Obertus Giphanius

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Giphanius on an engraving from around 1700 by Wolfgang Philipp Kilian

Hubert van Giffen , Latinized Obertus Giphanius , also after his own spelling Hubrecht van Giffen (* 1534 in Buren , † July 26, 1604 in Prague ) was a German philologist and lawyer.

Life

Obertus Giphanius came from a Protestant landowning family in Geldern . He first studied philology at the University of Leuven , then law at the Universities of Orléans , Bourges and Paris . Jacques Cujas was his teacher in Bourges , and he also studied with Joachim Hopperus and Barnabas Brissonius . As a student, he published what was considered an exemplary edition of De rerum naturae des Lucretius , which Joseph Justus Scaliger believed was plagiarism. After receiving his doctorate in law in Orleans in 1567, he traveled twice to Italy, the first time in the entourage of ambassador Paul de Foix through northern Italy to Venice . Thanks to his correspondence with Thomas Rehdiger and Johann Crato von Krafftheim , the next few years of his life are well documented. He devoted himself mainly to philological and philosophical studies, he maintained friendly connections with Joseph Justus Scaliger, Carlo Sigonio and Hubert Languet, among others . In 1571 he was appointed to the chair of ethics, logic and the Institutiones Iustiniani at the University of Strasbourg , where he taught until 1582. Giphanius read here, for example, on Aristotle , but his writings on it, as on Plato , only appeared posthumously. He also worked on editing projects for the printing house of Theodosius Rihel , including editions of Flavius ​​Josephus and Homer as well as a Cicero lexicon and a translation of Titus Livius . In 1573 he married Anna Margarethe († 1575/76), the daughter of the Lutheran theologian Johannes Marbach , on whose side he intervened in the disputes with the Reformed Johannes Sturm , although he himself belonged more to the Reformed. In 1575 he published additions to the history of the Reformation by Johannes Sleidanus . Since he made unproven allegations about the persecution of Protestants in Vienna, including suspicions against the emperor, he had to spend several months in custody. Through Crato's mediation, there was already an approach to Sturm, who, like Crato, stood up for Giphanius. His wife also died during this time, which led to a dispute with Marbach over the dowry after he was released from prison .

In 1583, Giphanius accepted a call to the Academia Norica in Altdorf near Nuremberg , which was not to become a university until 1622. Here he was professor of pandects and philology, the non-legal ancient texts now largely moved from his perspective. He quickly acquired his extremely good reputation as a humanistic lawyer, and within a very short time he was considered the most respected German lawyer who, even beyond the German borders, only had Cujas next to him as an even more respected authority. In addition, he had a decisive influence on the curriculum and thus worked against the anti-Aristotelian Ramism . In 1584 he married again, with his wife Justina Oelhafe († 1612) he had his only child with Johann von Giffen . She came from the respected Nuremberg family of the Paumgartners. He also called Hugues Doneau to Altdorf, but quickly got into conflict with him. Thus, he moved in 1590 to the next Andreas Fachinäus second legal professor at the Jesuit- dominated University of Ingolstadt , 24 of his students, including his next Kaspar Schoppe prime student Konrad Rittershusius , followed him. In the time of Ingolstadt, Giphanius converted to Catholicism . His character weaknesses, which had already been revealed in Altdorf, became even more apparent in Ingolstadt. Personal and professional reasons led him to accept a call to the Imperial Court Council in Prague in 1599 . However, he left his family in Ingolstadt without support; the woman's family had already broken up earlier. When he died he is said to have left a fortune of 15,000 guilders.

As a lawyer, Giphanius was closely based on ancient legal sources, which means he was in the tradition of his teacher Cujas and was therefore called "German Cujas". In particular, the system and the internal cohesion of the corpus iuris civilis were of essential importance to him. For this, lawyers should also have a basic knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek . He also represented this point of view in teaching, as evidenced by the lectures handed down by students from the time in Altdorf, which were published after his death. Alongside Hugo Donellus , he is one of the innovators in legal teaching methods. His opponents, on the other hand, accused him of being more of a “Criticus” than a lawyer, “The scholar who was distinguished by his acuity and knowledge had serious character defects as a person.” Theodor Schirmer speaks of “untruth, vanity and greed for money [...] by official and not official documents equally proven ”as well as“ The teaching activity, which deserves full recognition, is linked to the endeavor to make the audience lean from colleagues by all kinds of unfair means. The bitterest complaints come from his own relatives about G.'s filthy greed, from which his family suffered unspeakably; Brokenness has almost become the rule with him; In order to enable him to return borrowed books, he had to be arrested once. ”On the other hand, he explains professionally:“ But even what has been preserved for us is sufficient to show what an important scholar in Germany G. possessed how such a happy union of the three directions of jurisprudence, the systematic-philosophical, critical-historical and practical, especially in combination with such superior intellectual gifts, we hardly met again in the fatherland before the 19th century. "

Fonts

In quatuor libros Institutionum iuris civilis commentarius , 1629
  • T. Lucretii Cari De rerum natura libri sex, mendis innumerabilibus liberati; & in pristinum paene, veterum potissime librorum ope ac fide, from Oberto Gifanio Burano Iuris studioso, restituti , Antuerpiae 1566
  • Theses de usucapione et praescriptionibus temporum , Argentoratum 1575
  • Theses communes de contractibus, de pactis, propriae de mutuo , Argentoratum 1576
  • Theses de testamentis ordinandis , Argentoratum 1576
  • Theses de pactis , Altorphii 1584
  • Theses de testamento militari , Altorphii 1586
  • Commentarius de divisionibus iuris novis interpretum quorundam maxime glossographorum in theses aliquot coniectis , Altorphium 1587
  • Iliad, seu potius omnia eius quae extant opera , Argentorati 1588
  • Homerus, Odyssea , Argentorati 1588
  • Theses de actionibus servitutum , Altdorphii 1588
  • Theses de principiis iuris sumptae ex DC tit. de iustitia et iure et tit. de legib. , Altorphii 1588
  • Theses de statu et iure personarum , Altorphii 1588
  • Theses ad nobilem L. XV. Si is qui pro emptore D. de usurpationibus, usucapionibus , Altorphii 1590
  • De Imperatore Ivstiniano Commentarius. Index Historicvs Rervm Romanarvm et Dispvtatio De Actionibvs empti et Venditi , Ingolstadii 1591
  • Disputatio de actionibus empti et venditi, in theses aliquot coniecta , Ingol stage 1591
  • Theses De Procvratoribvs et Defensoribvs , Ingolstadii 1591
  • Disputatio de iureiurando , Ingol stage 1592
  • Disputatio de mutuo, in theses aliquot coniecta , Ingolstadii 1592
  • Theses de fructibus , Ingolstadii 1592
  • Theses de ordinandis et infirmandis testamentis et codicillis , Ingol stage 1592
  • Disp. de pignoribus et hypothecis , Ingolstadii 1593
  • Disputatio de iniuriis , Ingolstadii 1593
  • Theses iuris de his qui potiores in pignore, quique in priorum locum succedunt , Ingolstadium 1593
  • Theses De Locatione et Condvctione , Ingolstadii 1594
  • Theses de operis novi nuntiatione et interdicto quod vi aut clam , Ingol stage 1594
  • Theses de solutione , Ingolstadii, 1594
  • Theses de rebus pupilli, et minorum XXV. annis sine decreto non alienandis vel obligandis , Ingol stage 1595
  • Theses de restitutione maiorum XXV. annis , Ingolstadii 1595
  • Disputatio ex titulis Codicis de novationibus, de solutionibus, et de evictionibus , Ingolstadium 1596
  • Disp. iuris. de delictis et poenis, in theses aliquot summatim coniecta , Ingol stage 1598
  • Lecturae altorphinae , Francofurti 1605
  • Antinomiae Iuris Feudalis, Siue Disputationes XI , Francofurti 1606
  • Commentarius in quatuor libros institutionum iuris civilis a Iustiniano principe sacratissimo compositos, perelegans, ac omnibus praesertim in scholis versantibus vere necessarius ac perutilis , Francofurti 1606

literature

Single receipts

  1. ^ Hans Liermann :  Giphanius, Hubertus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 407 ( digitized version ).
  2. ^ Theodor Schirmer:  Giphanius, Hubert . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 182-185.
personal data
SURNAME Giphanius, Obertus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giffen, Hubert; Giffen, Hubrecht van; Gifanius, Hubertus; Giphan, Hubert; Giphanius, Hubert; Gifanius, Hubert; Giffen, Obertus van; Gifanius, Obertus; Gyphanius, Obertus; Giffen, Hubertus van; Gyphanius, Hubertus; Giphanius a Giffen, Hubertus; Van Giffen, Hubert; VanGiffen, Hubert; Giphanius, Hubertus; Giffen, Hubert van; Giphanus, Obertus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philologist and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 1534
PLACE OF BIRTH Boers
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1604
Place of death Prague