Johannes Sambucus
Johannes Sambucus (actually János Zsámboky , variants: Joannes Bochius , Ioes Sabucus , Sambuci , Iehan Sambucus , Ján Sambucus , Johannes Pannonicus Sambucus ; * July 25, 1531 or July 30, 1531 or June 1, 1531 in Tyrnau (Trnava, Nagyszombat , today Slovakia ); † June 13, 1584 in Vienna ) was a Hungarian polymath , including a doctor, humanistic philologist , poet, bibliophile and patron .
From 1542 onwards, he completed a degree in philology (ancient languages, law, history and philosophy) in Vienna , Leipzig , Wittenberg , Ingolstadt , Strasbourg and Paris . In particular, he was influenced by the works of Plato . 1551 he achieved at the University of Paris the Master Accounts in philosophy. From 1553 to 1557 he studied medicine at the University of Padua , obtained a medical license in 1555 and in 1560 he settled as a doctor in Vienna , which at that time had also become a center of Hungarian scientific and cultural life. From 1558 to 1564 he traveled to Venice , Padua , Genoa , Naples , Milan , Ghent and Antwerp .
During his stay in Italy, Sambucus got to know an art form that was popular at the time, the “ emblemata ”. As he was a poet, a connoisseur of antiquity and a knowledge of Latin, this was an ideal platform for intellectual and artistic activity. In 1564 (predated, actually not until 1565) the first edition of his “Emblemata” was published, five more followed within a short period of time, which suddenly made him internationally famous as a master of this form of literature. He was the first Hungarian author whose works were translated into French and soon also into English.
In 1581, Sambucus also initiated the publication of the first edition of the Corpus iuris Hungarici in Vienna . With the principles contained therein, based on the legal rules of antiquity, he contributed one of the foundations of the Hungarian legal system.
Sambucus soon advanced to the position of court doctor to Emperor Maximilian II as well as to the imperial councilor and court historiographer . From the considerable fortune he had thus gained, he subsequently set up what was then the largest private library in the world. The library contained numerous previously unknown ancient and contemporary Greek and Latin manuscripts (among the contemporary ones e.g. Janus Pannonius and Antonio Bonfini ), some of the texts of which he edited himself or made possible the printing through generous patronage . Many eulogies in forewords to the resulting prints tell of this. He also published various maps and geographical descriptions, e.g. B. Hungaria , Transilvaniae Descriptio and Illirium and self-written Latin poems. In addition, he owned a large coin and art collection.
Sambucus conducted correspondence with numerous personalities of the humanistic intellectual world of his time. He also wrote numerous translations and commentaries on works by Roman and Greek authors from antiquity, as well as treatises on the history of Hungary.
Johannes Sambucus died in Vienna on June 13, 1584. There is a memorial plaque in Singerstrasse in the 1st district, house number 3.
The Sambucus collection formed the basis for the manuscript collection of the Austrian National Library .
expenditure
- Johannes Sambucus: Emblemata et aliquot nummi antiqui operis. Olms, Hildesheim et al. 2002, ISBN 3-487-11380-5 (reprint of the Antwerp 1566 edition)
- Hans Gerstinger (ed.): From the diary of the imperial court historiographer Johannes Sambucus (1531–1584): Cod. Vind. lat. 9039 (= Austrian Academy of Sciences, meeting reports, philosophical-historical class , volume 248, treatise 2). Böhlau, Vienna 1965.
- Hans Gerstinger: The letters of Johannes Sambucus (Zsamboky) 1554–1584 (= Austrian Academy of Sciences, session reports, philosophical-historical class , volume 255). Böhlau, Graz et al. 1968.
literature
- Hans Gerstinger: Johannes Sambucus as a manuscript collector. In: Festschrift of the National Library in Vienna. Vienna 1926, pp. 250-399
- Pál Gulyás, István Monok (eds.), András Varga (comp.): The Sambucus Library: Catalog based on a copy by Pál Gulyás. Scriptum KFT, Szeged 1992, ISBN 963-481-917-6 .
- Wolfgang Harms: Sambucus, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 405 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Maria Radnoti-Alföldi : On the early illustrations of numismatic works: the "Emblemata" of Johannes Sambucus, 1531-1584. In: Rainer Albert, Reiner Cunz (Hrsg.): History of Science of Numismatics: Contributions to the 17th German Numismatics Day March 3 - 5, 1995 Hanover. Numismatic Society, Speyer 1995, pp. 71-95.
- Emil Schultheisz: A Hungarian medical humanist Johannes Zsamboky (Sambucus) and his relationships with some of his German friends. In: XXX. Congrès International d'Histoire de la Médicine, 1986. Actes, Düsseldorf 1988, pp. 441-444.
- Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Sambucus (Zsámboky), Johannes. In: Werner E. Gerabek u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1283 f.
- Arnoud SQ Visser: Joannes Sambucus and the learned image: the use of the emblem in late-Renaissance humanism. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2005, ISBN 90-04-13866-8 (dissertation, University of Leiden 2003; digitized version )
- Werner Waterschoot: Lucas d´Heere and J. Sambucus. In: Emblematica 5, 1990.
- German Biographical Encyclopedia . Volume 8, p. 508
bibliography
- Sarah Bakewell : A bibliography of Joannes Sambucus (1531–1584). Dept. of Library, Archive and Information Studies, London 1994
Web links
- Literature by and about Johannes Sambucus in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works on the Internet
- Illustrations of some pages with coats of arms from the Emblemata , website of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books
- Illustrations from the Emblemata , 1564 , Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek ( enter Sambucus in the search mask)
- Website about J. Sambucus by Pál Kemenes (Hungarian)
- Various portraits by J. Sambucus , Semmelweis Museum, Budapest
- Sambucus in the catalog of early Greek prints from Basel ( enter Sambucus in the search mask)
- Johannes Sambucus and his dog Bombo (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Compare the information in the catalog of the Berlin State Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sambucus, Johannes |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zsámboky, János (real name); Sambucus, Johann; Sambucus, Joannes; Bochius, Joannes; Sabucus, Ioes; Sambucus, Iehan; Sambucus, Ján; Sambucus, Jean; Sambucus, Johannes Pannonicus; Sambucus, Joannes Pannonicus; Sambucus, John; Sambuci; Zsámboki |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hungarian doctor, philologist, polyhistor, poet, bibliophile and patron |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1531 or July 25, 1531 or July 30, 1531 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tyrnau , Royal Hungary |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 13, 1584 |
| Place of death | Vienna |