Melanchthon, Philipp ("Melanchthon" is the translation of his real name "Schwarzerd", German for "Black Earth" into Greek), was born 2/16/1497 in Bretten, Baden, and died 4/19/1560 in Wittenberg. A Humanist and the most important colleague of Martin Luther; 1518 appointed Professor of Greek in Wittenberg, where he quickly became a follower of Luther's. In 1520 he wrote the Loci communes (principal points), the first summary of Luther's doctrine of justification.
Melancthon was of respectable and well-to-do parentage. His father, Georg Schwarzerd (Schwarzert) was a celebrated armourer, while his pious and intelligent mother was the daughter of Reuter, the burgomaster of Bretten. He received his first instruction at home from a private tutor, and in 1507 he went to Pforzheim, where he lived with his grandmother Elizabeth, sister of the great humanist, Johann Reuchlin. Reuchlin was rare in his day in his study of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Reuchlin persuaded him to translate his name Schwarzerd into the Greek Melancthon, (written Melanthon after 1531). In 1509 Melancthon, not yet 13 years of age, entered the University of Heidelberg. He obtained the baccalaureate in 1511, but his application for the master's degree in 1512 was rejected because of his youth. He therefore went to Tübingen, where the scientific spirit was in full vigour, and he became there a pupil of the celebrated Latinist Heinrich Bebel, and, for a second time, of Georg Simler, who was then teaching humanities in Tübingen, and was later professor of jurisprudence. He studied astronomy and astrology under Stoffler. With Franciscus Stadianus he planned an edition of the genuine text of Aristotle, but nothing ever came of this. His thirst for knowledge led him into jurisprudence, mathematics, and even medicine.
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