Laurentius Corvinus was a Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

n scholar who lectured as an ‘extraordinary’ (i.e. untenured) professor at the University of Krakow when Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....

 began to study there. He also attracted a reputation as one of the finest Silesian poets of the early Renaissance and as an important agent for cultural and religious change in his adopted home of Breslau (now Wrocław).

Laurentius Corvinus was born as Laurentius Rabe in Neumarkt (now Środa Śląska

Sroda Slaska

Środa Śląska is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Środa Śląska County, and of the smaller administrative district called Gmina Środa Śląska. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany...

) in Lower Silesia

Lower Silesia

Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...

, about 30km east of Breslau, son of Barthel Rabe, a furrier and member of the local council. As a student at Kraków, he Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

ized his name, possibly under the influence of Conrad Celtis, and became known as Corvinus (a Latin translation of his German name Rabe, or raven

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

). After receiving his M.A. at the University of Kraków, Corvinus lectured on “De ente et essentia” (1492) and Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

’s Libri Posteriorum (1493); the young Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....

 was probably one of his students during this time. Corvinus later helped to publish Copernicus' Latin translation of the Letters of the Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 Greek poet Theophylactus Simocatta by sending Copernicus's translation to the printer Johann Haller

Johann Haller

Johann Haller or Jan Haller is considered one of the first commercial printers in Poland.-Copernicus:Born in Rothenburg, Haller is perhaps best known for publishing in 1509 a volume of poems by Theophylact Simocatta which had been translated from Byzantine Greek by Nicolaus Copernicus...

 in Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 to be published in 1509. He also supplied the printed edition of Copernicus’ translation with two poems, one of which describes the journey of Corvinus and his wife Anna back to Breslau, and also makes reference to Copernicus’ interest in astronomy. It is not entirely clear whether or not Corvinus’ poem actually refers to Copernicus’ heliostatic theory, but in any case it is important as a very early witness for Copernicus’ involvement in astronomical speculation.

Corvinus was also close friend to another Silesian, Johannes Sommerfeld, who also taught at Kraków while Copernicus was there. He was influenced by Conrad Celtis and Copernicus befriended the group of humanists. As a student and later magister at the University of Krakow he was acquainted with astronomy; as magister he lectured at the faculty for several years, including the first years of Copernicus’ studies in Kraków.

After leaving Kraków, Corvinus worked as school rector and then city secretary (Stadtschreiber) at Schweidnitz (now Świdnica

Swidnica

Świdnica is a city in south-western Poland in the region of Silesia. It has a population of 60,317 according to 2006 figures. It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, being the seventh largest town in that voivodeship. From 1975–98 it was in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship...

) (1494-1497). He then moved to Breslau to work as rector of St Elisabeth's school (1497-1503) and then as one of the senior city secretaries (1503-1506), before moving to a position as city secretary of Toruń

Torun

Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....

 (1506-1508). He and his wife then moved back to Breslau in 1508, where he resumed his position as senior city secretary; they remained in Breslau, living in a house near the Siebenradmühle (near the present site of the university library), for the rest of their lives.

Corvinus published humanistic writings and poems, many of them religious and philosophical in nature. He was greatly influenced by the Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 spirituality of St Bonaventure

Bonaventure

Saint Bonaventure, O.F.M., , born John of Fidanza , was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the...

 and the Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...

 of Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, an astrologer, a reviver of Neoplatonism who was in touch with every major academic thinker and writer of his day, and the first translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin...

. In the spirit of Italian and German humanists he described his adopted home of Breslau in terms borrowed from classical mythology as the new home of the Muses. He was also involved in the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation to Breslau, and personally took part in Johann Heß

Johann Heß

Johann Heß was a German Lutheran theologian and Protestant Reformer of Breslau .Heß was born in Nuremberg. He attended the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, where he was taught in jurisprudence and liberal arts...

’s disputation in 1524, where he declaimed a poem celebrating Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

 as a hero of religion. He was also involved in an epistolary exchange on religious matters with Stanisław Byliński, canon at Przemyśl

Przemysl

Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....

, published by Byliński in 1531.

Writings

(Only first editions of printed works noted. Works in manuscript not noted)

Cosmographia dans manuductionem in tabulas Claudii Ptolomei, ed. H. Bebel (Basel: [Keßler], 1496)

Carminum structura ([Leipzig]: Landsberg, [1496])

Latinum ydeoma ([Leipzig]: [Kachelofen or Lotter], [c. 1498-1500])

Carmen […] de Nympharum conquestione super hyemis rigiditate[m] (Leipzig: Thanner, 1500)

Hortulus elegantiarum (Kraków, 1502 ed. recorded by Panzer; earliest extant edition is Breslau: Baumgart, 1503)

Carmen elegiacum […] de Apolline et novem musis (Breslau: Baumgart, 1503)

Epicedium, in Serenissimum ac Gloriosissimum Principem Alexandrum, Poloniæ Regem (Kraków: Haller, 1506, lost)

Dialogus carmine et soluta oratione conflatus de Mentis saluberrima persuasione ad honesta ingenuarum artium studia (Leipzig: Schumann, 1516)

Epithalamium. Laurenti Corvini. In nuptiis sacræ regiæ Maiestatis. Poloniæ […] (Kraków: Hieronymus Vietor, 1518)

Cursus sancti Bonaventuræ de passione domini (Breslau: Dyon, 1521)