Beatus Rhenanus

Who was Beatus Rhenanus?

Beatus Rhenanus, also known as Beatus Bild, was an Alsatian humanist, religious reformer, classical scholar, and book collector.

Rhenanus was born in Schlettstadt in Alsace. His father, Antoine Bild, was a prosperous butcher from Rhinau. Antoine emigrated to Sélestat and eventually became one of its Burgermeisters. He was able to provide his son with an excellent education. Rhenanus attended the famous Latin school of Schlettstadt, and in 1503, went to the University of Paris, where he came under the influence of Jacobus Faber Stapulensis, an eminent Aristotelian.

In 1507, he returned to Sélestat and then moved to Strasbourg, where he worked for the printer Mathias Schurer and made the acquaintance of the great Alsatian humanists, including Jakob Wimpfeling, Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg and Sebastian Brant.

In 1511, he relocated to Basel, where he befriended Desiderius Erasmus and played an active role in the publishing enterprises of Johann Froben. He returned to Schlettstadt in 1526 to devote himself to a life of learned leisure. He continued a lively correspondence with many contemporary scholars, including his friend Erasmus, and supervised the printing of many of Erasmus's most important works. Rhenanus died in Strassburg.