Editing Johann Reuchlin

{{Short description|German humanist and scholar (1455–1522)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region     = [[Western philosophy]]
| era        = [[Western philosophy]]
| image      = [[File:Johannes-Reuchlin-1516.jpg|150px|center]]
| caption    = Johann Reuchlin, woodcut depiction from 1516
| name       = Johann Reuchlin
| birth_date = 29 January 1455
| birth_place = [[Pforzheim]], [[Margraviate of Baden]], [[Kingdom of Germany]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| death_date  = 30 June 1522 (aged 67)
| death_place = [[Stuttgart]], [[Duchy of Württemberg]], [[Kingdom of Germany]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| alma_mater  = [[University of Basel]]<br>[[College of Sorbonne]]<br>[[University of Freiburg]]<br>[[University of Orléans]]<br>[[University of Poitiers]]
| institutions = [[University of Ingolstadt]]
| nationality = German
| school_tradition = [[Renaissance humanism]]
| main_interests   = [[Ancient Greek]], [[Hebrew]], [[law]], [[Christian mysticism]]
| notable_ideas = [[Christian Kabbalah]]<br>[[Reuchlinian pronunciation]]
| signature     = Signatur Johannes Reuchlin.PNG
}}
'''Johann Reuchlin''' ({{IPA|de|ˈjoːhan ˈʁɔʏçlɪn|lang}}; 29 January 1455 – 30 June 1522), sometimes called '''Johannes''', was a German [[Catholic]] [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] and a scholar of [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[Hebrew]], whose work also took him to modern-day Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France. Most of Reuchlin's career centered on advancing German knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.

==Early life==
Johann Reuchlin was born at [[Pforzheim]] in the [[Black Forest]] in 1455, where his father was an official of the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] monastery. According to the fashion of the time, his name was [[Greek language|graecized]] by his Italian friends into '''Capnion''' (Καπνίων), a [[nickname]] which Reuchlin used as a sort of transparent mask when he introduced himself as an interlocutor in the ''De Verbo Mirifico''. He remained fond of his home town; he constantly calls himself '''Phorcensis''', and in the ''De Verbo'' he ascribes to Pforzheim his inclination towards literature.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=204}}

Here he began his [[Latin]] studies in the monastery school, and, though in 1470 he was for a short time at [[University of Freiburg|Freiburg]], that university seems to have taught him little. Reuchlin's career as a scholar appears to have turned almost on an accident; his fine voice gained him a place in the household of [[Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden|Charles I, Margrave of Baden]], and soon, having some reputation as a Latinist, he was chosen to accompany Frederick, the third son of the prince, to the [[University of Paris]].{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Frederick was some years his junior, and was destined for an ecclesiastical career. This new connection did not last long, but it determined the course of Reuchlin's life. He now began to learn [[Greek language|Greek]], which had been taught in the French capital since 1470, and he also attached himself to the leader of the Paris realists, [[Jean Heynlin|Jean à Lapide]] (d. 1496), a worthy and learned man, whom he followed to the vigorous young [[University of Basel]] in 1474.{{sfn|Smith|1911|pp=204–205}}

==Teaching and writing career==
[[Image:Widmung-Reuchlins.jpg|thumb|Johann Reuchlin's [[coat of arms]]]]

At [[University of Basel|Basel]] Reuchlin took his master's degree (1477), and began to lecture with success, teaching a more classical Latin than was then common in German schools, and explaining [[Aristotle]] in Greek.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}} His studies in this language had been continued at Basel under [[Andronicus Contoblacas]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sebastian Brant, Forschungsbeiträge zu seinem Leben, zum Narrenschiff und zum übrigen Werk |year=2002 |publisher=[[Schwabe Verlag]] |isbn=3-7965-1734-X |editor-last=Wilhelmi |editor-first=Thomas |location=Basel |pages=12–13 |language=de}}</ref> In Basel he made the acquaintance of the bookseller [[Johann Amerbach]], for whom he prepared a Latin [[lexicon]] (''Vocabularius Breviloquus'', 1st edition, 1475–76), which ran through many editions. This first publication, and Reuchlin's account of his teaching at Basel in a letter to Cardinal Adrian ([[Adriano Castellesi]]) in February 1518, show that he had already found his life's work. He was a born teacher, and this work was not to be done mainly from the professor's chair.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

By 1477, Reuchlin had left Basel to seek further Greek training with [[George Hermonymus]] in Paris,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=Wolfgang O. |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1524/phil.1971.115.14.264/pdf |title=Eine unbekannte Rede zum Lob der Griechischen Sprache und Literatur |journal=Philologus |year=1971 |volume=115 |issue=1–4 |page=269 |language=de |doi=10.1524/phil.1971.115.14.264|s2cid=164492084 }}</ref> and to learn to write a fair Greek hand that he might support himself by copying manuscripts. And now he felt that he must choose a profession. His choice fell on [[law]], and he was thus led to the great school of [[University of Orléans|Orléans]] (1478), and finally to [[University of Poitiers|Poitiers]], where he became [[Licence (France)|licentiate]] in July 1481.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

From Poitiers, Reuchlin went in December 1481 to [[Tübingen]] with the intention of becoming a teacher in the [[University of Tübingen|local university]], but his friends recommended him to Count [[Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg|Eberhard of Württemberg]], who was about to travel to [[Italy]] and required an interpreter. Reuchlin was selected for this post, and in February 1482 left [[Stuttgart]] for [[Florence]] and [[Rome]]. The journey lasted but a few months, but it brought the German scholar into contact with several learned Italians, especially at the Medicean Academy in Florence; his connection with the count became permanent, and after his return to Stuttgart he received important posts at Eberhard's court.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

About this time, he appears to have married, but little is known of his married life. He left no children, but in later years, his sister's grandson [[Philipp Melanchthon]] was like a son to him until the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] estranged them.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

In 1490, he was again in Italy. Here he saw [[Pico della Mirandola]], to whose [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] doctrines he afterward became heir, and made a friend of the pope's secretary, Jakob Questenberg, which was of service to him in his later troubles. Again in 1492 he was employed on an embassy to the emperor [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick]] at [[Linz]], and here he began to read Hebrew with the emperor's Jewish physician [[Jakob ben Jehiel Loans]], whose instruction laid the basis of that thorough knowledge which Reuchlin afterward improved on his third visit to Rome in 1498 by the instruction of [[Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno|Obadja Sforno of Cesena]]. In 1494, his rising reputation was greatly enhanced by the publication of ''De Verbo Mirifico''.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

In 1496, Duke Eberhard I of Württemberg died, and enemies of Reuchlin had the ear of his successor, Duke Heinrich of Württemberg (formerly Heinrich Count of Württemberg-Mömpelgard). He was glad, therefore, hastily to follow the invitation of [[Johann von Dalberg]] (1445–1503), the scholarly bishop of [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], and flee to [[Heidelberg]], which was then the seat of the [[Rhenish Missionary Society|Rhenish Society]] In this court of letters Reuchlin's appointed function was to make translations from the Greek authors, in which his reading was already extremely wide. Though Reuchlin had no public office as a teacher, he was for much of his life the real centre of all Greek and Hebrew teaching in Germany. To carry out this work he provided a series of aids for beginners and others. He never published a Greek grammar, but he had one in manuscript for use with his pupils, and also published several little elementary Greek books. Reuchlin, it may be noted, pronounced Greek as his native teachers had taught him to do, i.e., in the modern Greek fashion. This pronunciation, which he defends in ''De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione'' (1528), came to be known, in contrast to that used by [[Desiderius Erasmus]], as the [[Reuchlinian pronunciation|Reuchlinian]].{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

At Heidelberg, Reuchlin had many private pupils, among whom [[Franz von Sickingen]] is the best-known name. With the [[monk]]s he had never been liked; at Stuttgart, his great adversary was the [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[Conrad Holzinger]]. On this man he took a scholar's revenge in his first Latin comedy ''Sergius'', a satire on worthless monks and false relics.  Through Dalberg, Reuchlin came into contact with [[Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine]], who employed him to direct the studies of his sons, and in 1498 gave him the mission to Rome, which has been already noticed as fruitful for Reuchlin's progress in Hebrew. He came back laden with Hebrew books and found when he reached Heidelberg that a change of government had opened the way for his return to Stuttgart, where his wife had remained all along. His friends had now again the upper hand and knew Reuchlin's value. In 1500, or perhaps in 1502, he was given a very high judicial office in the [[Swabian League]], which he held until 1512, when he retired to a small estate near Stuttgart.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

==Hebrew studies and advocacy==
For many years Reuchlin had been increasingly absorbed in [[Hebraist|Hebrew studies]], which had for him more than a mere [[philology|philological]] interest. He was interested in the reform of preaching as shown in his ''De Arte Predicandi'' (1503)—a book that became a sort of preacher's manual; but above all, as a scholar, he was eager that the Bible should be better known, and could not tie himself to the authority of the [[Vulgate]].{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

The key to the ''Hebraea veritas'' was the grammatical and exegetical tradition of the medieval [[rabbi]]s, especially of [[David Kimhi]], and when he mastered this, he was resolved to open it to others. In 1506, appeared his epoch-making ''De Rudimentis Hebraicis''—grammar and lexicon—mainly after Kimhi, yet not a mere copy of one man's teaching. The edition was costly and sold slowly.  One great difficulty was that the wars of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]] in Italy prevented Hebrew Bibles from coming into Germany.  But for this also Reuchlin found help by printing the Penitential Psalms with grammatical explanations (1512), and other helps followed from time to time. But his Greek studies had interested him in those fantastical and mystical systems of later times with which the [[Kabbalah|Kabbala]] has no small affinity.  Following Pico, he seemed to find in the Kabbala a profound theosophy that might be of the greatest service for the defence of [[Christianity]] and the reconciliation of science with the mysteries of faith, a common notion at that time. Reuchlin's mystico-cabalistic ideas and objects were expounded in the ''De Verbo Mirifico'', and finally in the ''[[De Arte Cabalistica]]'' (1517).{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

Many of his contemporaries thought that the first step to the [[Conversions of Jews to Christianity|conversion of the Jews]] was to take away their books.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}} This view was advocated by [[Johannes Pfefferkorn]], a [[Germany|German]] [[Catholicism|Catholic]] [[theologian]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=246&letter=P
|title=Pfefferkorn, Johann (Joseph)
|first=Gotthard
|last=Deutsch
|author-link=Gotthard Deutsch
|author2=Frederick T. Haneman
|publisher=Jewish Encyclopedia
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|title=Divided Souls: Converts from Judaism in Germany, 1500-1750
|url=https://archive.org/details/dividedsoulsconv00carl
|url-access=limited
|first=Elisheva
|last=Carlebach
|year=2001
|publisher=Yale University Press
|isbn=0-300-08410-2
|page=[https://archive.org/details/dividedsoulsconv00carl/page/n64 52]}}</ref> Pfefferkorn, himself [[religious conversion|converted]] from [[Judaism]], actively preached against the [[Jew]]s and attempted to destroy copies of the ''[[Talmud]]'', and engaged in what became a long-running pamphleteering battle with Reuchlin. He wrote that "The causes which hinder the Jews from becoming Christians are three: first, [[usury]]; second, because they are not compelled to attend Christian churches to hear the [[sermon]]s; and third because they honor the ''Talmud''."<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t10/ht117.htm Reuchlin, Pfefferkorn, and the Talmud in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries] in ''The Babylonian Talmud. The History of the Talmud'' translated by [[Michael Levi Rodkinson|Michael L. Rodkinson]]. Book 10 Vol. I Chapter XIV (1918) p.76</ref> Pfefferkorn's plans were backed by the Dominicans of [[Cologne]]; and in 1509 he obtained the emperor's authority to confiscate all Jewish books directed against the Christian faith. Armed with this mandate, he visited Stuttgart and asked Reuchlin's help as a jurist and expert in putting it into execution. Reuchlin evaded the demand, mainly because the mandate lacked certain formalities, but he could no longer remain neutral. The execution of Pfefferkorn's schemes led to difficulties and to a new appeal to Maximilian.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

In 1510, Reuchlin was appointed by [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Maximilian]] to a commission that was convened to review the matter. His answer is dated from Stuttgart, 6 October 1510; in it, he divides the books into six classes — apart from the [[Bible]] which no one proposed to destroy — and, going through each class, he shows that the books openly insulting to Christianity are very few and viewed as worthless by most Jews themselves, while the others are either works necessary to the Jewish worship, which was licensed by papal as well as imperial law or contain matter of value and scholarly interest which ought not to be sacrificed because they are connected with another faith than that of the Christians. He proposed that the emperor should decree that for ten years there should be two Hebrew chairs at every German university, for which the Jews should furnish books.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=205}}

Maximilian's other experts proposed that all books should be taken from the Jews; and, as the emperor still hesitated, his opponents threw on Reuchlin the whole blame of their ill success. Pfefferkorn circulated at the Frankfurt Fair of 1511 a gross [[libel]] (''Handspiegel wider und gegen die Juden'') declaring that Reuchlin had been bribed.  Reuchlin defended himself in a pamphlet titled ''Augenspiegel'' (1511), which the theologians at the [[University of Cologne]] attempted to suppress. On 7 October 1512, they, along with the inquisitor [[Jacob van Hoogstraaten]], obtained an imperial order confiscating the ''Augenspiegel''.{{sfn|Smith|1911|pp=205–206}}

In 1513, Reuchlin was summoned before a court of the [[inquisition]]. He was willing to receive corrections in theology, which was not his subject, but he could not unsay what he had said; and as his enemies tried to press him into a corner, he met them with open defiance in a ''Defensio contra Calumniatores'' (1513). The universities were now appealed to for opinions and were all against Reuchlin. Even Paris (August 1514) condemned the ''Augenspiegel'', and called on Reuchlin to recant. Meantime a formal process had begun at Mainz before the grand inquisitor. But Reuchlin managed to have the jurisdiction changed to the episcopal court of [[Speyer]].  The Reuchlin affair caused a wide rift in the church and eventually the case came before the papal court in Rome. Judgment was not finally given until July 1516; and then, though the decision was really for Reuchlin, the trial was simply quashed.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=206}}

And while the [[obscurantist]]s escaped easily at Rome, with only a half condemnation, they received a crushing blow in Germany.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=206}} In Reuchlin's defense, ''Virorum Epistolæ Clarorum ad Reuchlinum Phorcensem'' (Letters of famous men to Reuchlin of Pforzheim),<ref>{{Cite NIE| wstitle =Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum | year = 1905}}</ref> had been published. It was closely followed by ''[[Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum]]'' (Letters of obscure men), a satirical collection purporting to defend his accusers, but actually directed against them.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} No party could survive the ridicule that was poured on Reuchlin's opponents by this document.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=206}}

[[Ulrich von Hutten]] and [[Franz von Sickingen]] did all they could to force Reuchlin's enemies to restitution of his material damages; they even threatened a feud against the Dominicans of Cologne and Spires. In 1520, a commission met in Frankfurt to investigate the case. It condemned Hoogstraaten. But the final decision of Rome did not indemnify Reuchlin. The contest ended, however; public interest had grown cold, absorbed entirely by the Lutheran question, and Reuchlin had no reason to fear new attacks.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=206}} When, in 1517, he received the theses propounded by [[Martin Luther|Luther]], he exclaimed, "Thanks be to [[God]], at last, they have found a man who will give them so much to do that they will be compelled to let my old age end in peace."{{sfn|Rines|1920}}

[[Heinrich Graetz]] and Francis Yates contended<ref>The defense of Reuchlin, the ''Epistolae obscurorum virorum'', prefiguring Luther's opening salvo of the Reformation.  {{Citation | last = Yates | first = Franes | title =  The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age | page = 32 | publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul | year = 1979 | isbn = 0-415-25409-4}}.</ref> that this affair helped spark the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Rummel | first = Erika | title = The case against Johann Reuchlin | pages = iv–xv | publisher = University of Toronto Press | year = 2002 | isbn =978-0-8020-8484-2}}.</ref>  Although suspected of a leaning toward Protestantism, Reuchlin never left the [[Catholic Church]]. In 1518, he was appointed professor of Hebrew and Greek at Wittenberg, but instead sent his nephew [[Philipp Melanchthon|Melanchthon]].{{sfn|Rines|1920}}

===Influence on Luther===
Luther's comment that [[Martin Luther#Justification by faith alone|justification by faith]] was the "true Cabala" in his ''Commentary on Galatians''<ref>Latin: [https://books.google.com/books?id=WJtAAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22Haec+sunt+illa+adoranda+mysteria+scripturae+et+vera+cabala%22&pg=PA35 Commentarium in Epistolam S. Pauli ad Galatas: 2] By Martin Luther, Google Books, also English, though the word Cabala is lost in translation: [https://books.google.com/books?id=PvVLAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22These+are+the+reverend+mysteries+of+the+Scripture%22&pg=PA256 A Commentary on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians]</ref> has been explained as relating to Reuchlin's influence.<ref>Philosophia Symbolica: Johann Reuchlin and the Kabbalah : Catalogue of an Exhibition in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica Commemorating Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) Cis van Heertum, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, 2005</ref> While Luther had consulted Reuchlin as a Hebrew expert and used ''De Arte Cabalistica'' as support for an argument, Luther took objection to Reuchlin's comment in ''De rudimentis hebraicis'' that the Hebrew letters for Jesus' name meant "the hidden God," which Luther found contrary to [[:s:Bible (King James)/Matthew#Matthew 1|Matthew, Chapter 1]]:21, which describes the meaning as being about "he would save His people from their sins."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ta9zBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Luther+was+acquainted+with+Reuchlin%27s+work.%22&pg=PA94 Martin Luther's Understanding of God's Two Kingdoms: A Response to the Challenge of Skepticism. Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation] {{ISBN|0801038847}} William J. Wright, Richard Muller - 2010</ref>

===End of life===
[[File:Johannes Reuchlin 400th Anniversary of his Death 1522 Medal 1922, obverse.jpg|thumb|Johannes Reuchlin 400th anniversary of his death 1922 medal]]
[[File:Johannes Reuchlin 400th Anniversary of his Death 1522 Medal 1922, reverse.jpg|thumb|The reverse of this [[medal]] by [[Ernst Barlach]]]]

Reuchlin did not long enjoy his victory over his accusers in peace. In 1519, Stuttgart was visited by famine, civil war and pestilence.{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=206}} In response to concerns about growing religious controversies [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]] had Reuchlin's ''Augenspiegel'' condemned on 23 June 1520, claiming it to be "scandalous and offensive" and upholding the University of Cologne's previous condemnation.<ref>{{cite book | last=Baron | first=Salo Wittmayer | title=A Social and Religious History of the Jews: Late Middle Ages and the era of European expansion, 1200-1650 | publisher=Columbia University Press | year=1952 | isbn=978-0-231-08850-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNKd2nSyxPAC | access-date=2023-12-05 | page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Price | first=David | title=Johannes Reuchlin and the Campaign to Destroy Jewish Books | publisher=Oxford University Press, USA | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-19-539421-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CIM8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 | access-date=2023-12-05 | pages=201–202}}</ref>  From November of 1519 to the spring of 1521, the veteran statesman sought refuge in the [[University of Ingolstadt]] where he received an appointment as professor from [[William IV, Duke of Bavaria|William of Bavaria]].{{sfn|Rines|1920}} He taught Greek and Hebrew there for a year. It was 41 years since at Poitiers he had last spoken from a public chair; but at 65 he retained his gift of teaching, and hundreds of scholars crowded round him. This gleam of autumn sunshine was again broken by the plague; but now he was called to Tübingen and again spent the winter of 1521–22 teaching in his own systematic way. But in the spring he found it necessary to visit [[Bad Liebenzell|the baths of Liebenzell]], and there contracted [[jaundice]], of which he died, leaving in the history of the new learning a name only second to that of his younger contemporary [[Erasmus of Rotterdam|Erasmus]].{{sfn|Smith|1911|p=206}}

Reuchlin died in Stuttgart and is buried at St. Leonhard church.<ref>{{Citation | last = Posset | first = F | year = 2011 | contribution = Reuchlin, Johann (1455–1522) | title = The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization}}.</ref>

==Works==
* ''De Verbo Mirifico'' (''The Wonder-Working Word'', 1494)
* ''[[De Arte Cabalistica]]'' (''On the Art of Kabbalah'', 1517)

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Attribution==
*{{Americana|wstitle=Reuchlin, Johann |year=1920}}
*{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=R&artid=244|article=Reuchlin, Johann von |ref=none}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Reuchlin, Johann |volume= 23 |pages= 204–206 |last= Smith |first= William Robertson |author-link= William Robertson Smith}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite CE1913 |last=Löffler |first=Klemens |wstitle=Johannes Reuchlin|short=x |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Johannes Reuchlin}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Reuchlin, Johann|year=1905 |short=x}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180514162913/https://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/exhibitions/Reuchlin/index.html Johannes Reuchlin and the Jewish Book Controversy]
* {{MathGenealogy|id=125760}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reuchlin, Johann}}
[[Category:1455 births]]
[[Category:1522 deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century German philosophers]]
[[Category:15th-century German writers]]
[[Category:15th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:16th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century German translators]]
[[Category:16th-century German writers]]
[[Category:16th-century occultists]]
[[Category:16th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Ingolstadt]]
[[Category:Christian Hebraists]]
[[Category:Christian Kabbalists]]
[[Category:Christian humanists]]
[[Category:German Christians]]
[[Category:German Renaissance humanists]]
[[Category:German Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Imperial counts palatine]]
[[Category:Medieval occultists]]
[[Category:People from Pforzheim]]
[[Category:People from the Margraviate of Baden]]