Name

Johannes Leunclavius

Original name

Hans Löwenklau

Main activity

Orientalist

Secondary activity

Diplomat, Traveler, Writer

Title

Name variations

Johannes Amelsburnus, Johannes Lewenklaw, Joannes Leonclajus"

Education place

Wittenberg, Heidelberg

Education institution

University of Wittenberg, University of Heidelberg

Activity place

Torino, Basel, Istanbul

Activity institution

Savoy court, Habsburg Embassy to the Ottoman Court, Electoral Palatinate

Activity start date

1566

Activity end date

1549

Place of birth

Coesfeld

Date of birth

1541

Place of death

Vienna

Date of death

1594

Bibliographical references

Franz Babinger, "Herkunft und Jugend Hans Lewenklaw's," Westfälische Zeitschrift 98-99 (1949): 112-127; Franz Babinger, "Johannes Lewenklaws Lebensende," Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde 50 (1951): 5-26; Marie-Pierre Burtin, "Un apôtre de la tolerance: L'humaniste allemand Johannes Löwenklau, dit Leunclavius (1541–1593?),” Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance 52/3 (1990): 561-570; Pál Ács, "'Pro Turcis' and 'Contra Turcos': Curiosity, Scholarship and Spiritualism in Turkish Histories by Johannes Löwenklau (1541-1594)," Acta Comeniana 25 (2011): 1-21.

Descriptive card

Johannes Leunclavius was a renowned German Humanist and Hellenist. A student of Philipp Melanchthon and Wilhelm Xylander, Leunclavius was interested in ancient and Byzantine Greek texts, and in the Ottoman world. He edited and translated, among others, the works of Xenophon (Basel, 1569 and 1594), Plutarch (Basel, 1565), Gregory of Nazianzus (Basel, 1571), Gregory of Nyssa (Basel, 1571) and Zosimus (Basel, 1576). Between 1584 and 1585, he participated in the Habsburg embassy of Heinrich von Lichtenstein to Istanbul at the court of the Sultan Murad III. His works on the Ottoman world, namely the "Annales Sultanorum Othmanidarum, a turcis sua lingua scripti," (Frankfurt, 1588 and 1596; German edition "Neuwe Chronica," Frankfurt, 1590), and "Historiae musulmanae Turcorum, de monumentis ipsorum excriptae, libri XVIII," (Frankfurt, 1591: German edition "Neuwer musulmanischer Histori," Frankfurt, 1590 and 1595), represent a turning point in the European scholarship on the Orient due to the variety of sources, both Turkish and European, he was able to consult for his history.

Entry author

Octavian Negoita