Konrad Peutinger (; 14 October 1465 – 28 December 1547) 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 ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, politician,

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and archaeologist, serving as

Emperor Maximilian I Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death in 1519. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed hi ...

's chief archaeological adviser. A senior official in the municipal government of the Imperial City of

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, he served as a counselor to Emperor Maximilian I and his successor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

. Also known as a passionate

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

, he collected, with the help of his wife Margareta

Welser Welser was a German banking and merchant family, originally a patrician family based in Augsburg and Nuremberg, that rose to great prominence in international high finance in the 16th century as bankers to the Habsburgs and financiers of Cha ...

(1481–1552), one of the largest private libraries north of the Alps.

Life

He was born in Augsburg, the son of a reputable merchant family. He studied law at the universities of

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

in the Venetia and

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he obtained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

and came in close touch with the

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 ...

movement. Back in Germany, he was elected

syndic ''Syndic'' (; Greek: ) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or p ...

of his hometown Augsburg and from 1497 held the office of a town clerk (''Stadtschreiber''), representing the city in several Imperial diets, notably that of

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

including the hearing of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

in 1521. Peutinger's accounts were a valuable source for later historians like Theodor Kolde. He was on close terms with the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

emperor Maximilian I, who appointed him Imperial councilor. Peutinger, an early proponent of

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, mediated between the

Imperial estates An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise significant rights and privileges and w ...

and the Augsburg

Fugger The House of Fugger () is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. ...

and

families. He was able to assert his position under Maximilian's successor Emperor

, however, his politics aiming at a balance of power were aborted by the advancing

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

after the 1529

Protestation at Speyer On 19 April 1529, six princes and representatives of 14 Imperial Free Cities petitioned the Imperial Diet at Speyer against an imperial ban of Martin Luther, as well as the proscription of his works and teachings, and called for the unhindered ...

. When in 1534 the citizens of Augsburg turned Protestant, he retired from public offices. In Augsburg, he established and headed the learned sodality named ''Sodalitas Augustana'' (or ''Sodalitas litteraria Augustana''), following the model of the Heidelberg society established by Konrad Celtis. Peutinger built an extensive scholarly and political network that membership was coveted and helped to make humanism a core of Augsburg's political and cultural life. It was through his influence that

Ulrich von Hutten Ulrich von Hutten (21 April 1488 – 29 August 1523) was a German knight, scholar, poet and satire, satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. By 1519, he was an outspoken criticism, critic of the Roman Cat ...

got crowned as a Poet Laureate by Maximilian. Peutinger's daughter Konstantia made the laurel wreath herself.

Work

Peutinger corresponded with notable contemporary humanist scholars like

Erasmus of Rotterdam 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 theologian, educationalist, satirist, and p ...

Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck Jacob (or Jakob or James or Jacques) Sturm von Sturmeck (10 August 1489 – 30 October 1553) was a German statesman, one of the preeminent promoters of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Biography Sturm was born at Strasbourg, where his fathe ...

and

Willibald Pirckheimer Willibald Pirckheimer (5 December 1470 – 22 December 1530) was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City ...

. During the

global spread of the printing press Following the invention of the printing press in the German city of Mainz by Johannes Gutenberg , Western printing technology spread across the world, and was adopted worldwide by the end of the 19th century. The technology, which mechanized ...

he studied numerous classical philologic and legal works from Italy. In 1520 he was one of the first to publish Roman inscriptions (''Inscriptiones Romanæ''), a work that has been cited as the most notable of his writings on classical antiquities. As the author of the '' Romanae vetustatis fragmenta'' (published in 1505), Peutinger was the first German scholarly epigraphist. Peutinger's name is usually associated with the famous ''

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tablesJames Strong (theologian) , James Strong and John McClintock (theologian) , John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Bibli ...

'', a medieval copy of a

late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...

world map of

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

s from the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. It was discovered by the

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

scholar Conrad Celtes, who in 1507 handed it over to Peutinger for publication. Parts of the map were not published until 1591 by the

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

-based publishing house of Jan Moretus and in 1598 by Peutinger's relative Marcus Welser and

Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the list of atlases, first modern ...

. Rediscovered in 1714, it was archived at the Vienna Imperial Library and first published as a whole by Franz Christoph von Scheyb in 1753. Peutinger also first printed the ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

'' of

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

and the ''

Historia Langobardorum The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' () is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate no later than 796, maybe at ...

'' of

Paulus Diaconus Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...

. As an economist and politician, Peutinger played an important role in the monopoly debates of the 16th century. He advised

to allow monopolies on luxury goods, but not on everyday necessities (''res viviles'') like grain and wine. He also drafted progressive trade laws when working for Maximilian. Crossen calls him "the first great philosophical evangelist of the profit system." During the debate among the Imperial Estates at the 1522–1523 Nuremberg Diet concerning whether the capital stocks of large companies should be limited to 50,000 florin and whether acceptance of external capital should be banned, Peutinger advocated for the large merchants, saying that such methods would only benefit foreigners and that the mining boom created by the activities of large companies had helped to lower prices for the common man. Peutinger advocated church reform and was an early supporter of

. As an official of Augsburg though, he guided the Augsburg Council towards the "middle way" (between wholesale reform and reactionary politics). By 1525, he declared that Luther had presented solid truths from the Scripture, but Luther's position on some matters should be rejected. He advised the Council not to accept any statement that condemned Luther as seductive and heretical.

Notes

External links

*https://www.livius.org/pen-pg/peutinger/map.html *Three unknown formulas of the humanist Konrad Peutinger o
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
*
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries
High resolution images of works by and/or portraits of Konrad Peutinger in .jpg and .tiff format. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peutinger 1465 births 1547 deaths Politicians from Augsburg German antiquarians German Renaissance humanists German scholars German male non-fiction writers 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers Writers from Augsburg