Alexander Hegius von Heek (?1433/1439/1440?7 December 1498) was a German

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

, so called from his birthplace Heek (located near Ahaus, then in the

Duchy of Westphalia The Duchy of Westphalia () was a historic territory in the Holy Roman Empire, which existed from 1102 to 1803. It was located in the greater region of Westphalia, originally one of the three main regions in the German stem duchy of Saxony and ...

). Hegius learned, likely in Emmerich, Greek from

Rodolphus Agricola Rodolphus Agricola (; August 28, 1443, or February 17, 1444 – October 27, 1485) was a Dutch humanist of the Northern Low Countries, famous for his knowledge of Latin and Greek. He was an educator, musician, builder of church organs, a poet i ...

.Akkerman, F., & Vanderjagt, A. J. (Eds.). (1988).
Rodolphus Agricola Phrisius, 1444-1485: proceedings of the international conference at the University of Groningen, 28-30 October 1985 (Vol. 6)
'. Leiden: Brill. P. 182. In 1474 he settled down at

Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...

in the Netherlands, where he either founded or succeeded to the headship of a school, which became famous for the number of its distinguished alumni. First and foremost of these was

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

; others were Hermann von dem Busche and Murmellius, the missionaries of humanism, Conrad Goclenius (Gockelen), Conrad Mutianus (Muth von Mudt) and Frans van Cranevelt. This work in turn cites: * Dietrich Reichling, “Beiträge zur Charakteristik des Alex. Hegius, Joseph Hortenius, &c.” in the ''Monatsschrift fur Westdeutschland'' (1877) *Hermann Hamelmann, ''Opera genealogico-historica'' (1711) * Heinrich August Erhard, ''Geschichte des Wiederaufblühens wissenschaftlicher Bildung'' (1826) * Karl Krafft and Wilhelm Crecelius, editors, “Alexander Hegius und seine Schüler,” from the works of Johannes Butzbach, one of Hegius's pupils, in ''Zeitschrift des bergischen Geschichtsvereins'', vii (Bonn, 1871) *Nauert, C. G. (1985)
The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 446 to 593 (1516 to 1517). (Collected Works of Erasmus, volume 4.) Translated by RAB Mynors and DFS Thomson; annotated by James K. McConica
Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1977. ''Renaissance Quarterly, 32''(2), 207-209. His writings, consisting of short poems, philosophical essays, grammatical notes and letters, were published after his death by his pupil Jacobus Faber. They display considerable knowledge of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, but less of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, on the value of which he strongly insisted. Hegius's chief claim to be remembered rests not upon his published works, but upon his services in the cause of

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

. He succeeded in abolishing the old-fashioned medieval textbooks and methods of instruction, and led his pupils to the study of the classical authors themselves. His generosity in assisting poor students exhausted a considerable fortune, and at his death he left nothing but his books and clothes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hegius 1430s births 1498 deaths German Renaissance humanists German Roman Catholics People from Deventer