Christian Schesaus (1535 – July 30, 1585) was a Transylvanian Saxon humanist, poet, and Lutheran pastor.[1][2][3]
He was born in Mediaș, studied first in Brașov, and then from 1556 to 1558 at the University of Wittenberg.[4]
Ruinae Pannonnicae, his best known work, was written in Latin and composed in dactylic hexameter on the model of Virgil's Aeneid. The subject of the poem deals with the events in Transylvania, Hungary, Wallachia and Moldavia over the 31-year period of 1540 to 1571. Schesaus insists on the Roman origin and heritage of Romanians, backed by evidence he presents (together with proof of Dacian contributions). The work was first printed in Wittenberg (1571), and it ensured that Schesaus was awarded the title of Poet Laureate by Prince Stephen Bathory.
Around 1580, Christian Schesaus was living in Biertan; he died of the plague. He was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Mediaș, where his epitaph can still be seen in the choir.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Christian Schesäus". Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen. Bonn: Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen für Wissenschaft und Forschung. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
- ^ Drotleff, Dieter (1983). Taten und Gestalten: Bilder aus der Vergangenheit der Rumäniendeutschen. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia. p. 114.
- ^ Heimann-Seelbach, Sabine (1989). Soziokulturelle Kontexte der Sprach- und Literaturentwicklung: Festschrift für Rudolf Grosse zum 65. Geburtstag. Stuttgart: Heinz. p. 88.
- ^ "Schesäus, Christian – Kulturstiftung" (in German). Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ Schesaeus, Christian (1571). RVINAE || PANNONICAE || LIBRI QVATVOR: CON/||TINENTES STATVM REIPVB: ET || RELIGIONIS IN VNGARIA, TRANSYLVANIA || vicinis[que] regionibus imperante Ioanne Secun=||do Electo Rege Vngariae &c.|| Addita est historia de bello Pannonico Solymanni Im=||peratoris Turcorum vltimo, Iulae et Zyge=||thi expugnationem continens.|| Autore || CHRISTIANNO SCHESAEO || MEDIENSI TRANSSYLVANO.|| ... || VVITEBERGAE || Excudebant Clemens Schleich & An-||tonius Schöne.|| ANNO M.D.LXXI. Schleich, Clemens Schöne, Anton.