Helius Eobanus Hessus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Hessus" redirects here. For the town of Locris in ancient Greece, see Hessus (Locris).
Helius Eobanus Hessus

Helius Eobanus Hessus (6 January 1488 – 5 October 1540) was a German

humanist. He was born at Halgehausen in Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel).[1]

His family name is said to have been Koch; Eoban was the name of a local saint; Hessus indicates the land of his birth, Helius the fact that he was born on Sunday. He visited a Latin school in

Riesenburg.[1]

Returning to Erfurt, he was reduced to great straits by his drunken and irregular habits. At length (in 1517) he was appointed professor of Latin in the university. He was prominently associated with the distinguished men of the time (

Reformation[1]
for the rest of his life.

The university was seriously weakened by the growing popularity of the new

Landgrave of Hesse, by whom he was summoned in 1536 as professor of poetry and history to Marburg, where he died.[1]

Hessus, who was considered the foremost Latin poet of his age, was a facile verse-maker, but not a true poet. He wrote what he thought was likely to pay or secure him the favor of some important person. He wrote local, historical and military poems, idylls, epigrams and occasional pieces, collected under the title of Sylvae. His most popular works were translations of the

Emperor Henry II.[1]

His Epistolae were edited by his friend Camerarius, who also wrote his life (1553). There are later accounts of him by

D. F. Strauss, Ulrich von Hutten (Eng. trans., 1874). His poems on Nuremberg and other towns have been edited with commentaries and 16th-century illustrations by J. Neff and V. von Loga in M. Herrmann and S. Szarnatolski's Lateinische Literaturdenkmäler des XV. u. XVI. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1896).[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hessus, Helius Eobanus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 413–414.
  2. ISBN 9789004414662
    .
  3. ^ Hütteroth, Oskar (2017). Die althessischen Pfarrer der Reformationszeit [O–Z] (in German). Marburg: Historische Kommission für Hessen. p. 351.
  • Harry Vredeveld "Hessus, Eobanus" The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helius_Eobanus_Hessus&oldid=1193999883"