soil, – the fathers of the older German humanism.[1] Hegius, one of the greatest scholars of the century, was rector of the schools at Wesel, Emmerich and Deventer. Erasmus, a pupil of Deventer, ranks him among the restorers of pure Latin scholarship. Hegius enjoys the undisputed credit of having purged and simplified the school curriculum, improved the method of teaching, corrected the old text-books or replaced them by better ones. He also made the classics the staple of instruction of youth.[2] Together with Agricola, Erasmus and Reuchlin, he was foremost in propagating enthusiasm for Greek in Germany. Hegius emphasized the necessity of a knowledge of Greek for all sciences:
In Alsace flourished the school of Schlettstadt, more important even than those on the Lower Rhine. It was one of the first of the German schools in which the history of the Fatherland was zealously studied side by side with the classics. Among its most distinguished pupils were Johannes von Dalberg, Geiler von Kaisersberg and Wimpheling. Dalberg was bishop of Worms and curator of the Heidelberg University, a liberal patron of all learned men, especially of Reuchlin, the great Greek and Hebrew scholar. This noble bishop was also the leader and director of the "Rhe-
- ↑ See Creighton, History of the Papacy, vol. V, chapter I: "Humanism in Germany."
- ↑ Janssen, l. c., p. 68.
- ↑ Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, p. 42, (vol. I, p. 67). Further details are given by Janssen, History of the German People: "The Higher Schools and the Older Humanists." (English translation, vol. I, pp. 61-85.)
