ALEXANDER

See also:

• ALEXANDER HEGIUS [VON REEK] (c. 1433-1498)

HEGIUS [VON REEK] (c. 1433-1498)  , German humanist, so called from his birthplace Heek in Westphalia . In his youth he was a pupil of Thomas a 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 . Hegius died at Deventer on the 7th of December 1498 . His writings, consisting of short poems, philosophical essays, grammatical notes and letters, were published after his death by his pupil Jacob 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 . See D . Reichling, " Beitrdge zur Charakteristik des Alex .

Hegius," in the Monatsschrift

fur Westdeutschland (1877); H . Hamelmann, Opera genealogico-historica (1711); H . A . Erhard, Geschichte des Wiederaufbliihens 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) .