Thomas Platter the Elder (; ; 10 February 1499, in

Grächen Grächen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated at an altitude of on a terrace above St. Niklaus in the Ma ...

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

– 26 January 1582, in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

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 ...

scholar and teacher. He was an early follower of the

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

Biography

Thomas Platter (the Elder) grew up in poverty. As a child, he wandered through Germany, Poland, and Hungary, begging for money and struggling to find an education. He ultimately mastered several languages, including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. After his return to Switzerland, he became an assistant to the Protestant leader

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a Swiss Christian theologian, musician, and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swis ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. In 1531, Zwingli was killed in the

Battle of Kappel The Second War of Kappel () was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland. Background The peace concluded after the First War of Kappel two yea ...

. In view of the political situation in Zurich after the war, Platter left for Basel, together with his friend and mentor, the Protestant theologian Oswald Myconius. In Basel, Platter earned a reputation as a teacher of ancient languages and literature. From 1535 to 1544, he led a printing house with Johannes Oporinus and Ruprecht Winter, publishing various classical texts. They published the first edition of

John Calvin John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French Christian theology, theologian, pastor and Protestant Reformers, reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of C ...

Institutes of the Christian Religion ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'' () is John Calvin's seminal work of systematic theology. Regarded as one of the most influential works of Protestant theology, it was published in Latin in 1536 at the same time as Henry VIII of England's ...

. In 1544, Platter was invited to become the principal of the at the Münsterplatz in Basel. He demanded a high salary, which was approved on condition that he would not disclose it to the public. In 1549, Platter bought and renovated Gundeldingen Castle in Basel. Platter's autobiography includes a detailed account of his youth and of how he became a humanist scholar. It is considered a classic of autobiographical writing in German. His sons

Felix Platter Felix Platter (also Plater ; ; Latinized: Platerus; 28 October 1536 – 28 July 1614) was a Swiss physician, botanist, and diarist. He is known for his research in several areas of medicine, including ophthalmology and psychiatry. Biography Fel ...

and

Thomas Platter the Younger Thomas Platter the Younger (; ; c. 24 July 1574 in Basel – 4 December 1628 in Basel) was a Swiss-born physician, traveller, and diarist, the son of the humanist Thomas Platter the Elder. He was a professor of anatomy, botany, and medicine at t ...

both studied medicine, a thwarted ambition of Platter's own early life. All three Platters left memoirs and travel diaries, which have been used for a joint biography by

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, 19 July 1929 – 22 November 2023) was a French historian whose work was mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of Franc ...

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Platter, Thomas 1499 births 1582 deaths People from Visp (district) Swiss Renaissance humanists 16th-century educators 16th-century Swiss writers Swiss educators