Hieronymus Osius

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Hieronymus Osius, also: Ossanna (* around 1530 in Schlotheim ; † April 1575/76 in Graz ) was a German neo-Latin poet, literary scholar and rhetorician .

Life

Nothing is known about Osius' origins and educational background. It is possible that he first studied at the University of Erfurt . It is documented that he enrolled at the University of Wittenberg on March 28, 1552 and acquired the degree of master's degree here on June 28, 1552 . In 1555 he was accepted into the philosophical faculty of the Wittenberg University and gave lectures on poetics. From 1557 he also appeared as an examiner, which may indicate a professorship in poetics. On May 2, 1558, King Christian III crowned him . from Denmark and Norway in Copenhagen to Poeta laureatus and thus he had the necessary qualification for the teaching post. Since 1560 he was at the University of Jena where he also gave lectures on poetry. In 1565 he went to the grammar school in Regensburg as rector and returned to Jena in 1568 as professor of eloquence . He accompanied David Chytraeus to Styria in 1573/74. In Graz he took over the rectorate of the Protestant landscape school and was murdered there.

With numerous occasional poems and Latin verses, Osius took part in the poetic production of the Melanchthon students. On behalf of Frederick II of Denmark and in connection with the coronation of the poet, several poems were written in praise of Christian III. and Friedrichs II. as well as Osius' main work, an epic description of the Dithmarsch war of 1559, which was directed against the free peasant republic of Dithmarschen in the tradition of the ancient heroic epic . Osius translated the poem into German in abbreviated form, a rarity in neo-Latin literature.

The volume “Phrygis Aesopi Fabulae carmine elegiaco ..., Item pugna ranarum et murium Homert”, published in Wittenberg in 1564, contained contributions to neo-Latin fable literature and a Latin translation of the pseudohomeric “ frog mouse war ”. The fable poetry was justified with arguments from Philipp Melanchthon , whose pupil he was.

Selection of works

Phryx Aesopus Habitu Poetico by Hieronymus Osius
  • Fabulae Aesopi carmine elegiaco redditae, Wittenberg 1564
  • Historia belli Ditmarsici. Wittenb. 1560 and more
  • Pugna ranarum & murium
  • Libb. 2. de vitanda ebrietate
  • Epicedion de ..., ducis Saxoniae Electoris Mauricii mortc. Wittenberg 1553
  • Epicedion scriptum ..., Dominae Sibyllae, Wittenberg 1554
  • Carmen de natali Christi, Wittenberg 1557 and more often
  • Historia excidii Hierosolymorum, Wittenberg 1558
  • Res gestae ..., Christiani III Regis Daniae, Wittenberg 1563
  • Oratio continens enkomion poetices, Regensburg 1566
  • Scriptum continens ceu oeconomiam quandam lectionum, Regensburg 1567
  • Icones catecheseos Christianae. Wittenberg 1565, 1569,

literature

personal data
SURNAME Osius, Hieronymus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ossanna, Hieronymus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German neo-Latin poet, literary scholar and rhetorician
DATE OF BIRTH around 1530
PLACE OF BIRTH Schlotheim
DATE OF DEATH April 1575 or April 1576
Place of death Graz