 1 February 1459 – 4 February 1508) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
Renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...
scholar and poet of the
German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among Germany, German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and ...
born in Franconia (nowadays part of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
). He led the theatrical performances at the Viennese court and reformed the syllabi. Celtis is considered by many to be the greatest of German humanists and thus dubbed "the Archhumanist" (''Erzhumanist''). He is also praised as "the greatest lyric genius and certainly the greatest organizer and popularizer of German Humanism".


Life

Born at
Wipfeld Wipfeld is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Schweinfurt (district), district of Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany. Twin towns Wipfeld is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with: * Follina, Italy References

Schweinfur ...
, near
Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban agg ...
(present-day
Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally r ...
) under his original name Konrad Bickel or Pyckell (modern spelling Pickel), Celtes left home to avoid being set to his father's trade of vintner, and pursued his studies at the
University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
(1477–1479; B.A., 1479) and at the
University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
(M.A., 1485). While at Heidelberg, he received patronage and instruction from Dalberg and
Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mid ...
. As customary in those days for humanists, he Latinized his name, to Conradus Celtis. For some time he delivered humanist lectures during his travels to
Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
,
Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
and
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. His first work was titled ''Ars versificandi et carminum'' (The Art of Writing Verses and Poems, 1486). He further undertook lecture tours to Rome, Florence,
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
and Venice. The elector Frederick of Saxony approached the emperor Frederick III, who named Conrad Celtes ''
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
'' (Honored Poet) upon his return. At this great imperial ceremonial gathering in
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, Celtes was at the same time presented with a
doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
. Celtes again made a lecturing tour throughout the empire. In 1489–1491, he stayed in
Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
where he studied mathematics, astronomy and the natural sciences at the
Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
(at which he enrolled in 1489), and befriended many other humanists such as
Lorenz Rabe Laurentius Corvinus (german: Laurentius Rabe; pl, Wawrzyniec Korwin; 1465–1527) was a Silesian scholar who lectured as an "extraordinary" (''i.e.'' untenured) professor at the University of Krakow when Nicolaus Copernicus began to study ther ...
and
Bonacursius Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus, Callimico, Bonacurarius, Caeculus, Geminianensis (Latin: ''Philippus Callimachus Experiens'', ''Bonacursius''; , 2 May 1437 – 1 November 1496) was an Italian humanist, writer and diplomat active in Pola ...
. He also founded a learned society, based on the
Roman academies Roman academies refers to associations of learned individuals and not institutes for instruction. Such Roman Academies were always connected to larger educational structures conceived during and following the Italian Renaissance, at the height of w ...
. The local branch of the society was called '' Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana'' (the "Literary Society on the Vistula River"). In 1490 he once again went through Breslau (
Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
) to
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, capital of the
Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...
.
Hartmann Schedel Hartmann Schedel (13 February 1440 – 28 November 1514) was a German historian, physician, humanist, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press. He was born and died in Nuremberg. Matheolus Perusinus served as his tutor. ...
used Celtis' descriptions of Breslau in the ''Schedelsche Weltchronik'' (
Nuremberg Chronicle The ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is an illustrated encyclopedia consisting of world historical accounts, as well as accounts told through biblical paraphrase. Subjects include human history in relation to the Bible, illustrated mythological creatures, ...
). In Hungary, Celtis formed the '' Sodalitas Litterarum Hungaria'' ("Hungarian Literary Society"), later as ''
Sodalitas Litterarum Danubiana ''Sodalitas'' is a Latin word meaning "association, fraternity." It may refer to: * a fraternal order of priests or similar association in ancient Rome; see Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sodalitas * Sodality * Sodality (Catholic Church) See a ...
'' to be based in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
. He made stops at
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 ...
,
Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...
and
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
(and probably
Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
). At Heidelberg he founded the ''
Sodalitas Litterarum Rhenana ''Sodalitas'' is a Latin word meaning "association, fraternity." It may refer to: * a fraternal order of priests or similar association in ancient Rome; see Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sodalitas * Sodality * Sodality (Catholic Church) See ...
'' ("Rhineland Literary Society"). Later he went to
Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
and
Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
. At Ingolstadt, in 1492, he delivered his famous speech to the students there, in which he called on Germans to rival Italians in learning and letters. This would later become an extremely popular address in sixteenth-century German nationalistic sentiment. In 1494, Celtes rediscovered Hrosvitha's works written in Latin in the monastery of St. Emmeram in Regensburg. His friend Willibald Pickheimer introduce him to Abbess Caritas Pickheimer. He wrote her in Latin and called her the "new
Hrotsvitha Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry under the Ottonian dynasty. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female writ ...
". While the plague ravaged Ingolstadt, Celtes taught at Heidelberg. By now he was a professor. In 1497 Celtes was called to Vienna by the emperor Maximilian I, who honored him as ''teacher of the art of poetry and conversation'' with an imperial ''Privilegium'', the first of its kind. There he lectured on the works of classical writers and in 1502 founded the ''Collegium Poetarum'', a college for poets. His invitation to Vienna came about greatly at the influence of his friend and fellow scholar
Johannes Cuspinian Johannes Cuspinianus (December 1473 – 19 April 1529), born Johan Spießhaymer (or Speißheimer), was a German-Austrian humanist, scientist, diplomat, and historian. Born in Spießheim near Schweinfurt in Franconia, of which ''Cuspinianus'' is ...
. Celtes died in Vienna a few years later of
syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
. According to Richard Unger, Celtes was a large scale book thief who walked around episcopal palaces and monastic libraries stealing books for his emperor and himself. He justified his behaviours on the basis of patriotic intentions, claiming that he only wanted to protect German patrimony from "damaging weather, dust, mold... insects", as well as Italians. Emily Abu writes that Celtis, Peutinger and their emperor took particular interest in cultural legacies that could provide connection between their German Roman Empire and the ancient Roman imperium. In the case of the Peutinger map (mentioned below), both Celtis and Peutinger made sure that any record of where Celtis found it as well as clues to the map's first three centuries were erased.


Works

Conrad Celtes' teachings had lasting effects, particularly in the fields of
classical language A classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large and ancient body of written literature. Classical languages are typically dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as the spoken varieties of the ...
s and
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
. He brought systematic methods to the teaching of Latin and furthered the study of the
classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
. He was also the first to teach the history of the world as a whole. Celtes was the first early modern humanist who introduced the term "
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
" as a critical appraisal of the Ptolemaic dichotomy between
cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-scal ...
and
chorography Chorography (from χῶρος ''khōros'', "place" and γράφειν ''graphein'', "to write") is the art of describing or mapping a region or district, and by extension such a description or map. This term derives from the writings of the anc ...
, which was becoming insufficient to reflect the rapidly changing contours of Europe. He was the foremost cartographic writer in German lands. He worked on the large-scale cosmographic and cartographic project ''Germania Illustrata'', of which the core — among them the treatise ''Germania generalis'', four books of love elegies, and ''De origine, situ, moribus et institutis Norimbergae libellus'' ("On the origins, site, habits and institutions of Nuremberg") — was published under the title ''Quatuor libri amorum secundum quatuor latera germanie'' in Nuremberg (1502). In 1493, he discovered the writings of
Hroswitha of Gandersheim Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry under the Ottonian dynasty. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female writ ...
in the monastery of St. Emmaram. He then stole the manuscript and had it mass-printed across the Empire in 1501. Also in 1501, he received a privilege from the Imperial
Aulic Council The Aulic Council ( la, Consilium Aulicum, german: Reichshofrat, literally meaning Court Council of the Empire) was one of the two supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire, the other being the Imperial Chamber Court. It had not only concurrent juri ...
for the printing of his edition of her dramas. This was one of the earliest recorded privileges regarding copyrights granted by the Imperial government. Celtes also discovered a map showing roads of the Roman Empire, the ''Tabula Peutingeriana'', or
Peutinger Table ' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the ''cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-cen ...
. Celtes collected numerous Greek and Latin manuscripts in his function as librarian of the imperial library that was founded by Maximilian, and he claimed to have discovered the missing books of
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
’s ''Fasti'' in a letter to the Venetian publisher
Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...
in 1504. The purported new verses had actually been composed by an 11th-century monk and were known to the
Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...
according to
William of Rubruck William of Rubruck ( nl, Willem van Rubroeck, la, Gulielmus de Rubruquis; ) was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. He is best known for his travels to various parts of the Middle East and Central Asia in the 13th century, including the ...
, but even so, many contemporary scholars believed Celtes and continued to write about the existence of the missing books until well into the 17th century. His
epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...
s, edited by Kark Hartfelder, were published in Berlin in 1881. Conrad Celtes was more of a free-thinking humanist and placed a higher value on the ancient pagan, rather than the Christian ideal. His friend
Willibald Pirckheimer Willibald Pirckheimer (5 December 1470 – 22 December 1530) was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City ...
had blunt discussions with him on that subject. As early as ''Ode ad Apollinem'' (1486), he began to style himself as an Apollo-Priest. The most important earthly Phoebus to him was Maximilian, whose symbiotic relationship with the scholar (and thus their double glory) was often reflected in Celtis's literary works. The Celtis-Gymnasium in
Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban agg ...
was named after Conrad Celtis.


See also

* Rudolf Agricola *
Joachim Vadian Joachim Vadian (29 November 1484 – 6 April 1551), born as Joachim von Watt, was a humanist, scholar, mayor and reformer in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Biography Vadian was born in St. Gallen into a family of wealthy and influential linen mer ...


Notes


References


Sources


''Catholic Encyclopedia''
* * Pierre Laurens (ed.) ''Anthologie de la poésie lyrique latine de la Renaissance'' (Gallimard, 2004) * Pierer's ''Lexikon'', Kluepfel, Aschbach.


Further reading

* * * * Christopher B. Krebs: ''Negotiatio Germaniae. Tacitus’ Germania und Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Giannantonio Campano, Conrad Celtis und Heinrich Bebel'', Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005. ( Hypomnemata, Bd. 158) Pp. 284. . * Jörg Robert: ''Konrad Celtis und das Projekt der deutschen Dichtung. Studien zur humanistischen Konstitution von Poetik, Philosophie, Nation und Ich'', Tübingen 2003. * Hans Rupprich:
Neue Deutsche Biographie ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (''NDB''; literally ''New German Biography'') is a biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 26 volumes published thus far cover ...
, Band 3 Seite 181siehe auch Band 20, Seite 50 und 474, Band 22, Seite 601 *
Walther Killy Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl. He taught at the Free University of Berlin, the Georg-August-Universität Göttinge ...
(ed.): Literaturlexikon: Autoren und Werke deutscher Sprache, Bd. 2, S. 395, Bertelsmann-Lexikon-Verlag, Gütersloh u. München 1988–1991 (CD-ROM Berlin 1998 ) * Schäfer, Eckart (ed., trans.), ''Conrad Celtis: Oden/Epoden/Jahrhundertlied: libri odarum quattuor, cum epodo et saeculari carmine (1513).'' (Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 2008) (NeoLatina, 16).


External links

* * * *
Bücher von und über Celtis bei der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin














.. Four cities of Germany * {{DEFAULTSORT:Celtes, Conrad 1459 births 1508 deaths 16th-century Latin-language writers German Renaissance humanists German scholars Lower Franconia New Latin-language poets 15th-century Latin writers Heidelberg University alumni Jagiellonian University alumni 15th-century German writers 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers Deaths from syphilis