Paul Scriptoris (c. 1460 – 21 October 1505) was a German

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, Scotist, and professor at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

. His surname is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translation of the original

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 **Ge ...

name Schreiber ("writer"). Born in

Weil der Stadt Weil der Stadt is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about west of Stuttgart city centre, in the valley of the River Würm, and is often called the "Gate to the Black For ...

, Scriptoris studied at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and joined the

Franciscan order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

. He subsequently began teaching at Tübingen.

Konrad Pellikan Konrad Pellikan (german: Conrad Kürsner; Latin: ''Conradus Pellicanus''; sometimes anglicized as ''Conrad Pellican''; 8 January 1478, Rouffach in Alsace - 6 May 1556, Zurich) was a German Protestant theologian, humanist, Protestant reformer an ...

, who became Scriptoris’ most favored pupil, joined him at Tübingen in March 1496. Scriptoris was an extremely successful teacher in the

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

, and awakened interest in this subject in many of his students. His students included his fellow professors and members of other religious orders. He lectured on the

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-sca ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

and also taught and studied

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...

. He also wrote a commentary on a work by

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...

, which was published by Johann Ottmar on 24 March 1498. It carries the distinction of being the first book created with a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

in the city of Tübingen. At Tübingen, Scriptoris opposed the appointment of the Realist

Johann Heynlin Johann Heynlin, variously spelled ''Heynlein'', ''Henelyn'', ''Henlin'', ''Hélin'', ''Hemlin'', ''Hegelin'', ''Steinlin''; and translated as ''Jean à Lapide'', ''Jean La Pierre (Lapierre, de la Pierre)'', ''Johannes Lapideus'', ''Johannes Lapida ...

to the faculty. In 1499, Scriptoris was lecturing against

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...

of the bread into the body of Christ. For this he was banished by the Franciscans and died in exile, at

Kaysersberg Kaysersberg (german: Kaisersberg ; Alsatian: ''Kaiserschbarig'') is a historical town and former commune in Alsace in northeastern France. The name is German for ''Emperor's Mountain''. The high fortress that dominates the town serves as a remi ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Works

*''Lectura Fratris Pauli Scriptoris Ordinis Minorum de observantia quam edidit declarando subtilissimas Doctoris subtilis sententias circa Magistrum in primo libro'', Tübingen, 1498. *''Carpi'' (ed. Joannes de Montesdoca), 1506. *''These des Paul Scriptoris OFM über die in Konstanz übliche Praxis der öffentlichen Buße'', in: ''Rottenburger Jb. für Kirchengesch''. 11 (1992), 115 f.

Sources

*
Scotism (Scriptoris mentioned)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scriptoris, Paul 1460s births 1505 deaths People from Weil der Stadt German Franciscans 15th-century German mathematicians Scotism 16th-century German mathematicians Medieval German mathematicians