Andreas Masius (or Maes) (30 November 1514 – 7 April 1573) was a Catholic priest, humanist and one of the first European

syriacists Syriac studies is the study of the Syriac language and Syriac Christianity. A specialist in Syriac studies is known as a Syriacist. Specifically, British, French, and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of ...

About

Masius was born in

Lennik Lennik () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Sint-Kwintens-Lennik, Sint-Martens-Lennik, Eizeringen and Gaasbeek. It is also situated in the Pajottenland. On January 1, 20 ...

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...

. Following his education, and after a short period of training at

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, studying Latin under

Conrad Goclenius Conrad Goclenius (or in German "Conrad Wackers" or "Conrad Gockelen") was a Renaissance humanist, and Latin scholar, and the closest confidant of humanist Desiderius Erasmus, who was born in Mengeringhausen in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1490, ...

, Masius worked as secretary for the bishop of Constance, Johan Weze († 13 November 1548). Later, among other things, he became the diplomatic representative in Rome for the Abbot Gerwig Blarer (1495–1567) of Weingarten. On behalf of Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1555, he requested permission from the Pope for the establishment of a university at

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

. Masius studied Hebrew in Leuven, Arabic in Rome with

Guillaume Postel Guillaume Postel (25 March 1510 – 6 September 1581) was a French linguist, Orientalist, astronomer, Christian Kabbalist, diplomat, polyglot, professor, religious universalist, and writer. Born in the village of Barenton in Normandy, Post ...

and in 1553 Syriac with

Moses of Mardin Moses of Mardin (Latin: ''Moses Mardenus'') was a Syriac Orthodox priest and bishop who played a significant role in printing the first Syriac bible and served as perhaps the first Syriac teacher/scholar in Europe. Biography Moses was born in t ...

, a priest of the Patriarchate of Antioch in Syria. After leaving the priesthood and marrying, in 1559, he settled in

Zevenaar Zevenaar () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the Gelderland province, in the eastern Netherlands near the border with Germany. In January 2018 the neighbouring municipality of Rijnwaarden was merged with Zevenaar ...

and in the last years of his life published several works. Masius died in

in 1573.

Translations and published works

Masius translated two creedal documents from Syriac for Yohannan Sulaqa, the (anti-)patriarch-elect of the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( ) or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church, the Chaldean Church or the Nestorian Church, is one of three major branches o ...

. In 1554, probably in Germany, he made a Latin translation of the Syriac 'Basilius-Anaphora' for Julius von Pflug († 3 September 1564), the last Catholic bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz. These were printed together with Masius' translation of the treatise ''De Paradiso'' of

Moses Bar-Kepha Moses bar Kepha or Moses bar Cephas ( Syriac ''Mushe bar Kipho''; born in Balad in Nineveh, now in Iraq, about the year 813; died at the age of ninety, in 903) was a writer and one of the most celebrated bishops of the Syriac Orthodox Church of t ...

. In 1571 Masius published his ''Grammatica linguae syricae'' as well as the dictionary ''Syrorum Peculium. Hoc est, vocabula apud Syros scriptores passim vsurpata'', at the Plantin press in Antwerp. In 1574 it was published his work
Josuae Imperatoris historia illustrata atque explicata
', that included some Hexaplaric readings.

References

Literature

* Albert van Roey: ''Les études syriaques d'Andreas Masius''. In: Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 9 (1978), 141-158. * M. Lossen, ''Briefe von Andreas Masius und seinen Freunden'' (1538) * J. W. Wesselius, ''The Syriac Correspondence of Andreas Masius: A Preliminary Report''

External links

Syriac Mss at Yale
- contains an account of Masius's life. {{DEFAULTSORT:Masius, Andreas 1514 births 1573 deaths People from Flemish Brabant People from Zevenaar Syriacists Belgian Arabists