Johannes Bertelius lso Jean Bertels(1544 – June 19, 1607), abbot of

Echternach Echternach (, ; or locally ) is a commune with town status in the canton of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach lies near the border with Germany, and is the oldest town in Luxembourg. History The town grew around the Abbey of Echt ...

and writer of a history of

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, was born in

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 ...

. After obtaining a degree in philosophy at the Pedagogy of the Lily in

Leuven University KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its main campus ...

, Bertelius was elected abbot of

Altmünster Abbey Altmünster Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on the Plateau Altmünster, between the Fishmarket and Clausen areas of Luxembourg City. History It was the first Abbey in Luxembourg City-founded in 1083 by Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg as a pri ...

, Luxembourg, in 1573 and was consecrated in 1576. On his orders the relics of John the Blind, Duke of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, were buried there. In 1595 king

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

appointed him abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Willibrord at Echternach. The following year the abbey was pillaged by Dutch freebooters and Bertelius was taken prisoner and removed to

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

. He was released only after a ransom payment. After his return, he devoted himself to literary work until his death. He was buried in a chapel of the monastery at Echternach.

Works

In 1581, Bertelius published a catalogue of the abbots of the Altmünster abbey and his ''Dialogi XXVI in regulam S. Benedicti''. In 1595, the ''Catalogus et series episcoporum Epternacensium'' was printed. The year 1606 saw the publication of a treatise on the pagan gods worshipped by the ancient Germanic tribes (''Deorum sacrifiorumque gentilium descriptio''). The main work by Bertelius, however, is the ''Historia Luxemburgensis'', printed in Cologne in 1605. This was the first history of Luxembourg. Apart from the Latin works by Bertelius, there exists a collection of drawings made by him which has been edited by Paul Spang.

References

Short online biography of Bertelius
*Brimmeyr, J.P. (1923) ''Geschichte der Stadt und der Abtei Echternach, 3 vols., Imprimerie centrale Gustave Soupert (Luxemburg)'', vol. 2: ''Zweite Hälfte des zweiten Teiles, begreifend den Zeitraum 1298-1797'', pp. 66–80 *Neyen, C.-A. (1860-1876) ‘Bertels, Jean’, in: id., ''Biographie luxembourgeoise. Histoire des hommes distingués originaires de ce pays considéré á l’époque de sa plus grande étendu ou qui se sont rendus remarquables pendant le séjour qu’ils y ont fait'', 2 vols., Pierre Bruck (Luxembourg), vol. 1, pp. 62–5 *Spang, P. (1984) ''Bertels abbas delineavit (1544-1607)'', RTL/Édition (Luxembourg) * Sprunck, A. (1955) ‘Bertels, Johann’, in: Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (ed.), ''Neue deutsche Biographie'', Duncker & Humblot (Berlin), vol. 2, p. 149 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertelius, Johannes 1544 births 1607 deaths 16th-century writers in Latin 17th-century writers in Latin Abbots of Echternach 16th-century Luxembourgian people 16th-century historians Renaissance humanists Luxembourgian historians 17th-century Luxembourgian people 17th-century historians 16th-century Christian abbots