Alexander Alesius

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Alexander Alesius (also: Aleß , birth name Alexander Ales or Alane ; * April 23, 1500 in Edinburgh , † March 17, 1565 in Leipzig ) was a Scottish-German theologian and reformer .

Live and act

He had first studied at St Andrews University. When Patrick Hamilton brought reformist ideas to Scotland , he was supposed to convince them of the old faith in prison. The result was the opposite. He too had to atone for his courageous demeanor in prison, but was able to flee and escape on a German ship.

In 1533 he found himself in Wittenberg . From here he tried to work in Scotland. He advocated reading the Bible in the mother tongue in a script and therefore waged a feud with Johannes Cochlaeus .

In 1535 he followed a call by Thomas Cranmer to England , brought King Henry VIII a letter from Philip Melanchthon , on whose recommendation he was appointed professor at Cambridge . Embroiled in theological battles, he could not stay in Cambridge or London and returned to Germany.

Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg appointed him professor at the Brandenburg University of Frankfurt and took him to Worms (1540/1541) for a religious talk in 1540 . From 1543 professor at the University of Leipzig , he took part in the most important negotiations in the following years. He had essentially followed Melanchthon and remained loyal to his teacher even in the years when the Philippists were heavily attacked. In 1555 and 1561 he was rector of the University of Leipzig.

Basically he had made up his mind and showed a firm character at home, but abroad he became insecure and often behaved inconsistently. Even after he had found peace in Leipzig, his work failed to succeed. He had written a number of great exegetical and dogmatic works, but also intervened in the internal Protestant disputes with polemical writings (against Andreas Osiander , especially against the anti-Trinitarian Servet and Gentile).

His gravestone has been in the village church of Mölkau near Leipzig since 1710 . The fact that the tombstone came to Mölkau can be related to the grandson of Johann Friedrich Scipio , who was the church patron and founder of the church there. Alesius was buried in the cemetery in Zweinaundorf .

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personal data
SURNAME Alesius, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alexander Aleß
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish theologian and reformer
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1565
Place of death Leipzig