Balthasar Fabricius

Balthasar Fabricius ( also: Phacchius, Vach; Phachus; Phacchus, Fabritius ; * around 1478 in Vacha ; † July 4, 1541 in Wittenberg ) was a German humanist , Latin grammarian and rhetorician .

Life

It is not known where Fabricius had previously started his studies. He enrolled at the University of Wittenberg in the year it was founded and in February 1503 acquired the academic degree of a master's degree here . In the same year he then took over the professorship for Latin poetry and rhetoric at the university.

With a comprehensive philological education, he promoted the introduction of the Greek language in Wittenberg together with Nikolaus Marschalk and Hermann Trebelius . His lectures on Virgil's Aeneid and Valerius Maximus formed the theoretical backing of the humanistic concept of education at the academy. In this sense, he continued to work after their departure. Fabricius and his friends, especially Trebelius, formed the “Grammatici” party among the Wittenberg humanists.

He was a quiet scholar who did not claim the honorary title of a poet, but only wanted to be a "grammaticus". For him, grammar was the basis of all learned education. This concentration on linguistic problems should have allowed him to continue working at the university that was later shaped by Martin Luther . The wandering imperial knight and humanist Ulrich von Hutten took quarters with his friend Fabricius during his winter stay in 1510/11.

This stay in Wittenberg belonged to the ending North German, pre-patriotic, yes pre-political, more self-educating, but at the same time educationally effective period of Hutten, which moved from one university to another since 1505. In dealing with Wittenbergers, such as his host Fabricius or Kilian Reuter , he also received something poetically stimulating.

From the time in Wittenberg humanities teachers Fabricius embodies like no other type of specialized for life on the bonae artes salaried professor. The professor of Latin poetry also provided an example of an essentially peaceful coexistence and fruitful cooperation between humanists and scholastics in the early 16th century, which was not so common at the German universities of the time. Under his rectorate in the winter semester of 1517, the "respublica literia" began to be enlarged and renewed.

literature

• Conrad Bursian:  Fabricius, Balthasar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 505.
• Olaf Ditzel:  FABRICIUS Phacchus (Vach), Balthasar. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 25, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-332-7 , Sp. 408-409.
• Heinz Kathe : The Wittenberg Philosophical Faculty 1502–1817 (= Central German Research. Volume 117). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-412-04402-4 .
• Walter Friedensburg : History of the University of Wittenberg. Max Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1917,
• Helmar Junghans: Directory of the rectors, vice-rectors, deans, professors and castle church preachers of Leucorea from the summer semester 1536 to the winter semester 1574/75. In: Irene Dingel , Günther Wartenberg : Georg Major (1502–1574) - A theologian of the Wittenberg Reformation. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig, 2005, ISBN 3-374-02332-0