Alexander Hegius Von Heek

In his youth he was a pupil of Thomas à Kempis , at that time canon of the convent of St Agnes at Zwolle. In 1474 he settled down at Deventer in Holland, where he either founded or succeeded to the headship of a school, which became famous for the number of its distinguished alumni. First and foremost of these was Erasmus ; others were Hermann Von Dem Busche , the missionary of humanism, Conrad Goclenius (Gockelen), Conrad Mutianus (Muth Von Mudt) and Pope Adrian VI .

His writings, consisting of short poems, philosophical essays, grammatical notes and letters, were published after his death by his pupil Jacobus Faber . They display considerable knowledge of Latin , but less of Greek , on the value of which he strongly insisted.

Hegius's chief claim to be remembered rests not upon his published works, but upon his services in the cause of Humanism . He succeeded in abolishing the old-fashioned medieval textbooks and methods of instruction, and led his pupils to the study of the classical authors themselves. His generosity in assisting poor students exhausted a considerable fortune, and at his death he left nothing but his books and clothes.

BIBILIOGRAPHY

See D Reichling, "Beiträge zur Charakteristik des Alex. Hegius", in the ''Monatsschrift fur Westdeutschland'' (1877); H Hamelmann, ''Opera genealogico-historica'' (1711); HA Erhard, ''Geschichte des Wiederaufblühens wissenschaftlicher Bildung'' (1826); C Krafft and W Crecelius, "Alexander Hegius and seine Schiffer," from the works of Johannes Butzbach , one of Hegius's pupils, in ''Zeitschrift des bergischen Geschichtsvereins'', vii (Bonn, 1871).

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Alexander Hegius Von Heek