Valens Acidalius
Encyclopedia
Valens Acidalius, also known as Valtin Havekenthal (1567, Wittstock
–25 May 1595, Neisse
) was a German
critic and poet writing in the Latin
language.
Acidalius was the son of a pastor working in Wittstock. He studied at the universities of Rostock
, Greifswald
and Helmstedt
. Even in his early youth, his Latin poems caused a stir. In 1590 he accompanied his friend Daniel Bucretius (Daniel Rindfleisch) to Italy
where he published his first literary work, an edition of Velleius Paterculus. Acidalius studied philosophy and medicine in Bologna
and was awarded a doctorate degree in both disciplines.
He was however not attracted by the practical work as a medic and therefore concentrated on the criticism of classic works. He returned to Germany in 1593 after several fever attacks, moving to Breslau, the home town of his friend Bucretius. In spring 1595, he accepted an invitation of his friend and supporter, the episcopal chancellor Wacker von Wackenfels
to Neisse. There he died of a fever at the age of only twenty-eight years.
Posthumously:
Disputed:
Wittstock
Wittstock is a town in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in north-western Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Dosse, 20 km east of Pritzwalk, and 95 km northwest of Berlin. It was the location of the 1636 Battle of Wittstock between Sweden and an alliance of the Holy Roman...
–25 May 1595, Neisse
Nysa, Poland
Nysa is a town in southwestern Poland on the Nysa Kłodzka river with 47,545 inhabitants , situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Nysa County. It comprises the urban portion of the surrounding Gmina Nysa, a mixed urban-rural commune with a total population of 60,123 inhabitants...
) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
critic and poet writing in the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
language.
Acidalius was the son of a pastor working in Wittstock. He studied at the universities of Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
, Greifswald
Greifswald
Greifswald , officially, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is a town in northeastern Germany. It is situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at an equal distance of about from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg. The town borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed...
and Helmstedt
Helmstedt
Helmstedt is a city located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. Helmstedt has 26,000 inhabitants . In former times the city was also called Helmstädt....
. Even in his early youth, his Latin poems caused a stir. In 1590 he accompanied his friend Daniel Bucretius (Daniel Rindfleisch) to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
where he published his first literary work, an edition of Velleius Paterculus. Acidalius studied philosophy and medicine in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
and was awarded a doctorate degree in both disciplines.
He was however not attracted by the practical work as a medic and therefore concentrated on the criticism of classic works. He returned to Germany in 1593 after several fever attacks, moving to Breslau, the home town of his friend Bucretius. In spring 1595, he accepted an invitation of his friend and supporter, the episcopal chancellor Wacker von Wackenfels
Wacker von Wackenfels
Johannes Matthaeus Wacker von Wackenfels was an active diplomat, scholar and author, with an avid interest in history and philosophy...
to Neisse. There he died of a fever at the age of only twenty-eight years.
Publications
- Velleius Paterculus, 1590, PaduaPaduaPadua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
- Animadversiones in CurtiumQuintus Curtius RufusQuintus Curtius Rufus was a Roman historian, writing probably during the reign of the Emperor Claudius or Vespasian. His only surviving work, Historiae Alexandri Magni, is a biography of Alexander the Great in Latin in ten books, of which the first two are lost, and the remaining eight are...
, 1594, FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
Posthumously:
- a collection of poems, elegies, odes and epigramms, 1603, Liegnitz
- Centuria prima epistolarum, 1606, HanauHanauHanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main. Its station is a major railway junction.- Geography :...
- Divinationes et interpretationes in comoedias PlautiPlautusTitus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
, 1607, Frankfurt, 566 pages - Notae in TacitiTacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
opera, 1607, Hannover - Notae in Panegyrici veteresPanegyrici LatiniThe Panegyrici Latini or Latin Panegyrics is a collection of twelve ancient Roman panegyric orations. The authors of most of the speeches in the collection are anonymous, but appear to have been Gallic in origin. Aside from the first panegyric, composed by Pliny the Younger in 100 CE, the other...
, 1607, HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
Disputed:
- Disputatio nova contra mulieres, qua probatur eas homines non esseDisputatio nova contra mulieresDisputatio nova contra mulieres, qua probatur eas homines non esse is a deliberately satirical and misogynistic Latin-language treatise first published in 1595 and subsequently reprinted several times, particularly throughout the 17th and 18th centuries...
, 1595, probably printed in ZerbstZerbstZerbst is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until the administrative reform of 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the Anhalt-Zerbst district. Since the 1 January 2010 local government reform, Zerbst has about 24,000 inhabitants.It is not clear when was it founded;...
, 11 sheets 4°. A tract which caused much annoyance among the theologians of the time because of its blasphemic precepts. His attackers overlooked the fact that the tract was intended as a parody on the SocinianSocinianismSocinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...
methods of refuting the divine nature of ChristChristChrist is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
. During his lifetime, Acidalius denied having written these papers. It is believed that while Acidalius did not actually write the tract, he was nevertheless instrumental in its creation. Thus, the actual author remains anonymous.-
- Czapla, Ralf G. [Ed.]; Burkard, Georg [Ed.]; Burkard, Georg [Trans.]: Disputatio nova contra mulieres, qua probatur eas homines non esse / Acidalius, Valens. (Neue Disputation gegen die Frauen zum Erweis, dass sie keine Menschen sind). Heidelberg 2006. ISBN 3-934877-51-6
-
Sources
- Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie—online version at German WikisourceWikisourceWikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has...