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48 LETTERS OF ERASMUS [nga
ment lapsed and Sapidus was chosen to fill the vacancy (cf. MHE. i. 6), at first
for a year, and then, 12 Feb. 1512, on a more permanent basis (cf. Ep. 364. 30 n.).
His tenure was marked by great prosperity, the school numbers rising under
him to 900. In August 1525, however, he resigned rather than take part in what
he considered an obsolete church ceremony, his sympathies being with the
Reformers. The citizenship of Schlettstadt was conferred on him shortly after¬
wards, but in Oct. 1526 he abandoned it and withdrew to Strasburg, where he
continued his scholastic and humanistic activities until his death.
At Schlettstadt he was a prominent member of the literary circle to which
Beatus Rhenanus, Wimpfeling, Volz, and many others belonged. A volume of
his Epigrammata was printed there by Laz. Schtirer, March 1520 ; and the Epistolae
eruditorum virorum (p. 126) contains a letter from him to Lee with some remark¬
ably free-spoken abuse.
K See Gény, Die Reichsstadt Schlettstadt; Strüver, Die Schule zu Schlettstadt; BRE. ;
MHE. iii; and ADB.]
IOANNES SAPIDVS DOMINO ERASMO S, D. P.
Qvop iam diu quamplures occasiones ad te scribendi silentio
praeteriuerim, nec quidem eo inficias; sed non modo propter
scholares et domesticas occupationes id factum esse scito, quae me
sibi semper rapiunt, vix aliquid ocii vel respirandi impartientes,
5 verum etiam studiis tuis et illis in rem tam litterariam quam
Christianam laboriosissimis obstrepere meis nugis veritus sum;
quae quanta sint, nemo studiosorum cum maxima nominis tui
celebratione non olim praedicabit. Nolo tamen eam ob taciturnitatem
me abs te putari tui oblitum, quum nec minimam quidem horulam
o sine tui honestissima iuxta ac dulcissima mentione, ne memoria
dixerim, agere possim, et Erasmo nouos amatores parere non desinam;
qualis est dominus Iacobus Specularis (vt alios interim omittam), diui
n
under Conrad Celtis, and where he
323. 12. Specularis] James Spiegel of
published at this time a translation of
Schlettstadt (c. 1483—p. 30 June 1547);
a nephew of Wimpfeling. After his
father’s death in 1493 he was educated
by hisuncle at Spires. On 7 Oct.1497he
matriculated at Heidelberg as ‘Iacobus
Wimpfling alias Spiegel’, and he was
B.A. 20 Jan. 1500. He then studied
law, probably at Freiburg under
Zasius, and in the autumn of 1504
entered the Imperial Chancery. He
accompanied the Archduke Philip on
the campaign against Gueldres 1504-5,
and in June 1505 attended the Diet
at Cologne. In Feb. 1506 he was
secretary to Peter Bonomo, Bp. of
Trieste, AE. 58, from which it appears
that some Russian letters received at
the Imperial court were sent to Spiegel
at Trieste for translation. An oration
on the death of Philip in 1506 brought
him an offering of books from Aldus,
whom he afterwards visited at Venice,
perhaps in 1508. In 1511-12 he
studied at Tübingen, and in 1513 he
was Professor of Law at Vienna; where
he is said to have studied previously
Isoerates’ De regno gubernando (H. Vietor
and J. Singren, 13 Feb. 1514). He
subsequently returned to the Chancery,
but on the death of Maximilian
(t2 Jan. 1519) his appointment lapsed ;
whereupon he settled at Schlettstadt
and interested himself in letters,
publishing amongst other works Jn
hymnum awiae Christi Annae dictum ab
Erasmo Roterodamo Scholia, Augsburg,
S. Grimm and M. Wyrsung, 4 March
1519. He attempted without success
to enter the service of the Abp. of
Mainz, but in May 1520 obtained
employment in the Chancery of
Charles V, and attended the Diet of
Worms as Imperial Secretary, where
Aleander found him a useful source
of information. At the end of 1522,
with Erasmus’ recommendation, he
entered the service of Ferdinand, from
which he retired in 1526.
See a life by Knod ; Gény, Die Reichs¬
stadt Schlettstadt ; BRE. ; VE. ; HE. ; and
ADB.