Dietrich Gresemund

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Dietrich Gresemund (also: Dietrich Gresemund the Younger ; * 1477 in Speyer , † 1512 in Mainz ) was a humanistic German author.

Life

His father, who also bore the name Dietrich, was born in Meschede in Westphalia in the 15th century and studied in Italy after he had obtained his master's degree in Erfurt . After graduating in medicine in Speyer , he became court doctor and advisor to the Elector of Mainz . He also wrote a book on the plague that was printed in 1490 . Dietrich Gresemund (the elder) is proven to be a practicing doctor in Mainz from 1470 to 1514.

Son Dietrich gained recognition for his education and talents as a young person in this city. As early as 1493 he was associated with Jakob Wimpheling , Adam Werner von Themar and Johannes Trithemius , and in 1494 his first publication appeared. Even then, Trithemius included him in his Catalogus illustrium viroum with warm eulogies, as the youngster had overtaken many mature men, including even doctors.

After he had received extensive classical training from his father and attended lectures in dialectics at the University of Mainz , he studied law in Padua in 1495 and in Bologna in 1497 . In 1498 he received the degree of doctor legum in Ferrara , and in 1499 he matriculated in Heidelberg . By 1501 he was in Rome to study antiquities, but soon had enough of the city and wrote two acrid epigrams on Alexander VI.

After his return to Mainz, he received a number of honorary degrees in the short remaining life. In 1505 he was canon in Sankt Stephan , in 1506 Vicar General , in 1508 Protonotary and Judex Generalis , in 1509 Diffinitor Cleri Minoris in St. Stephan, and in 1510 Scholasticus in the same cathedral chapter.

His first work was called Lucubratiunculæ (1494) and was dedicated to Trithemius. The book consists of three parts. The first, a dialogue in which the value of the seven liberal arts is discussed, was greeted with applause and reprinted several times. Remarkably, this book contains the first plea from the Rhineland for a reform of grammar teaching. A dialogue from 1495 deals with the Mainz Carnival . Under the eyes of a strict censor, he presented a discourse on the lifestyle of the clergy at a synod . His longest poem tells in a moralizing way the story of the mutilation of a crucifix by an actor ( Historia violatae crucis , written around 1505, but only published in 1512).

Gresemund wrote individual poems for his friends' publications. His hobby was collecting old coins and inscriptions. In 1510 he published a collection of short texts on Roman archeology. His early death from a hernia prevented him from publishing his works on antiquity, and the manuscripts have been lost. Erasmus of Rotterdam dedicated a great tribute to him in his Hieronymus edition of 1516, and Hieronymus Gebwiler describes him in the following words: “Dietrich was slim and of medium height with well-formed body parts, dark hair, gray eyes, a balanced character without hatred , without presumptuousness, without pride, without posturing, gentle in his manners and truthful. "

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Wegner: Gresemund, Dietrich. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 510.
  2. ↑ Quote translated from English
personal data
SURNAME Gresemund, Dietrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gresemund, Dietrich the Younger (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION humanistic German author
DATE OF BIRTH 1477
PLACE OF BIRTH Speyer
DATE OF DEATH 1512
Place of death Mainz