Paul Scriptoris (c. 1460 – 21 October 1505) was a German

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, Scotist, and professor at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. His surname is a

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 ...

translation of the original

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

name Schreiber ("writer"). Born in

Weil der Stadt Weil der Stadt () is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about west of Stuttgart city centre, in the valley of the River Würm, and is often called the "Gate to the Black Fo ...

, Scriptoris studied at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and joined the

Franciscan order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

. He subsequently began teaching at Tübingen.

Konrad Pellikan Konrad Pellikan (; ; sometimes anglicized as ''Conrad Pellican''; 8 January 1478 – 6 May 1556) was a German Protestant theologian, humanist, Protestant reformer and Christian Hebraist who worked chiefly in Switzerland. Life Pellikan w ...

, who became Scriptoris’ most favored pupil, joined him at Tübingen in March 1496. Scriptoris was an extremely successful teacher in the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, and awakened interest in this subject in many of his students. His students included his fellow professors and members of other religious orders. He lectured on the

cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

and also taught and studied

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

. He also wrote a commentary on a work by

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot"; – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...

, which was published by Johann Ottmar on 24 March 1498. It carries the distinction of being the first book created with a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

in the city of Tübingen. At Tübingen, Scriptoris opposed the appointment of the Realist

Johann Heynlin Johann Heynlin, variously spelled ''Heynlein'', ''Henelyn'', ''Henlin'', ''Hélin'', ''Hemlin'', ''Hegelin'', ''Steinlin''; and translated as ''Jean à Lapide'', ''Jean La Pierre (Lapierre, de la Pierre)'', ''Johannes Lapideus'', ''Johannes Lapid ...

to the faculty. In 1499, Scriptoris was lecturing against

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...

of the bread into the body of Christ. For this he was banished by the Franciscans and died in exile, at

Kaysersberg Kaysersberg (; ; ) is a historical town and former commune in Alsace in northeastern France. The name is German for ''Emperor's Mountain''. The high fortress that dominates the town serves as a reminder of both its strategic importance and its ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

Works

*''Lectura Fratris Pauli Scriptoris Ordinis Minorum de observantia quam edidit declarando subtilissimas Doctoris subtilis sententias circa Magistrum in primo libro'', Tübingen, 1498
online
*''Carpi'' (ed. Joannes de Montesdoca), 1506. *''These des Paul Scriptoris OFM über die in Konstanz übliche Praxis der öffentlichen Buße'', in: ''Rottenburger Jb. für Kirchengesch''. 11 (1992), 115 f.

Sources

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scriptoris, Paul 1460s births 1505 deaths People from Weil der Stadt German Franciscans 15th-century German mathematicians Scotism 16th-century German mathematicians Medieval German mathematicians