Franciscus Raphelengius the Elder

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Franciscus Raphelengius

Franciscus Raphelengius the Elder , Latinized form of Frans van Ravelingen (born February 27, 1539 in Lannoy , † July 20, 1597 in Leiden ) was a Flemish printer and scholar. He founded the Raphelengius family of printers .

life and work

Since his mother had become a widow, Franciscus Raphelengius had to interrupt his studies and pursue learning to trade. He trained as a merchant in Nuremberg , but used his leisure time to study the ancient languages ​​and made so great progress in it that his mother put no further obstacles in his way for his interest in this matter.

He then went to Paris to perfect his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew at the university there. Due to the unrest in France, however, he moved to England and taught ancient Greek at Cambridge University for a few years .

In 1564 he returned to the Netherlands, married on June 23, 1565 with Margarethe Plantin, the eldest daughter of the famous book printer Christoph Plantin, and was thus introduced to the art of printing. He entered Antwerp in 1565 as a learned proofreader with his father-in-law, with whom already some capable scholars, such as Cornelis Kiliaan († 1607), Theodor Poelmann (1510-1580) and Justus Lipsius , were active in the same capacity; but it is especially Raphelengius to thank for the great correctness of Plantin's prints. In the production of the famous polyglot - Bible Biblia Sacra hebraice, chaldaice, graece et latine (. 8 vols, Antwerp 1568-1573), the Plantin with the support of the king . Philip II printed, Raphelengius was involved in an outstanding manner.

In the course of the religious unrest of the 16th century, Franciscus Raphelengius, like his eldest son Christoph and daughter Margarethe, converted to Protestantism , while his wife and two younger sons Franciscus and Justus remained Catholics, which did not disturb the family harmony.

When Plantin went to Leiden in 1582 to set up a branch printing house there, Raphelengius was in charge of the main business in Antwerp during the turmoil of the war, took over the Leiden printing office after Plantin's return in 1585, while the Antwerp printing house was passed on to his second son-in-law, Johannes Moretus.

From 1582 to 1585, during which time Raphelengius headed the main business in Antwerp, the mass catalog brought 98 new Plantin publishing works; Raphelengius also visited the Frankfurt bookseller fairs several times in the company of his future brother-in-law Moretus.

In Leiden Raphelengius learned also using some borrowed from friends Books Arabic . In March 1586 he was appointed academic printer by the University of Leiden and in June 1586 an associate professor, and in 1587 a full professor of the Hebrew language .

In addition to his lectures in the oriental languages, Raphelengius continued to run his printing press, and shortly before his death he came out in 1595 with a large sample of his newly created types Specimen characterum arabicorum officinae Plantinianae .

Among other things, he wrote a Hebrew grammar, a Chaldean dictionary and an Arabic-Latin dictionary published posthumously in Leiden in 1613, which had 13 editions.

The last years of his life were overshadowed by the untimely death of his wife and a paralysis he had suffered. After his death in 1597, his sons Christoph († 1600), Franciscus and Justus, who were equally proficient in the ancient languages, took over the printing company.

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personal data
SURNAME Raphelengius, Franciscus the Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ravelingen, Frans van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish printer and scholar
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1539
PLACE OF BIRTH Lannoy
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1597
Place of death Suffer