Alexander Alesius
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 .
Works
- Alexandri Alesii Scotti Responsio Ad Cochlei Calumnias . Wittenberg, 1534. (Reply to Johannes Cochläus ), urn : nbn: de: gbv: 9-g-3090535
- De Utilitate Missae et de vero usu & fructu coenae Domini (c. 1563, reply to Ruard Tapper ) digitized
literature
- Gustav Hammann: Alesius, Alexander. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 191 ( digitized version ).
- Rochus von Liliencron : Aleß, Alexander . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 336.
- Rudolf Buddensieg: Alesius Alexander. In: Realenzyklopädie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche (RE), Vol. 1, (1896), pp. 336–338
- Ernst Siegmund-Schultze: Alesius, Alexander . In Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE) Vol. 2 pp. 231–235
- Alesius, Alexander. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 1, Leipzig 1732, column 1134 f.
- Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon's correspondence. People Volume 11
- Wolfgang Klose: The Wittenberg Scholars' Studbook: the studbook of Abraham Ulrich (1549–1577) and David Ulrich (1580–1623). Medium Verlag, Halle 1999, ISBN 3-932776-76-3
Web links
personal data | |
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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 |