. He had investigated all the mysteries of philosophy,
and thoroughly mastered every branch of music. In his later years he
devoted his whole soul to the mastery of Hebrew and to the study of the
Holy Scriptures. He cared but little for glory."

REUCHLIN (1455-1522)

Reuchlin may properly be called the first great German humanist. He was
educated at Freiburg, Paris, and Basel, and gave especial attention to
the classic studies, which had almost disappeared from the university
courses in Germany. He took his master's degree at Basel, and then began
to lecture on classical Latin and Greek. Being a born teacher, he drew
about him a great number of students, who became interested in classic
studies. He made several visits to Italy, where he imbibed the
humanistic theories of the Italians, though he was already far advanced
in those theories before he went to Italy. In 1481 he was appointed
professor at Tuebingen, which thus became the first German university to
teach humanistic doctrines.

At Linz, where he had been sent on an embassy, he made the acquaintance
of the emperor's Jewish physician, with whom he began the study of
Hebrew. This marks an important epoch in his history, as he is best
known for his Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon, published in 1506, and for his
championship of the Hebrew literature. Owing to the scarcity of classic
text-books, Reuchlin was obliged to mark out courses for his students,
and, in a measure, to supply text-books for them. Much of his work in
the university had to be dictated, and students were obliged to copy
their work from manuscripts. He published a Latin lexicon and prepared
the manuscript of a Greek grammar which he never published, but from
which doubtless he drew in his work with students.

In 1496 his friend Count Eberhard died, and Reuchlin's enemies succeeded
in alienating the new prince, so he was glad to avail himself of the
opportunity to go to the university of Heidelberg. Here he gave chief
attention to Hebrew.

While in Heidelberg he became involved in an unfortunate controversy
regarding Hebrew literature, a controversy which was forced upon him.
John Pfefferkorn, a converted Jew, zealous for the conversion of his
race, obtained an order from the emperor to confiscate and destroy all
Hebrew works which opposed the Christian faith. Reuchlin was appealed to
as the highest authority on Hebrew, and he urged that, instead of
destroying the literature, two professors should