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Johannes Trithemius, humanist of the late Middle Ages
In the year 1462, two years before the death of the important humanist
and prelate of the church
Nikolaus von Kues (Nicholas Cusanus),
another important humanist scholar of the late middle ages named
Johannes Trithemius was born in Trittenheim on the Mosel, just a few
kilometers upriver from Kues. In 1482, after attending schools in
Trier, Cologne, in the Netherlands and in Heidelberg, he entered the
Benedictine monastery
Sponheim
in the Nahe valley. Shortly afterwards he was made Abbott. Under his
influence, the monastery evolved into a center of humanistic scholarship.
The library that he set up contained about 2000 volumes and was an
exceptional scientific collection. He gained literary fame through his "De
Scriptoribus ecclesiaticis", a reference work on church writers that is
still used today. Some of his writings, though, are controversial.
Photo: This portrait of Johannes Trithemius was painted around 1510
and was created by the Augsburg painter and graphic artist Hans Burgkmair (1473-1531).
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