Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon (February 16, 1497 - April 19, 1560) was a German theologian and writer of the Protestant Reformation and an associate of Martin Luther.

Early Life and Education

Melanchthon was born at Bretten, near Karlsruhe, where his father, Georg Schwarzerd, was armorer to Count Palatine Philip.

Related Topics:
Bretten - Karlsruhe - Georg Schwarzerd - Count Palatine

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In 1507 he was sent to the Latin school at Pforzheim, the rector of which, Georg Simler of Wimpfen, introduced him to the study of the Latin and Greek poets and of the philosophy of Aristotle. But he was chiefly influenced by his great-uncle, Johann Reuchlin, the great representative of humanism, who advised him to change his family name, Schwarzerd (literally Black-earth), into the Greek equivalent Melanchthon.

Related Topics:
1507 - Pforzheim - Rector - Georg Simler - Wimpfen - Latin - Greek - Aristotle - Johann Reuchlin - Humanism

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Not yet thirteen years old, he entered in 1509 the University of Heidelberg where he studied philosophy, rhetoric, and astronomy/astrology, and was known as a good Greek scholar. Being refused the degree of master in 1512 on account of his youth, he went to Tübingen, where he pursued humanistic and philosophical studies, but devoted himself also to the study of jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy/astrology, and even of medicine.

Related Topics:
1509 - Heidelberg - Philosophy - Rhetoric - Astronomy - Astrology - 1512 - Tübingen - Jurisprudence - Mathematics - Medicine

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When, having completed his philosophical course, he had taken the degree of master in 1516, he began to study theology. Under the influence of men like Reuchlin and Erasmus he became convinced that true Christianity was something quite different from scholastic theology as it was taught at the university. But at that time he had not yet formed fixed opinions on theology, since later he often called Luther his spiritual father. He became conventor (repetent) in the contubernium and had to instruct younger scholars. He also lectured on oratory, on Virgil and Livy.

Related Topics:
1516 - Theology - Reuchlin - Erasmus - Christianity - Luther - Virgil - Livy

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His first publications were an edition of Terence (1516) and his Greek grammar (1518), but he had written previously the preface to the Epistolae

Related Topics:
Terence - 1516 - 1518

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clarorum virorum of Reuchlin (1514).

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