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 a Latinization, he studied in Leipzig and Würzburg. He went to Vienna in 1492 and became a professor of medicine at the University of Vienna. He became Rector of the university in 1500 and also served as Royal Superintendent until his death.
A leading scholar, he was the author of De Caesaribus et Imperatoribus and was also given a poet's
Early life
In 1490 he matriculated at the
He was acquainted with
Career
Maximilian made him his confidential councillor and appointed him curator of the university for life. Cuspinian also received the position of chief librarian of the Imperial Library, and superintendent of the archives of the imperial family. As curator of the university he exercised great influence on its development, although he was not able to prevent the decline caused by the political and religious disturbances of the second decade of the sixteenth century. He was on terms of friendship with the most noted humanists and scholars; the calling of his friend Conrad Celtes to Vienna is especially due to him. Celtes and he were the heading spirits of the literary association called the "Sodalitas Litterarum Danubiana".
In 1515 Cuspinian was prefect of the city of
As a diplomat, he served as an envoy to Poland and Hungary and orchestrated the
Writings
His literary activity covered the most varied domains. Although his poetical writings are of little importance, and his manuscript "Collectanea medicinalia" of no great value, nevertheless he attained a high reputation as a collector and, to some degree, as an editor of ancient and medieval manuscripts.
Among other publications, he edited in 1511
For a long time, especially after the Battle of Mohács, he busied himself with the Turkish question and printed both political and historical writings on the subject, the most important of which is his "De Turcarum origine, religione et tyrannide". It was at that time that some of Cuspinian's earlier writings were irrevocably lost because the only copies of them had been kept in the famed Bibliotheca Corviniana at Buda, destroyed during the Ottoman conquest.
Cuspinian's best work is "Austria, sive Commentarius de rebus Austriæ", edited by Kaspar Brusch in 1553 with critical notes.
In 1528 he published the manuscript map of Hungary he had found after 1526, presumably in Buda. The map was edited by Georg Tannstetter from the manuscript of Lazarus Secretarius and was published by Petrus Apianus the printer of Ingolstadt.
Grave
Cuspinianus is buried in Vienna's
References
- ^ Also as: Austria: ... cum omnibus eiusdem marchionibus, ducibus, archiducibus, ac rebus praeclare ad haec vsque tempora ab iisdem gestis. Eiusdem ... Cuspiniani oratio ... ad S. Ro. Imperii principes & proceres, vt bellum suscipiant contra Turcum. Francofurti: typis Wechelianis apud Claudium Marnium, & heredes Ioannis Aubrij, 1601
Sources
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Tabula Hungarie ad quatuor latera, The Lazarus map of Hungary. Ingolstadt 1528.
- (in English) Renaissance-Humanism
- (in German) Aeiou entry on Cuspinianus
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Johannes Cuspinian". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.